Lavrov accuses Ukraine of staging in Bucha

Dusseldorf The Russian side denies any responsibility for the alleged crimes against civilians in the Kiev suburb of Bucha. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukraine of orchestrating the situation in Bucha amid war crimes allegations.

According to the Russian news agency Tass, Lavrov claimed that it was a “fabricated attack” with the aim of discrediting Russia. The images of corpses have been circulated on social media by Ukraine and Western countries.

The Russian Presidential Office also denied all allegations related to the killing of civilians. The facts and the timing of the events do not correspond to the Ukrainian account, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Therefore, accusations from the Ukrainian side should be questioned and international politicians should not jump to conclusions.

The Ukrainian Secretary of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov threatened the Russian army with retaliation. “Something evil must not go unpunished,” he said. “Our reconnaissance systematically identifies all intruders and killers. All! Everyone will get what they “deserve” in their time,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the international community does not want Russia to go unpunished. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for Russia to be held accountable for war crimes before international justice. “It is clear that today there is very clear evidence of war crimes. It was the Russian army that was in Bucha,” Macron told France Inter radio. France has offered the Ukrainian authorities help with the investigation.

“The international judiciary must take care of it,” Macron demanded. “And those who committed these crimes will have to answer for them.”

Everyone will get what they “deserve” in their time. Defense Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wants to call for tougher punitive measures against Russia during her upcoming visit to Poland on Monday. “Putin has yet to show that he is serious about diplomacy,” she said. “Tough action by the UK and our allies is essential to strengthen Ukraine in the negotiations.”

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes against civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. “Everything should be done to secure evidence,” said the High Commissioner. All bodies should be exhumed, identified and examined. Reports from Bucha and other areas raise “serious and disturbing questions about possible war crimes” and other rights violations, Bachelet said.

“For truth, justice and accountability, every effort must be made to independently and successfully investigate what happened in Bucha,” Bachelet said. She called for compensation and reparations for the victims and their families.

Habeck wants more sanctions

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also spoke out in favor of further sanctions. “We’ve seen how effective the sanctions are, we’ve also seen where we may have circumventions, we’ve seen where we can ban further Russian goods and thus further destabilize and weaken the Russian economy, and I assume that this will then be reflected in another fifth major package of sanctions this week.”

At the same time, Habeck announced his support for further arms deliveries without restrictions. “The supply of military hardware and weapons should, in my view, continue unrestricted and on a large scale,” he said. “Always with the limit that we are not allowed to become a party to the war ourselves.”

Germany had entered into an obligation to supply arms. “This obligation must not break off.” This applies without restriction to the export licenses to be issued by his company.

The federal government still rejects an immediate energy embargo against Russia. When asked whether such a step was out of the question, no matter what Russian President Vladimir Putin did, Habeck said on Monday: “We’re working on independence from Russian oil and from coal and gas.”

Germany has largely stopped oil and gas production and decided against other suppliers and energy terminals. “We’re going to rebuild everything and turn it around,” said Habeck. In this respect, there are steps towards an embargo every day.

The Polish government accused Germany on Monday of significantly standing in the way of tougher sanctions against Russia. Germany is the main obstacle to stricter measures, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told journalists. “It is not the voices of the German companies, the German billionaires, who are now probably stopping you from taking further action, that should be heard loudly in Berlin today. It is the voice of these innocent women and children, the voice of the murdered, that should be heard by all Germans and by all German politicians,” he said.

According to Ukrainian media reports, well over 300 civilian bodies have now been recovered after the massacre in Bucha. By Sunday evening, 330 to 340 lifeless bodies had already been collected, the newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda wrote on Monday, citing a funeral service. The search for more victims continued on Monday. Some bodies were buried in backyards, it said.

Russian attacks continue

Meanwhile, the Russian army continues its attacks on Ukrainian targets. According to information from Moscow, Russian troops fired on other command points, ammunition and fuel depots of the Ukrainian army on Monday night. Two Buk anti-aircraft missile systems were also destroyed, said Major General Igor Konashenkov. One of the systems was located in Verkhnjotorezke in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian air defense also shot down six Ukrainian drones. Konashenkov named places in southern Ukraine such as Mykolaiv and Cherson. Three Ukrainian helicopters were hit at Balowne airfield near Mykolaiv. The information was initially not independently verifiable.

According to the regional administration, Russian troops again attacked the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa with rockets on Monday night. This was announced by the authority on Facebook. Details should be announced later. The mayor of the city of Mykolayiv, around 130 kilometers away, Olexander Senkewytsch, also reported several rocket attacks.

Both regions had already been attacked with rockets over the weekend. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow said that ships and planes fired on an oil refinery and three fuel depots near the city.

According to the British Defense Ministry, Russia is strengthening its forces in eastern Ukraine. This applies equally to soldiers and mercenaries, the ministry said, citing the secret services. Russian forces continued to consolidate and reorganize while refocusing their offensive in the Donbass region.

Russian troops would also be deployed to the area, as would mercenaries from the private group Wagner, the ministry said. Russia is still trying to capture the port city of Mariupol in the south of the country, where fierce fighting has been raging for weeks. The city continued to be the subject of intense, indiscriminate attacks, but Ukrainian forces put up stubborn resistance and maintained control of the central areas.

The ministry added that Mariupol was almost certainly a prime target of the Russian invasion. Their capture would secure a land corridor from Russia to the occupied territory of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Next gas transit through Ukraine

Neither the increasing escalation in the Ukraine war nor the conversion of gas payments to rubles have so far affected the transit deliveries of Russian gas through Ukraine. After 108.4 million cubic meters were pumped through the pipeline system on Sunday, 108.3 million cubic meters have been ordered for this Monday, the energy giant Gazprom said, according to the Russian agency Interfax. Both parameters almost correspond to the contractually possible maximum daily amount.

The high delivery volumes are partly due to the weather change in Europe. After a cold snap, the values ​​in many countries are well below the average temperatures of previous years at this time. This means that there is an increased demand for gas as a fuel.

Despite Russia’s war against Ukraine, gas transit through the neighboring country, which derives important transit fees from it, has continued at high volumes since February 24.

A week ago, Kremlin chief Putin announced that in future he would only sell Russian gas to Western countries for rubles, which they reject. On Thursday, he signed a decree obliging Western customers to open accounts with a Russian bank, which will continue to be funded in euros and dollars. The bank then wants to exchange the money for rubles itself. The rule went into effect on Friday.

Other recent reports on the war:

Millions of Ukrainians on the run

The Russian invasion continues to drive millions of Ukrainians from their homes. In Poland alone, around 2.48 million people have now fled to safety. This was announced by the Polish border guard on Twitter on Monday. On Sunday there were around 22,300 people. This was a decrease of 6.4 percent compared to the previous day.

Around 457,000 people have crossed the border from Poland to Ukraine since the start of the war on February 24. According to earlier information from the border guard, the majority of these travelers are Ukrainian citizens who are returning to their home country.

Many men, but also women, want to join the Ukrainian troops there and fight against the Russian troops. Others return to care for children or dependents in need.

In Germany, the federal police registered 306,836 refugees from Ukraine by Monday. They are mostly women, children and the elderly. The actual number of refugees is likely to be higher, as there are no fixed controls at the borders and people with Ukrainian passports can stay in the EU for 90 days without a visa.
With agency material

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