Ukraine’s chief prosecutor says her team has documented 5,600 cases of war crimes committed by the Russian government and its leading figures.
Speaking to British television operator Sky News on Sunday, Irina Venediktov said Ukraine had identified 500 suspects, including “senior” Russian military, politicians and “propaganda agents”.
She added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a major war criminal of the 21st century”, but in accordance with international law, while the Russian president is in power, he enjoys diplomatic immunity and cannot be prosecuted unless the initiative was taken over by the International Criminal Court.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating several mass casualties of civilians as possible war crimes.
Valery, 65, rides his bicycle past his ruined apartment building in Borodyanka on Saturday. (Alexei Furman / Getty Images)
Venediktov said on Saturday that the European Union was involved in the investigation.
Speaking to Sky News, Pascal Hund, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, said the aid convoy had made many unsuccessful attempts to reach the besieged city of Mariupol, where fierce fighting continues.
Hund described the security situation in Mariupol as “dangerous”, with aid workers having to go through multiple checkpoints to reach the city, and without guarantees of their safety.
Venediktov called the rocket attack on a train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, an “absolute” war crime on Friday. The strike killed at least 52 people and injured more than 100 others as civilians evacuated from the Donetsk region.
WATCH The missiles hit the station of Ukraine, the Kremlin denies responsibility. Warning: This video contains graphics:
The missiles hit the station of Ukraine, the Kremlin denies responsibility
WARNING: This video contains graphics Dozens were killed after two rockets hit crowded crowds at a station used to evacuate refugees in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. The Kremlin has denied the attack, saying its military has no access to the weapons used. 2:36
Russia has denied responsibility and accused the Ukrainian military of firing on the station to blame Moscow for the civilian casualties. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry described in detail the trajectory of the missile and the positions of Ukrainian troops to support the argument.
The aggression is not limited to Ukraine, Zelensky said
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Saturday that democracies were united in their work to stem the Russian invasion, which began on February 24th as civilians continued to flee the eastern part of the country before an expected attack.
In a daily late-night video address to Ukrainians, Zelensky said “Russian aggression is not meant to be limited to Ukraine” and that “the whole European project is a target for Russia.”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, right, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson take a walk during a meeting in central Kyiv on Saturday. (Office of the President of Ukraine / Associated Press)
Several European leaders have made efforts to show solidarity with the battle-torn nation. Zelensky thanked the leaders of Britain and Austria for their Saturday visits to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and pledges for further support.
The visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came a day after the United Kingdom promised an additional $ 163 million in high-quality military equipment. Johnson also reaffirmed additional economic support, securing an additional $ 628.3 million in World Bank loans to Ukraine, bringing Britain’s total loan guarantee to $ 1.25 billion.
People fleeing Russia’s military campaign in eastern Ukraine arrive in Lviv from the Dnieper on Saturday. (Joe Redl / Getty Images)
Zelensky also thanked European Commission President and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a global fundraising event that brought in more than $ 13.6 billion in Cdn for Ukrainians fleeing their homes.
The Ukrainian leader reiterated his call for a full embargo on Russian oil and gas, which he called sources of “self-confidence and impunity” for Russia.
“Freedom has no time to wait,” Zelenski said. “When tyranny begins its aggression against everything that keeps the peace in Europe, action must be taken immediately.
More than six weeks after the invasion, Russia withdrew its troops from the northern part of the country around Kyiv and shifted its focus to the Donbass in the east, a largely Russian-speaking and industrial region.
Satellite image shows a convoy in eastern Ukraine
Western military analysts say territory in eastern Ukraine has been attacked, from Kharkiv in the north to Kherson in the south.
A satellite image shows a road with armored vehicles and trucks of a military convoy moving south through the Ukrainian city of Veliki Burluk on Friday. (Maxar Technologies / Reuters)
Recently published satellite images from Maxar Technologies, collected on Friday, show a 13-kilometer convoy of military vehicles heading south to Donbass via the city of Veliki Burluk, about 90km east of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
A new senior general has been appointed, a US official said
Russia has appointed a new military commander for Ukraine as the country prepares for a more focused offensive in Donbass, a US official said on Sunday.
Moscow has turned to 60-year-old General Alexander Dvornikov, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and, according to US officials, a general who has attempted brutality against civilians in Syria and other theaters of war.
The senior official who identifies the new commander is not authorized to be identified and speaks on condition of anonymity.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, poses with General Alexander Dvornikov in the Kremlin on March 17, 2016 (Alexei Nikolsky / Sputnik / Associated Press)
Despite the decision to establish a new leadership on the battlefield, Western assessments express confidence in the ability of Ukraine’s defenders to repel Russian attacks, portraying Russian troops as suffering from low morale and growing casualties.
The British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that the Russian military is seeking to meet growing losses by increasing the number of troops with personnel who have been discharged from military service since 2012.
The United Kingdom has speculated on attracting separatists to Moldova
In a Twitter update, the British Ministry of Defense also said that the Russian army’s efforts to “generate more combat power” also include attempts to recruit Transnistrian personnel from a breakaway region in Moldova bordering Ukraine.
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Moldova took up arms in 1992 to establish Transnistria, which is not internationally recognized and where Russia has about 1,500 troops.
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine continues.
The map below is the latest update of defense intelligence on the situation in Ukraine – April 10, 2022.
Learn more about the UK government’s response: pic.twitter.com/b7GxYwMv08
– @DefenceHQ
Ukrainian authorities have called on civilians in eastern Ukraine to escape ahead of an upcoming, intensified Russian offensive. As trains did not leave Kramatorsk on Saturday, panicked residents boarded buses or looked for other ways to leave, fearing a series of relentless attacks and occupations by Russian invaders that brought food shortages, demolished buildings and deaths to other cities.
“It was horrible. Horror, horror,” a resident told Britain’s Sky News, recalling Friday’s attack on Kramatorsk train station. “God forbid I go through this again. No, I don’t want to.”
The State Railway Company of Ukraine said that residents of Kramatorsk and other parts of Donbass could escape through other stations.
Russia has published photos of attack helicopters
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, released footage of attack helicopters on Sunday, saying its forces had destroyed a convoy of Ukrainian armored vehicles and anti-aircraft guns.
“Ka-52 attack helicopters … destroyed weapons and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement. The Ukrainian military was not immediately available for comment, and the location and timing of the unverified attack were not specified.
This image was taken from an undated video released by Russia on Sunday. It shows a Ka-52 helicopter that took off from an undiscovered location. (Reuters)
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