War against Ukraine: That's the situation

Created: 2022-04-06 05:19

Ukrainian refugees sleep in a makeshift shelter at Lviv's main railway station.

© Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Bucha's atrocities in Russia's war against Ukraine are fueling the global debate: what to do about Moscow?

The developments at a glance.

KIEV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is calling for even tougher sanctions from the West against Russia because of the war atrocities committed in Bucha.

These must be appropriate to the severity of the "war crimes," Zelensky said.

The US government fears that further atrocities will be discovered and is already planning further punitive measures against Moscow, including an investment ban.

Europe is considering a ban on imports of coal and thus a partial embargo on Russian energy for the first time.

After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the area north-west of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, shots of corpses on the streets of the Bucha suburb caused international horror.

Ukraine blames Russian troops for the atrocities.

Moscow denies the allegations and speaks of a staging, but without proof or evidence.

Newspaper publishes video recording

The “New York Times” published video recordings that she verified that night, which are said to prove fatal shots by Russian soldiers at a civilian in Bucha.

The Ukrainian video comes from the end of February - shortly after the Russian attack on Ukraine.

According to local media, the military administration of Homostel - a neighboring town of Bucha - said around 400 residents were missing after the Russian occupation.

Several residents of Hostomel were also found in Bucha.

Ukrainian soldiers in Borodyanka sing a patriotic song.

© Vadim Ghirda/AP/dpa

From the US government's perspective, the Bucha atrocities may be just "the tip of the iceberg."

In areas of Ukraine to which there is still no access, Russian troops "probably also committed atrocities," government spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Two technicians are trying to fix the Internet in Bucha.

© Rodrigo Abd/AP/dpa

After talks with the Ukrainian head of state Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged support for the investigation of the atrocities, including in the form of a special payment to the International Criminal Court.

In the phone call, the two presidents also talked about rapes that Russian soldiers are said to have committed in Ukraine, according to the French government.

Again explosions in Lviv

Zelenskyy said in a video message distributed during the night that Ukrainian forces held most of the areas that Russia had tried to penetrate.

The situation is most difficult in the Donbass and in the Kharkiv region in the east of the country.

Russia is also in the process of sending more troops to Ukraine for a new offensive.

During the night, Ukrainian media reported explosions in the Lviv (Lemberg) regions in the west and Dnepropetrovsk in the southeast of the country.

There was no information about victims or damage for the time being.

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According to information from Kyiv, 3,800 people were rescued from the embattled areas on Tuesday, including around 2,200 people from the largely destroyed city of Mariupol and nearby Berdyansk.

According to the TASS agency, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that more than 18,600 people had been rescued from "dangerous districts" in Ukraine, the Luhansk region and Donetsk within 24 hours.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense announced further fighting around Mariupol, since Ukraine was ignoring requests to withdraw.

Lavrov: sabotage of negotiations with Russia

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine against sabotaging talks between Moscow and Kyiv to end the fighting.

Russia will not engage in a "cat-and-mouse game" like in previous years with the peace plan for eastern Ukraine, Lavrov said in a video distributed by his ministry.

He also said that the situation in Bucha was being used to distract from the negotiations.

USA: Will ban all investments in Russia

The West is preparing new punitive measures against Moscow because of the war atrocities.

US government spokeswoman Psaki not only spoke of a ban on all new investments in Russia.

In addition, existing sanctions against Russian banks and state-owned companies are to be tightened and other people from the Russian leadership and their family members are to be subject to punitive measures.

The sanctions would be introduced in close coordination with partners in Europe and the other countries of the G7 group.

People cycle past a destroyed residential building in Borodyanka.

© Vadim Ghirda/AP/dpa

The EU Commission also proposed an import ban on Russian coal for the first time on Wednesday.

Economics Minister Robert Habeck signaled approval, although Germany had previously opposed an immediate embargo on Russian energy imports for fear of economic turbulence.

The Federation of German Industries also backed new sanction plans.

"The atrocities in Butscha call for a decisive, unequivocal reaction from the West," said BDI President Siegfried Russwurm of the German Press Agency.

However, implementing a coal embargo is not easy.

Klingbeil: Check further arms deliveries to Ukraine

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil spoke out in favor of a coal embargo and announced that the federal government would also examine further arms deliveries to Ukraine.

"We have just seen in these days what a terrible war criminal Putin is, that must not remain without consequences," said Klingbeil on the "RTL Direkt" program on Tuesday evening.

It must be checked at high speed what can still be delivered.

That's going to be important today

The Bundestag debates the atrocities in Bucha.

Before that, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) will be questioned by Parliament.

In the evening, the foreign ministers of the 30 NATO countries meet in Brussels.

Among other things, it is about strengthening NATO's eastern flank.

The US Chief of Staff Mark Milley had already campaigned for this in the US Congress.

Russia categorically rejects this.

dpa