Freedom of Information

[DaffyVina]

12:24
President Zelensky visits Bucha

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Bucha

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with troops in Bucha
Copyright: BBC
Image caption: The Ukrainian President spoke to local residents

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited Bucha, as more evidence of atrocities near Kyiv continues to emerge.

He inspected the road on which a Russian column was ambushed and spoke to local residents. He reiterated that Russia had carried out war crimes and genocide in Ukraine.

Asked by the BBC whether it was still possible to discuss peace with Russia, he said: "Yes, because Ukraine must have peace. We are in Europe in the 21st century. We will continue efforts diplomatically and militarily."


12:52
Atrocities around Kyiv - the latest evidence and reaction

If you're just joining us, here's the latest on the killings in Bucha and other areas around Kyiv abandoned by Russian forces, as well as the ongoing international fallout.

A warning that some readers may find details in this post and others below distressing.

More evidence of atrocities

• The BBC's Yogita Limaye has visited the basement of a home in Bucha where the bodies of five men wearing civilian clothes were left. They had their hands bound behind their backs and appeared to have been shot dead

• She has also seen a shallow grave in the village of Motyzhyn - west of Kyiv - that contained the bodies of four people allegedly shot dead by Russian forces

• Images continue to emerge of bodies in the streets of Bucha and nearby Irpin

• Ukrainian authorities say the bodies of 410 civilians have been found in the areas around Kyiv so far - the BBC can't independently verify this figure

International response and Zelensky anger

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited Bucha, where he said that Russia had carried out war crimes and genocide

• Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he agreed the killings should be classified as genocide

• French president Emmanuel Macron called for more sanctions on Russia's oil and coal exports in response

• Germany's economic minister Robert Habeck said his country was "working towards" and embargo on Russian energy but won't be imposing one immediately

• EU Council president Charles Michel said further EU sanctions and support for Ukraine were "on their way"

• The Kremlin has repeated denials that Russian forces have killed civilians

Elsewhere on the ground

• Ukraine said on Sunday it had retaken the entire Kyiv region

• The UK's Ministry of Defence says Russian forces continue to "consolidate and reorganise" their offensive to focus on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine

• Ukraine's military has claimed Russia is beginning a covert mobilisation of reservists, a move previously ruled out by President Putin

• The Red Cross says its teams have still been unable to reach Mariupol - a southern port city besieged by Russian forces - to stage evacuations on Monday

[DaffyVina]

13:46
Killings around Kyiv - what is Russia saying?

Evidence of apparent Russian atrocities in Ukraine is mounting. The BBC's Yogita Limaye has seen a shallow grave in the village of Motyzhyn, west of Kyiv, where the bodies of four people allegedly shot dead by Russian forces were left.

Three of the bodies have been identified as members of one family, including the head of the village, Olha Sukhenko. The fourth body has not been identified.

Ukraine has accused Russian troops of a “deliberate massacre” after the bodies of at least 20 people wearing civilian clothes were found on streets in Bucha.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described the alleged atrocities in Bucha as an "act" that was "staged" several days after Russian forces withdrew, according to Tass news agency.

"We categorically reject all allegations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

He said Russian "experts at the ministry of defence" had "identified signs of video fakes and various fakes", without providing any evidence.

Michael Clarke, a defence and security analyst at the think tank Rusi, in London, says that these kind of responses are part of a Russian playbook.

He told Sky News earlier:

"First of all, they deny everything. And then they try to obfuscate, they create stuff on social media, which indicates ‘Oh it’s all very complicated and this was going on at the time, and that was going on, and no simple answers are possible’. And then a couple of years later, they often admit it and they say 'yes, yes, we did do this or we did do that, but you [the West] do the same'."

[DaffyVina]

Ukraine war: Ukraine investigates alleged execution of civilians by Russians
BBC: Published1 hour ago

Photo next to Mass grave outside Bucha church
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, A mass grave was found outside a church in Bucha

Ukraine has started a war crimes investigation after bodies of civilians were found strewn on the streets as Russian troops pulled out of areas around the capital Kyiv.

Bucha and Irpin were symbols of resistance to the Russian invasion, but they are now becoming synonymous with the war's most serious abuses.

Ukrainian authorities say the bodies of 410 civilians have been found in the areas around Kyiv so far.

Russia, without evidence, says the photos and videos are "a staged performance" by Ukraine.

But what officials and reporters have seen there in the wake of the Russian withdrawal has left many in deep shock.

Warning: This report contains distressing images and content.

What happened in Bucha?

Two or three days after Russia launched the 24 February invasion of its neighbour, a column of Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APC) that had arrived in Bucha was attacked by Ukrainians, stalling the advance.

The Russians reinforced and stayed in the area on the outskirts of the capital, unable to move forward much, until they began pulling out on 30 March to concentrate on the war in eastern Ukraine.

Many civilians had fled the area - but some stayed behind, trying to avoid the Russians. They set up wood fires outside their Soviet-era flats, cooking on them outdoors because their gas, power and water were cut.

It is during this period that Russians reportedly started going house to house.

Witnesses have described how Russian soldiers fired on men fleeing after refusing to allow them to leave through humanitarian corridors.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen and his colleagues saw rusting and twisted wreckage of the column that still lies where it was destroyed on that suburban street of Bucha.

Our correspondent spoke to a man who told him he felt sorry for the Russian conscripts who begged locals not to turn them over to the Ukrainian defence forces.

It looks as if Russians, as they prepared to pull out of Bucha, had no such pity.

At least 20 dead men were found lying in the street. Many had extensive wounds - some had been shot through the temple, as if executed. Some had clearly been run over by tanks.

Satellite images taken by Maxar show a 14m (45ft) mass grave in Bucha near the church of St Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints.
Site of mass grave near Bucha church

The company says the first signs of excavation were spotted on 10 March - not long after the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And Bucha residents have said the first bodies were buried there in the first few days of the war, as Russians killed scores by "shooting everyone they saw". Estimates of those buried range from 150-300.

Warning: Distressing image below


'Shot in the back of the head'

Human Rights Watch has gathered evidence of alleged war crimes in Bucha and other cities and towns under the control of Russian forces.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukr ... lled-areas

In a report published on 3 April 2022, it recorded an account of an incident in Bucha on 4 March in which Russian soldiers forced five men "to kneel on the side of the road, pulled their T-shirts over their heads, and shot one of the men in the back of the head".

The Ukrainians say similar accounts are surfacing elsewhere and will be investigated.

In the nearby village of Motyzhyn, a BBC team were taken to see a shallow grave - four bodies were visible, and Ukrainian officials said there could be more.

Three of the bodies have been identified as that of the head of the village Olga Sohnenko, her husband and her son. The fourth has not been identified yet.

It is unclear when they were killed.

Photo of a shall grave in Motishin
Image caption, The BBC witnessed a shallow grave with a family buried in Motyzhyn

The areas around Kyiv now back under Ukrainian control include the commuter town of Irpin, where heart-breaking images showed civilians fleeing under Russian fire for days on end.

There were cases of people being shot at as they did so. On 6 March four civilians - a woman, her teenage son, her daughter of around eight years of age, and a family friend - were all killed by mortar fire as they tried to cross a battered bridge.

In another incident, a mother and son were also killed and buried by neighbours in their courtyard.

On 7 March, drone footage showed a car on a road outside Kyiv, from which a man emerges with hands raised. His body falls to the ground. Maksim Iovenko, 31, was shot dead by Russian forces that were positioned at the roadside. His wife Ksenia, who was in the car, was also killed.

The HRW report includes the case of a mother in the city of Kharkiv, who was raped by a 20-year-old Russian soldier inside a school where civilians were sheltering.

And many more.

Accusations of war crimes and genocide

President Volodymyr Zelensky has no doubt that Russian troops are committing war crimes and even genocide against his people. Genocide is understood by most to be the gravest crime against humanity. It is defined as a mass extermination of a particular group of people - exemplified by the efforts of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish population in the 1940s.

"The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth," Mr Zelensky said on Sunday, as evidence of the murders of Bucha became public.

He told US network CBS's Face the Nation programme: "Indeed. This is genocide.

"The elimination of the whole nation, and the people. We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities."

Many Western countries have expressed their horror at the images of bodies strewn on city streets.

But Russia remains defiant. It says its operation - which they refuse to call a war of invasion - is proceeding according to plan, and that accusations of war crimes are all fake.

Video
Media caption, WATCH: BBC's Jeremy Bowen on the destruction wreaked in Bucha, near Kyiv

[DaffyVina]

14:08
Family left in shallow grave 'taken hostage 10 days ago'
More now on the four bodies that were found in a shallow grave in the village of Motyzhyn after being allegedly shot dead by Russian military, as the BBC's Yogita Limaye reported earlier.

The bodies have been identified as those of the head of the village Olha Sukhenko, her husband and her son. The fourth body has not been identified.

Olha Sukhenko was born in 1971. Her husband, Igor, was five years older, while her son Oleksander was born in 1996, our correspondent reports.

The family were taken hostage by Russian invaders 10 days ago, the head of the village of Makariv, Vadym Tokar, said on Telegram.

The Russian military allegedly came to Sukhenko house where they conducted searches, seized a car and left.

"They wanted to take Olha only, but her husband insisted he would go with her - after six hours, they also took her son away," Kyiv Regional Council Deputy Head Tetiana Semenova was quoted by Ukrainian media as saying.

She said there is a suspicion that "a traitor was acting in the village, who told the occupiers, where the head and active villagers lived".


18:41
'Heroes don't die' - Murdered family remembered
Emily McGarvey
BBC News Live reporter

Photo: Olha Sukhenko, her husband and her son
Copyright: Facebook
Image caption: Olha Sukhenko, her son Oleksander and husband Igor were found dead more than a week after going missing

As we've been reporting, a family who disappeared in their village west of Kyiv last month have been found dead in a shallow grave.

Our correspondent, Yogita Limaye, visited the site, located in a wood near destroyed homes.

Olha Sukhenko, her husband Igor and her son Oleksander are alleged to have been shot dead by Russian soldiers. A fourth body was also found but has not been identified.

Russian forces took Olha - who served as the head of her village of Motyzhyn - and her family from their home on 23 March, an investigation by the Ukrainian chief prosecutor found.

In Olha's last Facebook post before her death, posted in late February after the Russian invasion, she talked about there being "someone else's scum in our village" and warned residents to keep calm and not to leave their houses.

Two days after the family were allegedly disappeared by Russian forces, a woman called Daria appealed on social media for information on their whereabouts, saying they were her "second family" and "helped people to the end".

She said Russian forces had stolen Oleksander's car and were "riding around the village".

After it emerged that the family had been killed, Daria posted an update:

I don't have enough words and strength to describe how I and my whole family feel.

This is a crime - in every sense. All involved will be appear in court.

Referring to Oleksander, she wrote:

Sasha, my Hero. You didn't leave your parents behind. You will forever be in my heart. In our hearts. Heroes don't die.

[DaffyVina]

14:29
Red Cross still unable to access Mariupol
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

We’ve been on the road south to Zaporizhzhia with long waits at Ukrainian military checkpoints - armed men are on the lookout for saboteurs amid sandbags and anti-tank obstacles.

It’s one of the last towns before the front line and is the planned destination point for an official aid escort for civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol.

But the International Committee of the Red Cross says its teams have again been unable to reach the south-eastern port city of Mariupol to stage evacuations on Monday.

The group has tried unsuccessfully for days to access the besieged city to escort bus loads of civilians back into government-controlled territory.

Tens of thousands of people are still trapped with scant access to food, water and electricity after weeks of heavy Russian bombardment.

Some private cars and buses have been able to make their way Zaporizhzhia, which is still receiving refugees.

Meanwhile air raid sirens sounded on Monday morning further north in the city of Dnipro. Fuel stores were reportedly struck by missile attacks there on Saturday as Ukraine prepares for attempts at a renewed Russian advance in the east.


16:57
Red Cross team 'stopped and held' near Mariupol

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is being held after trying to help evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, the group says.

"The team was stopped on Monday while carrying out humanitarian efforts to help lead a safe passage corridor for civilians," a spokesperson said.

The group is being held in Manhush, just under 20km (12 miles) from Mariupol.

Jason Straziuso told Reuters that the group were being held by police and it was "not a hostage situation".

The ICRC has been in direct contact with the team and is "speaking with the parties on all sides to bring clarity to the situation and allow them to resume their humanitarian work", the spokesperson said.

The Red Cross has been trying to evacuate people from Mariupol for days. Tens of thousands of people remain trapped in the city after weeks of heavy bombardment from the Russians.


18:15
Appeals for family members missing in Mariupol
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

We’ve arrived at a refugee staging centre in the city of Zaporizhzhia at the same time as a long convoy of cars.

They’ve driven here across Russian lines from the south. Many have white cloth or scarves tied to the wing-mirrors to stop them being targeted.

One has a makeshift red cross painted on a white piece of paper in the windscreen.

Many are families. One woman is in tears as she tells me of her relief at fleeing to relative safety. Inside a tent, bread, dumplings and hot tea are being handed out.

Children at a refugee staging centre in the city of Zaporizhzhia
Copyright: BBC

There’s a board containing pictures of the missing and appeals for help to reach those stranded in the besieged city of Mariupol.

“Help us to pick up our parents from Mariupol!”, urges one notice, adding an address next to black and white photos of an elderly couple, Natalia and Evgenii. “Son Vladimir is waiting for them."

[DaffyVina]

14:48
Heavy Russian losses suggest Ukraine is fighting more effectively

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent, reporting from Dnipro

Russia has lost more than three times as much military hardware as Ukraine in the first 40 days of the war, according to a military analysis site.

Relying on video and photographic evidence of equipment destroyed, abandoned or captured, Oryx found Russia lost 2,406 pieces of military equipment – including tanks, armoured vehicles and military aircraft - compared with only 677 losses for Ukraine.

To some extent the scale of the losses reflect the larger size of Russia’s military. But they also suggest that Ukrainian forces have, so far, proved to be more effective in combat.

Russian losses appear to be significantly higher right across the board – from combat aircraft to artillery pieces and armoured vehicles.

However, the Oryx tally also suggests Russia has had some success in targeting Ukraine’s air defences. There’s visual confirmation that Ukraine has lost 36 air defence systems, just slightly fewer than the Russian number of 42. These figures don't include shorter-range portable systems, known as Manpads.

Oryx says the amount of equipment destroyed in the war is likely to be significantly higher than its team has documented.


15:11
EU ready to send war crimes investigators to Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU is ready to send joint investigations teams to Ukraine to document reported war crimes.

She has tweeted after speaking to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, she says, about "the atrocious murder of civilians in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine".

The teams would be in coordination with Ukraine's prosecutor general, with support from the European police agency Europol and criminal justice agency Eurojust.

Shocking images of civilian bodies in the streets of Bucha, near Ukraine's capital Kyiv, have led to an outpouring of international condemnation of Russia.


15:23
UK considering action against Russian soldiers
Ione Wells
Westminster Correspondent, BBC News

Senior government sources have told the BBC that the UK government is considering further action against Russian soldiers themselves.

It's understood this could include sanctions - but also looking at ways to hold them legally accountable - for what the prime minister has described as evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.

Officials are looking at measures that could target captains, majors and colonels in the Russian military.


15:57
BREAKING
Putin should face war crimes trial - Biden
US President Biden has again labelled Vladimir Putin a war criminal. He is calling for the Russian leader to face trial over the killings in Bucha.

As we’ve been reporting, the bodies of civilians have been found strewn on the streets there. Our reporter in the town has been to the basement of a house where five bodies were found - men with their hands bound who appeared to have been shot dead.

Biden says he’s also seeking more sanctions against Russia over the atrocities, which Moscow denies its troops carried out.

The US president previously caused outrage in Moscow when he first accused Putin of war crimes last month.


16:30
Town of Borodyanka will be worst-hit in Kyiv region, says prosecutor general
The town of Borodyanka will be the worst-hit by the Russian invasion in the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian prosecutor general has said.

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Iryna Venediktova said the number of victims in the town would be higher than anywhere else, though gave no further details.

Borodyanka is around 23km (14 miles) west of Bucha, where images since the Russian withdrawal have shown numerous bodies lying in the streets, some with their hands tied behind their backs.

Ms Venediktova also said that in her view many of the actions of the Russian military in the Kyiv region could be classified as crimes against humanity.

On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities announced they were investigating alleged atrocities by Russian forces in areas around Kyiv they have occupied in recent weeks.


16:45
How likely is a war crimes trial for Putin?
US President Joe Biden has called for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to face trial over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. But what’s the chance of Putin actually ending up in court?

As our legal correspondent Dominic Casciani explains in this article, it’s much easier to pin a war crime on the soldier who commits it than the leader who ordered it.

One of the challenges involves establishing a chain of command which proves that a leader has authorised an atrocity – or turned a blind eye to it.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is one body involved in upholding the so-called "rules" of combat. Its chief prosecutor has said there’s a reasonable basis to believe war crimes have happened in Ukraine.

But although ICC judges can issue arrest warrants, the court doesn’t have its own police force. Instead, it relies on member states to detain suspects – and Russia is no longer a member.

And Moscow continues to deny that it has targeted Ukrainian civilians during the invasion.



17:23
Zhytomyr region now free of Russian forces, says governor

The Zhytomyr region is now free of Russian forces, its governor has said.

The region, which neighbours the Kyiv region to the west, has been a key corridor for the delivery of aid and equipment to the capital since the start of the war.

It has also suffered massive bombardment that killed civilians and left many without homes.

Writing on Telegram, Governor Vitaliy Bunechko said: "The enemy was repulsed and today there are no Russian occupation troops in our region.

"They left the northern communities... but the war is not over. We will win! Glory to Ukraine!"

[DaffyVina]

17:32
Perpetrators will be brought to justice - UK foreign secretary
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said the UK will make sure perpetrators of atrocities in Ukraine are brought to justice.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba during a visit to Warsaw, Truss also said the UK needs to announce "a tough new wave of sanctions" on Russia.

She added that there should be no talk of removing sanctions on Russia while its troops are in Ukraine.

"The reality is that money is still flowing from the West into Putin's war machine - and that has to stop," she said.


17:39
Germany expels 40 Russian envoys after Bucha killings
More international reaction is coming in after the emerging atrocities in Ukraine show new evidence of civilian killings allegedly by Russian military.

Germany has expelled 40 Russian envoys over the atrocities in Bucha, near Ukraine's capital Kyiv, and said further measures with allies are being prepared, local news is reporting.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock added that Berlin would also boost its support to Ukraine's armed forces.

Bodies of civilians have been found on the streets in Bucha. Our reporter in the town has been to the basement of a house where five bodies were found - men with their hands bound who appeared to have been shot dead.


18:16
Nothing is off the table - European commissioner on sanctions
We've been hearing about the possibility of more sanctions against Russia in response to discoveries of civilian killings in northern Ukraine.

New European sanctions could include measures targeting the Russian energy sector, according to European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni.

"Nothing is off the table and I think that this is more true now than ever," he said before a meeting with eurozone finance ministers to discuss possible new sanctions.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron called for further sanctions targeting Russia's coal and oil exports, telling French media there were “clear indications of war crimes".

He did not mention targeting Russian gas, which accounts for about 40% of the EU's natural gas imports.


19:06
Mariupol much worse than Bucha - Ukraine foreign minister

More now from the joint press conference this afternoon between UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.

In addition to calling for a "tough new wave of sanctions" from the UK and its allies to stop Putin's war efforts, Truss backed Kuleba's call for Russia to be expelled from the European Human Rights Council after "appalling crimes" including the killing of civilians in Bucha.

Kuleba said any G7 and EU nations countries that "still have doubts" and are continuing to trade with Russia - by buying fossil fuels, for example - should make their minds up by visiting any of the mass graves in Ukraine.

The horrors seen in Bucha are "just the tip of the iceberg" of what war crimes have been committed by Russian forces, Kuleba added.

"I can tell you without exaggeration, but with great sorrow, that the situation in Mariupol is much worse," he said.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the south-eastern port city of Mariupol, which has been reduced to rubble by weeks of Russian shelling.

[DaffyVina]

To Access the BBC News in Russia:
Download the Psiphon app.
Look for the dedicated BBC site on the Tor Browser

www.bbcnewsd73hkzno2ini43t4gblxvycyac5a ... 5uqd.onion
Note that this URL only works using the Tor Browser or the Onion Browser (on iPhones).

If access to the apps is restricted then send a blank email to get@psiphon3.com or gettor@torproject.org. An email will be sent in response with a direct and safe download link.

To Access Twitter’s onion service:
https://twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vzt ... yoid.onion while using Tor Browser or a similar tool.

If you are able to access the BBC using these, you may find these two links interesting:

Fact-checking Russian claims about Bucha killings
By Reality Check and BBC Monitoring
BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60981238

And in this podcast, Ernie Rea explores the spiritual beliefs used to justify Russian aggression in Ukraine.
He's joined by Andrew Louth, theologian and Archpriest in the Russian Orthodox Church here in the UK, Geraldine Fagan, an expert in religious affairs in the former Soviet states, and Katherine Kelaidis, a writer and historian whose work focuses on early Medieval Christian history and contemporary orthodox identity. Plus he speaks to the journalist and theologian Sergei Chapnin, who worked for the Russian Orthodox Church for 15 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00162mp

Most of my posts on here don't include my commentary or views, as I don't want my perspective to get in the way of people's access to factual information.

However, I had a very heartfelt response of, "Amen" to a comment made by one of the presenters. They were talking about why they and other Orthodox Clergy had deemed a particular idea, Русский мир (Russian World), heretical:

“Ethno-selectivism, the love of your nation or culture over the unity of the church is a heretical concept.
I think that any political ideology that encourages you to behave in a way that is clearly unchristian, both in the shedding of blood which we’re clearly seeing in Ukraine, but also in the destruction of churches and monasteries and icons, all sorts of things I was taught were sacrilegious, then any ideology that does that, to my mind, is dangerous and heretical.”

I think this applies to many situations.

And I felt a sense of solidarity with another Orthodox priest who said, on why he remains in the church, “The Church in Russia is not identical with the patriarch… I wouldn’t want to abandon the whole Russian experience… I want to remain in solidarity with those in the Russian church who look to a brighter future.”

It made me think of Father Ioann Burdin, the Russian Orthodox priest who in a sermon was reported to preach about the ongoing destruction in Ukrainian cities and shared anti-war images and a petition on the parish's website:

"We, Christians, cannot stand idly by when a brother kills a brother, a Christian kills a Christian," the petition read in part. "Let's not repeat the crimes of those who hailed Hitler's deeds on Sept. 1, 1939."

[DaffyVina]

4:54 5 Apr
Slovyansk is Russia's next key goal - report
Russian troops are preparing an offensive against the eastern city of Slovyansk in an effort to push east and link up with other forces in the Donbas region, according to the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War think tank.

"Efforts by Russian forces advancing from Izyum to capture Slovyansk will likely prove to be the next pivotal battle of the war in Ukraine," the report says.

The Russians must take "Slovyansk as their minimum step".

If they are unable to do so, their effort to capture the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions "will likely fail". Russian forces continue to make little to no progress in assaults in those areas, says the think tank.

Ukraine's troops also continue to hold Mariupol and are likely to inflict heavy casualties on the Russians.

"Russian efforts to generate replacements from reservists and feed damaged units from north-eastern Ukraine into frontal assaults in eastern Ukraine are unlikely to increase their chances of success," the report adds.

Russian troops have departed the Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north, and "will likely completely vacate these regions in the coming days".


6:07 5 Apr
Beijing calls for talks to end war

China's foreign minister Wang Yi spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday, with China again calling for talks to end the conflict in Ukraine.

The call is the first reported conversation between the two foreign ministers since 1 March, when Kuleba asked Beijing to use its ties with Moscow to stop the Russian invasion, according to Ukraine's foreign ministry.

"Wars end eventually. The key is how to reflect on the pain, to maintain lasting security in Europe and establish a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism," Wang said, according to the ministry.

"China stands ready to play a constructive role in this regard in an objective position."

Kuleba tweeted that he was "grateful' to Wang Yi for "solidarity with civilian victims".

The call was made at Ukraine's request, Reuters reported.

A close ally of Moscow, China has refused to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine or to term it an "invasion".

But Beijing at the same time has expressed "unwavering support" for Ukraine's sovereignty. It has also called for peace and has said it is ready to help end the war through diplomacy.


6:31 5 Apr
West warns of tightened sanctions on Russia
In recent hours the US and Western allies have warned they will punish Russia for its actions in Bucha.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that Russian president Vladimir Putin and his supporters would "feel the consequences" and that Western partners would intensify sanctions against Moscow.

Meanwhile US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US was working "intensively with its European allies on further sanctions to raise the pressure and raise the cost on Putin and on Russia".

France and Germany has also said they would expel Russian diplomats from their countries.

In response, Russia said it would retaliate and "slam shut the door on Western embassies", Reuters reported Russian ex-president and deputy head of security council Dmitry Medvedev as saying.

"It will be cheaper for everyone. And then we will end up just looking at each other in no other way than through gunsights," he warned.


6:52 5 Apr
Russia refocuses war efforts on eastern Ukraine - report
More Russian troops are withdrawing from their advance on Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv as invading forces intensify their attack in the separatist region of Donbas in the east, a senior U.S. defence official told US military news outlet Stars and Stripes.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said two-thirds of the Russian battalion tactical groups surrounding Kyiv had appeared to retreat north towards Belarus - a Russian ally.

The official said they believed the retreating Russian troops would be "refit, resupplied, perhaps maybe even reinforced with additional manpower" before being sent back into Ukraine to continue fighting elsewhere.

Signals that Russians were instead refocusing towards the east appeared when several Russian troops located north of the southern city of Mariupol appeared "to push north to Donetsk,” located in the Donbas region.

Russia's pivot away from the capital city comes after weeks of stalled movement toward Kyiv.

Russia’s defence ministry now claims their goal was always to “liberate” the Donbas region, despite evidence that their initial goals were to capture major cities across Ukraine.


7:00 5 Apr
The latest in Ukraine
To our readers waking up in the UK, welcome. Here's the latest developments:

World leaders are reacting in horror to the documented reports of civilian killings in Bucha, a town near the capital Kyiv, with the US and European allies warning of intensified sanctions on Russia
Russia's UN ambassador has denied any massacre in Bucha and accused Ukraine of engaging in a "staged provocation" with Western countries, although Russia has provided no evidence of this
Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of 410 civilians had been found in the areas around Kyiv so far, although the BBC can't independently verify this figure
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of genocide, and is due to address the UN Security Council on Tuesday. He is expected to report what he witnessed in Bucha earlier this week - his first trip outside the capital since the start of the invasion
Multiple reports from Western analysts indicate that Russian forces have retreated from the north of the country, including areas near the capital Kyiv, and are aiming to regroup and focus on taking eastern Ukraine

And with that, this is Tessa Wong and Zubaidah Abduljalil signing off in Singapore. Our colleagues Chris Clayton and Jack Burgess in London will continue bringing you the latest developments.

[DaffyVina]

7:46 5 Apr
'This is a massacre against our nation' - former Bucha resident

Ukrainian Alex Dayrabekov escaped Bucha when the war began, but has remained in touch with people there.

He has been documenting what is happening in the town on social media, in hopes that it can be used as evidence in later criminal trials.

"My neighbours - and there are at least 10 of them - lost their closest relatives in their attempt to evacuate from Bucha and Irpin around a month ago," he says in an interview with the BBC.

When asked why he tweets images from Bucha, he replied: “The entire world has to see them. If the world doesn’t know what is happening here, the world does business as usual. Thousands of people died here... because they were deliberately killed."

In one account, he describes a harrowing encounter between Ukrainian civilians and Russian forces.

"Two cars in Bucha were shot at by an armoured vehicle with machine guns. In one car, an entire family, a man, a woman and two kids. The woman and both kids were shot (at) and died on the spot. In another car, a husband was killed on the spot.

"These are real people, this is not fake.

"The entire world has to see these pictures and know this is not a war, this is a massacre against our nation, just like Hitler did in World War Two. Putin does this to us, against Ukrainians."


8:08 5 Apr
Cluster munitions used on civilian areas, says Mykolaiv mayor
The southern Ukrainian city Mykolaiv continues to be bombarded by Russians, the mayor of the Black Sea port city has told the BBC's Newsday.

Oleksandr Senkevych says cluster munitions are now being used on civilian areas in his city that have no military value, in order to create panic and prepare for a Russian ground operation.

Senkevych has called on all women and children to leave Mykolaiv to limit civilian casualties.

“We are under bombardment every day. Yesterday we had two bombardments."

"As for yesterday’s bombardment they bombarded us with cluster bombs, with cluster missiles that fell into the neighbourhoods, all those were just houses where people come to sleep and in the morning go to work.”


8:40 5 Apr
EU likely to adopt new sanctions tomorrow, says French minister

The European Union will most likely adopt a new round of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday after reports of killings of civilians in northern Ukraine by Russian forces, says France's European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune.

"The new sanctions will probably be adopted tomorrow", he told RFI radio on Tuesday, adding the EU should also quickly act on gas and coal imports from Russia.

Russia denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha.

Its envoy to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, says Russia will present "empirical evidence" to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday showing its forces were not involved in atrocities.

The BBC's Reality Check and Monitoring have debunked several Russian claims relating to the killings. (see previous post for link).


9:01 5 Apr
Ukrainian forces have retaken key terrain in the north - MoD
The UK's Ministry of Defence has tweeted its latest daily intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine. The main points from it are:

Ukrainian forces have retaken key terrain in the north of Ukraine, after denying Russia the ability to secure its objectives and forcing Russian forces to retreat from the areas around Chernihiv and north of Kyiv
Low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw
Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine



9:18 5 Apr
Ukraine says 165 children killed since Russia invaded

As many as 165 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency has reported, citing the prosecutor-general's office (PGO).

It also says 266 children have been wounded.


9:44 5 Apr
Red Cross aid workers released from detention near Mariupol

Imogen Foulkes
BBC News correspondent

Image caption: About 130,000 people are still trapped in besieged Mariupol, according to the city's mayor

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been released after being detained by police in the Ukrainian town of Manhush - which is now reportedly in Russian hands.

The ICRC said this was a "great relief". The team had been trying for several days to reach the besieged city of Mariupol, to deliver aid and evacuate those who wish to leave.

For now, it is reported that the team has returned to Zaporizhzhia. It remains unclear if or when they will continue the mission to Mariupol.

The aid organisation said: "The team is focused now on continuing the humanitarian evacuation operation.

"This incident yesterday shows how volatile and complex the operation to facilitate safe passage around Mariupol has been for our team, who have been trying to reach the city since Friday."