Tanya Nedashkivs'ka, 57, mourns the death of her husband, killed in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on April 4, 2022. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. (AP Photo)
Bucha (Ukraine), April 5 (AP): Russian forces on Tuesday were preparing for an offensive in Ukraine's southeast, the Ukrainian military said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to talk to the U.N. Security Council amid outrage over evidence Moscow's soldiers deliberately killed civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's government is pouring soldiers into Ukraine's east to gain control of the industrial heartland known as the Donbas. That follows a Russian withdrawal from towns around the capital, Kyiv, which led to the discovery of corpses, prompting accusations of war crimes and demands for tougher sanctions on Moscow.
Russian forces are focused on seizing the cities of Popasna and Rubizhne in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Black Sea port of Mariupol, the General Staff said on its Facebook page.
Donetsk and Luhansk are controlled by Russian-backed separatists and recognized by Moscow as independent states. The General Staff said access to Kharkiv in the east, Ukraine's second-largest city, was blocked.
The enemy is regrouping troops and concentrating its efforts on preparing an offensive operation in the east of our country," the statement said.
The goal is to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions."
Zelenskyy, speaking from Ukraine, planned to address Security Council diplomats Tuesday amid demands for an investigation of possible war crimes.
Germany and France reacted by expelling dozens of Russian diplomats, suggesting they were spies. President Joe Biden said Putin should be tried for war crimes.
This guy is brutal, and what's happening in Bucha is outrageous, Biden said, referring to the town northwest of the capital that was the scene of some of the horrors.
In another show of support, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to travel to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy this week, her spokesman Eric Mamer announced.
Before Zelenskyy speaks, the most powerful U.N. body is due to be briefed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; his political chief, Rosemary DiCarlo; and U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who is trying to arrange a cease-fire. Griffiths met with Russian officials in Moscow on Monday and is due to visit Ukraine.
Associated Press journalists in Bucha counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes and apparently without weapons, many shot at close range, and some with their hands bound or their flesh burned.
After touring neighborhoods of Bucha and speaking to hungry survivors lining up for bread, Zelenskyy pledged in a video address that Ukraine would work with the European Union and the International Criminal Court to identify Russian fighters involved in any atrocities.
The time will come when every Russian will learn the whole truth about who among their fellow citizens killed, who gave orders, who turned a blind eye to the murders, he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a stage-managed anti-Russian provocation. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the images contained signs of video forgery and various fakes.
Russia has rejected previous allegations of atrocities as fabrications by Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in towns around Kyiv that were recaptured from Russian forces.
The Ukrainian prosecutor-general's office described one room discovered in Bucha as a torture chamber. In a statement, it said the bodies of five men with their hands bound were found in the basement of a children's sanatorium where civilians were tortured and killed.
Western and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of war crimes before. The International Criminal Court's prosecutor has already opened an investigation. But the latest reports ratcheted up the condemnation.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the images from Bucha reveal the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and those who follow its propaganda.
French President Emmanuel Macron said there is clear evidence of war crimes in Bucha that demand new punitive measures. I'm in favor of a new round of sanctions and in particular on coal and gasoline. We need to act, he said on France-Inter radio.
Though united in outrage, the European allies appeared split on how to respond. While Poland urged Europe to quickly wean itself off Russian energy, Germany said it would stick with a gradual approach of phasing out coal and oil imports over the next several months.
Russia withdrew many of its forces from the area around Kyiv after being thwarted in its bid to swiftly capture the capital. It has instead poured troops into southeastern Ukraine.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from news agency feeds and has not been edited by The Morung Express.
Source: PTI/AP
