HERE ARE THE latest developments in the war in Ukraine today:
Pictured: A woman in a church damaged in a Russian attack on the town of Makarov
Austria’s chancellor is the first European leader to visit Moscow since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, where he’s expected to raise alleged war crimes in devastated areas that were under Russian occupation, including the town of Bucha.
Austria is in the EU but not in Nato. Nehammer’s spokesperson said Brussels, Berlin and Kyiv had been informed about the trip to Moscow.
The chancellor decided to organise the meeting after he met Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday, his office said.
He wants “to do everything so that progress towards peace can be made” even if the chances of success are minimal.
“We are militarily neutral, but have a clear stance on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” Nehammer tweeted.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney says Ireland believes there needs to be a “maximalist” approach to Russian sanctions, including an embargo on oil imports.
Arriving at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, he said oil imports are “certainly contributing to financing this war and in our view, we need to cut off that financing of war, even though it creates huge challenges and problems for the EU to solve together”.
Kyiv is preparing for a ramped-up Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In his most recent nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian troops “will move to even larger operations in the east of our state”.
He accused Russia of trying to evade responsibility for war crimes.
Evidence of the killing of civilians has mounted in towns that Russian troops have withdrawn from, such as Bucha and Borodyanka.
“When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologise, adapt to reality and learn, they turn into monsters,” Zelenskyy said last night.
“And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that it is the world that has to adapt to them.”
Russia continued to strike Ukraine over the weekend, taking civilian lives and hindering evacuations.
12 people were killed in and around northeast Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleg Synegubov.
“The Russian army continues to wage war on civilians due to a lack of victories at the front,” Synegubov said on Telegram.
In Dnipro, an industrial city of around a million inhabitants, Russian missiles nearly destroyed the local airport, causing an unknown number of casualties, local authorities said.
Lugansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said the missile strike on a railway station in the city of Kramatorsk on Friday, which killed 57 people, had left many afraid to flee. Russia has denied involvement in the strike.
He estimated just 20 to 25% of the local population remained, with “fewer and fewer” now evacuating.
Over the weekend, nearly 50 wounded and elderly patients were transported from the east in a hospital train by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the first such evacuation since the attack on the Kramatorsk station.
Today, the Chairman of the Board of Ukrainian Railways Alexander Kamyshin said another railway station in the east had been attacked overnight.
“They continue to aim at the railway infrastructure,” he said.
Here’s the latest intelligence update from the UK’s ministry of defence:
Ukraine says it has discovered 1,222 bodies in Bucha and other towns around the capital Kyiv from which the Russian army has retreated.
Yesterday, the United Nations said 4,232 civilian casualties have been recorded in Ukraine to date.
At least 1,793 civilians have been killed and 2,439 injured.
EU foreign ministers are meeting to discuss a sixth round of sanctions on Russia.
EU members are divided on whether to boycott of its Russian oil and gas – sanctions that would hit Russia the hardest – but diplomats acknowledge there are discussions about the measures.
During a visit to Kyiv on Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU is now engaged in “rolling sanctions” against Russia to increasingly punish President Vladimir Putin.
“We are mobilising our economic power to make Putin pay a very, very heavy price,” she said.
“We have imposed five waves of unprecedented sanctions against Russia. And we are already preparing the next wave.”
The Russian journalist who protested against the war on state TV is now working for a German newspaper.
Die Welt has hired Marina Ovsyannikova, 43, the journalist who help up a poster reading “No War” during a prime-time news broadcast on Russia’s Channel One television.
She is “now a freelance correspondent for Die Welt, reporting from Ukraine and Russia, among other places”, the newspaper said in a statement.
She will write for the newspaper as well as being a regular contributor to its TV news channel, it said.
While an editor at Russia’s Channel One television, Ovsyannikova entered the set of its flagship evening news show holding the No War poster.
She was detained and questioned for 14 hours before being released and ordered to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles ($280 USD).
She could face further prosecution, risking years in prison under draconian new laws.
Ovsyannikova said she was quitting her job but did not accept an offer from President Emmanuel Macron of asylum in France, saying she wanted to stay in Russia.
Ulf Poschardt, editor-in-chief of Die Welt, praised Ovsyannikova’s “courage at a decisive moment” and said she had “defended the most important journalistic virtues — despite the threat of state repression”.
Ovsyannikova said Die Welt “stands for what is being defended so vehemently by the courageous people on the ground in Ukraine right now: for freedom”.
“I see it as my task as a journalist to stand up for this freedom,” she said.
My colleague Tadgh McNally is here for the next while to take you through the latest updates.
Zelenskyy says tens of thousands killed in Mariupol
Speaking to South Korea’s National Assembly today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russian forces have “completely destroyed” the city of Mariupol, leaving “tens of thousands” of people dead.
In a video link address to South Korean politicians, Zelenskyy said:
The Russians completely destroyed Mariupol and burned it to ashes. At least tens of thousands of Mariupol citizens must have been killed.
But for Russia, Mariupol is just an example. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve seen a lot of destruction like this in the 20th century.
Zelenskyy called on South Korea to provide additional military support, calling for aeroplanes and tanks to be provided.
‘Last battle’ for Mariupol
Further to this, some Ukrainian armed forces have said that they are preparing for a “last battle” for Mariupol, with a brigade saying that ammunition is low.
In a Facebook post by the 36th marine brigade of the Ukrainian army, they said that the last battle will likely be today.
“Today will probably be the last battle, as the ammunition is running out,” said the post.
It’s death for some of us, and captivity for the rest.
The post added that their forces had been “pushed back” and “surrounded” Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia has fired nearly 2,000 rockets during his address to South Korea’s parliament.
My colleague, Lauren Boland is back to keep you updated on more updates on Ukraine this afternoon.
Hi all, Lauren here again.
Let’s recap what’s happened so far today:
Pictured: A black and white wedding photo lies among rubble in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine
Three EU countries are giving around €2.5 million to the International Criminal Court as it investigates alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Atrocities uncovered in the town of Bucha and a deadly missile attack on a crowded train station in Kramatorsk last week have spurred moves to help the probe, which is being led by Ukraine’s prosecution service with forensic experts deployed from several EU countries.
The EU announced last week it was giving €7.5 million to train Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes.
The foreign ministers of Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have now announced their funding shortly after meeting ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan with other EU members.
Khan announced in early March, a week after the invasion began, that the ICC had opened active investigations into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
The German and Dutch governments will each donate €1 million, while Sweden will give €485,000.
Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said the view of ministers is that the Hague-based ICC was the best-placed institution to bring the perpetrators of alleged war crimes in Ukraine to justice.
“Each of the member states is truly committed to make sure justice is being done… given the horrible images and the clear crimes that that that we’ve all seen on television that are truly appalling,” he said.
Ukraine’s government and some EU countries have said Russia has committed war crimes. Moscow denies the accusations.
Top EU officials, however, have been more prudent, observing due process and preferring to await the results of the war crimes investigations.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Bucha on Friday, said as she left Ukraine: “If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime?”
Pictured: The Chernihiv Olympic Sports Training Centre destroyed by Russian shelling
Croatia is expelling 24 Russian diplomats and embassy staff.
Its foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to voice the “strongest condemnation of the brutal aggression against Ukraine and numerous crimes”.
18 Russian diplomats and six administrative staff have been ordered to leave Croatia.
Last month, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes in Ukraine and hoped that the “autocratic regime will not last long”.
The Russian embassy in Zagreb called the comment “absolutely unacceptable”.
Croatia is a member of both Nato and the EU. It follows mutilple other EU countries have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats for alleged spying or “national security reasons”.
Up to 300,000 square kilometres of Ukraine will need to be checked for mines and de-mined as necessary in the destruction Russia leaves behind, the Kyiv Independent reports.
As EU foreign ministers arrived at the Foreign Affairs Council this morning, here’s what some of them on the continent had to say about further sanctions.
(You can find Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney’s comments earlier in this liveblog.)
Germany’s Annalena Baerbock: “We have already made clear as the German federal government that there will be a complete withdrawal from fossil energy, starting with coal, then oil and gas.”
“In order to implement this together in the European Union, we need a jointly agreed plan to phase out fossil energies completely in the European Union.”
Czechia’s Jan Lipavsky: The country wants to see the “toughest sanctions we can implement on Russia”.
“What needs to happen [for the] EU to have an embargo on oil and gas and other commodities?”
Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis: “Go to Bucha and see for yourselves why do we need to impose sanctions.”
He welcomed discussion around a sixth round of sanctions that he said included “oil options”.
“That means that the work has already begun on bringing the consensus together, and I hope that this time it works.”
Ukraine expects that Russia will launch a major offensive in the east of the country “soon”, according defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk.
“The enemy has almost finished preparation for assault on the east, the attack will begin soon,” he said.
It’s believed that Russia intends to try to create a land link between occupied Crimea and the Russian-backed separatist areas of Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas region.
A spokesperson for the Austrian government has confirmed that the meeting between Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Russian President Vladimir Putin is now underway.
Austria’s foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg said earlier today that the chancellor will tell Putin he “is isolating Russia, that he will lose this war morally, and that he is doing everything wrong that can be done wrong”.
The trip was aimed at asking for humanitarian corridors to be set up to evacuate civilians trapped in places such as Mariupol, and for “international humanitarian organisations to be able to conduct their work,” he said.
Schallenberg said the chancellor decided to go to Moscow following a visit to Kyiv on Saturday and talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
That’s it from me for today, I’m handing over to my colleague Jane Moore.
Hello, Jane Moore here taking over the Liveblog for the next while.
The Ukrainian embassy in Washington has claimed that over 5,800 “crimes of aggression and war crimes” have been committed by Russian forces since the invasion began.
The country’s US embassy said on social media that a total of 5,889 offences have been registered by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
5889 crimes of aggression and war crimes by Russia have been already registered by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
— UKR Embassy in USA (@UKRintheUSA) April 11, 2022
Russian soldier = war criminal#StopRussianAggression #StopRussianWar pic.twitter.com/gl0m3QdMpd
A pro-Russia rebel leader has said that separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have taken control of the port of the strategic city of Mariupol, Russian news agencies reported.
“Regarding the port of Mariupol, it is already under our control,” Denis Pushilin, leader of the separatists in the breakaway Donetsk region, said in comments reported by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine has said that 92 civilians, including 17 children, are still in hospital after being injured in a rocket strike on a train station being used to evacuate civilians in eastern Ukraine.
More than 50 people were killed and over 100 others were injured in the strike on the station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Friday.
In a statement on Telegram, Valentyn Reznichenko said two children and four adults have been discharged from hospital.
“We took the wounded to our region, who could be transported. Doctors do not leave children and adults around the clock. We have everything for their treatment,” he said.
Borrell: Russia ‘provoking hunger in the world’ with Ukraine war
The EU’s top diplomat has said that Russia is responsible for an escalating global food crisis through its war in Ukraine, notably by bombing wheat stocks and preventing ships from carrying grain abroad.
“They are causing scarcity. They are bombing Ukrainian cities and provoking hunger in the world. They are provoking hunger in our world,” Josep Borrell told a media conference after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Austria’s Nehammer holds ‘direct, hard’ talks with Putin
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer met Vladimir Putin today, the first European leader to visit the Russian president since the start of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Just over an hour after the meeting started at around 4.00pm local time (1.00pm GMT) in Putin’s residence in Moscow, Nehammer’s office sent out a statement saying that it had ended.
In the statement, Nehammer said the meeting was not “a visit of friendship,” adding that conversation between the two men had been “direct, open and hard”.
I mentioned the serious war crimes in Bucha and other locations and stressed that all those responsible have to be brought to justice.
Russia denies its forces have committed war crimes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Austrian side had requested the meeting be held behind closed doors.
No joint press conference will be held but Nehammer is expected to address reporters alone at around 7.00pm local time (4.00pm GMT).
On the topic of sanctions Nehammer said he had “told President Putin very clearly that the sanctions will remain and be intensified as long as people keep dying in Ukraine”.
Nehammer also told Putin of the “urgent” need for humanitarian corridors “to bring water and food into besieged towns and (to) remove women, children and the injured”.
“I will now inform our European partners about the conversation and discuss further steps,” he said.
Nehammer’s trip to Moscow follows a visit to Kyiv on Saturday where he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
UN officials say Ukraine children, women need more protection
Top officials at the United Nations have called for both an investigation into Russia’s violence against women during its invasion of Ukraine, and the protection of children in the conflict.
“This war must stop. Now,” Sima Bahous, director of the UN women’s agency, told a meeting of the Security Council in New York.
We are increasingly hearing of rape and sexual violence. These allegations must be independently investigated to ensure justice and accountability.
Bahous, who recently returned from a trip to the region, said the combination of “mass displacement with the large presence of conscripts and mercenaries, and the brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians, has raised all red flags.”
It was not clear if the Security Council, on which Russia is a veto-wielding permanent member, would agree to any investigation.
Manuel Fontaine, director of emergency programs at UNICEF, also called for an end to the war and warned of the risk to children of famine.
“Of the 3.2 million children estimated to have remained in their homes, nearly half may be at risk of not having enough food,” he told the council.
“The situation is even worse in cities like Mariupol and Kherson, where children and their families have now gone weeks without running water and sanitation services, a regular supply of food, and medical care.”
Prior to the meeting, Mona Juul, Norway’s ambassador to the UN, raised the war’s impact on education for many Ukrainian children.
“According to the UN, 5.7 million children are affected by the nationwide closure of education facilities,” she told reporters.
Schools are important, not only for the sake of education – but for protecting children: from violence, sexual abuse, and even trafficking.
Children are innocent. Always. Stop killing them. Stop destroying their future. Stop the war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that negotiations with Ukraine are ongoing, but that Russia won’t stop its attacks.
Speaking to Russian media, Lavrov said he saw no reason not to continue negotiations with Ukraine, but added that Russia does not intend to pause hostilities during the talks.
“I see no reason why we cannot continue their [negotiations], although the Ukrainian side turns 180 degrees every time, rejecting what it itself proposed a few days ago, for example. But we are patient and persistent people,” he said.
He also denied that Russia was committing war crimes, calling the discovery of mass graves “staged.”
⚡️ Lavrov: Russia won't stop war in Ukraine amid negotiations.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 11, 2022
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that negotiations were ongoing but that Russia won’t stop its attacks.
He also denied that Russia was committing war crimes, calling the mass graves “staged.”
Russia could triple troop numbers in bid to take Donbas
Vladimir Putin is expected to double or even possibly triple the number of Russian troops in the Donbas as the Russian president resorts to a “diminished” invasion strategy, according to Western officials.
The amassing of troops, however, will not necessarily give Moscow an advantage over Ukraine, with Kyiv’s forces having had success in pushing back insurgents in the east of the country, they said.
The Russian leader has been forced to “diminish considerably” the plan in Ukraine, one official said, amid suggestions Putin wants to take the Donbas region before 9 May – when Russia traditionally marks the Soviet Union’s World War Two victory against Nazi Germany with military parades in Moscow – in an attempt to claim victory for his so-called “special operation”.
Another official said: “I would imagine that, at outside estimates, what you’re looking at is a force which is probably the Russians looking to double or even treble the amount of force that they bring into that Donbas area.
But I would note that that is going to take some considerable time to bring them up to that sort of number.
And even when they bring themselves to that number, there is a question over how effectively they can bring those forces into the battle.
The Russians have shown themselves to be not very effective in this invasion as to being able to use their numerical advantage effectively to actually bring about a decisive engagement.
Western officials said they hoped that, with Russia’s military regrouping and moving east, more European leaders could travel to Kyiv to show solidarity “on the ground” with Ukraine.
While Russian troops are poorly-led and ill-disciplined, they are also becoming desensitised by the war, an official said, leading to “revolting” behaviour, such as the “targeting of civilians”.
The next phase of the conflict is expected to see focus shift to the south east of Ukraine, although it is not known when a fresh assault will commence.
Biden pushes Modi to take a harder line against Russia over Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has spoken on a video link with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing the countries’ shared values as the US has pushed India and others to take a harder line against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden opened the conversation by emphasising the defence partnership between the two countries and by saying the US and India are going to “continue our close consultation on how to manage the destabilising effects of this Russian war”.
“The root of our partnership is a deep connection between our people, ties of family, of friendship and of shared values,” the US president said.
India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way”.
Modi called the situation in Ukraine “very worrying” and he noted that an Indian student lost his life during the war. He said he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appealing to both of them for peace.
India has condemned the killings uncovered in the city of Bucha and has called for an independent investigation.
Still, India has refrained from some efforts to hold Russia accountable for its invasion. India abstained when the UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the US and Ukraine have called war crimes.
The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
India continues to purchase Russian energy supplies, despite pressure from Western countries to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. The US has also considered sanctions on India for its recent purchase of advanced Russian air defence systems.
Last month, the state-run Indian Oil Corporation bought three million barrels of crude from Russia to secure its needs, resisting entreaties from the West to avoid such purchases. India isn’t alone in buying Russian energy, however. Several European allies such as Germany have continued to do so, despite public pressure to end these contracts.
Indian media reports said Russia was offering a discount on oil purchases of 20% below global benchmark prices.
Iraq is India’s top supplier, with a 27% share. Saudi Arabia is second at around 17%, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 13% and the U.S. at 9%, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Biden and Modi last spoke in March.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has said that Russia’s war in Ukraine could almost halve world trade growth this year and drag down global GDP growth too.
The WTO said that the Russian invasion had not only created a humanitarian crisis of “immense proportions” but had also dealt a “severe blow” to the global economy.
The Geneva-based global trade body said that while the shares of Russia and Ukraine in overall world trade and output are relatively small, they are important suppliers of essential products, notably food and energy.
“Using a global economic simulation model, the secretariat projects that the crisis could lower global GDP growth by 0.7 to 1.3 percentage points, bringing growth to somewhere between 3.1 percent and 3.7 percent for 2022,” the WTO said.
“The model also projects that global trade growth this year could be cut almost in half from the 4.7 percent the WTO forecasted last October to between 2.4 percent and three percent.”
The WTO said that some regions would be more strongly affected by the war than others.
Europe is the main destination for both Russian and Ukrainian exports and therefore is likely to experience the heaviest economic impact, the organisation said.
Reduced shipments of grains and other foodstuffs will boost the prices of agricultural goods, with negative consequences for food security in poorer regions, it added.
“The brunt of the suffering and destruction are being felt by the people of Ukraine themselves but the costs in terms of reduced trade and output are likely to be felt by people around the world through higher food and energy prices and reduced availability of goods exported by Russia and Ukraine,” the WTO study said.
Poorer countries are at high risk from the war, since they tend to spend a larger fraction of their incomes on food compared to richer countries.
This could impact political stability.
Pictured: Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a house after a Russian attack in Kharkiv
Zelenskyy asks to address African Union
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy has requested to address the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall has said.
Sall, the current AU chairman, tweeted that he and Zelenksyy had discussed over the phone the economic impact of the war in Ukraine and “the need to favour dialogue for a negotiated outcome to the conflict”.
The Ukrainian president also asked to address the AU, Sall said.
Had a phone conversation with @_AfricanUnion Chairman, 🇸🇳 President @Macky_Sall. Noted the statement of @_AfricanUnion dated 24.02 on respect for 🇺🇦’s sovereignty & territorial integrity. Informed about our struggle against the invasion & heinous crimes of the Russian aggressor
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 11, 2022
Je remercie le Pdt @ZelenskyyUa pour son appel de ce jour. Nous avons évoqué l’impact de la Guerre en Ukraine sur l’économie mondiale et la nécessité de privilégier le dialogue pour une issue négociée du conflit. J’ai noté également sa demande de faire une communication à l’UA.
— Macky Sall (@Macky_Sall) April 11, 2022
The request comes amid a divided African response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
58 countries abstained from an 7 April vote in the United Nations General Assembly that suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over its invasion.
Africa accounted for 24 of the abstaining countries, which included Senegal. Nine other African countries voted in favour of the resolution, and nine voted against.
The delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ukraine has said they evacuated 11 civilians from a shelter in the eastern city of #Severodonetsk.
In a post on Twitter, the ICRC said the civilians had been staying in the shelter for over a month, adding that they were “severely sick” and living in poor conditions.
The civilians were evacuated to Dnipro.
They were severely sick, living poor conditions, some elderly, others with physical disabilities. pic.twitter.com/SyL7ZsAUNd
— ICRC Ukraine (@ICRC_ua) April 11, 2022
Lithuania’s prime minister Ingrida Simonyte has toured the war-shattered Ukrainian town of Borodianka near Kyiv as rescue crews found more bodies under the rubble after Russia’s occupation.
“No words could possibly describe what I saw and felt there, witnessing only a tiny part of all the evidence of war crimes, the crimes against humanity that Russia committed in Ukraine,” Simonyte said in a statement.
“The images of the ruined Ukrainian towns and cities, and the testimonies of the survivors, reveal the real face of Russia.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal posted pictures of him showing Simonyte the ruins of bombed-out apartment buildings in the small town some 50 kilometres northwest of the Ukrainian capital.
“Borodianka is one of the painful wounds on the body of Ukraine,” he wrote on Telegram.
The legacy of the occupation by the Russian barbarians is terrifying.
The Lithuanian statement said Simonyte discussed the possibility of sending a forensic and war crime investigation team to Ukraine.
“We will bring to justice all those responsible for these atrocities,” Shmygal wrote.
Borodianka, which had a population of around 13,000 prior to the war, was occupied by Russian forces for several weeks before their retreat late last month.
Ukraine’s emergency service said rescue workers trawling through the rubble of two apartment blocks uncovered another seven bodies today.
Today, my visit in Ukraine started in Borodyanka.
— Ingrida Šimonytė (@IngridaSimonyte) April 11, 2022
No words could possibly describe what I saw and felt here. pic.twitter.com/Z1Bz0FBrhT
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned last week that the destruction in Borodianka was “much more horrific” than the situation in the nearby town of Bucha.
Violence in the town of Bucha, where authorities say hundreds were killed – including some found with their hands bound – has become a byword for allegations of brutality inflicted under Russian occupation.
Simonyte is the latest in a stream of foreign leaders to visit Kyiv since Russian forces were pushed back as the West looks to show its support for Ukraine in the face of Moscow’s onslaught.
Lithuania, along with its ex-Soviet neighbours Estonia and Latvia in the Baltics, has been leading calls inside the European Union for the bloc to impose tougher measures against Russia.
“As always, you can count on Lithuania’s strong voice in support of further strengthening of the EU sanctions on Russia,” Simonyte said.
“All Russian banks must be disconnected from SWIFT, imports of Russian energy must stop, and any business ties with Russia must eventually cease.”
Russian speaker proposes stripping ‘traitors’ of citizenship
The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament has demanded that “traitors” opposed to Moscow’s Ukraine offensive lose their citizenship, giving the example of the journalist who brandished an anti-intervention placard on TV.
“The vast majority of our citizens support the special military operation in Ukraine, they understand its need for the security of our country and our nation. But there are also those who behave with cowardice, with treachery,” said Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
“Unfortunately, for such ‘citizens of the Russian Federation’, there is no procedure for revoking citizenship and preventing them from entering our country. But maybe that would be good,” he said on his Telegram channel.
“What do you think?” he asked his followers.
To illustrate his point, Volodin cited the case of journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who shot to fame in mid-March by holding up a sign saying “No to war” live on television.
Ovsiannikova, who left her job with the Russian public television channel Pervy Kanal, has become a correspondent in Ukraine and Russia for the German daily Die Welt.
“Now she will work for a NATO country, justify arms deliveries to Ukrainian neo-Nazis, send foreign mercenaries to fight our soldiers and defend sanctions against Russia,” Volodin said.
A radical measure such as stripping citizenship is unlikely to take effect without President Vladimir Putin’s approval.
But Volodin’s statements illustrate the increasingly hostile climate in Russia against any voice that is against Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, under way since 24 February.
The Kremlin has stepped up its crackdown in recent weeks, arresting thousands of protesters, blocking independent media and social networks.
Opponents of the military intervention have been constantly demonised and critics have seen the doors of their homes smeared with threatening messages.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said it has detained a Russian intelligence agent who worked in the former Ukrainian president’s administration and other government agencies.
In a statement, the SBU said the agent worked for ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s administration and the General Staff, and that his task was to get classified information.
The SBU said the man admitted that he has worked for the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation since 2014.
Контррозвідка СБУ затримала агента російських спецслужб, який зробив в Україні серйозну кар’єру – працював у Адміністрації колишнього президента та інших держструктурах.
— СБ України (@ServiceSsu) April 11, 2022
Відео допиту агента ➡️ https://t.co/7xTCyc1OjS pic.twitter.com/FwLgtY8Ih0
Ukrainian refugees will be asked by Irish authorities to document their war experiences to help war crime investigations.
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, speaking at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) conference in Killarney, said that they had been liaising with German officials to develop the strategy in how to deal with the witness statements of refugees.
The Minister explained that a specialist questionnaire had been developed and that this will be used to harvest the experiences of people from Ukraine who say they experienced Russian war crimes.
More than 21,000 refugees have arrived in Ireland since the start of the war.
You can read the full story on The Journal here.
Finding a consensus proved difficult as EU foreign ministers held discussions on a sixth round of sanctions against Russia today.
“Nothing is off the table, including sanctions on oil and gas,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters after the meeting. “But today, no decision was taken.”
France expels Russians suspected of working as spies
France has announced that it’s expelling six Russians suspected of working as spies under diplomatic cover in Paris.
The French foreign ministry has announced that intelligence services uncovered a clandestine operation.
“Six Russian agents operating under diplomatic cover whose activities were found to be contrary to our national interests have been declared persona non grata,” it said in a statement.
It did not give details on the nature of the operation uncovered by the DGSI domestic intelligence service.
Pentagon says Russians reinforcing in Donbas
Pentagon officials say Russian forces are reinforcing around the Donbas but have not yet launched an offensive to seize control of the disputed region.
“They’re repositioning, they’re refocusing on the Donbas,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters today.
Kirby said a convoy of vehicles had been observed heading for the town of Izyum but “it’s not clear to us how many vehicles are in this convoy and what exactly they’re bringing.
“It does seem to be a mix of personnel-carrying vehicles as well as armored vehicles and maybe some artillery,” he said.
Contains additional reporting by AFP and Press Association
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