Ukraine war: Moscow denies responsibility for Bucha massacre – important route to Kyiv apparently free again

Created: 04/04/2022Updated: 04/04/2022 15:03

By: Cindy Boden, Michelle Brey, Franziska Schwarz

Kyiv observes a "rapid retreat" of Russian troops.

An adviser to Zelenskyi reports that several civilians have been killed on the streets of Bucha.

News ticker on the Ukraine war.

• Ukraine conflict

  *: Reporters report a number of corpses of civilian victims on the streets of the Kiev suburb of Bucha

  (update from April 3, 8:56 a.m.).

• Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko and President Selenskyj accuse Russia of genocide

  (update from April 3, 6:55 p.m.)

  .

• The crimes in Butscha are now to be cleared up

  (update from April 4, 6:34 a.m.).

• This

  news ticker on the military events in the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

  More about the background of the Ukraine crisis* here.

4 April 10.34am update

: Russian troops withdrawn from the Sumy region in eastern Ukraine

410 bodies of civilians were found in the Kiev area

.

The atrocities in the Kiev suburb of Bucha trigger international horror

.

All current developments in the Ukraine war can now be found in this news ticker.

Update from April 4, 8:37 a.m

.: In the Ukraine war, 1,417 civilians have already been killed by Putin's troops - according to UN documentation.

Among them were 121 children and adolescents.

This was announced by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

It also spoke of 2038 injured, including 171 children and young people.

All cases documented up to and including Saturday (April 2nd) were included in the figures.

Russia launched its attack on Ukraine on February 24.

1,504 of the victims came from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

War in Ukraine: UN has documented 1,400 civilian deaths so far

However, the bureau believes the actual numbers are significantly higher, with many reports of civilian casualties still unconfirmed in some heavily contested locations, including Mariupol and Irpin.

"Most of the civilian casualties were caused by the use of long-range explosive weapons, including heavy artillery and rocket launcher fire, as well as rocket and air strikes," the statement said on Sunday (April 3).

Ukraine War: Russian troops withdraw from Sumy region

April 4 update, 7:45 a.m

.: Russian troops are said to have begun withdrawing from the Sumy region in eastern Ukraine.

However, it is still too early to speak of the region being liberated, according to the head of the Sumy regional administration, Dmytro Schywytskyi.

This is reported by the Unian agency, citing a corresponding video message.

In the past week, a larger number of Russian troops was found in the region, and there had been many attacks on civilians.

Russian military vehicles were brought back towards Russia via a corridor from Kyiv and Chernihiv.

Now you have seen many destroyed Russian tanks and other military equipment there.

Ukraine war: Bucha crimes are to be solved

Update from April 4, 6:34 a.m

.: Since Friday (April 1), 140 of the 410 bodies recovered so far from the Kiev region have already been autopsied.

This was announced by the Attorney General, according to dpa.

Since then, more than 50 investigators have been investigating crimes in the Bucha area.

There should also be investigations in other regions.

The images from the Kiev suburb of Butscha, where numerous bodies of residents were found on the streets after the withdrawal of Russian troops, caused international horror*.

Kyiv blames Moscow for the massacre.

Moscow denies that.

Selenskyj fears even more terrible things in the Ukraine war than in Bucha

Volodymyr Zelenskyy fears that "more terrible things could happen" than that. Other regions of the country are still under Russian control.

"More deaths and mistreatment" could become known there, said the Ukrainian President.

Zelenskyj also switched to the Grammy Awards via video and asked for support for his country.

In addition, the former Chancellor Angela Merkel invited to a trip to Bucha.

Selenskyj said in a video message that Merkel could - like former French President Nicolas Sarkozy - get an idea of ​​her failed Russia policy in recent years.

Ukraine war: dead and injured in eastern and southern Ukraine

Update from April 3, 9:50 p.m .:

In a Russian attack on a hospital in Rubischne in eastern Ukraine, one person was killed and three others injured on Sunday.

An enemy shell hit the city's hospital, the governor of the region, Serhiy Gayday, said on Sunday evening in the messenger service Telegram.

He posted a photo of rescue workers sifting through debris.

The city near Luhansk in the Donbass region has been the target of repeated bombing raids since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

One person also died in a Russian attack in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

14 other people were injured, including a 15-year-old, Governor Vitali Kim said on Telegram.

There was also a bomb attack in the Black Sea city of Ochakiv, he added.

There were also dead and injured there, the exact number is unclear.

Ukraine War: Russia confirms airstrikes in Kyiv and Mykolaiv regions

Update from April 3, 8:35 p.m .:

Russia has confirmed several airstrikes on military facilities and fuel depots in the Ukrainian regions of Kiev and Mykolaiv.

Not far from Kyiv, a control center of the air force base was destroyed in Wassylkiv, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, Igor Konashenkov, on Sunday evening.

In addition, fuel depots in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv and in the Rivne region in the north-west were attacked with rockets.

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Olexander Senkewytsch, had previously reported several rocket hits.

Ukraine War: Bodies of 410 civilians found in Greater Kyiv

Update from April 3, 6:55 p.m .:

After the reports of the atrocities in Bucha, many politicians reacted with horror *.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian troops of genocide.

After the Russian troops withdrew, the bodies of 410 civilians from "the liberated areas in the Kyiv region were taken to safety," Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on Ukrainian television on Sunday.

"This is a hell that needs to be documented so the brutes who created it can be punished," she wrote on Facebook.

Experts have already forensically examined 140 dead people.

War in Ukraine: Russian Defense Ministry denies responsibility for Bucha massacre

Russia, on the other hand, has denied responsibility for the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

"During the period when the settlement was under the control of the Russian armed forces, not a single resident suffered from any acts of violence," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement released on Sunday.

The Russian soldiers left the Kiev suburb last Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry described the photos and videos of corpses in the streets of Bucha as "another production of the Kiev regime for the Western media".

The authorities in Moscow also indicated that the recordings could be fake – for example because one of the people lying on the side of the road is said to be moving his hand in a video recording.

However, this is wrong.

No hand movement can be seen in the corresponding video.

According to consistent media reports, the bodies are lying there.

In other photos taken on the same street by press photographers, among others, the corpses lie in exactly the same place.

Ukraine war: Human Rights Watch accuses Russian army of war crimes

Update from April 3, 3 p.m

.: The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Russian army of war crimes such as executions and looting in Ukraine.

A report published in Warsaw on Sunday cited cases around the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv.

According to the human rights activists, the basis for this is the questioning of ten eyewitnesses, victims and residents.

"The cases we have documented represent untold, willful acts of cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians," said Hugh Williamson, HRW Europe Director.

"Rape, murder and other acts of violence against people by Russian troops should be investigated as war crimes."

Cases listed include the March 4 shooting of a man in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

An eyewitness reported that five men were forced by soldiers to kneel on the side of the road.

Then the Russians pulled their T-shirts over their heads and shot one of them in the back of the head.

Suspected atrocities committed by the attackers were discovered in Bucha after the retreat of the Russian army.

Course of the Ukraine war: Selenskyj advisor makes prognosis at the end of the war

Update from April 3, 1:44 p.m

.: The Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych expects the Ukraine war to end in “two to three weeks”.

Everything now depends on the outcome of the fighting in the south-east of the country.

The Russian army has run out of reserves, he claimed, according to a report by news

, according to AFP .

There has long been speculation that Putin is under "time pressure" in the Ukraine war.

He wanted to end the war by the end of World War II celebrations.

In Russia these are on May 9th.

Killed civilians in the Ukraine war – Baerbock announces further Moscow sanctions

Update from April 3, 1:33 p.m

.: “Those responsible for these war crimes must be held accountable”: With these words, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has now condemned the latest reports about military action in Ukraine on Twitter.

The pictures of the "unrestrained violence" from Bucha were "unbearable", she continued.

Baerbock announced tougher sanctions against Moscow and further aid for the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine war: EU wants to investigate 'atrocities' in Kyiv suburbs

Update from April 3, 12:56 p.m

.: EU Council President Charles Michel added on Twitter that he wanted to further increase the economic pressure on Russia.

"More EU sanctions and support (for Ukraine) are on the way," he said on his profile.

The reason for his tweets are the current reports and pictures from Butscha.

Update from April 3, 11:49 a.m.:

According to Council President Charles Michel, the EU wants to support the investigation into “atrocities” by the Russian army in the suburbs of Kiev.

Michel was "shocked" on Twitter by pictures from Butscha

.

Michel spoke of a "massacre".

He announced that the EU would help "gather the necessary evidence for the prosecution in international courts".

After the retreat of the Russian army, numerous bodies were found in Bucha.

There were corpses on the streets too.

According to the authorities, 280 people have now been buried in mass graves.

Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak shared a photo on Twitter showing shot dead men.

One had his hands tied behind his back.

The authenticity could not be independently verified.

Ukraine war: Putin troops fire rockets at fuel depots near Odessa

Update from April 3, 11:21 a.m

.: The bombings continue: The Ukrainian side reported columns of smoke and flames over Odessa in the morning.

Now Putin's troops have used rockets to attack an oil refinery and three fuel depots near the three-million metropolis.

The port city is strategically important in the Ukraine war.

This was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday.

Moscow claims to attack only military targets in the neighboring country.

Ukraine, on the other hand, accuses Russia of also shelling civilian infrastructure and residential areas - the latest known example is Bucha

Ukraine war news: Putin soldiers probably refuse orders

Update April 3, 10:37 a.m

.: The fighting spirit of several Russian brigades is sinking.

Specifically, it is about the 20th Guards Army, the 3rd Motorized Infantry and the 58th Brigade.

This is reported by the

, citing a recent statement by the Ukrainian armed forces.

According to the report, the commanders refuse to fight.

The information could not be independently verified.

Ukraine War: Reporters report dead bodies on streets of small town near Kyiv

Update from April 3, 10:18 a.m

.: The horror of the alleged Russian atrocity in the small town of Bucha near Kiev

is great.

"All these people were shot," Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said, according to AFP.

The streets of the small town are littered with corpses.

There were cars on the streets in which "entire families were killed: children, women, grandmothers, men". 

Ukraine war news: Selenskyj adviser laments several dead civilians in Bucha

Update from April 3, 8:56 a.m

.: The war in Ukraine at night did not stop at civilians either.

Ukraine's presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak tweeted Saturday night about the death toll: "They weren't in the military, they had no weapons, they posed no threat," he wrote.

"How many such cases are occurring in the occupied territories?" he wrote, according to the dpa news agency.

Podoljak was referring to the recaptured city of Bucha northwest of Kyiv in the Ukraine War.

Dozens of dead civilians were discovered here on the streets.

Many of them were shot by Russian soldiers.

The information could not be independently verified.

AFP reporters also reported the incident at night.

They saw at least 20 bodies lying on a single street in Bucha.

The dead wore civilian clothes.

The authorities meanwhile buried around 280 civilians in Bucha in a mass grave.

The bodies could not be buried during the Russian occupation, according to the

from the administration.

War in Ukraine: Zelenskyi side reports recapture of Kyiv region

Update from April 3, 6:14 a.m

.: The Ukrainian government rated the "rapid withdrawal" of Russian troops from the greater Kiev area

 and the Chernihiv region further north as evidence of the change of strategy announced by Moscow.

The Russian army now wants to "retreat to the east and south and retain control of large occupied areas there," said Mikhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In the past few days, Russian troops had withdrawn from the suburbs of Irpin and Bucha, north-west of Kyiv, after their failed attempt to encircle the Ukrainian capital.

Ukraine War News: Zelenskyi side reports recapture of Kyiv region

Update from April 2, 9:00 p.m.:

According to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, the Ukrainian troops have brought the entire area around the Ukrainian capital Kiev back under their control.

The politician confirmed this in a post on Facebook.

"The entire Kyiv region has been cleared of attackers," Malyar said.

However, information like this is currently difficult to verify.

According to the government in Kyiv, it was also possible to evacuate thousands of people from the embattled cities in eastern Ukraine.

So 765 civilians could have left the city of Mariupol with their own vehicles.

Almost 500 civilians fled the city of Berdyansk, where ten buses are said to have started.

The evacuations are expected to continue on Sunday.

"We continue to work," wrote Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk on the Telegram news channel.

Ukraine War: Kyiv observes 'rapid withdrawal' of Russian troops

Update from April 2, 12:47 p.m .:

According to the Ukrainian government, the Russian armed forces in the north of the country are “rapidly withdrawing”.

The attackers would fall back in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, Mikhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Saturday.

Moscow's goal is obvious: it wants to withdraw its troops to the east and south and retain control of large occupied areas there.

You can read more about reactions from Germany to the Ukraine war in our current news ticker.

Update from April 2, 12:42 p.m .:

President Selenskyj has revoked the ranks of two Ukrainian generals*.

A major general was arrested.

Update from April 2, 10:25 a.m .:

The EU should prepare for more EU refugees, says migration expert Gerald Knaus.

In the

interview, he explains how the distribution* can succeed.

Meanwhile, the US is increasing its support for Ukraine.

Ukraine war: Zelenskyj addresses soldiers' parents in Russian - "Death for many young guys"

First report:

Kiev - The situation in Ukraine is still extremely tense.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj* expects violent Russian attacks in the east of his country.

“Russian soldiers are being brought to the Donbass.

Likewise in the direction of Kharkiv, ”said the head of state in a video speech on Saturday night.

"The situation in the east of our country remains very difficult."

The Ukrainian General Staff announced that Russian troops would be withdrawn from the exclusion zone around the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant and from adjacent areas in Belarus.

Apparently they were to be transferred to the Russian Belgorod region, from where the advance to Kharkiv would take place.

Ukraine War: Selenskyj reports more than 3000 rescued people from Mariupol

Meanwhile, according to Selenskyj, more than 3,000 people have been brought to safety from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"Today there were humanitarian corridors in three regions: Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia," he said in his nightly video address.

"We managed to save 6,266 people, including 3,071 people from Mariupol."

The Ukrainian President did not specify whether the people of Mariupol were taken directly out of the city surrounded by the Russian army or whether they first fled Mariupol on their own and were then taken to safety.

Mariupol has been under massive fire from Russian forces for weeks.

In Russian, Selenskyj also addressed the parents of the young men in Russia who were drafted into military service there on April 1st.

"Protect your children!" he said.

Parents should do everything to protect their sons from the army.

The risk is high that they will be sent to the war in Ukraine.

"That's guaranteed death for a lot of very young guys." You can read more about Germany's reactions to the Ukraine war in our news ticker.