Monthly Archives: April 2022

After the deadly strike on the train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, those who stayed behind are grim about the future: We think we will be swept off the face of the earth.

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine Two days after more than 50 people were killed on its platforms by a missile strike, the only sounds at the Kramatorsk railway station on Sunday morning were a distant air-raid siren and the rhythmic sweeping of broken glass.

The town is dead now, said Tetiana, 50, a shopkeeper who was working next to the station when it was attacked as thousands of people tried to board trains to evacuate the eastern city, fearing it would soon be besieged by Russian forces.

Fridays strike was a gruesome turn for the city after nearly eight years of being near the front line of the countrys struggle against Russia-backed separatists in the region known as Donbas.

The stations main hall was still filled with streaks of blood and luggage on Sunday morning, with the burned-out hulks of two sedans lying in the parking area outside.

Tetiana, who declined to provide her last name, was sure that more death was on the way.

We are being encircled. We understand that, added Tetiana, who has lived for 10 years in Kramatorsk, a city with a prewar population of around 150,000 people and once one of the industrial hearts of the Donbas. She said she would not leave because she must look after her 82-year-old mother, who is ailing. But she knows more than ever the danger that brings.

We think we will be swept off the face of the earth, she said.

She recalled ducking inside a nearby market on Friday to take cover when the missile struck the train station, with what she estimated was 2,000 people inside. A family that took shelter with her at the market was almost crushed by a piece of a falling roof that was sheared off in the blast.

There were screams everywhere, she said. Nobody could understand anything, cars were burning and people were running.

With Moscows decision to shift the focus of its war to eastern Ukraine, the people who remain in Kramatorsk fear that they will soon be shelled into oblivion, like the residents of Kharkiv and Mariupol, two other cities that have been ruthlessly assaulted by Russian forces. It feels like an assault here is inevitable: Cutting off Kramatorsk would partly cut off Ukrainian forces fighting in the eastern breakaway regions where Russia is consolidating.

At the citys main hospital, City Hospital 3, the staff was preparing for the kind of destruction that has swept over other urban centers. Their supplies for mass trauma are ample, one doctor said. But, he added, many of the nurses have evacuated and there was a shortage of critical care physicians.

In Kramatorsk, residents have started to hunker down, preparing for a siege. Most small shops have been closed, a few grocery stores remain open and the city square, once teeming with people during these warm spring days, is all but empty.

Just after noon on Sunday, Tetiana closed the small candy and coffee confectionery where she worked. It would be shuttered for the foreseeable future, as its main source of income, the train stations passengers, were gone.

Still, orange-vested maintenance workers tried to clean around the wreckage from the strike: parts of the train station itself, peoples shoes, a bag of potatoes and broken glass. A pack of stray dogs, frequent visitors to the area around the station, limped around the debris. The workers swept where they could until a water truck arrived, hosing down the blood that had pooled by the outside entrance.

In the distance, the thud of artillery reverberated, barely loud enough to hear but still easily felt.

Were closing down, Tetiana said. There is no point. There are no people.

Evacuation vehicles were still leaving the city but not at the volume they had in the days before. One resident said that buses sent from western Ukraine were already leaving unfilled. Those who were staying in Kramatorsk, many of them older residents, were bracing what may lie ahead: making do without electricity, living in cold damp basements, cooking by fire and enduring the terror of incoming artillery fire.

But on Sunday, Lidia, 65, and Valentyna, 72, dear friends, dressed in nice clothes and decided to leave their lifelong homes together. Both women declined to provide their surnames.

After what happened at the railway station, we can hear the explosions getting closer and closer, Lidia said. Through tears, Valentyna added, I cant take these sirens anymore. Their destination, as with millions of other Ukrainians since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, was somewhere vaguely west just anywhere farther away.

We need to leave because we cant bear it anymore, Lidia said.

Air-raid sirens in Kramatorsk are not the haunting, distant chorus you hear in the movies. They are, in most cases, just a loud single horn that seems inescapable, whether indoors or out. And if any kind of strike occurs, the sirens usually come afterward, too late, residents complained.

Kramatorsk and the neighboring, but smaller, city of Sloviansk are likely to be the first two cities that will be attacked by whatever Russian forces are able to reconstitute in the region following their defeat and withdrawal from around Kyiv, the capital. For now, the Russian front line traces like a jaw around the two cities.

Encircling and cutting off Kramatorsk and Sloviansk would allow the Russians to isolate the Ukrainian forces that are holding their old front lines in the two breakaway regions a maneuver, if successfully carried out, that would mean disaster for the Ukrainian military, as much of their forces are there.

Sgt. Andriy Mykyta, a soldier in Ukraines border guard, was in Kramatorsk to try to head off that fate.

There will be a serious fight, Sergeant Mykyta said. This is a tactic of the Russians: They take cities as hostages.

On Sunday, as he bought an energy drink and some snacks from one of the remaining open grocery stores in the city, the sergeant looked much like every other uniformed Ukrainian service member: a blue stripe on his arm, weathered boots and a jagged tattoo jutting above his collar.

But he was, in fact, one of the most valuable members of the Ukrainian armed forces, a part of the select group that was quickly trained by NATO forces (a several-day course that was supposed to last at least a month, he said) to use some of the more complicated weapons that were helping push back Russian forces: the Javelin and NLAW antitank systems.

But he played down the missile systems importance, saying, These weapons are like a doughnut at the end of the day. He said that the real fight would come down to whatever side could withstand its enemys artillery the longest and who retained the will to fight.

They have tanks and artillery, but their troops are demoralized, he said.

Maria Budym, a 69-year-old resident of Kramatorsk, shrugged off the artillery and the evacuations. She was staying. When Russian-backed separatists briefly held Kramatorsk in 2014, they were welcomed to the city by some of the pro-Russian population before being driven off by Ukrainian defenders, she said.

This time, she added, the Russians will have to deal with her.

Only cowards and people already displaced by the war have fled the city, she said, standing in a blue fleece pullover in front of her hollowed-out Soviet-style apartment. Our soldiers will defend this city to their last breath.

Besides, Ms. Budym added, with anger in her eyes: I have a pipe in my apartment. Ill use it on whoever comes in that door.

Tyler Hicks contributed reporting.

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Russia-Ukraine War: Live Updates and Latest News - The New York Times

Many thousands of people may have been killed in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned.

"Mariupol has been destroyed, there are tens of thousands of dead," he told the South Korean parliament.

But despite "even" such enormous losses, the Russians are "not stopping their offensive", he added.

Drone footage has shown swathes of destroyed streets in Mariupol, which lies between areas which have been annexed by Russian-backed separatists and Russian-controlled Crimea.

The UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) said Russian forces' "prior use of phosphorous munitions in the Donetsk Oblast" means they may be used in Mariupol as "fighting for the city intensifies".

Ukraine needs "various military technologies from planes to tanks", Mr Zelenskyy told South Korean MPs.

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In his nightly address, he said Russia could launch a large military offensive in the east of Ukraine within days - despite questions about the ability of its demoralised soldiers.

Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region since 2014.

Ukraine is believed to have tens of thousands of soldiers in the east - the bulk of its military force - ahead of what could be one of the war's decisive battles.

In its latest intelligence update, the MOD said Russian shelling had continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainian forces have "repulsed several assaults", leading to the "destruction of Russian tanks, vehicles, and artillery equipment", the MOD added.

It said Russia was continuing to rely on unguided bombs which "decreases their ability to discriminate when targeting and conducting strikes", increasing the risk of civilian casualties.

President Zelenskyy said the coming week will be "tense", with Russia "even more afraid to lose afraid that the truth will have to be admitted".

"Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state," he warned. "They can use even more missiles against us, even more air bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. We will respond."

Key developments:

Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, on Sunday and blasts were heard overnight Ukraine's air defence missile systems in Mykolaiv and an air base in Chuhiv were hit, Russia claims Nine humanitarian corridors to open for attempted evacuations on Monday, Ukrainian deputy prime minister says More evidence of alleged Russian war crimes emerge in Kyiv region, including allegations of sexual violence and the discovery of a makeshift grave containing civilians near Burzova, says the UK's MoD The World Bank estimates that Ukraine's economic output will contract by 45.1% this year due to the war, with Russia's 2022 GDP forecast to fall by 11.2% because of sanctions imposed by other countries

Ukraine says Russians stole lethal Chernobyl materials - follow live updates

Austrian chancellor to meet Putin in Moscow

Monday's meeting with Karl Nehammer will be the Russian president's first face-to-face meeting with a European Union counterpart since the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February.

Prior to his trip, Mr Nehammer described the conflict as a "Russian war of aggression against Ukraine", despite his country being "militarily neutral".

He added on Twitter: "He has to stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire and full investigation of war crimes."

Russia calling on ex-soldiers to return as it admits 'mounting losses'

It emerged on Sunday that the Russian military was calling on ex-soldiers who have been discharged since 2012 to return for its offensive in Ukraine.

According to the British Ministry of Defence, this is "in response to mounting losses".

It added: "Efforts to generate more fighting power also include trying to recruit from the unrecognised Transnistria region of Moldova."

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The territory broke away after a short civil war in the early 1990s, and Russia has an estimated 1,500 troops there.

There are concerns that, if Russia was to secure a takeover of Ukraine, it could then use the disputed Transnistria to launch an attack on Moldova.

It comes a few days after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sky News that Russia had suffered "significant losses" of troops since the invasion began on 24 February, adding: "It's a huge tragedy for us."

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Russia must 'accept the truth', says Zelenskyy

Mr Zelenskyy also said late on Sunday that Russia was trying to evade responsibility for war crimes.

He said: "When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologise, adapt to reality and learn, they turn into monsters. And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that it is the world that has to adapt to them.

"Ukraine will stop all this."

"The day will come when they will have to admit everything - accept the truth," he added.

Evidence of alleged war crimes has been found in a number of towns and villages in the north of Ukraine, following the Russian withdrawal from that part of the country.

Read more: Ukrainian police go from house to house in 'death smelling' van

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Mr Zelenskyy has previously said that he expects more evidence to be found in the southern city of Mariupol once it is no longer blockaded.

Mariupol has been under sustained Russian attack for about six weeks, leaving the remaining citizens without food, water, and electricity.

It has been almost impossible to get emergency relief into the city, and almost impossible to get civilians out.

For Russia, taking Mariupol would mean a land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which they took from Ukraine eight years ago.

:: The Great Debate - Is The West Letting Putin Get Away With It? is on Sky News tonight at 9pm.

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Ukraine war: Tens of thousands may have been killed in Mariupol, Zelenskyy says, as he warns of 'tense' week ahead - Sky News

Russia reorganized the command of its flagging offensive in Ukraine on Saturday, selecting for the mission a general accused of ordering strikes on civilian neighborhoods in Syria, as Western nations poured more weapons into the country in anticipation of a renewed Russian assault in the east.

The appointment of the general, Aleksandr V. Dvornikov, as the top battlefield commander came as Britain announced that it was sending missiles that target aircraft, tanks and even ships, and as Slovakia handed the Ukrainian military a long-range S-300 air defense system, with the blessing of the United States.

In another show of support for Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain made a surprise visit on Saturday to Kyiv, the capital, where he met with Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and discussed a new package of financial and military aid, the British government said.

Mr. Zelensky called on other Western leaders to similarly provide military aide to Ukraine and impose further sanctions on Russia.

Other Western democratic countries should follow the U.K.s example, Mr. Zelensky said after meeting with Mr. Johnson.

The two leaders walked through the mostly empty cobbled streets of Kyiv in a show of confidence that the Ukrainian capital was now safe from Russian attacks. Outside a shop, one man warmly greeted them, thanking Mr. Johnson for Britains support in effusive Ukrainian as Mr. Zelensky translated.

In the last few weeks the world has found new heroes, and those heroes are the people of Ukraine, said Mr. Johnson.

What Putin has done in places like Bucha and Irpin, his war crimes, have permanently polluted his reputation and the reputation of his government, he added. There is a huge amount to do to make sure that Ukraine is successful, that Ukraine wins and that Putin fails.

The effort by Mr. Johnson to bolster Ukraine came as fears of a new Russian onslaught escalated. Despite its large army and considerable military might, Russia was unable to take Kyiv and now appears to be scrambling to retain dominance in Ukraines southeast, appointing a new commander for its offensive and withdrawing troops from the capital to an area where it has the advantage of support from local ethnic Russian separatists.

Russian forces continue to attempt to regroup and redeploy units withdrawn from northeastern Ukraine to support an offensive in eastern Ukraine, but these units are unlikely to enable a Russian breakthrough and face poor morale, said a report from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank.

Even so, Russias air campaign and missiles continue to cause grave damage. A missile attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Friday killed more than 50 people, including children, and injured many more who were heeding official warnings to flee.

Moscow denied responsibility for the attack, but U.S. military officials and independent analysts in Washington said they believed Russian forces had launched the missiles.

In a statement condemning the train station attack, the European Union said on Saturday that Russia was clearly culpable and that attempts to hide Russias responsibility for this and other crimes using disinformation and media manipulations are unacceptable.

Mr. Zelensky described the attack as another war crime and said it would be investigated, along with other atrocities attributed to Russian troops, including the apparent murders of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.

Like the massacre in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile strike on Kramatorsk must be one of the charges at the tribunal, which is bound to happen, Mr. Zelensky said, calling for Russian commanders to face trials like those faced by the Nazis at Nuremberg after World War II.

Japan said it would join the United States and European nations in supporting investigations and would expel eight Russian diplomats, ban Russian coal and restrict Russian imports of timber, vodka and machinery.

Japan accused Russia of repeatedly attacking civilians and nuclear power plants, a sore point for Japan after the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

We must hold Russia strictly accountable for these atrocities, the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said.

Legal experts have said that bringing war crimes charges against Kremlin officials would be difficult. The burden of proof is very high, requiring prosecutors to show that soldiers and their commanders intended to violate the international law that establishes the rules of war.

Western analysts and European intelligence officials believe that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is trying to achieve battlefield gains by May 9, when he is planning to give a victory day speech commemorating both the Soviet victory in World War II and the military operation in Ukraine.

On Saturday, Russian forces stepped up shelling in eastern Ukraine, with explosions reported in the Odesa and Kharkiv regions. The massing of Russian forces in the region, after they withdrew from areas around Kyiv, has prompted officials in the east to urge residents to flee. And thousands have.

The Russian troops are coming, so we are leaving to save our lives, said Svitlana Kyrychenko, 47, who evacuated from Kramatorsk with her 18-year-old daughter, elderly mother and aunt on Saturday morning. She was at the train station in the central city of Dnipro, looking for a place to stay.

I brought nothing with me, she said. I only brought my documents and clothes to change into for a few days.

Elsewhere in Dnipro, dozens of people waited to board buses to Bulgaria.

The air raids are becoming more and more frequent, said Ludmila Abramova, 62, who had fled from Pavlograd, a city close to the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has been refocusing its forces. Im leaving.

But its all going to be all right, Ms. Abramova added. Ill be back soon.

More than 6,600 people managed to flee besieged Ukrainian cities on Friday a record number for the week according to the countrys deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk.

But in Kramatorsk, there was no sense of panic after the train station attack, said the mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenko. He said that he expected about one-quarter of the citys 200,000 residents to stay there, and was preparing food, water and medical supplies.

The only thing that will convince them to leave the city is if it comes under siege, Mr. Honcharenko said.

Fewer than 400 people had boarded buses out of Kramatorsk on Saturday, he said, presumably headed for areas to the west that are believed to to be safer.

The European Commission on Saturday said that a global fund-raising effort called Stand Up for Ukraine had raised 9.1 billion euros, including 1 billion euros from the commission, for people fleeing the Russian invasion.

More than seven million Ukrainians have left their homes since the invasion on Feb. 24, and more than 4.4 million have left the country altogether, in the fastest-moving exodus of European refugees since World War II, according to the United Nations.

The appointment of General Dvornikov came as the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank that tracks the fighting, said in its latest assessment that Russian forces in the east appeared to be stalled, and were unlikely to enable a Russian breakthrough and face poor morale.

General Dvornikov was the first commander dispatched by Moscow to oversee Russian forces in Syrias civil war in 2015 after the Kremlin intervened to shore up President Bashar al-Assads struggling military.

General Dvornikov was there for about a year and was named a hero of the Russian Federation for his role. He oversaw forces that have been widely accused of bombing civilian neighborhoods, targeting hospitals and resorting to other scorched-earth tactics to break the back of the rebel movement that sought to oust Mr. al-Assad.

Bashar al-Assad is not the only one to be held accountable for killing civilians in Syria. The Russian general should, too, said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain. As the commander of military operations, that means hes behind killing Syrian civilians by giving the orders.

The actions of the Syrian government and Russian forces were widely decried by Western officials and human rights organizations, which said that some of their tactics amounted to war crimes.

The commander of a Syrian Christian militia that received support from and fought alongside Russian forces in Syria said General Dvornikov was involved in battles in many parts of the country.

He was a real commander, very serious, proud of the Russian army and its military history, the commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with journalists.

Russia had been running its military campaign against Ukraine out of Moscow, with no central commander on the ground to coordinate air, ground and sea units. That approach helped to explain why the invasion struggled against an unexpectedly stiff Ukrainian resistance, and was plagued by poor logistics and flagging morale, American officials said.

The disorganized assault also contributed to the deaths of at least seven Russian generals, as high-ranking officers were pushed to the front lines to untangle tactical problems that Western militaries would have left to more junior officers or senior enlisted personnel.

Eric Schmitt reported from Washington, Jane Arraf from Lviv, Ukraine, and Michael Levenson from New York. Reporting was contributed by Andrew Higgins in Kosice, Slovakia, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Natalia Yermak from Dnipro, Ukraine, Cora Engelbrecht from Krakow, Victoria Kim from Seoul, Julian E. Barnes from Washington, Ben Hubbard and Hwaida Saad from Beirut and Steven Erlanger and Matina Stevis-Gridneff from Brussels.

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What Happened on Day 45 of the War in Ukraine - The New York Times

SANTIAGO, Chile Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Chiles capital of Santiago on Saturday to denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Protesters unfurled a large banner featuring the colors of the Ukrainian flag. The group included Ukrainians living in Chile.

Some protesters lay down on the ground and clutched stuffed animals to honor child victims of the war. A large banner read, Stand with Ukraine.

We want to be united at this time with our children, with our families, said Alina Prus, a Ukrainian living in Chile. Several of us have our families who are now living the horror of what war means.

Another protester, Dria Gryshko, said many Ukrainians living in Chile have family or friends living both there and in Russia.

It is painful to see how families break up, how relationships break up, when opinions are divided within a family, she said. Because the people who live in Russia are exposed to a lot of propaganda, even when you show them video of what is happening now, they dont believe, because they dont come out from their TV.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

Zelenskyy, in AP interview, says he seeks peace despite atrocities

War Crimes Watch: A devastating walk through Buchas horror

S&P downgrade indicates Russia headed for historic default

Civilian evacuations continue in battle-scarred eastern Ukraine

Intel: Putin may cite Ukraine war to meddle in US politics

Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

BORODIANKA, Ukraine Firefighters continued searching Saturday for survivors or the dead in the debris of destroyed buildings in a northern Ukrainian town that was occupied for weeks by Russian forces.

Residents of Borodianka expect to find dozens of victims under the rubble of the several buildings destroyed during fighting between Russian forces and Ukrainian troops. The town is about 75 kilometers (47 miles) northwest of the capital of Kyiv and had more than 12,000 residents.

Russian troops occupied Borodianka while advancing towards Kyiv in an attempt to encircle it. They retreated during the last days of March following fierce fighting. The town is without electricity, natural gas or other services.

A 77-year-old resident, Maria Vaselenko, said her daughter and son-in-laws bodies have been under rubble for 36 days because Russian soldiers would not allow residents to search for loved ones or their bodies. She said her two teenage grandchildren escaped to Poland but are now orphans.

The Russians were shooting. And some people wanted to come and help, but they were shooting them, she told The Associated Press. They were putting explosives under dead people.

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MARIUPOL, Ukraine -- Shelling by Russian forces of Ukraines key port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has collapsed several humanitarian corridors and made conditions seldom right for people to leave.

It was not clear Saturday how many people remained trapped in the city, which had a prewar population of 430,000. Ukrainian officials have put the number at about 100,000, but earlier this week, British defense officials said 160,000 people remained trapped in the city.

Ukrainian troops have refused to surrender the city, though much of it has been razed.

Resident Sergey Petrov said Saturday that recently two shells struck around him in quick succession, but neither exploded upon landing. He was in his garage at the time and said his mother later told him, I was born again.

A shell flew in and broke up into two parts but it did not explode, looks like it did not land on the detonator but on its side, he said.

He added that when another shell flew in and hit the garage, I am in shock. I dont understand what is happening. I have a hole in my garage billowing smoke. I run away and leave everything. I come back in several hours and find another shell lying there, also unexploded.

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ATHENS, Greece A Ukrainian soccer club on Saturday opened a series of charity games on a government-backed Global Tour for Peace wearing the names of heavily bombarded cities on its jerseys.

The tour by the Shakhtar Donetsk club aims to raise money for Ukraines military in the war against Russia, and also help Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war.

Its first game Saturday was a 1-0 loss to Greek league leader Olympiakos.

Soccer clubs around Europe have been offering to play games against Ukrainian clubs and host youth players after soccer in the country was shut down when Russia invaded in February.

Shakhtar already was displaced from its home of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Playing in the Athens area on Saturday, Shakhtar players replaced their names on the back of their jerseys with those of cities bombarded by Russian forces, including Mariupol.

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BUCHA, Ukraine -- Civilians remaining in Bucha lined up Saturday for food donated by the local church in the battered Kyiv suburb where Ukrainian forces and journalists reported evidence of war crimes after Russian soldiers withdrew.

With other civilians fleeing in the wake of Russias invasion, most of the people remaining in Bucha were elderly, poor or unable to leave loved ones. Russian troops withdrew more than a week ago.

Volunteer Petro Denysyuk told The Associated Press that he and fellow church friends started providing food, with a wide array of basic foodstuffs and hot meals.

We have gathered together with the youth from our church and prepared food for the needy, Denysyuk said. We prepared pilaf, boiled eggs, prepared meat, sausages, noodles.

Ukrainian forces and journalists that went into Bucha saw bodies strewn in the streets, evidence of summary executions and the remains of people who could not have threatened soldiers. Russia has denied accusations of war crimes and accused Kyiv of staging them.

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KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the leaders of Britain and Austria for their visits to Kyiv on Saturday and pledges of further support.

In his daily late-night video address to the nation, Zelenskyy also thanked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a global fundraising event that raised more than 10 billion euros ($11 billion) for Ukrainians who have had to flee their homes.

Zelenskyy said democratic countries were united in working to stop the war. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer became the latest of several European rulers to meet Zelenskky in Kyiv.

Because Russian aggression was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone, to the destruction only of our freedom and our life, he said. The entire European project is a target for Russia.

Zelenskyy repeated his call for a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas, calling them the sources of Russias self-confidence and impunity.

But Ukraine does not have time to wait. Freedom does not have time to wait. When tyranny begins its aggression against everything that keeps the peace in Europe, action must be taken immediately, he said.

He added: And an oil embargo must be the first step. Moreover, by all democratic states, the entire civilized world. Then Russia will feel it. Then it will be an argument for them to seek peace, to stop the senseless violence.

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LVIV, Ukraine Eyewitness descriptions are coming from Kramatorsk, the town in eastern Ukraine where a missile hit a train station packed with evacuees on Friday.

The Sydorenko family could have been among the 52 dead and more than 100 wounded, but their taxi didnt show and they had to wait for another one. They finally arrived for the 11 a.m. evacuation train just three minutes after the explosion.

Ivan Sydorenko says there were around 2,000 people inside the station and on the platforms when the missile hit. He says they got out of their taxi in a scene of burning cars, burning pieces of the missile and people fleeing for their lives.

Ivan managed to escape by bus and then train with his wife and daughter, eventually reaching the relative safety of Lviv in western Ukraine. The Sydorenkos are just one of thousands of families clamoring to leave eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected Russian onslaught there.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 10 evacuation corridors were planned for Saturday, and other stations were open for trains full of refugees.

Russia meanwhile has denied responsibility, accusing Ukraines military of firing on the station to try to turn blame for civilian slayings on Moscow.

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KYIV, Ukraine Panicked residents of eastern Ukraine boarded buses or looked for other ways to leave Saturday, a day after a missile strike killed at least 52 people and wounded more than 100 at a train station.

The attack in in Kramatorsk left the city with no trains running and came with thousands of people seeking to leave. Ukrainian authorities have called on civilians to get out ahead of an imminent, stepped-up offensive by Russian forces in the east.

Residents on Saturday feared the kind of unrelenting assaults and occupations by Russian invaders that brought food shortages, demolished buildings and death to other cities elsewhere in Ukraine.

It was terrifying. The horror, the horror, one resident told British broadcaster Sky, recalling Fridays attack on the train station. Heaven forbid, to live through this again. No, I dont want to.

Western military analysts said an arc of territory in eastern Ukraine was under Russian control. It was from Kharkiv Ukraines second-largest city in the north to Kherson in the south.

But Ukrainian counterattacks are threatening Russian control of Kherson, according to the Western assessments, and Ukrainian forces are repelling Russian assaults elsewhere in the Donbas region in the southeast.

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WASHINGTON U.S. intelligence officials predict Russian President Vladimir Putin may use U.S. support for Ukraine as justification for a new campaign to interfere in American politics.

Intelligence officials tell The Associated Press that they have yet to find any evidence that Putin has authorized measures like the ones Russia undertook in the last two elections to support former President Donald Trump. Several people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive findings said it remains unclear which candidates Russia might try to promote next.

Trump has repeatedly assailed U.S. intelligence officials and claimed that investigations of Russian influence on his campaigns to be political vendettas. In Ukraine and elsewhere, Russia has been accused of trying to spread disinformation, amplifying pro-Kremlin voices in the West and using cyberattacks to disrupt governments.

Top U.S. intelligence officials are still working on plans for a new Foreign Malign Influence Center, authorized by Congress, that will focus on foreign influence campaigns by Russia, China and other adversaries.

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KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday that he is committed to seeking peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world.

He said no one wants to negotiate with people who tortured their nation as a man, as a father, I understand this very well. But he said we dont want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution.

Zelenskyy said hes confident Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have witnessed in the war. But meanwhile, Russian troops are regrouping for an expected surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine, including the besieged port city of Mariupol that Ukrainian defenders are battling to retain.

So Zelenskyy renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons. He says they have to fight for life -- not for dust when there is nothing and no people. Thats why it is important to stop this war.

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KYIV, Ukraine U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, promising so much support that his nation might never be bullied again.

Johnsons surprise visit included a pledge of 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems, part of another 100 million pounds ($130 million) of high-grade military equipment. Johnson also confirmed an additional $500 million in World Bank lending, taking Britains total loan guarantee up to $1 billion.

Johnson said Ukraine defied the odds pushing Russian forces from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.

The prime minister credits Zelenskyys resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people for thwarting what he calls the monstrous aims of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Johnson says Britain and its partners are going to ratchet up the economic pressure ... not just freezing assets in banks and sanctioning oligarchs but moving away from use of Russian hydrocarbons.

Johnson also described a vision for a future Ukraine so fortified and protected by the equipment, technology and know-how of Britain and its partners that it can never be threatened in the same way again. In the meantime, Johnson said, there is a huge amount to do to make sure that Ukraine is successful, that Ukraine wins and that Putin must fail.

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MILAN An Italian government source said Italian Premier Mario Draghi is traveling to Algeria on Monday to sign a deal for more gas.

Italy has been urgently looking for alternatives to natural gas from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. Russia is Italys biggest supplier, representing 40% of total imports.

Italys foreign minister has traveled to Algeria as well as Azerbaijan, Qatar, Congo, Angola and Mozambique to secure more deals. Algeria is Italys second-largest supplier of natural gas, which is the main source of the nations electricity, providing some 21 billion cubic meters of gas via the Trans-Mediterranean pipeline.

Italian energy company ENI has operated in Algeria for 40 years. ENI announced a significant oil and gas discovery in Algeria last month and said it would work with Algerian partner Sonatrach to fast-track its development for the third quarter of this year.

Italy business reporter Colleen Barry.

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Julian Lennon has explained why he decided to sing his fathers song Imagine for the first time publicly.

Hes posted on social media that he always said he would only sing the song if it was the End of the World. He says its the right song to sing now because the War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy, and he felt compelled to respond in the most significant way he could.

The son of John Lennon says murderous violence in Ukraine is forcing millions of innocent families to leave the comfort of their homes. He says the lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide, and within this song, were transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time.

Lennon joined celebrities around the world calling on world leaders to do more to support refugees in the Stand Up For Ukraine campaign.

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BOSTON -- The International Monetary Fund has created an account to give donor countries a secure way to funnel financial assistance directly to war-ravaged Ukraine.

The multilateral lender said in a statement Friday that its launching the account at the request of several member countries.

The goal is to help Ukraine meet its payment obligations and help stabilize its economy using loans or grants from pooled resources.

The IMF says Canada has proposed routing up to 1 billion Canadian dollars ($795 million) to Ukraine through the new account.

Two weeks after Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the IMF approved a $1.4 billion emergency loan to Ukraine.

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BOSTON -- S&P Global Ratings has downgraded its assessment of Russias ability to repay foreign debt, signaling increased prospects that Moscow will soon default on such loans for the first time in more than a century.

The credit ratings agency issued the downgrade to selective default Friday night after Russia arranged to make foreign bond payments in rubles last week when they were due in dollars. It said it didnt expect Russia to be able to convert the rubles into dollars within a 30-day grace period.

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Live Updates | War in Ukraine inspires protest in Chile - The Associated Press - en Espaol

Surrounded by a scrum of reporters with a backdrop of bombed-out apartment buildings and rubble in Borodianka, a town in the Kyiv region, stood Iryna Venediktova, Ukraines prosecutor general.

Venediktova is carrying the weight of bringing almost 2,000 cases of war crimes committed by Russias occupying forces to court at home and abroad. Her office is the only body in Ukraine with the power to investigate. It is through her office that information relating to war crimes is being collected, investigations will be conducted and domestic and international cases will be built.

Reminiscent of Volodymyr Zelenskiys trip to newly liberated territories outside Kyiv, Venediktova walked around Borodianka with her subordinates observing the damage, wearing an army flak jacket and baseball cap.

I watched while the bodies were exhumed in Bucha, Venediktova, who was appointed in 2019, said, describing one of the mass graves in the neighbouring town of Bucha, which is being investigated as a war crime.

Investigating war crimes is difficult. It involves teams of different experts who can collect and analyse physical, oral and open-source evidence that will stand up against the defence. International criminal law prosecutes individuals, not states, and so prosecutors must link the crime to the perpetrator.

Before the war, the majority of Ukrainians did not trust the state, said Venediktova. There were grounds for this: the other general prosecutors and the way they behaved.

The office of Ukraines prosecutor general has been dogged by accusations of corruption and inefficiency since the country declared independence.

There have been almost no successful major prosecutions over the last 30 years, with the shooting of dozens of protesters in February 2014 in central Kyiv, the murder of two prominent Ukrainian journalists, the poisoning of Ukraines third president, and countless instances of state corruption and bribery all failing to result in convictions.

Ukrainian NGOs, state workers and civilians involved in gathering evidence to build the cases hope that things will be different this time because of how the war has penetrated the entire society. But doubts remain over whether the war will change Ukraines infamously murky judicial system by itself or whether civil society will need to exert pressure.

Some people think its going to be the same story with these [war crime] cases. I have my doubts too, said Svitlana Shevchenko, the head of the Kyiv region administrative courts, on a trip to Borodianka. But I dont even want to think about it.

On the second day of the war, legal professionals, the Kyiv region judges and court employees created a Telegram chat where they started to upload videos of alleged war crimes from across the area, being sure to preserve the metadata.

Out of 28 judges, clerks and courthouse employees in Boradianka, 25 had their houses destroyed, said Shevchenko. Thats a statistic for you, said Shevchenko.

The head of the Borodianka court, Hennadiy Stasenko, was still visibly shaken as he showed the Guardian the completely blackened courthouse building and stood in the spot where his office used to be.

They now plan to submit the reams of evidence they have collectively gathered to the war crimes website set up by the prosecutor generals office.

Also contributing to the building of war crimes cases is the NGO Truth Hounds, which has been trained by former prosecutors from the international criminal court (ICC) to collect testimony that will be admissible. Truth Hounds started documenting war crimes in 2014 in eastern Ukraine. Now it is trying to train more staff to add to its body of investigators.

After [Venediktova] was appointed, she rehired a lot of the prosecutors who had been fired as part of the reform process, said Yaropolk Brynykh, a board member of Truth Hounds, who was on the lustration board involved in interviewing and firing prosecutors. She had to build a loyal team.

But I hope that the war will change this behaviour. She has no other option, said Brynykh, speaking from Stara Basan, a village 62 miles (100km) west of Kyiv where he was conducting interviews with residents who said one villager was shot for looking out the window and two more were taken to a neighbouring village and executed.

After the war, can you imagine the level of radicalisation of society, the demands they will make to the authorities?

Truth Hounds says it is aiming to help at least 10 foreign countries build national cases on Russian war crimes, including in Asia and Latin America. Other countries can launch their own criminal cases if their citizens were victims or if they house refugees who were affected.

Wayne Jordash, a barrister whose legal firm has been almost the only one working on war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, said Venediktova was the first general prosecutor his firm had had direct contact with.

That was the kind of hands-on approach which was needed, said Jordash. Because, you know, if you look at the way the Ukrainian judicial system works, theres a lot of different actors, and if theyre not coordinated from the top down, its difficult to investigate anything.

Jordash said there was a recognition inside and outside Ukraine that the scale of the events meant prosecutors needed support. He said there were plans to create mobile justice teams of foreign experts to mirror the work of Ukrainian investigators gathering evidence on the ground.

aVenediktova has also set up an international advisory board to Ukraines prosecutor generals office that includes well-known international criminal lawyers such as Amal Clooney.

The international response has been unprecedented, said Anna Neistat of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which has announced that it too will be conducting its own investigations into war crimes in Ukraine.

The ICC opened an investigation just days after the invasion, said Neistat, after 39 countries supported Ukraines request.

Every day we hear of new countries opening proceedings under universal or extraterritorial jurisdiction, said Neistat. Over a dozen countries had now launched their own investigations into Russian war crimes, said Neistat.

Russia does not recognise the ICC and is unlikely to participate in proceedings launched in other jurisdictions. Nevertheless, said Neistat, there was the possibility that other countries would hand over indicted suspects who ventured outside of Russia in the future and would be on Interpols red notice list or an ICC indictment.

Venediktova said that in the first days of the war she and the European court of justice created a joint investigation team, and that the first delegation of dozens of experts would arrive from France on Monday. We feel we have real support right now.

Im not working for likes on Facebook, said Venediktova. I am demonstrating to Ukraine and the international community the work of our entire law enforcement system.

You have to do your work first and foremost. Ukrainians can judge me once the work is done.

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Prosecution of Russian war crimes is ultimate test for Ukraines state - The Guardian