Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – The presidents of four countries outside Russia visited Ukraine on Wednesday to show support for the warring nation after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue working. Bloody Attack Until “complete completion”.
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – all NATO countries who fear they could face a Russian attack in case Ukraine falls – are traveling by train to Kiev to meet with the leader of Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky.
In one of the war’s most decisive battles, Russia said more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered in the besieged port of Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces maintain control of the city. The complaint could not be verified.
Russia invaded on February 24 with the aim, according to Western officials, to take Kiev, overthrow the government and appoint a friend of Moscow. In the seven weeks after the ground stopped advancing, Russia has possibly lost thousands of fighters and the war has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee. The war also shook the world economy, threatened global food supplies AND upset the balance of Europe after the Cold War.
Zelensky praised Biden’s use of the word, saying “naming things is essential to defeating evil.”
“We are grateful for U.S. assistance so far and urgently need heavier weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities,” he added on Twitter.
European leaders who visited Ukraine intended to convey a “strong message of political support and military assistance,” Lithuanian President Gitana Nauseda said.
Nauseda, Estonian President Alar Karis, Pole Andrzej Duda and Latvian Egil Levits also plan to discuss Russia’s alleged war crimes, among others. Killing of civilians. Nauseda said the leaders were visiting Borodianka, one of the cities near Kiev where evidence of the brutality was found.
“This is a place where the dark side of humanity has shown its face,” he wrote on Twitter. The atrocities committed by the Russian army will not be punished.
An expert report compiled by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) found “clear evidence of violations by Russian forces (of international humanitarian law) during the conflict”. The report was written by experts selected from Ukraine and published on Wednesday by a Vienna -based organization that promotes security and human rights.
The report states that Ukraine also has violations, but concludes that the actions taken by Russia are “broader and natural”.
Ukraine had previously admitted that “isolated incidents” of irregularities could have occurred and said it would investigate.
Putin, however, denied the brutality of his troops and on Tuesday said Russia had “no choice but” to attack, saying the attack was aimed at protecting people in parts of eastern Ukraine and “ensuring security. of Russia “. He promised that “it will continue until its complete completion and the completion of the prescribed tasks.”
Following this failure, Russian troops are now preparing for a major offensive in the eastern Donbass region, where Moscow’s separatist allies and Ukrainian forces have been fighting since 2014 and where Russia has recognized separatists ’claims to freedom. Military strategists say Moscow believes local support, logistics and relief efforts in the region will contribute to its larger and better armed army, possibly allowing Russia to finally turn the tide. water in its favor.
The British Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that “the inability to communicate and coordinate battles has prevented aggression in Russia to date.” Western officials said Russia had appointed a new general, Alexander Dvornikov, for the war to try and capture his campaign.
An important part of this campaign was Mariupol, located in the Donbas and besieged by the Russians and rebelled after the war began. Adviser to the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak tweeted that the city’s defenders were short of supplies, but “fought under bombs for every meter of the city.”
Spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General. Igor Konashenkov said 1,026 soldiers from Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at a metal factory in the city. It is not clear when the surrender took place or how strong the force defending Mariupol was.
According to the BBC, Aiden Aslin, a British who fought in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, called his mother and a friend and told them that he and his comrades had no food, ammunition and other supplies and would surrender.
On Wednesday, Russian state television broadcast a video, said to have come from the port city, showing dozens of men wearing transvestite clothes walking with their hands raised and carrying others in the stretcher or chair. A man holds the white flag in one hand and the handle of the stretcher in the other hand. In the background is a high-rise industrial building, with cracked windows and a missing roof, called by the announcer the Ilyich Metal Factory.
Another of Zelensky’s advisers, Oleks Arestovich, did not comment on the surrender request, but said in a Twitter post that elements of the same brigade had managed to contact other Ukrainian forces in the city following the a “risky maneuver”.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said the country was investigating allegations that a drone dropped a toxic substance on the city. He said it is possible that phosphorus ammunition was used in Mariupol.
Phosphorus ammunition is not formally classified as a chemical weapon, but it causes horrible burns and its accidental fire can violate the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Mark-Michael Bloom, former head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Laboratory. .
In Washington, a senior U.S. defense official said the Biden administration was preparing another package of military aid to Ukraine to be announced in the coming days. It could be $ 750 million.
Although Biden used the word “genocide” to refer to Russia’s actions, he said it was up to lawyers to decide whether the country’s conduct met international standards for genocide.
French President Emmanuel Macron declined to use the word, but said that “it is established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army.”
“We need to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” he told France-2.
In Ukraine, including, the International Criminal Court investigates war crimes. With the atrocities announced later, Moscow withdrew from the Kiev region, where, according to Ukrainian authorities, more than 720 people were killed and in the city of Bucha alone 403 bodies were found. .
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, who visited Bucha, tweeted on Wednesday that Ukraine was a “crime scene” and that the court should “open the fog of war” to determine what happened .
Residents of one of the rooms wrote down the names of those who died during the trial. There are 18 people on the list.
“An old man died next to me, and then his wife died,” said Valentina Saroyan, a resident. “Then a dead man was lying down, then a woman sat next to me. … He is dead too. Another old man looked healthy, he was exercising, but then he sat up and fell down. “Oh.”
Reported by Stashevsky from Yahidne, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington and AP reporters from around the world contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
