Ukrainians, Europeans accuse Russians of committing atrocities

Lviv,Ukraine

UKRAINIAN and European officials expressed outrage on Sunday (Apr 3) at what they said were atrocities committed by Russian forces near Kyiv before they withdrew from the region to focus their attacks elsewhere.

The mayor of Bucha, a town 37km north-west of the capital, said on Saturday that 300 residents had been killed during a month-long occupation by the Russian army. Victims were seen by Reuters in a mass grave and still lying on the streets.

Ukraine said on Saturday its forces had retaken all areas around the capital, reclaiming complete control of the region for the first time since Russia launched its invasion on Feb 24.

Russia has previously denied targeting civilians and rejected allegations of war crimes in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops had found the bodies of women who had been raped and set alight as well as the bodies of local officials and children.

"There are murdered men whose bodies bear signs of torture. Their hands were tied and they were killed by shots to the back of the head," Oleksiy Arestovich told Ukrainian television.

Senior European officials said any potential war crimes should be investigated.

Missiles struck near Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Sunday, with Russia saying it had destroyed an oil refinery used by the Ukrainian military.

In Odesa, the city council said "critical infrastructure facilities" were hit. No casualties were reported.

Russia's defence ministry said strikes by its military destroyed an oil refinery and 3 fuel storage facilities near Odesa. It said the facilities were used to supply Ukrainian troops near the city of Mykolaiv.

Odesa, on the Black Sea, is the main base for Ukraine's navy. It has been targeted by Russian forces seeking a land corridor to Transdniestria, a Russian-speaking breakaway province of Moldova which hosts Russian troops.

Evacuation efforts in Mariupol and nearby Berdyansk, both on Ukraine's southern shores, were due to continue with a convoy of buses being prepared with help from the Red Cross.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) abandoned earlier attempts due to security concerns. Russia blamed the ICRC for the delays.

There was little sign of a breakthrough in efforts to negotiate an end to the 5-week war, although Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said talks were due to resume on Monday.

Medinsky said a draft deal was not ready for any meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Zelenskiy.

Medinsky said that while Ukraine was showing more realism by agreeing to be neutral, renouncing nuclear weapons, not joining a military bloc and refusing to host military bases, there had been no progress on other key Russia demands.

Further, the Kremlin said on Sunday that Russia will ask for rouble payments for other exports, and the West's sanctions have accelerated the erosion of confidence in the US dollar and the euro. "I have no doubt that it will in the future be extended to new groups of goods," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of Russia's demand for rouble payments for gas, the RIA news agency reported. REUTERS