Ukraine: What happened today, Sunday, April 3?
A woman cries while waiting along with others for distribution of food products in the village of Motyzhyn, Ukraine, which was until recently under the control of the Russian military. Picture: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda
Ukraine’s prosecutor-general says the bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces.
Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, says on Facebook that the bodies were removed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
She says 140 of them have undergone examination by prosecutors and other specialists.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says Sunday the mayor of the village of Motyzhyn, in the Kyiv region, was murdered while being held by Russian forces.
Vereshchuk added that there are 11 mayors and community heads in Russian captivity across Ukraine.
In a video address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the allegedly targeted killings of civilians in towns the Russians occupied and called them “freaks who do not know how to do otherwise.”Â
He warned that more atrocities may be revealed if Russian forces are driven out of other occupied areas.
Mr Zelenskyy has said the Russian attacks in Ukraine amount to genocide.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has rejected the claims of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv.
International leaders have condemned the reported attacks on the Kyiv-area towns after harrowing accounts from civilians and graphic images of bodies with hands tied behind their backs.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister briefed Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney on the events that have unfolded in Bucha in a phone call tonight.
"Shocking scenes of atrocities in Ukraine by Russian forces must be fully documented and pursued by an International Court," Mr Coveney wrote on Twitter.
Germany's Foreign Minister said on Sunday Russia must pay for its "war crimes" in Bucha in the form of more severe sanctions, denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin's "uninhibited violence".
"The images from Bucha are unbearable, Putin's uninhibited violence is extinguishing innocent families and knows no boundaries," Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that the images coming from Bucha were "unbearable".
"The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes," Macron added, expressing his compassion for the victims and his solidarity with Ukrainians.
The EU is working on further sanctions on Russia but any additional measures will not affect the energy sector, the bloc's Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Saturday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said images of dead Ukrainian civilians found in the town of Bucha after Russian troops left were a "punch in the gut" and those responsible for any war crimes must be held accountable.
Boris Johnson has condemned Russia’s “despicable attacks” against Ukrainian civilians in Irpin and Bucha, adding that “we will not rest until justice is served”.
The British Prime Minister said “no denial or disinformation from the Kremlin” can conceal that President Vladimir Putin is “desperate” and “his invasion is failing”.
Residents of Ukraine’s besieged south-eastern coast were awaiting possible evacuation on Sunday as the country’s president said Russia’s obsession with capturing a key port city has left it weakened and created opportunities for his troops.
Two loud explosions were heard in Odesa on the Black Sea early on Sunday and black smoke was seen rising above the city, Ukraine’s largest port and headquarters of its navy.
“Odesa was attacked from the air. Some missiles were shot down by air defence,” the city council said in a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app.
It said fires were reported in some areas but gave no indication what was hit in the attack.
With Mariupol, to the east of Odesa, squarely in Russia’s crosshairs, Ukraine insists it has gained a leg up elsewhere in the country, leading to troops retaking territory north of the capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces departed.
However, inside Mariupol, which has been surrounded by Russian forces for more than a month and suffered by some of the war’s worst attacks, conditions remain dire and prospects for escape uncertain.
Lithuania says it has cut itself off entirely from gas imports from Russia, apparently becoming the first of the European Union’s 27 nations using Russian gas to break its energy dependence on Moscow.
“Seeking full energy independence from Russian gas, in response to Russia’s energy blackmail in Europe and the war in Ukraine, Lithuania has completely abandoned Russian gas,” Lithuania’s energy ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.
The ministry added that the measure took effect at the beginning of April.
Lithuania managed to reduce imports of Russian gas to zero on Saturday, a move seen as a milestone in achieving energy independence in the former Soviet republic of 2.8 million, the ministry said.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda wrote on Twitter: “From this month on — no more Russian gas in Lithuania.Â
"Years ago, my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the aggressor. If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too!”
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