Severodonetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine warned residents in the east of the country Thursday to take their "last chance" to flee a feared Russian assault, as outrage over civilian deaths around the capital Kyiv cast a shadow over halting negotiations to stop the six week-old conflict.
Six weeks after invading its neighbour, Russia's troops have withdrawn from Kyiv and Ukraine's north and are focusing on the country's southeast, where desperate attempts are under way to evacuate civilians.
The retreat from Kyiv revealed scenes of carnage, including in the town of Bucha, that Ukraine said were evidence of Russian war crimes, and which triggered a fresh wave of Western sanctions against Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was now massing forces in a bid to realise its "ill ambitions" in the eastern Donbas region, home to Moscow-backed separatists.
"These few days may be the last chance to leave," said Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Donbas region of Lugansk, in an appeal to residents to leave, adding that all the cities in the region were under fire.
Meanwhile the prospect of a negotiated end to the war seemed to fade further as Russia accused Kyiv of changing its demands since face-to-face talks in Istanbul last month.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a draft agreement presented by the Ukraine side on Wednesday suggested they were not interested in stopping the fighting.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak hit back that if Moscow wanted to show its readiness to talk, "it should lower the degree of hostility".
And Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba went further, saying Lavrov's denials of Russian responsibility in Bucha and elsewhere "makes him an accomplice to these crimes".
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey, which is hosting the negotiations, said the images of bodies from Bucha and other areas had "overshadowed" what had been an "emerging positive atmosphere".
'Nowhere to go'
Gaiday said previously that more than 1,200 people had been evacuated from Lugansk on Wednesday, but that efforts were being hampered by artillery fire, with some areas already inaccessible.
For those unable to leave, he said, tonnes of food, medicine and hygiene products were being delivered as part of a massive humanitarian effort.
Shells and rockets were also slamming into the industrial city of Severodonetsk, the easternmost city held by Ukrainian forces.
"We have nowhere to go, it's been like this for days," 38-year-old Volodymyr told AFP, standing opposite a burning building in Severodonetsk.
More than 11 million people have been displaced since Russia invaded on February 24, with the stated aim to "de-Nazify" and "demilitarise" Ukraine and support Moscow-backed separatists.
Moscow is currently believed to be trying to create a land link between occupied Crimea and the statelets in Donbas.
'Weapons, weapons, weapons'
Ukrainian forces are also regrouping for the offensive, including on a two-lane highway through the rolling eastern plains connecting Kharkiv and Donetsk.
Trench positions were being dug, and the road was littered with anti-tank obstacles.
"We're waiting for them!" said a lieutenant tasked with reinforcing the positions, giving a thumbs up.
Western allies have already sent funds and weapons to Ukraine, but Kuleba on Thursday appealed for urgent heavy weaponry, including air defence systems, artillery, armoured vehicles and jets.
"Either you help us now -- and I'm speaking about days, not weeks -- or your help will come too late, and many people will die, many civilians will lose their homes, many villages will be destroyed," he said after meeting NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
Earlier he said he had only one item on his agenda: "It's weapons, weapons, and weapons."
'Brutality and inhumanity'
The evacuation calls in eastern Ukraine are being fuelled by fears of fresh atrocities, after chilling discoveries in areas from which Moscow's troops have withdrawn.
US President Joe Biden said "major war crimes" were being committed in Ukraine, where images have emerged in recent days of bodies with their hands bound or in shallow graves.
"Civilians executed in cold blood, bodies dumped into mass graves, the sense of brutality and inhumanity left for all the world to see, unapologetically," Biden said.
In one of the worst affected towns, Bucha, some residents were still trying to learn the fate of loved ones, while others were hoping to forget.
Tetiana Ustymenko's son and his two friends were gunned down in the street, and she buried them in the garden of the family home.
"How can I live now?" she said.
The Kremlin denies responsibility for any civilian deaths and President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Ukrainian authorities of "crude and cynical provocations" in Bucha.
But the German government pointed to satellite pictures taken while the town was still under Moscow's control, which appear to show bodies in the streets.
Human rights groups say rape is also being used as a "weapon of war" in Ukraine.
Officials have alleged that Russian troops are now trying to cover up atrocities elsewhere to prevent further international outcry, including in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Sanctions 'not enough'
Western powers have already pummelled Russia with debilitating economic sanctions and on Wednesday the United States unveiled further measures targeting Russia's top banks and two of Putin's adult daughters.
Britain sanctioned two banks and vowed to eliminate all Russian oil and gas imports by the end of the year, while the European Union is poised to cut off Russian coal imports.
On the diplomatic front, EU nations this week have expelled more than 200 Russian diplomats and staff, mostly for alleged spying.
And the UN General Assembly will voted to exclude Moscow from the UN Human Rights Council.
But Zelensky has said the new sanctions were "not enough" and urged countries to completely cut off Russia's banks from the international financial system, and to stop buying the country's oil.
burs-ar/yad
