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Germany is expelling 40 staff members at the Russian embassy in Berlin who have suspected links to spy agencies as a first response to the killing of Ukrainian civilians in the town of Bucha.
France is expelling 35 diplomats, Foreign Ministry officials said.
Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday that images of the Bucha victims show “the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership” and those who follow its propaganda.
Ms Baerbock said there was a fear that similar images might emerge from other areas in Ukraine occupied by Russian troops.
“The federal government has therefore decided today to declare as persona non grata a significant number of members of the Russian embassy who have worked every day against our freedom and against the cohesion of our society here in Germany,” she said.
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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
“We will initiate further measures of response together with our partners. We will further tighten the existing sanctions against Russia.
"We will resolutely increase our support for the Ukrainian armed forces and we will also strengthen Nato’s eastern flank."
The decision comes after Bloomberg News reported last week that Germany was considering expelling a large number of suspected Russian spies.
France said that the Russians who held diplomatic status were being expelled because they were conducting activities “contrary to our security interests".
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Moscow would respond to the expulsions, Interfax reported.
