War in Ukraine, day 41: Ukrainian prosecutors got 7,000 war crimes notices. Zelensky: Bigger atrocities in other cities, too, Russians try to cover up evidence

The Ukrainian president will address the United Nations on Tuesday at an emergency meeting of the Security Council. In his speech during the night, Volodymyr Zelensky promised that all war crimes committed by Russian forces against civilians in Ukrainian cities would be documented. Prosecutors will do their utmost to identify the perpetrators of the atrocities, the Kyiv leader said. To this end, Ukraine will cooperate with the European Union and international institutions, in particular the International Criminal Court. Zelensky added that it is in Kiev’s interest to have an open and transparent investigation.

Meanwhile, further massacred dead bodies are being discovered in Bucha. The bodies of five men with their hands tied were found in the basement of a children’s sanatorium in Bukha, a city in the Kyiv region recaptured by Ukrainians and in which Russian soldiers committed massacres, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said. These unarmed civilians, whose bodies were discovered by security forces, were beaten before being killed by Russian Armed Forces soldiers, according to information provided by the same source on the Telegram, writes Agerpres. Photographs of these bodies accompany the press release. Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said an investigation had been launched into the circumstances of the deaths of the civilians.

Moreover, Zelensky warned that more crimes could be discovered in areas recaptured by Russian troops. More than 7,000 reports of war crimes committed by Russian forces in the Kyiv region have been filed with the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, which will be investigated. Most of the victims are reported in Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian news agency Unian. The Attorney General’s Office has already launched an investigation into war crimes committed in Irpin, Bucha and Vorsel.

The Ukrainian president accused Vladimir Putin’s regime of organizing a “propaganda” operation to question reports that Ukrainian civilians had been killed by its forces and that it has attempted to cover up evidence of the war crimes committed by its troops int he occupied areas.

“We must also be aware that after the mass killings of civilians in the Kyiv region, the invaders may have a different attitude towards their crimes. He is already launching a fake campaign to hide his guilt over the mass killings of civilians in Mariupol. They will give dozens of interviews, reissue recordings and kill people especially to make it look like they were killed by someone else. They used the same tactic when the occupiers shot down a Malaysian Boeing over the Donbas. They blamed Ukraine. They even came up with various conspiracy theories,” he added.

On the other hand, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, described the atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha as a “staged challenge”, further denying that civilian casualties on the city’s streets were killed by Russian soldiers. In a statement to a news conference on Monday, Ambassador Nebenzia referred to the invasion of Ukraine as “a war” and not a “special military operation,” as Kremlin has kept saying. “Civilians are dying in the war. That is a sad fact of reality”.

10 civilians killed, at least 46 injured in Nikolaiev

Ten civilians were killed and at least 46 wounded in bombings in the southern Ukrainian town of Nikolaiev, its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevich, said. A first attack by the Russian army at 04:00 GMT resulted in the death of one person and the injury of five others, two of them seriously. A second attack resulted in nine people killed and 41 injured, the mayor said in a video, adding that the death toll could rise. “In all, ten people were killed in these bombings and 46 were injured,” he said.

On Sunday, eight people were killed and 34 were injured in attacks by Russian forces on the town of Nikolaiev and Oceakiv, a town located 60 km southwest, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office.

Institute for the Study of War: Russia prepares offensive against Sloviansk

Russian troops are preparing an offensive against the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, according to the latest report from the Institute for the Study of War. It could be the next key battle of the war in Ukraine, the report said. The document states that the Russians are trying to win the battle in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, but that they will most likely fail. The Russians have left the Chernihiv and Sumi regions in the north and “will probably liberate these regions completely in the coming days,” the report said.

At the same time, in its Tuesday morning’s assessment of the war in Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defense estimated that the forces that lost the battle of Kiev will not be able to be reused too soon in other conflict zones on the territory of Ukraine.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 5 April 2022

Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/C605aP9hlX

?? #StandWithUkraine ?? pic.twitter.com/t8wlPfCrqd

— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) April 5, 2022

Seven new humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians

The Ukrainian government on Tuesday scheduled the opening of seven humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of citizens from the areas most affected by the Russian bombing, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereşciuk said on his Telegram account. As in most cases so far, residents of Mariupol will only be able to leave the city in private cars, Vereshchiuk was quoted as saying by Ukrinform, according to Agerpres. The most important corridor is the one that connects Zaporozhye with the port city of Mariupol, which has been under siege since the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Authorities say there are about 160,000 people left in the city, which had about half a million inhabitants before the invasion.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, detained on Monday by police in a Russian-controlled area near Mariupol in Ukraine, “has been released during the night,” a Red Cross spokesman was quoted as saying by France Presse on Tuesday.

von der Leyen, Borrell go to Kyiv

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and top EU diplomat Josep Borrell will travel to Kyiv this week for a meeting with Zelenski, an EU spokesman said.

The visit will take place “ahead of Saturday’s #StandUpForUkraine fundraising campaign in Warsaw,” EU spokesman Eric Mamer wrote on Twitter.

President @vonderleyen and HRVP @JosepBorrellF will travel this week to Kyiv to meet President @ZelenskyyUa prior to the pledging event #StandUpForUkraine on Saturday in Warsaw.

— Eric Mamer (@MamerEric) April 5, 2022

Further support and further sanctions

The Japanese government will provide additional $ 100 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and neighboring countries, the Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday. The funds will be used to support health and food care efforts, the ministry said in a statement, as well as for refugees from countries such as Poland, Moldova and Romania.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Monday that it was “immediately suspending” Russia and Belarus’ access to its funding and expertise following the invasion of Ukraine, according to France 24.

The Pentagon has announced that transports in the USD 800 M security package have reached Ukraine.

On the other hand, the United States and its allies are expected to announce new economic sanctions against Russia “this week”, while Ukraine will receive more military assistance, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was quoted as saying by AFP on Monday. The US Treasury has also stopped Moscow from paying $ 600 million to Russian bondholders, which puts the Kremlin in front of a really difficult election.

EU is also likely to announce new round of sanctions against Moscow on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister says.

In the meantime, more Russian oligarchs are seeing their assets frozen. Tango, the super-yacht of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, was confiscated by Spanish police and the FBI in Mallorca at the request of US authorities. The Ukrainian-born oligarch violated sanctions imposed by the United States since 2018 and those imposed last month. The luxury ship is 78 meters long and is valued at $ 90 million.

At the same time, US and UK have asked the Russia’s suspension from the UN Council for the Human Rights.

While former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is silent, German President Frank Walter Steinmeier, a politician known for his pro-Moscow policy, admited more clearly than ever his mistakes in Russia’s rapprochement policy, starting with Nord Stream2. “I failed,” he was quoted as saying by Tagesspiegel.

Italy has expelled 30 Russian diplomats accused of espionage, and Denmark 15

Moreover, the expulsions of Russian diplomats continued across EU countries. Denmark has expelled 15 Russian diplomats accused of espionage. The Copenhagen government’s decision is the latest in a series that has begun in recent weeks. Italy also announced on Tuesday the expulsion of 30 Russian diplomats. “I discovered that the 15 were Russian intelligence agents who were carrying out espionage operations on Danish territory,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told reporters.

He added that he wanted to “send a clear signal to Russia that espionage on Danish territory is unacceptable.” Italy has expelled 30 Russian diplomats for security reasons, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday morning. He added that the Russian ambassador to Italy, Sergei Razov, had been informed of the decision.

These new expulsions come after on Mondya, Germany, France, Latvia, and Lithuania had announced the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats as part of a joint European reaction to the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, allegedly by Russian forces before they retreated. The German government declared 40 Russian diplomats “undesirable,” and France said it would expel 35 Russian diplomats, saying their activities were “against our security interests.” Lithuania also said it had expelled Russia’s ambassador to Vilnius and was recalling its top diplomat in Moscow in response to reports that Russian forces killed dozens of civilians in Bucha.

Anonymous in action

The hacker group Anonymous claims on Twitter that it obtained the personal data of 120,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. “All soldiers involved in the invasion of Ukraine should be subject to a war crimes tribunal,” Anonymous added.

Statement: Personal data of 120,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine was leaked –
https://ddosecrets[.]com/wiki/Russian_soldier_leak
All soldiers participating in the invasion of Ukraine should be subjected to a war crime tribunal.

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 3, 2022

German court announced on Tuesday that it has dismantled the world’s “largest” darknet sales platform, called “Hydra Market”, which has been operating in Russian since 2015.

“The servers of the world’s largest darknet market have been confiscated and 543 bitcoins worth a total of about 23 million euros have been secured,” the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office and the Federal Police Bureau BKA were quoted as saying by AFP.

Investigators suspect the platform, which had about 17 million customers, was used for criminal activities and money laundering through 19,000 sales accounts.

Desperate Ukrainian parents trying their best to save their children

Ukrainian parents ended up writing on their children’s bodies the names of their little ones and contact details in case their parents were killed by the invading troops or their children were lost due to the war.

A Ukrainian mom Oleksandra Makoviy wrote on her daughter’s body the name, date of birth, numbers of parents so that if she is lost or they are killed during war someone can help the girl.
“Then I even thought "why didn't I make a tattoo with this information to her?” Says her Mom pic.twitter.com/orCbgnPm1l

— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) April 5, 2022