NYT - Russia - Ukraine War Briefing

 

April 4, 2022

By Carole Landry Editor/Writer, Briefings Team

Good evening. This is your Russia-Ukraine War Briefing, a weeknight guide to the latest news and analysis about the conflict.

The U.S. and the E.U. are preparing to impose additional sanctions against Russia over the killing of civilians in Bucha, near Kyiv. A Red Cross convoy to evacuate civilians from Mariupol was unable to reach the besieged city for the fourth day. Russia battered Ukraine’s southern coastline with airstrikes, firing rockets at the city of Mykolaiv, regional officials said. These maps show the Russian withdrawal from dozens of towns near Kyiv. Follow our live updates.

Tatiana Petrovna, 72, in the yard of a home where the bodies of three civilians lay in Bucha today.Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

The horror in Bucha

Mounting evidence of atrocities in Bucha — a suburb of Kyiv where retreating Russian soldiers left behind dozens of dead civilians, some with their hands bound and gunshot wounds to the head — is spurring calls to hold Russia accountable.

“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal,” said President Biden. “Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him — he is a war criminal.”

Some European leaders demanded tougher sanctions in response, including a total ban on Russian fuel imports. Germany, France and Lithuania expelled Russian diplomats.

Days after Russian troops withdrew from the town, Ukrainians were still finding the dead in yards and on the roads, my colleagues Carlotta Gall and Andrew Kramer reported from Bucha, in a searing account.

Some of the bodies were found face down, or curled up, killed on bicycles, or while walking down the street, or in the basements of homes.

Carlotta and Andrew also interviewed the local coroner, Serhiy Kaplishny, who said the town had to dig a mass grave after the local morgue became overwhelmed. On a single day, Kaplishny said that he had picked up about 30 bodies — 13 of whom were men whose hands had been tied and who had been shot in the head at close range.

Russia has denied that its troops were involved in atrocities in Bucha, calling the images “another hoax” and suggesting that the bodies had been recently placed on the streets after “all Russian units withdrew completely from Bucha” around March 30.

But a review of videos and satellite imagery by The Times shows that many of the civilians were killed more than three weeks ago, when Russia’s military was in control of the town, and have been rotting in the street ever since.

One video filmed by a local council member on April 2 shows multiple bodies scattered along Yablonska Street in Bucha. Satellite images provided to The Times by Maxar Technologies show that at least 11 of those had been on the street since March 11, when Russia, by its own account, occupied the town.

Satellite images of Bucha.The New York Times

Some of the dead lay beside what appears to be an impact crater. Others were near abandoned cars. Three of the dead lay beside bicycles. Some have their hands bound behind their backs with white cloth.

Accountability for war crimes

Human Rights Watch said this weekend that it had documented “apparent war crimes” by Russian forces against Ukrainian civilians in the occupied areas of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv in Ukraine.

The group’s report, issued before the killings in Bucha came to light, documents with chilling detail numerous cases of laws-of-war violations, including repeated rape, two summary killings and other incidents of unlawful violence and threats against civilians.

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called on the International Criminal Court and other international organizations to quickly come to Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region to collect evidence.

But the chances that Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, will ever face charges at trial are, for now, very slim.

There is no international tribunal set up to prosecute war crimes committed in Ukraine. The establishment of such a court would likely require approval by the United Nations Security Council, where Russia has veto power.

War crime cases can be brought before the I.C.C. in The Hague, but successful prosecution would be challenging, experts say. Russia also withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the I.C.C., which means it would not cooperate with the court. (The U.S. is also not a treaty member.)

Still, the U.N. has set up a commission of inquiry to gather evidence of war crime allegations that could be used by a court to prosecute those responsible.

In the meantime, the atrocities in Bucha are likely to complicate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Standing in Bucha, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said today, referring to Russian troops, that it was “very hard to talk, when you see what they have done here.”

What else we’re following

In Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky lambasted the former leaders of Germany and France, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing them of having made too many concessions to Russia. In his address to the Grammys last night, Zelensky said: “What is more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people.” Why have Russian troops failed to seize Kyiv? This Times interactive lays out the factors that enabled Ukraine’s defense.

In Russia

Russia has kept up with payments for its government debt, confounding expectations that a default was imminent. From Opinion: In a world of smartphones, apps, crowdfunding and global platforms, Putin had no clue about how many people would be watching the war, Thomas Friedman writes.

Around the world

Europe is betting on liquefied natural gas from Qatar, Australia and the U.S. to cut its energy dependence on Russia.

China’s Communist Party is pushing a domestic campaign that paints Russia as a victim.

We also recommend

Times journalists share some of the displays of courage and acts of kindness they’ve seen during the war.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Carole