Category Archives: Ukraine

No war crimes case is easy, but the task of indicting Vladimir Putin at the International Criminal Court (ICC) appears to be straightforward.

There are two key elements necessary to charge a commander-in-chief with war crimes. First are the crimes themselves. Second, the chain-of-command to the top. In the case of Russias Ukraine invasion, both seem clear.

The horrors of Bucha and a slew of towns north of Kyiv are gruesome and widespread. They are also, crucially, being recorded in real time. A major problem for war crimes trials in the past was that evidence had to be sifted from chaotic battlefields years after the fact.

This is not the case here. Ukraines own investigators are already on the ground, alongside specialists from The Hague. Last month the ICC opened an online evidence portal, inviting ordinary Ukrainians to become part of the investigation process. Russia is not a member of the ICC, but Ukraine has given the court jurisdiction for crimes on its territory, no matter who commits them.

The first stage of an indictment is to match evidence of atrocities to records showing which units committed them.

For this, video of shattered Russian tanks and abandoned camps will be scrutinised to see which formations were at the scene of the crime. Tiny details can be important, such as graffiti left by a retreating unit, information from abandoned laptops or regimental flashes on discarded uniforms.

Nato can play a role here by giving access to intelligence it has collected. Last week Germanys security service, the BND, released chilling intercepts to its parliament. They included a blunt instruction from one Russian commander: First question the soldiers, then shoot them.

Spy planes and satellites have kept track of Russias order of battle, some of it gleaned from Russians themselves. As the BND has found, many Russian headquarters give orders in the clear. The United States is not an ICC member, but Congress has passed a bipartisan resolution calling for cooperation with the court, which should release an avalanche of information.

War crimes evidence works like a mosaic. Prosecutors combine forensics with witness accounts, video and intelligence to produce a complete picture of the crimes and who committed them.

When prosecutors have established a pattern of atrocities, the next step is moving up the command chain. Normally this is difficult. The two most high-profile war crimes trials of recent years, against Serbias Slobodan Miloevi and Liberias Charles Taylor, had problems linking these leaders to ragtag militias operating in distant forests and mountains.

By contrast, Russias chain of command needs no investigation because it is a matter of public record. Its military regulations set out the responsibilities of its generals, while Article 87 of the constitution names the president as supreme commander of the armed forces.

War law gives no immunity to presidents, as Miloevi and Taylor found out. Nor is responsibility diluted the further up the command chain you go. If anything, the supreme commander is the most responsible, because he has the most power.

The ICC can charge Russias high command with war crimes and crimes against humanity without having to prove they ordered these crimes. It is enough to show that crimes happened and commanders did nothing to prevent them, or punish those responsible. Prosecutors are likely to argue that, with its continuing bombardment of Mariupol, Russia has shown no interest in preventing or punishing even the worst atrocities.

In the past the ICC has started investigations at the top, rather than first charging lower-level commanders. When it began investigating atrocities in Libyas Arab spring revolution a decade ago, the countrys leader Muammar Gaddafi was on the very first indictment.

Less clear is whether anyone will be charged with genocide. Rightly called the crime of crimes, genocide requires evidence of intent, which is a procedural labyrinth prosecutors may for now avoid.

More complicated still is bringing a charge of the crime of aggression. The charge is arguably the easiest to prove, because it refers to any war, such as Russias Ukraine invasion, launched in violation of the UN Charter. However, the ICC is not part of the UN. And for this particular charge, ICC rules dictate it cannot indict those from non-member states like Russia.

Available evidence suggests that, as with Gaddafi, ICC prosecutors could bring charges against Russias top brass in a matter of months.

Yet it is possible nobody will ever be brought to trial. The ICC has no police force or ready means to get suspects to The Hague. Western powers could tie existing sanctions to Russia handing over indictees, but that is an uncertain path. For now, investigators labouring amid the mud and blood of Bucha do so despite knowing that justice may never be done.

Chris Stephen is the author of Judgement Day: The Trial of Slobodan Miloevi (Atlantic Books, 2004)

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Witnessing atrocities in real time in Ukraine is changing everything - The Guardian

WARSAW, Poland (AP) Days before Polands Independence Day in November, vandals painted the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag on monuments in Krakow. The vandalism, which took place as Russia massed troops near Ukraines border, looked as if Ukrainians were defacing memorials to Polish national heroes.

Yet some clues suggested otherwise.

The flags colors were reversed, with the yellow on top of the blue and one offensive message was in an unnatural mix of Russian and Ukrainian. Though prosecutors are still investigating, Polish and Ukrainian authorities believe it was most likely a Russian-inspired attempt to trigger ethnic hostility between Ukrainians and Poles.

Polish and Ukrainian authorities have for years accused Russia of trying to provoke hostility between their neighboring nations as part of a broader effort to divide and destabilize the West and the concerns have gained greater urgency since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Poland and Ukraine are neighbors and allies but they share a difficult history of oppression and bloodshed, and those historical traumas sometimes rise to the surface.

Poland has also accepted large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, creating fears that could become another wedge issue that Russia could exploit.

The Russian efforts to sow divisions between the Poles and Ukrainians, particularly by means of exploiting historical issues, are as old as time, said Stanislaw Zaryn, the spokesman for Polands security services.

Russia has redoubled them since the war began, he said. And they are more dangerous now because the war is going on and it can affect more people than before.

Reacting to the November incident, the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw immediately denounced it as shameful and a provocation aimed at harming the good neighborly relations between Ukraine and Poland.

More than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland since the war began, and while some move on to other countries more than half have remained. Poles have reacted with an outpouring of help and goodwill and the government has extended to the Ukrainians the same rights to education and health care that Poles have.

Never Again, an anti-racism association in Poland, has documented several attempts to stoke aversion to the Ukrainian refugees and even to openly justify Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion. In some cases those behind the messages are far-right Polish activists or politicians with pro-Kremlin views, according to a report the organization published Thursday.

These groups do not enjoy widespread public support, but they do their best to make Poles and Ukrainians quarrel, spread hateful content, conspiracy theories and false information, primarily in the internet space, it said.

Larysa Lacko, an expert on countering disinformation at NATO, said Russia is known to exploit refugees as a wedge issue because it touches on the economy, race and other sensitive issues, and that she has also observed Russian disinformation talking about historical grievances.

Western Ukraine was once under Polish rule, with Ukrainians largely subservient to a Polish landowning class.

Resentments erupted in ethnic bloodshed during World War II, when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a nationalist military formation, slaughtered tens of thousands of Poles in the Nazi-occupied Polish regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.

Poland also has a difficult history with Moscow. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union carved up Poland at the start of World War II in 1939, invading and occupying the country based on a secret clause in the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Poles suffered atrocities inflicted by both occupying states. The Nazis set up death camps and concentration camps where they murdered Jews and they killed many other Polish citizens as well. Meanwhile, the Soviets sent some Poles to Siberia and murdered 22,000 Polish officers in the Katyn massacres of 1940.

Even after the war, Poland was forced to live under Moscows oppressive control for the decades of the Cold War.

It still stings Poles to remember the Soviet Union denied the truth of the Katyn killings for decades, forbidding Poles from publicly commemorating the victims. When the Polish wartime government-in-exile asked the International Red Cross to investigate the Nazi disclosures of the Soviet crimes, Moscow smeared the Polish leaders as Fascist collaborators much as they have falsely accused Ukraine today of being a Nazi state.

Some Poles, especially those who lived through the war, remember those times and carry a lingering hostility to both Russians and Ukrainians.

One false claim Polish authorities say Russians are spreading is that Poland seeks to reclaim Lviv and other territory in western Ukraine that once was Polish. Those claims are untrue, the Polish Foreign Ministry said in a series of tweets seeking to debunk false claims. Poland will never accept the annexation of any territory belonging to an independent state.

Another is that Poland, a NATO ally hosting thousands of U.S. troops, is working to set the West against Russia.

That claim was made recently by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, the current deputy chairman of the Russian security council.

Now the interests of the citizens of Poland have been sacrificed due to the Russophobia of mediocre politicians and their puppeteers from across the ocean with clear signs of senile insanity, Medvedev wrote recently on Telegram, a social media app popular in Russia and Ukraine.

Zaryn, the Polish security services spokesman, also pointed to a Polish Facebook page called A Ukrainian is NOT my brother, whose posts call on followers not to forget the Ukrainian massacres of Poles in the 1940s.

The page was created less than a month after Russia annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has nearly 55,000 followers. In recent weeks posts have criticized Polish authorities for their strong support for Ukraine.

Zaryn said evidence points to it being run by a woman with ties to a pro-Kremlin party, Zmiana, in Poland. The former leader of the party, Mateusz Piskorski, has worked for Russian news outlets RT and Sputnik and has been charged with espionage for Russia and China.

Polands government has been taking steps to protect itself, with public warnings about the disinformation attempts and expulsions of dozens of suspected Russian agents and one arrest.

Days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Polish authorities arrested a man they accused of being an agent of the Russian military intelligence agency, GRU, in Przemysl, a key entry points for Ukrainian refugees, as he sought to cross into Ukraine.

In late March, Poland ordered the expulsion of 45 suspected Russian intelligence officers they accused of using diplomatic status as a cover to operate in the country.

The illegal activities of these diplomats can also pose a threat to those people who left their country to flee the war and found protection in our country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina said.

At a moment of huge solidarity in Poland and elsewhere with Ukrainians, disinformation is limited in its impact, argued Lacko, the NATO expert working to counter disinformation.

Given the atrocities on the ground, its harder to fall into these sorts of traps, she said.

But officials in Poland say they have to remain on guard, especially if the number of refugees grows, creating the potential for more social anxieties that can be exploited.

___

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.

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Poland-Ukraine ties seen as target of Russian disinformation - The Associated Press - en Espaol

A monument for Taras Shevchenko is symbolically protected by bandages in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

A monument for Taras Shevchenko is symbolically protected by bandages in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

BORODYANKA, Ukraine In the devastated town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, Natasha Romanenko has pushed paper into the bullet holes peppered across her windows.

It's to keep the cold out, she tells us.

"You can see, there are holes where they were shooting directly in our window when we were hiding there," she says, speaking through NPR's interpreter.

When Russian forces invaded and occupied the town, the damage was devastating. Ukrainian officials say Russia deliberately bombed civilian areas and that hundreds are still missing more than a week after the invading forces withdrew. Now, crews are sifting through the wreckage to see what and who survived.

We start to see signs of the destruction on the drive from Kyiv into Borodyanka. What should be a quick trip now takes hours as destroyed bridges mean more cars crowd onto the few reliable routes, and the military checkpoints create long lines on narrow roads.

A destroyed building in the town of Borodyanka. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

We pass through the village of Dmitriovka and see a burned-out car near homes reduced to rubble. A little farther on, there is a flattened tank.

Then, another destroyed car that has the word "children" spray-painted in Russian along the side door.

We arrive on Borodyanka's main street Central Street with a humanitarian convoy that immediately begins handing out food and water.

It's here that we meet Natasha. She and her family spent a month hiding in a cramped, dark root cellar.

"What did we eat? Mostly potatoes," she says. "I had some spare oil, and I have a cow, so I had milk. And I went to my neighbor, I gave her some milk. She gave me some other things, some cheese. So this is how we survived. Our cow saved us."

Natasha takes us to the cellar, which is mostly filled with crates of potatoes. She explains that at night, they would lay a carpet over the crates and try to sleep on top of that, keeping warm under all the blankets they had.

In the final days of the occupation, Natasha says, a Russian soldier confronted her. She had ventured out to milk her cow, and he thought she was scouting Russian troop locations. She says he took her out to the middle of the road and pointed a gun to her head.

Natasha Romanenko and her family spent a month hiding from Russian forces in Borodyanka. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

"He was threatening me," she says. "And what did I say to him? I said I just wish one thing: that he would see my face for the rest of his days, so he would never forget what he's done here."

The soldier spoke to someone else on his radio. Then, Natasha says, he let her go.

As the aid workers move through the main street, we break from the group, and the scale of the destruction starts to sink in. It's utter devastation everywhere you look.

There's an apartment building blackened from flames, with the middle collapsed from the bombing. The windows in all the storefronts have shattered and roofs have collapsed. There are burned vehicles in the streets, and most of the power lines are down and frayed on the ground.

Across from the destroyed apartment building, there's a small park with a monument in the middle. On top sits a giant bust of Taras Shevchenko, the famous Ukrainian poet. Bullet holes pierce his forehead.

The tall pillar that the bust rests on is cracked and crumbling from all the shrapnel. Three policemen are holding a ladder while another man stands nearby, ready to climb to the top.

Apartment complexes burned and blackened by flames from bombing in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

Yaroslav Halubchik is an artist from Kyiv and has come here to help create an ad hoc art project an instant memorial of sorts.

"We're calling it 'The Curing of Shevchenko' or 'The Healing of Shevchenko,' " he says.

Yaroslav steps up the ladder and starts to wrap a big gauze bandage around the bust's giant head. As he does that, a man in a Ukrainian military uniform comes up and asks him what he's doing.

Yaroslav explains that it's performance art, and the soldier seems satisfied. It turns out, he was worried that they were repairing it.

"In this case, it is vital that we keep this monument as it is right now, it shouldn't be touched," the soldier says. He adds that it's especially important because of who Shevchenko was.

"This is really important, because we all know that Shevchenko and other Ukrainian poets were always enemies of Russia," he explains. "I really hope that people will rebuild everything here as it was, but we should keep this as it is now."

We ask his name. He's Yevhen Nyshchuk the former Ukrainian minister of culture. He's in the military now and based nearby.

A monument at the entrance of the town of Borodyanka. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

We keep making our way down the main street. Building after building has collapsed from the bombardment of tank and rocket fire.

In the nearby town of Bucha, bodies were found in the street. Here, with so many collapsed structures, the worry is that bodies are still trapped underneath.

Several cranes carefully pick up debris, as recovery teams look for remains. There's a playground in front of one of the buildings and a woman is sitting there on a bench next to a slide, watching the recovery work.

Her name is Ludmila Boiko.

"My sister and her son lived here. This is what's left of them," she says, pointing to a pile of old notebooks. "His mother kept his old notebooks from school."

Ludmila found them scattered around the debris of the apartment building. That and some pictures, she says, are the only things she's found.

Ludmila's sister Olyna Vahnenko was 56. Her nephew, Yuri, was 24. He had just graduated from college.

Ludmila Boiko near a collapsed building in Borodyanka. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

They'd left their apartment and sought shelter. But on March 1, during a break in the shelling and bombing, Olyna and Yuri went back. Ludmila says they talked on the phone, and Olyna said they had been able to shower and eat some food.

An hour later, Russian forces destroyed the building.

"Our friends were trying to help us, but for four days, it was a huge fire here," Ludmila says. "And so first they were trying to fight the fire. They didn't have a chance to do excavations right away."

When the fire stopped, people started trying to look for survivors. Then shelling began again, and they had to flee.

After that, she says Russian forces were posted here, and nobody could get near the building.

Searching couldn't resume until a month after the attack. So Ludmila sat, and waited.

"I just want to see how they discover all the bodies that they assume should be there, and then probably I would like to do something like with DNA testing because I want to know for sure what happened," she says.

"I was so close with them that I don't even know how I should live now. How should I live in this place?"

Rescuers search a collapsed building in Borodyanka. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

The crane continues to slowly remove rubble from a collapsed building.

Soon, workers discover a woman's body. Ludmila climbs up the pile of rubble to look.

The body is removed, covered and placed next to three others found earlier that day.

Ludmila goes back to the playground and sits down, continuing her vigil.

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This is what a Ukraine town looks like after Russian troops withdraw - NPR

After a recent discussion on the Ukraine-Russia war became heated and even "abusive" in herWhatsApp group for church members, Susie Su was forced to put a ban on the topic.

The 69-year-oldTaiwanese Australian, who helps to manage the social media group comprising some 50 Chinese Christiansin New South Wales, said shewanted to maintain peace after realising the debate was dividingher community.

With members hailing from mainland China, Malaysia and Hong Kong, the community always had robust conversations but it was the first time she had to intervene since the group was created two years ago.

Ms Su said that last month, a minister from a churchwas accused of advocating pro-Russia views after he saidUkrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy should surrender to Russia to protect civilians in the war-torn country.

Many Ukraine supporters in the chatroom argued that Russia's invasion had caused the deaths of those civilians.

"Invasion is wrong. Our group has church members who come fromChina. They believe China should not defend Russia," she said.

"I believe as Christianwe should be against the invasion, and pursue democracy and freedom."

But when the church minister was verbally abused by another member, Ms Su halted the discussion.

Ms Su said she found many people who were expressing pro-Russia viewshad been influenced by articles on Chinese social media, and some echoed language from Beijing.

China hasattempted to castitself as a neutral party and refused to condemn Russia's action or call it an invasion.

Last month,Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian blamedNATO for pushing Russia-Ukraine tensions to "breaking point", while Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yuchengsaid the root cause of the crisis layin the Cold War mentality of the West.

Ms Su said she hada lot of sympathy for Ukrainians and she believed China shouldsupport Ukraine as much as possible without directlyintervening in the war.

As Russia's invasion has continued, the ABC has witnessed heated discussions on several Chinese social media platforms that are popular among Chinese-speaking communities in Australia.

Several Chinese Australians have told the ABC theyfeel frustrated seeingfriends, colleagues and even family members arguing about the war on social media.

Yang Han, a Sydney-based former Chinese diplomat and political commentator, was shocked when he saw pro-Russia comments piling upin a WeChat group where hundreds of Chinese Australians shared information about the pandemic.

Since the war broke out in February, the chatroom has instead been dominated by Chinese news articles and discussions about the war.

"It gives me a unique look at how [some other Chinese people] view the war in Ukraine," Mr Yang said.

He said he decided to translate some of the pro-Russiacomments and articles shared in the WeChat group into English and postthem on his Twitter account to highlight how some of the propaganda from Beijing was influencing Chinese Australian migrants.

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After a member from the WeChat room discovered the translations, he was removed from the group and then singled out by China'sstate-run media.

China's nationalist tabloid Global Times accused Mr Yang of being a paid agent of anti-China organisations with a goal of plotting a "colour revolution".

Mr Yang rejected the claim and said he was concerned China's censorship might influence the Australian community.

"The group members are Australians," he said, adding their opinions could affect politics in Australia.

Mr Yang saidthe Chinese state media articles werefuelling frustration during discussions amongfamily and friends.

Some Australians of Chinese descent told the ABC that polarised views on the war hadoften led to unpleasant conversations between husbands and wives, parents and children, and colleagues at work.

Mr Yang said his relatives in China avoided talking about the Ukraine war with him on WeChat because it was a sensitive topic that could damage their relationship.

"They know what they can and can't say otherwise, we may have a fight on WeChat," he said.

David Goodman, director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said Chinese-speakingcommunities had different values and backgrounds.

He said supporting Russia was "a logical nationalist position in China", given that Beijing declared in Februaryits partnership with Moscow had "no limits" and"the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

"The prime conflict [portrayed by the media] would seem to be China versus the anglophone world the key alliance of the US, Australia and the UK," Professor Goodman said.

Feng Chongyi, an associateprofessor in Chinese studiesat the University of Technology Sydney anda democracy activist, said the views withinChinese-speaking communities in Australia were very diverse because people had different ideologies.

He said some Chinese Australians with pro-Russian views could also be influenced by anti-America propaganda and censorship ofanti-Russia content on popular social media platforms.

Earlier this year, Jin Xing, China's first openly transgender dancer, who has more than 13 million fans on China's Twitter-like social media platform Weibo, called the Russian President "a crazy man". Soon after, her post was deletedand her account was suspended.

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Why the Ukraine-Russia war is dividing the Australian Chinese community - ABC News

In a career that stretches back 40 years, Sean Penn has had many great roles, from Jeff Spicoli to Harvey Milk, from the surly teen sociopath of Bad Boys to the soulful death-row sociopath of Dead Man Walking. Yet theres a role Penn is now playing that he has embraced with fierce commitment and skill, but it still doesnt look very good on him. Thats the role of The American Civilian Who Cares About the War in Ukraine More Than You Do.

Youve seen him play the role at press conferences and in interviews with cable-TV news hosts. Thatchy-haired and beleaguered, sitting there in his green CORE Army jacket brandishing his thousand-yard Method stare, his cigarette voice on the verge of cracking in literally every sentence, Penn, gripped with conviction, speaks in a deliberate, ever-so-slightly strangled monotone that makes it sound like hes working hard to control everything hes saying. Otherwise he might just bust a gasket of emotion, man!

Hes a great actor, and the message is clear: Sean Penn knows the stakes. He gets the gravitas, more than you and I put together. Penn, presenting his analysis of the Ukraine situation, lays out his case with a solemn awestruck once-more-unto-the-breach fervor, and its obvious, as you listen to him, that he knows a great deal. Hes got the detail at his fingertips about how many weeks of training it takes to fly an F-15, about Level 4 Body Armor, about how two squadrons at a cost of $300 million could end this thing. Penn was in Ukraine shooting a documentary about the country and its travails back in November, when the Russian invasion was just a gleam in Vladimir Putins eye. He was there, as well, during the first few days of fighting, but was forced to leave for the safety of himself and his crew. Hes returned since to meet with the countrys president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Youve heard of profiles in courage? Penn makes Zelenskyy sound like his BFF in courage.

I should say, right up front, that Ive had incredible admiration for Penn in his role as activist and organizer. Last year, the compelling documentary Citizen Penn chronicled his offscreen activities, notably his decade-long mission to improve the lives of the people of Haiti. As I wrote in my review, He walks the walk, instead of just talking the talk. Where other celebrities preach about saving the world in self-righteous signifiers, he takes action by going on the scene (to Baghdad during the Iraq War, to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, to Haiti following the catastrophic 2010 earthquake), and by staying there long after the disaster-relief-volunteer-as-photo-op window has closed. In going to Ukraine, Penn has taken serious risks, and he has, in general, devoted huge swatches of his life to helping others when too many entertainment figures are just looking for the next paycheck. At the same time, I pointed out theres a way that Sean Penns trouble-spot dedication can dovetail a little too exquisitely with his image, creating a kind of aging-James-Dean-of-the-killing-fields persona.

The problem with his Ukraine activism, however, isnt the persona. Its what hes saying. On Feb. 25, the day after the invasion, Penn, presenting himself as the moral conscience of the nation (ours), with a touch of Lincoln-meets-FDR-meets-JFK stentorian poetry to his words, said, Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.

I like that first sentence; it captures the stakes of what Ukraines fight against Russia means for the world today. But I was no fan of the second sentence. By the time that Penn said it, President Biden had already committed America to supporting Ukraine in this war, and the media was already brimming over with analysis of what, exactly, the United States should do in response to Russias aggression. With Putin rattling the saber of a nuclear threat, the cooler heads that prevailed all appeared to agree: We cannot put troops on the ground. The risks are too great. Putin is too much of a loose cannon. (His decision to launch this cataclysmic horror of a war does not appear to be fully rational; so who knows how far his irrationality would extend?) No one was arguing that Ukraine should fight without the commitment sanctions, weapons, the collective ostracizing of Russia of the United States and most of the Western world. But waging the fight alone is what the people of Ukraine needed to do, and have done, with staggering courage and effectiveness.

But with that initial statement, the template of Sean Penns message had been set. He was in Ukraine, he saw what was happening, he had the gravitas to understand the magnitude of the moment, and he, therefore, could go on television and announce, with the fearless clarity of absolutism, what our policy should be. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost. (And who, incidentally, would be doing this fighting? Sean Penns kids? Yours? Mine?)

The second act of Penns Ukraine drama arrived on the wings of the Oscars. A rumor was circulating that President Zelenskyy might appear on the Oscar telecast to make a statement about Ukraine. Penn, reflecting the image politics of Hollywood far more than he knew, seized on this possibility as a defining moral event, especially when it began to leak out that Zelenskyy, in all likelihood, would not be part of the ceremony. (He wound up on the Grammys instead.) If the Academy has elected not to do it, said Penn, if presenters have elected not to pursue the leadership in Ukraine who are taking bullets and bombs for us, along with the Ukrainian children who they are trying to protect, then I think every single one of those people, and every bit of that decision, will have been the most obscene moment in all of Hollywood history.

Really? More obscene than the 50s blacklist? More obscene than the racism of The Birth of a Nation? Than the revelation of Harvey Weinsteins long-enabled monstrousness? Than the fact that Around the World in 80 Days won best picture? For good measure, Penn added the actorly flourish, I myself, if it comes back to it, when I return, I will smelt mine in public. He meant his Oscar. Werner Herzog once threatened to cook and eat his shoe, and did, but that was a joke. If Sean Penn ever smelts his Oscar in public, I want a front-row seat.

The difference between Ukraine and the other trouble spots, like Haiti, that Penn has been to is that in those cases, in addition to offering humanitarian aid through the organization he founded, CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), Penn was shining a light on crisis situations that needed more light. The mass media tended to dip in and out of them. From the start, though, the whole world has been watching Ukraine. In a way, Penn is preaching to the choir. Who doesnt think that we should be helping Ukraine, or that the stakes of this war, in terms of the shape of our world, are anything less than elemental? If Penn simply agrees with the current American policy, then theres no real point to his making himself a spokesperson. So implicitly he has to go further: to nudging the U.S. toward greater action.

Yet has he really earned the right to do that? Shooting his documentary, Penn has been an eyewitness in Ukraine, no more and no less, but hes far from the only one, and he doesnt possess any special knowledge of the logistics or the ethical dimensions that define this war. What he has is his self-appointed fervor, which in this case feels inseparable from the drama he instinctively cultivates as an actor. Offscreen, he has long been an embattled figure (his first war was against the paparazzi). He sees himself as someone who wants to make a difference, and thats admirable that is, until it becomes self-glorifying.

And frankly, I dont want to see an actor, no matter how valiant his efforts at humanitarian relief have been, advocating for policies that could lead us closer to a nuclear conflict, all because it makes him feel like hes seizing the day. Penn, to demonstrate his ability to rise above Americas ideological fractures, made a point of going on Sean Hannitys Fox News show, even though he admitted he didnt trust Hannity. No one wants to see a nuclear conflict, he told the right-wing host. At the same time, if only one bully is going to be able to use those weapons as a threat, we gotta rethink what were doing.

Okay, whatever that means. It sounds, frankly, like when it comes to Ukraine, Penn has a jones for speaking in terms of escalation, because thats the strategy that best expresses the fervor of his commitment. Hannity, who Penn is right not to trust, started going on about how Democrats start wars (like Vietnam and Afghanistan) that they dont have the stomach to finish. He talked about drones, Stinger missiles, MiGs. Fight the war to win it, said Hannity. We agree, said Penn. The actor added, in reference to Putin, If there is a God, there will be vengeance beyond all possible comprehension. I dont doubt Sean Penns commitment, but if he wants to keep making public statements about the war in Ukraine, maybe he should think about sounding a little less like hes in a movie.

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Ukraine Needs a Lot of Things, but Sean Penns Drama Isnt One of Them (Column) - Variety

At the same time, taming an interdependent world will require working across ideological lines. Washington should ease off on the promotion of democracy and human rights abroad and the Biden administration should refrain from its tendency to articulate a geopolitical vision that too neatly divides the world into democracies and autocracies. Strategic and economic expedience will at times push the United States to partner with repressive regimes; moderating oil prices, for example, may require collaboration with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Even though the United States will continue teaming up with its traditional democratic allies in Europe and Asia, many of the worlds democracies will avoid taking sides in a new era of East-West rivalry. Indeed, Brazil, India, Israel, South Africa and other democracies have been sitting on the fence when it comes to responding to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Russia clearly poses the most immediate threat to geopolitical stability in Eurasia, but China, due to its emergence as a true competitor of the United States, still poses the greater geopolitical challenge in the longer term. Now that Russia and China are regularly teaming up, they could together constitute an opposing bloc far more formidable than its Soviet forebear. Accordingly, the United States should exploit opportunities to put distance between Moscow and Beijing, following the lead of the quintessential realists Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who in the 1970s weakened the Communist bloc by driving a wedge between China and the Soviet Union.

The United States should play both sides. Russias invasion of Ukraine marks a fundamental breach with the Atlantic democracies, yet the West cannot afford to completely turn its back on Russia; too much is at stake. As during the Cold War, Washington will need a hybrid strategy of containment and engagement. Russia should remain in the penalty box for now, with the United States pushing back against the Kremlins territorial expansionism and other aggressive behavior by reinforcing NATOs eastern flank and maintaining harsh economic sanctions.

But Washington should also remain on the lookout for opportunities to engage Moscow. Its invasion of Ukraine has just made Russia an economic and strategic dependent of China; Mr. Putin will not relish being Xi Jinpings sidekick. The United States should exploit the Kremlins discomfort with becoming Chinas junior partner by signaling that Russia has a Western option.

Assuming an eventual peace settlement in Ukraine that permits the scaling back of sanctions, the Western democracies should remain open to cautious and selective cooperation with Moscow. Areas of potential collaboration include furthering nuclear and conventional arms control, sharing best practices and technologies on alternatives to fossil fuels, and jointly developing rules of the road to govern military and economic activity in the Arctic.

Russia needs China more than China needs Russia, so Washington should also seek to pull Beijing away from Moscow. Beijings ambiguous response to the invasion of Ukraine suggests at least a measure of discomfort with the economic and geopolitical disruption that has been produced by Russian recklessness. Yet Beijing continues to benefit from Russian energy and strategic cooperation and from the fact that Mr. Putin is forcing the United States to focus on Europe, thereby stalling the U.S. pivot to Asia. Nonetheless, Washington should keep an eye out for opportunities to work with Beijing in areas of common interest trade, climate change, North Korea, digital governance, public health to improve relations, tackle global problems and potentially weaken the bond between China and Russia.

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Opinion | America Needs to Be Strategic About the War in Ukraine - The New York Times

David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd, performs live on stage at Madison Square Garden on April 12, 2016. Matthew Eisman/Getty Images hide caption

David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd, performs live on stage at Madison Square Garden on April 12, 2016.

When the invasion of Ukraine began, singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk cut his U.S. tour short, returned home and took up arms to defend his homeland.

A few days later, the Boombox singer posted a clip on Instagram that showed him in military fatigues, a New York Yankees baseball cap and a rifle performing "The Red Viburnum In The Meadow," a Ukrainian protest song written during World War I.

"A little motivation from the leader of the group 'Boombox' Andriy Khlyvnyuk," he wrote.

Now, rock legends Pink Floyd have taken Khlyvnyuk's vocals and composed a charity single around it the band's first new original music since 1994's "Division Bell."

The track, "Hey Hey Rise Up," features 90 seconds of David Gilmour's string-bending solo, and Floyd drummer Nick Mason. (Needless to say, estranged bassist Roger Waters is noticeably absent.)

The title references the last line of the protest song: "Hey hey, rise up and rejoice."

"We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world's major powers," Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren, said in a statement on the band's website.

"Then I saw this incredible video on Instagram, where he stands in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and sings in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war," the statement added. "It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music."

Gilmour said he spoke to Khlyvnyuk, who is recovering from a shrapnel injury, and played him a snippet.

"He gave me his blessing," Gilmour said.

The proceeds from the single will go to Ukrainian humanitarian relief, the band said.

See the rest here:

How (members of) Pink Floyd reunited to record a song for Ukraine - NPR

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

At least 39 people are killed, including four children, in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk that is being used for civilian evacuations, according to Ukraine's SBU security service.

AFP journalists on the scene see the bodies of at least 30 people grouped and lying under plastic sheets next to the station.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describes Russia as an "evil with no limits" after the attack, in which he says 300 were injured. The European Union says the attack is "horrifying".

Russia's defence ministry accuses Kyiv of carrying out the attack, saying in a statement it wanted to use fleeing residents "as a 'human shield' to defend the positions of Ukraine's Armed Forces."

The attack comes as civilians in eastern Ukraine struggle to evacuate, after officials tell them they have a "last chance" to avoid a major Russian offensive expected in the Donbas region.

Ukraine's president has warned of worse horrors in the town of Borodianka Photo: AFP / Genya SAVILOV

Russia has redeployed its troops towards the east and south, aiming to create a land link between occupied Crimea and the Moscow-backed separatist statelets of Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says that she is en route to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, along with the bloc's diplomatic chief Josep Borrell.

They are to meet with President Zelensky.

The destruction left by Russian troops in the town of Borodianka outside of Kyiv is "much more horrific" than the situation uncovered in the nearby town of Bucha, Zelensky says.

Ukraine's prosecutor general says 26 bodies have been recovered from underneath two destroyed apartment buildings there.

A rocket attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed dozens on Friday Photo: AFP / FADEL SENNA

The European Union approves an embargo on Russian coal -- the first time the bloc has targeted the energy sector -- and the closing of its ports to Russian vessels. It also says it has frozen nearly 29.5 billion euros in Russian and Belarusian assets so far.

The Group of Seven industrialised nations agrees to a ban on new investments in key sectors and fresh export restrictions, as well as the phasing out of Russian coal.

Britain announces sanctions on the daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

It is only the second ever suspension of a country from the council, after Libya in 2011.

World food prices hit an all-time high in March as Russia's invasion of breadbasket Ukraine has disrupted wheat and coarse grain exports, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says.

The FAO's food price index surged by 12.6 percent between February and March, "making a giant leap to a new highest level since its inception in 1990", the FAO says.

Zelensky urges the West to impose "Molotov cocktail" sanctions on Moscow, including a ban on Russian gas, and appeals for more weapons as he addresses Finnish MPs.

He scolds "those who are making us wait, wait for the things that we need badly, wait for the means of protecting our lives."

Ukrainian forces are in control of the northeast region of Sumy along the border with Russia, governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky says on social media.

He warns: "the region is not safe. There are many areas that have been mined and are still not cleared."

Read more:

War In Ukraine: Latest Developments

Issued on: 07/04/2022 - 20:44Modified: 07/04/2022 - 20:42

A Ukrainian official warns residents in the east that they have a "last chance" to flee before a major Russian offensive expected in the Donbas region.

"These few days may be the last chance to leave," says Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, part of the Donbas, where the city of Severodonetsk is coming under sustained artillery and rocket fire.

However, trains evacuating residents are halted by Russian strikes on the only line still under Kyiv's control.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov's denials of Russian responsibility in the killings of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and elsewhere "makes him an accomplice to these crimes".

- More 'atrocities': US -

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says it is likely that Russian forces are carrying out more "atrocities, right now" in parts of Ukraine after bodies were found in Bucha.

German intelligence services have intercepted radio traffic of Russian soldiers discussing the killings of civilians in Bucha, der Spiegel reports.

The Kremlin has denied the accusations of mass killings, claiming instead that the images emerging from Bucha were "fakes" or that the deaths occurred after Russian soldiers pulled out.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey, which is hosting negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, says the images of bodies from Bucha and other areas had "overshadowed" what had been an "emerging positive atmosphere".

Leaders of the G7 biggest economies agree to ban "new investments in key sectors of the Russian economy, including the energy sector", alongside widening export bans on certain goods and tightening the screws on Russian banks and state-owned companies.

They also pledge to "elevate our campaign against the elites and their family members who support President (Vladimir) Putin in his war effort".

The US Congress also votes to end normal trade relations with Moscow and codify the ban on Russian oil.

Russian troops have suffered "significant losses" in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says in an interview with Britain's Sky News, but does not specify a toll.

Russia in late March said it had lost 1,351 soldiers with another 3,825 wounded.

The UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

Of the 193 members of the assembly, 93 voted in favour of suspension while 24 voted against and 58 abstained, in only the second ever suspension of a country from the council, after Libya in 2011.

Russia rejects the suspension as "illegal", while Ukraine says it is "grateful".

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba calls on NATO members to provide Kyiv with all the weaponry it needs to fight Russia.

"My agenda is very simple. It has only three items on it. It's weapons, weapons, and weapons," Kuleba tells journalists at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Ukraine accuses its neighbour and Kremlin-ally Hungary of appeasing Russian aggression and "destroying unity in the EU".

Newly-reelected Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he is prepared to pay for Russian gas in rubles, a demand of Putin's that was rejected by the West.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says she will travel to Kyiv on Friday to show Europe's "unwavering support" for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

burs-cb-jmy/har

2022 AFP

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War in Ukraine: Latest developments - france24.com

Pentagon official says fighting in eastern Ukraine could be a 'knife fight'

Despite major losses, Russia still has a lot of manpower and that could drag on the conflict for a long time, a senior U.S. Defense official said.

"This will be a knife fight," the official said. "This could be very bloody and very ugly."

After failing to capture capital city Kyiv, Moscow is refocusing its efforts on eastern Ukraine, where Russia and Ukraine have fought for eight years.

"The Russians are limiting their geographic aims, but they still have a lot of combat power available. This could go on for a long time," the official said.

The official also said some of the Russian units that attacked Kyiv were "severely mauled."

"We've seen indications of some units that are literally ... eradicated there's just nothing left at the BTG except a handful of troops and maybe a small number of vehicles," the official said.

Military developments in Ukraine remain difficult or impossible to confirm as the situation on the ground changes rapidly.

Christine Wang

Ukrainian firefighters and volunteer rescue workers search for bodies in the rubble of a collapsed building in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

Volunteers help rescuers to remove rumbles of a damaged building in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, on April 7, 2022, during Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.

Aleksey Filippov | AFP | Getty Images

An aerial view taken on April 8, 2022 shows diggers working in the rubble of collapsed buildings in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian firefighters inspect a collapsed building in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, on April 8, 2022.

Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian firefighters search for bodies in the rubble of destroyed buildings in the town of Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv, on April 8, 2022.

Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

A group photo of Ukrainians is seen in the wreckage of a damaged residential building by the Russian air raids in Borodyanka, Bucha Raion of Kyiv Oblast, on 7 April 2022.

Ceng Shou Yi | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Mint Images RF | Getty Images

The government of the Cayman Islands announced that it has frozen approximately $7.3 billion worth of assets belonging to more than 800 sanctioned Russian oligarchs and entities since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The Caribbean island chain is an overseas British territory, so banks and regulators follow the same sanctions directives they would in the United Kingdom. The Caymans are also one of the world's most popular tax havens, drawing thousands of wealthy individuals who employ complex corporate structures to avoid taxes back home.

$7.3 billion is a startling amount for a country with fewer than 65,000 residents. By comparison, the global financial powerhouse of Switzerland announced this week that it has frozen only slightly more than the Caymans, approximately $8 billion since the start of the war.

Cayman Premier G. Wayne Panton said the asset freezes highlight that the islands are "responsible and reputable" participants in the global economy.

Christina Wilkie

Leading researcher at the National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology of the Russian Health Ministry, member of the Presidium of the Russian Association for the Promotion of Science Maria Vorontsova attends "The Study of DNA as a Path to Self-Understanding" expert session at the Eurasian Women's Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Ekaterina Chesnokova | Sputnik via AP

The European Union on Friday announced a sweeping new slate of individual sanctions targeting 216 Russian nationals and 18 entities. They include two of the adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska and Herman Gref, the CEO of Sberbank, Russia's largest lending bank.

Katerina Tikhonova and Mariya Putina (above), who are in their 30s, are rarely seen in public and almost never mentioned by their father.

The sanctions are part of a broader package of restrictions announced by the European bloc that includes a ban on imports of Russian coal set to take effect in August. This is the first time the EU has placed an embargo on Russian energy products, a controversial decision in a region that is highly dependent upon Russian oil, coal and gas.

Additionally, the EU imposed full blocking sanctions on four major Russian banks that together represent 23% of the Russian banking sector: VTB Bank, Sovcombank, Novikombank and Otkritie Bank (formerly known as NOMOS Bank).

Finally, the new sanctions bar Russian-flagged maritime vessels from docking in EU member state ports, although it includes a carveout for energy and agricultural shipments.

E.U. officials said the latest round of sanctions came in response to growing evidence of scores of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainian civilians, including rape, torture and execution-style killings.

Christina Wilkie

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanized Division and the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division take part in tactical and fire training in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

The tactical and fire training for U.S. and Polish units is meant to increase their ability to operate together.

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

The training will include shooting from Pioruns (man-portable air-defense systems) and Javelins (anti-tank guided missiles), known for their effectiveness in combating Russian troops in Ukraine.

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

Troops from the Polish 18th Mechanised Division and the 82nd Airborne Division (USA) take part in tactical and fire training on April 8, 2022 in Nowa Deba, Poland.

Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

OTR-21 Tochka tactical ballistic missile fired during the Allied Determination-2022 military drill of Russian and Belarusian armed forces in Gomel, Belarus on February 15, 2022.

Stringer | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The devastating attack on the Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine was carried out by a Russian short-range ballistic missile fired from inside Ukraine, a senior U.S. Defense official said.

The strike killed dozens of people as civilians wait at train stations to flee the eastern part of the country.

The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share new details the Pentagon has gathered about the war, added that the U.S. believes the missile was a Russian OTR-21 Tochka, also known as an SS-21 "Scarab" missile. The SS-21 is a Russian-made mobile, short-range, single-warhead ballistic missile with a warhead payload of about 1,000 pounds.

The U.S. military has observed more than 1,500 Russian missile launches since the start of the war, according to the official. Russia has focused in particular on the coastal city of Mariupol.

Following the attack on the Kramatorsk train station, the Pentagon announced that it would reposition a Patriot missile battery in Slovakia to bolster air defense systems.

Amanda Macias

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (l) speaks at a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine. During her visit to Kiev, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen encouraged Ukraine on its way to the European Union.

Michael Fischer | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a speedier start to Ukraine's bid to become a member of the European Union.

Handing Zelenskyy a questionnaire which will form a starting point for the EU to decide on membership for Kyiv, she said: "It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but I think a matter of weeks." Zelenskyy said he would come back with answers in a week.

She underlined the sanctions put on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, saying: "Russia will descend into economic, financial and technological decay, while Ukraine is marching towards the European future, this is what I see."

Reuters

U.S. Army MIM-104 Patriots, surface-to-air missile (SAM) system launchers, are pictured at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Poland March 24, 2022.

Stringer | Reuters

The Pentagon will reposition a Patriot missile system in Slovakia under U.S. command after Slovakian officials agreed to send Ukraine its S-300 air defense system.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he expected the long-range missile system, which is made by Raytheon, and U.S. crew will arrive "in coming days." He said U.S. military leaders are talking to Slovakian government "about more permanent air defense solutions," according to a statement released by the Pentagon.

"This deployment of Patriot capabilities to Slovakia aligns perfectly with our previous efforts to bolster NATO's defensive capabilities and to demonstrate our collective security requirements under Article 5 of the NATO treaty," Austin wrote.

President Joe Biden also confirmed in a statement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously asked for the S-300 missile defense system.

"The entire world has now witnessed the effectiveness of those weapons, as courageous Ukrainian forces have used them to repel the Russian attack on Kyiv, keep the skies of Ukrainecontested, and deliver severe blows to the Russian military," Biden wrote.

Amanda Macias

Editor's note: Graphic content. The following article contains a photo of casualties at Bucha.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the deaths of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha showed the "cruel face" of Russian President Vladimir Putin's army, pledging to support Kyiv in its defense of the "border of Europe."

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (M) and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell (behind) and Denys Shmyhal (green cap), Prime Minister of Ukraine, stand behind body bags in Bucha on April 8th, 2022.

Michael Fischer | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

During a visit to Bucha, where forensic investigators started to exhume bodies from a mass grave, von der Leyen looked visibly moved by what she saw in a town where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian forces.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (M), EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell (M,r) and Denys Schmyhal (behind von der Leyen), Prime Minister of Ukraine, stand behind destroyed military vehicles in Bucha on April 8th, 2022.

Michael Fischer | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Russia denies targeting civilians in its more than six-week war against Ukraine and has called the allegations that Russian forces executed civilians in Bucha while they occupied the town a "monstrous forgery" aimed at denigrating the Russian army.

Speaking to reporters in Bucha, von der Leyen, wearing a flak jacket, said the EU would do everything to support Ukraine to do "the necessary steps" to secure membership of the bloc a demand Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pressed.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell (2nd from right) light candles for the victims of the massacre in a church next to a mass grave in Bucha on April 8th, 2022.

Michael Fischer | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

"The unthinkable has happened here. We have seen the cruel face of Putin's army. We have seen the recklessness and the cold heartedness with which they have been occupying the city," von der Leyen told reporters in Bucha.

Reuters

People wave flags during a rally in support of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, in Simferopol, Crimea on April 7, 2022.

- | Afp | Getty Images

The proportion of Russians who trust President Vladimir Putin has risen to 81.6% from 67.2% before he ordered troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to a survey by the state-run pollster VTsIOM.

The conflict has displaced more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes, killed or injured thousands, turned cities into rubble and led to sweeping Western sanctions that will push down Russian living standards.

VTsIOM said 78.9% of respondents in its latest survey said they approved of Putin's actions, compared to 64.3% in the last poll before the start of what Russia calls its "special military operation." The proportion who disapproved of his actions fell to 12.9% from 24.4%.

Ukraine and Western leaders have condemned Russia's military campaign as unprovoked aggression. The Kremlin says it had to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine to protect Russian-speakers and pre-empt a threat from the Western NATO alliance.

Reuters

Editor's note: Graphic content. The following article contains a photo of casualties and wounded in Kramatorsk

At least 50 people have been killed after a Ukraine railway station was hit by rockets, according to the governor of the Donetsk region. That number includes five children.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Ukrainian soldiers clear out bodies after a rocket attack killed at least 35 people on April 8, 2022 at a train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, that was being used for civilian evacuations.

Fadel Senna | AFP | Getty Images

Pavlo Kyrylenko said the number of victims at Kramatorsk train station is "constantly changing" as a result of the attack, with 98 believe reported to have been taken to hospitals.

Two rockets hit a station in Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region, where scores of people were waiting to be evacuated to safer areas, according to Ukrainian Railways.

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Rocket attack on Ukraine train station kills at least 50 trying to flee, scores injured - CNBC