The images of dozens of corpses in mass graves or scattered on the streets around the Ukrainian capital after the Russian withdrawal shock the Western world. On the 40th day of the conflict and as the Russian offensive intensifies in the south of the country, the horror of the war shows its crudest face with the massacre of civilians carried out in Bucha, from which hundreds of corpses emerge. For Kiev and genocide, while Moscow denies it, stating that it is a provocation by the Ukrainians to block the negotiations. The news of summary executions leave the Westerners horrified who relaunch the hypothesis of new and more incisive sanctions, including energy sanctions, against Putin’s Russia, while the pressure for an independent investigation increases. According to German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, the EU should discuss stopping Russian gas imports. A move already initiated by Lithuania, the first EU country to block imports. In the coming hours in Luxembourg, finance ministers will discuss the economic impact of the crisis. Surprisingly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at the Grammys in the night asking for “help, but not with silence”. Earlier in a speech to the nation, he announced the creation of a “special mechanism” to investigate war crimes committed by Russia. “I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the people killed in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel,” he stressed, calling the Moscow forces “murderers”, “torturers” and “rapists”. Meanwhile, on the ground, the tension remains very high. According to the Ukrainian army, Russia is mobilizing another 60,000 troops to replenish the units lost in the war. A conflict that has caused the death of 1,417 people since its inception, including 59 children and 2,038 injured, according to the latest count of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Ohchr). In Kharkiv only yesterday at least seven people died and 34 were injured in Russian bombing. And the martyr city of Mariupol in the south still does not give up. According to the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center Mikhail Mizintsev, more than 123,600 local residents managed to be evacuated without Kiev’s involvement during a “special military operation”. From London, in his latest intelligence report, the british defense ministry has suggested that the capture of Mariupol is a key target of the Russian invasion. In northeastern Ukraine, and more precisely in Sumy, Governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky announced instead that Russian forces have left the area, while tension escalated overnight in Ternopil where the mayor of the city reported explosions. and rocket launches. The diplomatic front is in turmoil. The head of Russian diplomacy Serghej Lavrov will meet a delegation from the Arab League. In the past few hours, the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, warned Moscow that “an attack on an ally would trigger a response from NATO”. On the return flight from Malta to Rome, Pope Francis confirmed his readiness to go to Kiev if this could help stop the war. The pontiff then reported that “for some time” he has been thinking “of a meeting with Patriarch Kirill and we are working, it is thought in the Middle East”, as the venue for the meeting. Hungary has meanwhile confirmed Prime Minister Viktor Orban for the fourth consecutive term, who has included Zelensky among his opponents. In Belgrade, President Aleksandar Vucic, who won a second term by winning the presidential elections in the first round, said that Serbia intends to maintain good relations in many areas with the Russian Federation, but that it will continue its policy of military neutrality.REPRODUCTION RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
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