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Volodymyr Zelenskyj (centre) in Bucha: "These are war crimes"
Photo: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP
Everything indicates that Russian troops have killed hundreds of civilians in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
More than 300 bodies are said to have been discovered over the weekend.
The atrocities are condemned in the West: Joe Biden is demanding that Vladimir Putin be tried as a war criminal, and Germany is expelling dozens of Russian diplomats.
Russia denies any responsibility and continues its attacks.
Moscow is also said to be blocking evacuation efforts in Mariupol.
The developments at a glance.
That's what Kyiv says to Bucha
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj traveled to Bucha on Monday and got an idea of the situation on the ground.
"These are war crimes and they will be recognized by the world as genocide," said Zelenskyy.
He also clarified that the atrocities would strain negotiations with Russia.
It is "difficult" to continue the talks now, according to Zelenskyj.
When asked by a reporter whether it was still possible to negotiate peace with Russia, the Ukrainian leader said yes: "Ukraine must have peace," he said.
At the same time, he emphasized that early success in the negotiations was in Russia's interests: "The longer the Russian Federation delays the talks, the worse it will be for them."
That's what the Kremlin says to Bucha
Russia continues to claim not to be responsible for the atrocities in the small town - and is now pointing the finger at the US.
A State Department spokeswoman in Moscow claimed that the US and its Western partners "ordered" the gruesome footage to blame Russia.
»Who are the masters of provocation?
The United States and NATO, of course," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview on Russian state television, according to Reuters news agency.
The Russian chief investigator Alexander Bastrykin even announced official investigations into what he described as a "provocation" in Ukraine.
The investigation was to be launched on the basis that Ukraine had "deliberately disseminated false information" about the Russian forces in Bucha.
How is the West reacting?
In response to the Bucha massacre, the federal government declared 40 Russian diplomats "undesirable persons" in Germany, which is tantamount to expulsion.
A decision was made on Monday to "declare a significant number of members of the Russian embassy to be undesirable people who have worked here in Germany every day against our freedom, against the cohesion of our society," said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens).
Moscow announced consequences.
Despite the pictures from Butscha, the federal government is sticking to its no to an immediate gas embargo.
Both Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) expressed their negative views.
According to Lindner, an immediate waiver would hit Germany harder than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We want to become independent of energy imports from Russia as quickly as possible," said Lindner.
However, Foreign Minister Baerbock held out the prospect of further arms deliveries.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be tried for war crimes.
"He should be held accountable," Biden said in the White House garden.
The US is also demanding that Russia be expelled from the UN Human Rights Council.
The military situation
Russia is rapidly withdrawing its troops from the region around Kyiv and is concentrating its attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine.
According to the US government, about two-thirds of Russian troops have left the Kyiv region.
A senior Pentagon official said the remaining soldiers were stationed further in front of the Ukrainian capital: "We continue to assume that the troops will be reequipped, resupplied and perhaps even reinforced with additional forces before they are sent back to Ukraine to become."
Like the Ukrainian general staff, the US government suspects that the troops will be sent to the Donbass in eastern Ukraine.
The British secret service also assumes this.
"Russian forces continue to consolidate and reorganize," the British Ministry of Defense said.
At the same time, Russia continued its attacks.
According to the regional administration, Russian troops again attacked the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa with rockets on Monday night.
The Ukrainian General Staff also recorded further Russian artillery attacks on the besieged city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
Air and missile attacks on civilian targets in the city are also possible, it said.
The humanitarian situation
In the embattled port city of Mariupol, there are said to be problems with evacuation measures again.
Ukraine accuses Russian troops of blocking aid from the International Red Cross.
Buses to rescue residents of the besieged port city did not reach Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on television.
Various attempts to get residents out of the city have failed in the past.
Both sides blame each other for it.
After weeks of siege, Mariupol is almost completely in ruins, according to the mayor.
"The sad news is that 90 percent of the infrastructure in the city has been destroyed and 40 percent cannot be restored," said Vadym Boichenko.
Meanwhile, Russia has withdrawn many soldiers from around the capital Kyiv.
The first refugees are apparently already thinking of returning home.
However, Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that the refugees should wait a few more days.
First, there is still a curfew, according to Klitschko: "Secondly, it is likely that the Russian occupiers left landmines in some cities near Kyiv." There is probably a lot of unexploded ammunition.
The look back
Both Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former Chancellor Angela Merkel have been criticized for their Russia policy in recent weeks.
Now both have commented on the criticism on the same day.
Federal President Steinmeier admitted his own mistakes and mistakes for the first time.
»My adherence to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake.
We clung to bridges that Russia no longer believed in and that our partners warned us about," he said in Berlin: "We failed in building a common European house that included Russia.
We failed with the approach of including Russia in a common security architecture.«
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Angela Merkel (December 2nd, 2021): "Stands by her decisions"
Photo: Janine Schmitz / photothek / IMAGO
Merkel had been criticized by Ukrainian President Selenskyj for the fact that the NATO states, including Germany, had promised Ukraine membership in 2008, but then backed down.
»Retired Federal Chancellor Dr.
Angela Merkel stands by her decisions in connection with the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest," said a spokeswoman for Merkel at the request of the German Press Agency.
At the same time, the ex-Chancellor supported international efforts to end the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
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ptz/dpa/Reuters/AFP