The European Union is preparing further sanctions against what it called Russia’s “murderous war machinery” amid outrage at emerging evidence of massacres in Ukrainian towns.
Senior EU figures spoke of war crimes being committed by Russia after images of corpses lying on the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv abandoned by Moscow’s forces, shocked the world and revived calls for tougher sanctions.
Ukraine said hundreds of civilians had been discovered dead in Bucha and other areas near Kyiv reclaimed from Russian troops. Journalists saw corpses with their hands tied behind their back, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of torture and satellite images showed a possible mass grave being dug in the grounds of a church.
France, Germany and non-EU member Britain are all promising to tighten the screw on Russia after previous sanctions packages failed to change the Kremlin’s mind and stopped short of cutting off its lucrative energy exports.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who described the killings of civilians as genocide, called for “sanctions which actually work” as he described events in Bucha as “changing everything in the perception of this war”.
“Leadership isn't cowardice or calculations. It's an uncompromising fight against evil,” said Mr Morawiecki, who named Germany as the country most opposed to an energy embargo.
Germany is among the countries reliant on Russian fossil fuels, and fears that any import ban would make its own citizens pay rather than President Vladimir Putin and his entourage.
Russia is the biggest fossil fuel exporter to the EU but the latest allegations of atrocities — denied by Moscow — have put new momentum behind calls for an embargo after some countries have shifted their focus to implementing existing sanctions.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday that sanctions could go “markedly further” as he predicted that a fifth EU package, which would have to be signed off by all 27 members of the bloc, would be agreed this week.
He said Germany was working to free itself from Russian oil and gas but did not come out in favour of an immediate embargo, as he blamed previous governments for leaving the country so dependent on imports from Moscow.
However, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said a gas embargo would have to be discussed among EU countries as she said the alleged war crimes could “not go unanswered”.
Germany is not alone in opposing an immediate ban, with Hungary — whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a commanding re-election on Sunday — likewise refusing to make its own consumers pay for such a measure.
But French President Emmanuel Macron said he supported sanctions on coal and oil as part of a fifth package after what he described in a radio interview as “very clear indications of war crimes”.
The European Commission, which would propose sanctions for adoption by the 27 members, said it would “advance as a matter of urgency” its work on further measures against “the Kremlin’s murderous war machinery”.
Commission spokesman Peter Stano accused the Russian leadership of murdering civilians, committing war crimes and violating international humanitarian law.
Aside from an energy ban, other measures floated by EU member states include stopping land and sea trade with Russia to add to a ban on Russian aircraft flying in most of Europe’s airspace.
There are also calls to completely cut Russia off from international payments system Swift after only some banks were affected by previous sanctions.
-
In the courtyard of their house, Vlad Tanyuk, 6, stands near the grave of his mother Ira Tanyuk, who died because of starvation and stress due to the war, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier walks with children passing destroyed cars due to the war against Russia, in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surveys the destruction in Bucha. AFP -
Residential buildings damaged during fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
A bridge damaged by shelling in Bucha. EPA -
A soldier stationed in Bucha, after the city was the recaptured by the Ukrainian army. EPA -
Chervona Voloshin kisses Varvara Statenova goodbye as she heads home to Kyiv after being housed at a shelter for displaced people in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
Parts of a destroyed aircraft at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian territorial defence serviceman walks past a destroyed Russian armoured personnel carrier in the town of Borodianka, north-west of Kyiv. AFP -
Tanya Nedashkivska recounts how her husband Vasyl Ivanovych, who served in Ukraine’s navy, was killed by Russian soldiers, in Bucha, Ukraine. He was arrested by Russian soldiers. Tanya looked for him for days and found him in a building's basement where two bodies were lying. She recognised him by his shoes and trousers. AP -
Damaged residential buildings in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
Families arrive to board a train at Kramatorsk central station as they flee the eastern city, in the Donbas region. AFP -
Romanian politicians listen to President Zelenskyy’s speech by video link, on a screen in the parliament in Bucharest. AP -
The remains of a Russian Su-35 aircraft that was hit by the Ukrainian armed forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A damaged monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in the besieged city of Mariupol, southern Ukraine. Reuters -
A man removes a door covering the opening to an underground concrete enclosure in which bodies of civilians killed by Russian forces, residents say, were dumped as people were unable to transport them to a cemetery in Bucha, Ukraine. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier tries to convince a puppy to drink milk as residents wait for distribution of food products in Motyzhyn, Ukraine, which was until recently under the control of the Russian military. AP -
The pain of war is evident as women wait for food aid in the village of Motyzhyn. AP -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on screen during the 64th Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. AFP -
The gutted interior of a theatre in central Mariupol, destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict. Reuters -
Desolation in Mariupol which has suffered intense bombardment. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier walks in front of the remains of an Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world's biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian troops at an airfield in the city of Hostomel, in the Kyiv region. Reuters -
A local woman salutes Ukrainian soldiers in the Chernihiv region. Reuters -
A woman hugs a Ukrainian soldier after a convoy of military and aid vehicles arrived in the formerly Russian-occupied town of Bucha, near Kyiv. AP -
Smoke rises after an attack by Russian forces in Odesa. AFP -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presents an award to an injured Ukrainian service member at a military hospital in Kyiv. Reuters -
A destroyed building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. AFP -
People, mainly women and children, pass through the Medyka border crossing on their journey out of Ukraine and into Poland. Getty
Several countries said they supported an investigation by the International Criminal Court into alleged war crimes, while Ukraine raised fears of yet more gruesome discoveries in towns still controlled by Russian forces.
Britain said it was offering support to sexual abuse survivors in Ukraine after reports of rape by Russian forces in the country.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who was expected in Warsaw on Monday evening for a meeting with her Polish and Ukrainian counterparts, joined the call for tougher sanctions ahead of a meeting of Nato foreign ministers this week.
Russia denied allegations of war crimes and described the widely-shared images from Bucha as a provocation by the Ukrainian side. It claimed no civilians had been harmed during its occupation of the town.
Western officials rejected Russia's denials as propaganda after it demanded a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the accusations.
The grisly discoveries in Bucha followed a Russian withdrawal from the Kyiv region which appeared to herald a repositioning of its forces towards the south and east of Ukraine, where fighting continues for control of the southern port of Mariupol.
