War in Ukraine: Latest developments – france24.com

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.

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2022 AFP

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