Here are the key events so far on Monday, April 4.
Get the latest updates here.
War crimes investigation
- Ukrainian authorities are investigating alleged war crimes by Russia after finding hundreds of bodies, some bound and shot at close range, strewn around towns near the capital, Kyiv, after Kremlin forces withdrew to refocus attacks elsewhere in Ukraine.
- Ukraine says 50 out of some 300 bodies, found after Russian forces withdrew from Bucha were victims of extrajudicial killings by Russian troops.
- Satellite images show a 14-metre-long (45 feet) trench dug into the grounds of a church where a mass grave was found.
- Russia says alleged “crimes” by its troops in Bucha are a “provocation” and no residents suffered.
Diplomacy
- World leaders have condemned the killings and called for an independent investigation.
- Russia has called for a special United Nations Security Council meeting to address the situation in Bucha.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears in a video aired at the Grammy Awards and appealed to viewers to support Ukrainians “in any way you can”.
In the light of heinous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in #Bucha Russia requested a meeting of UN #SecurityCouncil on Monday April 4
— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) April 3, 2022
Fighting
- Ukraine’s General Staff has said Russia is expected to mobilise about 60,000 reservists.
- Explosions were heard in the early hours of Monday in the cities of Kherson and Odesa, in the south, while air raid sirens sounded across the east.
- The governor of the eastern Donetsk region has shelling continued overnight. Russian shelling killed seven people in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, the regional prosecutor’s office says.
- Heavy fighting has continued in Mariupol as Russian forces attempt to take the southeastern port city, British military intelligence says.
Economy
- Ukraine demands crippling new sanctions on Russia from major Western powers over what it called a “massacre” in Bucha.
- Germany says the West would agree to impose more sanctions on Russia in the coming days, with its defence minister saying the European Union should discuss ending imports of Russian gas.
