Pusova, Ukraine, April 10 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian official said a recent pit had been discovered after Russian forces withdrew from the northern part of the capital. Attack in the East.
Taras Didych, leader of the Dmytrivka community that includes Pusova, said a grave with dozens of bodies was found in a ditch near a petrol station before Ukrainian television.
“Right now, as we are talking, we are digging up the two bodies of the slain villagers. I can not release any other details,” Ditch told Reuters by phone.
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“There are other people we can not find. They may be in different places, but this does not alleviate the pain of losing loved ones.”
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
The rising number of civilian casualties has provoked widespread international condemnation and new sanctions, especially in the city of Pucha in northwestern Kiev, where hundreds of people were killed by Russian forces until a week ago.
Moscow has denied allegations of war crimes in Ukraine and the West. It has refused to target civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to militarize and “reduce” its southern neighbors. Ukraine and the West have rejected this as an unfounded excuse for war.
Russia has failed to capture any major cities since the February 24 invasion, but Ukraine says Russia is mobilizing its forces in the east for a major offensive and forcing people to flee.
Russia’s defense ministry says it is seeking to establish a land route from Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, and from the eastern Donbass region of pro-Moscow separatists.
The Russian armed forces expect to strengthen the number of troops with personnel who have been discharged from military service since 2012, it said in a routine intelligence update on Sunday.
Satellite images released by the US private company Maxar on April 8 showed armored vehicles and trucks moving in a military convoy heading south to Donbass, 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Kharkiv.
Some cities in the east have been hit by heavy shelling, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a speech late Saturday that Russia’s use of force was “inevitably a catastrophe that strikes everyone.”
Natalia Titova, 62, responds when she is shown her house destroyed by a Russian shelling during a Russian-Ukrainian invasion of Chernihiv, Ukraine, on April 9, 2022. As Natalia and her family stayed in the basement, she said, “When our house was hit by a rocket, we ran into the street, and it was so scary.” REUTERS / Zohra Bensemra
Ukraine is ready to fight for victory as it seeks a diplomatic end to the war, and Russia has renewed its appeal to Western allies for a total embargo on energy supplies and more weapons for Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Gewenski in Kiev on Saturday and pledged support for armored vehicles and anti-ship missile systems, as well as support for World Bank loans and Britain’s commitment to abstain from using Russian fossil fuels. read more
The European Union (EU), which on Friday banned Russian coal imports from other countries, has not yet touched on oil and gas imports from Russia. read more
Ukraine announced a full embargo on imports from Russia late on Saturday, bringing in $ 6 billion in annual imports from its main trading partner before the war.
“The enemy’s budget will not receive this funding, which will reduce the ability to finance the war,” Economy Minister Yulia Sverdenko wrote on Facebook.
Johnson was the latest foreign leader to visit Kiev, marking a return to normalcy in the capital after Russian forces withdrew from the region. Italy says it plans to reopen its embassy this month.
Nine trains
But in the east, after a missile struck a train station in the town of Gramadorsk in the Donetsk region, calls for a public evacuation by Ukrainian officials trying to evacuate women, children and the elderly became more urgent.
Ukrainian officials say more than 50 people have been killed in Friday’s strike.
Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, saying it was only used by the Ukrainian military. The United States believes that Russian forces are to blame.
The details of the attack could not be verified by Reuters.
Residents of the Luhansk region will have to board nine trains on Sunday, the region’s governor Sergei Kaitoi wrote in the Telegram news service.
Russia’s Invasion A quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people have fled their homes, more than 4 million have fled abroad, cities have been reduced to rubble and thousands killed or injured.
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Report by Reuters Bureau Edited by Michael Perry and Tomasz Janowski Edited by Robert Brussel and Francis Kerry
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