The weekend ending, Sunday, April 3, may mark a turning point in the war in Ukraine. On the one hand, the Ukrainian authorities assured that all occupied places had been around Kiev “freed from the intruder”† On the other hand, Ukraine and its allies are concerned about “possible war crimes” in Boutcha, while the corpses of civilians were found in this place near Kiev.
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Russia, for its part, denounces a staging in Boutcha and rejects the numerous accusations leveled against it. Franceinfo summarizes the highlights of the day.
The Kiev region was “liberated from the invader”
Ukraine announced on Saturday that the entire Kiev region is now “freed from the intruder”Russian troops active “quick withdrawal” from the north of the country, but for the better “keep control” from “vast areas” they occupy in the east and south.
While Russian troops are, as announced, withdrawing from the Kiev and Cherniguiv (north) regions, Ukrainian forces have been able to recapture dozens of places devastated by the fighting: “Irpin, Boutcha, Gostomel and the entire Kiev region were freed from the invader”said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar. According to Ukrainian prosecutor Iryna Venediktova, 410 bodies of civilians were found in these places.
Kiev denounces Russian “torture” in Boutcha, Moscow denies
One of the liberated cities is Butcha, northwest of Kiev, where nearly 300 people had to be buried “in mass graves”, AFP told its mayor, Anatoly Fedorouk. An AFP journalist saw the bodies of at least twenty men in civilian clothes there. One of them with his hands tied behind his back, next to an open Ukrainian passport lying on the floor.
Ukraine accused the Russian army of committing a “deliberate slaughter” in Boutcha, a city northwest of Kiev, as well as others “horrors”† For Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian leaders are responsible for the “murders” and the “torture” committed in this place, even calling “genocide”†
Russia denounces a Ukrainian staging. The Russian Defense Ministry denies having carried out “violent actions” against civilians in this place near Kiev and accused the Ukrainian authorities of it “all published photos and videos”†
UN and Ukraine’s allies are alarmed by “possible war crimes” in Boutcha
The conviction of the crimes committed in Boutcha was unanimous. Washington, Paris, Berlin or London in turn have the “atrocities”even the “war crimes” committed in this place northwest of Kiev.
In Geneva, the UN ruled that the discovery of the bodies in Boutcha “serious questions about possible war crimes”† United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “deeply shocked by images of civilians killed in Boutcha”in the Kiev region, where many bodies were discovered after the departure of Russian troops. “It is essential that an independent investigation enables accountability” to officials, he added in a brief statement.
More than half a million people have returned to Ukraine since February 24
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced on Sunday, April 3, that: 500,000 people had returned to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion† “Last week, 144,000 people have left Ukraine and 88,000 have arrived. In total, about 537,000 of our compatriots have returned to Ukraine”he said in a statement, citing data from the National Border Service.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Saturday registered more than four million (4,176,401) Ukrainians who had left abroad since the outbreak of the conflict on February 24, 38,559 more than the previous figure the day before. . Europe has not seen such a flood of refugees since World War II.
