Zelenskyy warns UN of more discoveries of alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council that “the massacre in our city of Bucha is only one of many examples of what [Russia has] been doing on our land for the past 41 days."
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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the development of agricultural and fishing industries via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
A source tells Fox News that the U.S. on Wednesday -- in coordination with the G7 and the European union -- will announce an "additional sweeping package of sanctions measures that will impose significant costs on Russia and send it further down the road of economic, financial, and technological isolation.'
"This will include a ban on all new investment in Russia , increased sanctions on financial institutions and state owned enterprises in Russia, and sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members," the source said. "These measures will degrade key instruments of Russian state power, impose acute and immediate economic harm on Russia, and hold accountable the Russian kleptocracy that funds and supports Putin’s war."
Fox News' Patrick Ward contributed to this report.
Ukrainian soldiers recover the remains of four killed civilians from inside a charred vehicle in Bucha, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while speaking to the United Nations Security Council Tuesday, accused Russia of the worst war crimes since World War II.
He said that the Russian army had tortured and killed civilians. "They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies,” he said while calling for those responsible to be tried for war crimes.
Graphic images appearing to show the atrocities Zelenskyy detailed in Bucha and other cities have led to a worldwide outcry.
Associated Press journalists in Bucha have counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes and interviewed Ukrainians who told of witnessing atrocities. Also, high-resolution satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed that many of the bodies had been lying in the open for weeks, during the time that Russian forces were in the town.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has the latest from the Pentagon on 'Special Report.'
Ukrainian serviceman with an ATGM Javelin is seen during military exercises at a training ground not far from the Rivne city , Ukraine, May 26, 2021. (Anatolii Stepanov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The United States will send an additional $100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine as the country's war with Russia continues, Fox News has learned.
"Today, the Biden Administration authorized an additional Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to an additional $100 million to meet an urgent Ukrainian need for additional Javelin anti-armor systems, which the United States has been providing to Ukraine and they have been using so effectively to defend their country," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"I have authorized, pursuant to a delegation from the President earlier today, the immediate drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $100 million to meet Ukraine’s urgent need for additional anti-armor systems," Blinken said. "This authorization is the sixth drawdown of arms, equipment, and supplies from Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine since August 2021."
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki talks to reporters during the daily news briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 05, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated Tuesday that it is not in the "interest" of the United States to go to "war with Russia."
Psaki's remarks came after she was asked by CBS News reporter Steven Portnoy how the atrocities and images out of Ukraine do not "compel" a military response led by the U.S. and its partners.
"I think what the president's objective is and his responsibility is to make decisions that are in the interest of the United States and the national security of the United States and the American people," Psaki said. "And that is not to go to war with Russia."
"It is to do everything in our power to hold them accountable, to support efforts through international systems to do exactly that, and to provide military assistance, security assistance and support to the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government. That's exactly what we're doing."
"It is not in our interest or in the interest of the American people for us to be in a war with Russia," she concluded.
The U.S. State Department is investigating reports of an attack in Ukraine involving chemicals.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russian military forces of hitting a storage tank filled with nitric acid in the city of Rubizhne, located in the Luhansk region.
“We are aware of reports of this incident, and are looking into it as we await further details," the State Department told Fox News. "We are concerned about the harm to anyone in the vicinity that a nitric acid leak may cause. it is clear Russia’s forces continue to bombard cities and critical infrastructure across Ukraine and commit terrible acts of violence."
“Unclear as to the scope of the effects and unclear at this time if the strike was part of a strategy to weaponize the stored chemicals," a senior US defense official told Fox News. "But obviously this is cause for concern and we are monitoring.”
Additionally, a government expert tells Fox News that "if the tank held fuming nitric acid and the intent was to release the toxic nitrogen dioxide gas whose inhalation effects are similar to phosgene or chlorine, then it might be called a Chemical Weapons event."
President Biden has previously stated that the United States would respond to a chemical weapons attack.
Fox News' Gillian Turner and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told "America Reports" Tuesday the United States needs to accelerate aid to Ukraine to defeat Russia because the global implications of Putin's aggression extend beyond the two opposing countries.
"I think the most immediate thing that we can do, we have to do, is we have to stop this war," Hagel said. "And it cannot be seen as a victory in any way for Putin. That means the Ukrainians need to go on the offensive and we need to help them with that. We need to upgrade the weaponry, we need to upgrade everything that we are doing, including sanctions, tougher, tougher sanctions to really strangle Putin."
United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Linda Thomas-Greenfield, addresses the United Nations (UN) Security Council before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks via video link on April 05, 2022 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations highlighted Tuesday what she deemed as "credible reports" about Russian forces abducting tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, confiscating passports and interrogating people in so-called "filtration camps" and then forcibly relocating them to Russia.
The remarks from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking remotely from Ukraine, addressed the U.N. Security Council. He called for Russian troops to be brought up on war crime charges for atrocities uncovered in Bucha and around Kyiv before a tribunal similar to the one set up at Nuremberg after World War II .
"We've all seen the gruesome photos, lifeless bodies lying in the streets, apparently summarily executed, their hands tied behind their backs," Thomas-Greenfield said, referring to images surfacing from the Bucha massacre after Russian forces pulled back from the capital region in recent days.
For more on this story: US calls out 'credible reports' of Putin's forces herding Ukrainians to 'filtration camps,' then into Russia
Vice President of foreign policy at Heritage Foundation, James Carafano, criticized the Biden administration for its handling of Ukraine, accusing it of "cheerleading along with the rest of the world" as millions flee.
The retired Army lieutenant colonel argued "this kind of leadership" is not what the world needs as Putin's brutal assault on Ukraine rages on.
Officials are warning that Russian forces are preparing an offensive in Ukraine's southeast.
While Ukraine has pushed back against Russian troops in recent days – taking back territory, including areas around the capital city of Kyiv – the head of NATO warned that Russia is regrouping and plans to deploy soldiers in eastern and southern Ukraine for a "crucial phase of the war."
"Moscow is not giving up its ambitions in Ukraine," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. "We expect a further push in the eastern and southern Ukraine to try to take the entire Donbas and to create a land bridge" to the Crimea Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas have been fighting Ukrainian troops for the last eight years.
For more on this story: Russia preparing offensive in southern, eastern Ukraine, officials say
The video released by the U.K. has English and Russian subtitles.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has released a video message Tuesday to Russians in which he tells them that Vladimir Putin is being accused of war crimes.
“The Russian people deserve the truth, you deserve the facts," Johnson said in Russian, later adding that "your president stands accused of committing war crimes."
“The atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere in Ukraine have horrified the world," Johnson also said.
“All you need is VPN connection to access independent information from anywhere in the world. And when you find the truth, share it," he added. "Those responsible will be held to account."
Vasily Nebenzya, bottom left, the Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, reads a statement during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday at United Nations headquarters. (AP/John Minchillo)
Vasily Nebenzya, the Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, claimed to the Security Council Tuesday that reports of alleged atrocities carried out by the Russian military in places like Bucha are “blatant criminally-staged events with Ukrainian civilians who were killed by their own radicals.”
In a message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Nebenzya said “it turns out that we shouldn’t have withdrawn, I’m talking about Bucha first and foremost.
“I understand that you saw corpses and heard testimonials but you only saw what they showed you,” he continued. “You couldn’t ignore the flagrant inconsistencies in the version of events which are being promoted by Ukrainian and western media.”
Nebenzya also said in his message to Zelenskyy that “I really hope that you will find a solution to the situation because it depends only on you.”
He said Russia “came to Ukraine not to conquer lands, we came to bring the long-awaited peace to the blood-soaked land of Donbas.
“Not a truce, but a true, lasting peace and for this we need to root out the cruelty which I mentioned. We need to cut out the malignant Nazi tumor that is consuming Ukraine and would in time begin to consume Russia,” he also said. “And we will achieve that goal I hope sooner rather than later because there is no other outcome.”
Nebenzya also claimed that the Russian military is “not shooting civilian targets in order to save as many civilians as possible -- this is precisely why we are not advancing as fast as many expected.
“We are not acting like Americans and their allies in Iraq and Syria, razing entire cities to the ground,” he said. “They had no pity for them but we felt great pity because these are people who are close to us."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that “we need decisions from the Security Council for peace in Ukraine.
“If you don’t know how to make this decision, you can do two things, either remove Russia as an aggressor and a source of war so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression and its own war. And then do everything that we can do to establish peace,” he said. “Or the other option is to show how we can reform or change and work for peace.”
“If there is no alternative, the next option would be to dissolve yourself altogether if there is nothing that you can do besides conversation,” Zelenskyy added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he is proposing a future conference in Kyiv “in order to determine how we can reform the world security system, how do we establish guarantee of recognition of borders and integrity of states and countries, how we will assert the rule of international law.”
“We must do everything in our power to pass onto the next generation an effective U.N. with the ability to respond preventively to security challenges and thus guarantee peace, prevent aggression and force aggressors to peace,” he also said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks via remote feed during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday. (AP/John Minchillo)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council that “the massacre in our city of Bucha is only one – unfortunately – of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing on our land for the past 41 days. And there are many more cities, similar places, where the world has yet to learn the full truth.”
“They will blame everyone just to justify their own actions, they will say that there are various different versions and it is impossible to establish which one of those versions is truth,” he added. “They will even say that the bodies of those killed were allegedly thrown away... but it is 2022 and now we have conclusive evidence, there are satellite images.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday after visiting Bucha that the Russian military “killed entire families – adults and children – and they tried to burn the bodies.”
“Civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, just for their pleasure,” he continued. “They cut limbs, slashed their throats, women were raped and killed in front of their children.”
“Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them,” Zelenskyy also said. “This is no different from other terrorists such as ISIS and here it is done by a member of the United Nation’s Security Council.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Tuesday that the ongoing war in Ukraine has "led to a senseless loss of life, massive devastation in urban centers, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
"I will never forget the horrifying images of civilians killed in Bucha, and I immediately called for an independent investigation to guarantee effective accountability," he said. "And I'm also deeply shocked by the personal testimony of rapes and sexual violence that now are emerging."
Guterres said the war also "has disrupted supply chains and increased the cost of transportation, putting even more pressure on the developing world.
"Many developing countries are already on the verge of that collapse due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of adequate liquidity and debt relief stemming ultimately from the unfair nature of our global economic and financial system," he added. "For all these reasons, it is more urgent by the day to silence the guns."
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the world is now seeing the horror that has been left behind in places like Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian troops there.
Blinken said Russia is running a "deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities."
A Ukrainian soldier walks with children passing destroyed cars due to the war against Russia, in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Monday. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)
More disturbing photos are surfacing showing the massacre of civilians in and around Bucha, outside the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russian forces are reportedly regrouping in the southeast to renew their offensive against the already badly bombarded Mariupol, as well as the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In an overnight address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 300 people had been tortured and killed in Bucha, as satellite imagery seemed to back up Ukrainian claims about Russian soldiers shooting and killing civilians left lying in the streets and outside homes.
The Kremlin has claimed that the bodies were staged after Russian soldiers pulled back from the capital region, allegations Ukraine and the West say is misinformation meant to displace blame for such war crimes.
For more on this story: More photos from Ukraine-Russia war massacre in Bucha, devastation in Mariupol
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that the mass expulsions of Russian diplomats and intelligence officers from European countries is "short-sighted" and will lead to "reciprocal steps" from Moscow.
His comments came as Spain became the latest European country to tell Russian officials to leave, with Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announcing that at least 25 diplomats and staff at the Russian Embassy in Madrid are being expelled. Germany, France, Italy, Denmark and Sweden are the other countries to have dismissed Russian diplomats and officials since Monday.
Peskov said that “we view negatively, we view with regret this narrowing of possibilities for diplomatic communication, diplomatic work in such difficult conditions, in unprecedent crisis conditions.”
He added that “it is short-sighted and a step which firstly will complicate our communication, which is required in order to seek reconciliation. And secondly it will inevitably lead to reciprocal steps.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ukrainian-born NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov speaks about the need to provide greater military support to Ukraine and how social media censorship has made it hard for her to share her campaign messaging.
A dog wanders around destroyed houses and Russian military vehicles in Bucha, close to Kyiv, on Monday. (AP/Efrem Lukatsky)
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is urging European countries Tuesday to sever economic ties with Moscow, saying "every Euro, every cent that you receive from Russia or that you send to Russia has blood, it is bloody money and the blood of this money is Ukrainian blood, the blood of Ukrainian people," according to Reuters.
"Are you for peace and support Ukraine or do you support the aggressors, Russia?" he reportedly added.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region , said Tuesday that residents there should stay inside, shut windows and doors and prepare wet face masks after a Russian airstrike hit a tank containing nitric acid.
In a Telegram post, Haidai said the incident occurred near the city of Rubizhne, which the Ukrainian military says the Russians have been trying to take over. He didn’t specify what area the warning applies to.
Haidai warned that nitric acid “is dangerous if inhaled, swallowed and in contact with skin and mucous membranes.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense denied its troops were involved in the blast, suggesting Ukraine's military blew it up themselves in advance of surrendering the city.
"The provocation was most likely prepared for a long time in order to carry it out right before the retreat," it claimed in a Telegram post.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More European countries are expelling Russian officials after France and Germany kicked out dozens on Monday.
Italy's foreign ministry said Tuesday that it's expelling 30 Russian diplomats, while Denmark’s Foreign Ministry says the country is expelling 15 Russian intelligence officers who worked at Russia’s Embassy in Copenhagen.
The officers have two weeks to leave Denmark. Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said “they pose a risk to our national security that we cannot ignore.”
Sweden's foreign minister also said Tuesday that they country is expelling three Russian diplomats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(AP/Rodrigo Abd)
Vlad Tanyuk, 6, was photographed by the Associated Press on Monday standing in the courtyard of his house outside of Kyiv next to the grave of his mother, Ira, who reportedly died from starvation and stress.
The European Commission on Tuesday will propose to the European Union new sanctions on Moscow, including bans on imports of Russian coal, chemicals, rubber and various other products worth up to $9.8 billion annually, a source told Reuters.
The development comes after the EU announced that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv this week.
Current Russian military activity in northern Ukraine. (Fox News)
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence said Tuesday that "Ukrainian forces have retaken key terrain in the north of Ukraine, after denying Russia the ability to secure its objectives and forcing Russian forces to retreat from the areas around Chernihiv and North of Kyiv."
"Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine," it added.
The Ministry also said "low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw."
Seven humanitarian corridors will be opened in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday to evacuate some of the city's 130,000 remaining residents, many of whom have been living without food, water or shelter, amid Russian military attacks, a senior Ukrainian official said.
The seven corridors will allow the residents to be transported to Zaporizhia (about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol), Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.
"Despite the promises of its leadership, the occupying forces do not allow anyone to travel to Mariupol," she said in the post.
"The [Russian] occupiers blocked the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Manhush," she added, noting that additional evacuation routes have been planned for Manhush, via bus to the port city of Berdyansk, which will then travel to Zaporizhia.
Read more here: Seven humanitarian corridors have opened to evacuate Mariupol residents: Deputy PM
A bridge destroyed in the Sumy Oblast (Sumy Oblast Governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy)
Sumy Oblast Governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said at least three civilian bodies were found as Ukrainian troops retook the Sumy Oblast. The bodies had evidence of being tortured, he said.
"Today was a very busy day, but it was a day of war," Zhyvytskyy said. "We continue to clean our land from the remnants of waste."
"Thank you to our defense, the Armed Forces, volunteers and doctors, to every resident of Sumy region who is working on the restoration of our region, we are working!" he added.
Germany will expel a "significant number" of Russian diplomats after the Bucha massacre, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Monday.
"The pictures from Bucha bear witness to the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and of those who follow its propaganda, to a will to annihilate that transcends all borders," Baerbock said.
"The federal government has therefore decided today to declare a significant number of members of the Russian Embassy as undesirables, who have worked every day against our freedom and against the cohesion of our society here in Germany."
She also announced that Germany is working with other European countries to tighten existing sanctions against Russia.
France is expelling "many" Russian diplomats following a massacre in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
"France has decided this evening to expel many Russian personnel posted in France under diplomatic status, whose activities are counter to our security interests," read a Monday statement from the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
"This action is part of a European movement. Our first responsibility is always to ensure the security of French and European citizens," the statement continued.
Approximately 35 diplomats will be expelled from the country following the announcement, according to Agence France-Presse.
Earlier on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for additional sanctions on Russia, according to a report. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan later announced that the U.S. will be working with its allies to impose further sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is slated to address the United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting Tuesday about the latest alleged atrocities by Russian forces against his nation.
The official Twitter account of the United Kingdom's delegation to the UN announced the upcoming speech, tweeting, "The UK Presidency of the Council will ensure the truth is heard about Russia’s war crimes. We will expose Putin’s war for what it really is."
The announcement comes after Zelenskyy visited Bucha, where Russian forces allegedly left the dead bodies of civilians in the streets, according to satellite imagery.
Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in Kyiv-area towns and cities that were recently retaken from Russian forces. In Bucha, more than 100 civilians were found buried in mass graves.
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