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The atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine appear close to “genocide”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, as Nato’s chief warned the war could drag on for years.
Days after the images of bodies dumped in a mass grave and human remains littering a street in Bucha shocked the world, western leaders ramped up sanctions against Moscow.
Six weeks on from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin does not appear to have dropped “his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine”, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday as he warned the conflict could last for a long time.
“We have to be realistic and realise that this may last for a long time, for many months, for even years,” he said before a meeting of Nato foreign ministers. “And that's the reason why we need also to be prepared for the long haul, both when it comes to supporting Ukraine, sustaining sanctions and strengthening our defences.”
He said officials expect Russian troops to resupply and reposition with the aim of launching a renewed offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
“They will be rearmed, because they've used a lot of ammunition and they will be resupplied with fuel and all the things they need, food and so on, to launch a new big offensive.”
Mr Johnson pledged Britain will be in the “front rank” of nations imposing a fresh set of sanctions on Moscow, in light of the grim discoveries made in Bucha, a commuter city 30 kilometres north-west of Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials have said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been discovered in Bucha and other cities and towns around the capital recaptured from the Russians as their forces pull back.
Speaking during a visit to a hospital in Welwyn Garden City, Mr Johnson said the latest disclosures underline the need for the international community to tighten the economic pressure on the Kremlin.
“I'm afraid, when you look at what's happening in Bucha, the revelations that we are seeing from what Putin has done in Ukraine doesn't look far short of genocide to me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said he had urged Mr Putin to impose an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, and had invited the leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine to meet the Russian president in Budapest.
“I suggested to President Putin that he declare an immediate ceasefire,” Mr Orban told a press conference on Wednesday, following a phone conversation with the Russian leader.
Mr Orban said he had proposed a meeting in Budapest between Mr Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He said the Russian president's response to the idea of a meeting “was positive, but with conditions”. He did not elaborate on the details but said that Mr Putin had initiated Wednesday's phone call.
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Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the latest in the continuing Russia-Ukraine war. AFP -
People take part in a protest against the transport of cargo to Russia and Belarus near the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Koroszczyn, eastern Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian naval vessel, thought to be the ‘Donbas’ and a nearby building burn in the besieged city of Mariupol. AP -
Bucha resident Tetiana Ustymenko weeps over the grave of her son, buried in the garden of her house, in Bucha, north-west of Kyiv. AFP -
People charge their mobile phones in a public building in Bucha. AFP -
People from Mariupol leave a train to be taken to temporary residences in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. AP -
Vladyslava Liubarets, a Bucha resident, cries as she hugs her sister whom she had not seen since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army. EPA -
Local citizen Oleksandr, 55, looks at the grave of his neighbour in the backyard of his private house in Hostomel in Kyiv. EPA -
Debris of a rocket missile on the field near Kyiv. EPA -
The mother of Ukrainian soldier Lubomyr Hudzeliak, who was killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mourns during his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP -
A woman takes care of a baby at a shelter in the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region. AFP -
Residents gather outside a shelter in the city of Severodonetsk. AFP -
Residents in eastern Ukraine, including the city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region, have been asked by their government to leave 'now' or 'risk death'. AFP -
A young girl with her dog arrives at a centre for the displaced in Zaporizhzhia, north-west of Mariupol. AFP -
A damaged ambulance in Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters -
A bomb crater left behind by Russia's attack on the Ukrainian village of Demydiv, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters -
Russian attacks have reduced Hotel Ukraine in Chernihiv to debris. Reuters -
Oleksii Shcherbo, 98, near his burnt house in the village of Sloboda, on the outskirts of Chernihiv. Reuters -
Residents walk past destroyed Russian military machinery on the street, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army, north-west of Kyiv. EPA -
Damaged National flags flutter in the wind on a cemetry of Chernihiv city which was blocked by Russian troops for a long time. EPA -
Demonstrators lie down on the ground in tribute to the people killed in Russia's war against Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany. AP -
A Ukrainian firefighter works at the site of a burning fuel storage facility ignited by an air strike, in Dnipropetrovsk. Reuters -
A woman before and after she was removed by rescuers from debris after a military strike on the town of Rubizhne, Luhansk. Reuters -
People wait for help to evacuate Derhachi. Reuters -
Pope Francis, in Vatican, holds a Ukrainian flag given to him by a delegation from the town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies had been found. EPA -
State emergency servicemen clear shells near Chernigiv, northern Ukraine. AFP -
US war veteran Steven Straub shows his tattoo of the Ukrainian flag while on patrol near Buda-Babynetska, north of Kyiv, days after Russian forces retreated from the area. AFP -
Candles are arranged in the shape of Ukraine by the monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in the western city Lviv. AFP -
A teddy bear hangs from a tree branch outside an apartment building in Borodyanka, Kyiv oblast. AP -
A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling, in Borodyanka. Reuters -
Dmitriy Evtushkov, 25, points to his picture in a primary school album retrieved from the rubble of a block of flats. AP -
Technicians try to fix the internet in Bucha. AP -
A smashed mobile phone lies next to a Russian army ration book in Bucha. AP -
A woman and children after their arrival at a centre for displaced persons in Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometres north-west of Mariupol. AFP -
A man leaves a damaged pharmacy after a bombing that killed several civilians, in Mykolaiv. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers sing a patriotic song with buildings in the background that were destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka. AP -
Borodyanka residents carry humanitarian aid packages. Reuters -
Elderly Ukrainians shelter in a basement in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. EPA -
Destroyed apartment buildings in Borodyanka. Reuters -
Relatives and friends are overwhelmed with emotions as they stand next to the coffin of Anatoly German during his funeral. AP
The Hungarian leader previously had the closest relationships to the Kremlin of any EU member state. On Wednesday he reiterated his opposition to Hungary sending weapons to arm the Ukrainians and to the EU imposing an embargo on Russian energy imports, on which Hungary is highly dependent.
Asked about civilians found dead in Bucha, Mr Orban replied: “With all atrocities, we have to examine them, even though we live in an era of massive manipulation where we can't be sure if we can trust our own eyes".
He called for civilians to be protected “at all costs”, adding: “We want an independent, fair investigation".
The UN General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a UK and US push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, diplomats said.
A two-thirds majority of voting General Assembly members in New York can suspend a country for committing gross and systematic violations of human rights. Russia is in its second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.
The White House announced a new round of punitive measures against Russia, including sanctions targeting Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, Mr Putin's two adult daughters.
Also hit with new sanctions from the US were the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and members of Russia's Security Council, including former President and prime minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The European Commission has proposed a ban on coal imports, which could be adopted later on Wednesday if all 27 ambassadors agree to the plan. The EU depends on Russia for about 45 per cent of its coal imports, according to the Commission’s website, and payments to Moscow are used to finance Mr Putin’s war machine.
Britain announced new sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, including an asset freeze on Sberbank, the country's largest bank, and an end to all new UK outward investment in Russia.
The government also said it would end imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022.
Asset freezes and travel bans on a further eight oligarchs linked to the Kremlin were also unveiled.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the latest round of sanctions were part of the UK's “campaign to bring Putin's appalling war to an end".
“Our latest wave of measures will bring an end to the UK's imports of Russian energy and sanction yet more individuals and businesses, decimating Putin’s war machine,” she said. “Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin's orders. We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”
