4/4/2022–|Last update: 4/4/202205:27 AM (Mecca)
A Ukrainian news agency quoted a Ukrainian official as saying that 57 bodies had been found in a mass grave in Bucha, near the capital, Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry had published pictures that it said were in the town of Bucha, showing corpses scattered in the streets. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry accused the Russian forces that controlled Bucha of carrying out executions and massacre of the population.
The ministry likened the situation in Buca to what happened in the Bosnian “Srebrenica”, in which thousands were killed during the war in the mid-1990s.
In the field developments, the Ukrainian Air Force Command announced the downing of two Russian Sukhoi-34 and Sukhoi-35 fighters, in addition to two cruise missiles and a helicopter, and an air control plane was hit during the past 24 hours.
Politically, the Russian “TASS” news agency quoted Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski as proposing to send an armed peacekeeping mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Ukraine.
Regarding the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a program on the Russian state channel that Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after reaching a clear, specific and written agreement between the two sides.
Peskov confirmed that European importers of Russian gas can continue to pay its revenues in euros, but added that they will also have to open accounts in rubles in Russia to convert revenues in rubles to Gazprom.
Peskov said Russia did not want to complicate the lives of Europeans, but that buyers should abide by the new rules.
Here are the latest developments on the 40th day of this war:
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Twitter:
- We strongly condemn the obvious atrocities committed by the Russian forces in the town of Bucha and throughout Ukraine
- We pursue accountability through every available tool and document and share information to hold those responsible to account
The command of the Ukrainian Air Force: We shot down two Russian fighters Sukhoi-34 and Su-35, a helicopter, a surveillance plane and two cruise missiles.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman:
I hold Ukrainian extremists responsible for the crime against civilians in Bucha. We have requested a Security Council session on Monday on the provocation of Ukrainian military and extremists in Bucha.
British Defense:
Mariupol is subjected to intense indiscriminate Russian bombardment and the Ukrainian forces are resisting fiercely. Mariupol is a major target for the Russian invasion because it secures a land corridor from Russia to the Crimea.
British Defense: Heavy fighting breaks out in Mariupol as Russian forces attempt to occupy the entire city.
