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Ukraine war day 45| Russia accused of over 5,000 crimes of aggression: 10 points
Ukraine war: Zelenskyy said his country’s security service has intercepted communications of Russian troops that provide evidence of war crimes.
In the six weeks of the Ukraine war, Moscow has been accused of 5,149 crimes of aggression and war crimes, Ukraine's foreign ministry has said in a statement as over 50 people - including children - were killed at a train station on Friday where evacuations were taking place. The shocking incident comes days after the Kremlin was accused of mass killings as images of bodies strewn across the streets emerged from the Bucha town near Kyiv, the capital. “Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said during his nightly video address to the nation, according to reports. Russia, however, denied the attack.
Here are ten updates on the Ukraine war:
1. Zelensky said his country’s security service has intercepted communications of Russian troops that provide evidence of war crimes. “There are soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of prisoners of war who admitted killing people. There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead,” Zelenskyy said in an excerpt of an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
2. Eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, held by rebels, is becoming the main scene of battle after Russia president Vladimir Putin failed to take the capital city of Kyiv, the US department of defence said in a statement on Friday. "This will be a knife fight. This could be very bloody and very ugly," an official warned in a statement.
3. The United Kingdom has said it is set to bolster Ukraine defense aid with $ 100 million package that will include more anti-tank missiles and air defence systems. "This builds on the £350 million of military aid and around £400m of economic and humanitarian support that the UK has already provided," the UK's ministry of defence said in a statement.
4. Ukraine on Friday had sought more weapons from the West with one of the worst wars in Europe in its sixth week.
5. Kyiv has accused Moscow of horrific war crimes including rape. "Ukraine’s ombudsperson reports horrific facts of rape by Russian soldiers in Kyiv suburbs. They probably commit the same unspeakable crimes in the occupied towns as you read this tweet. European politicians can stop this madness by imposing an oil and gas embargo on Russia. Do it now! (sic)," the country's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted on Friday in a desperate appeal.
6. About 19,000 Russian personnel have been killed so far amid the offensive, Kyiv has said.
7. "The war in Ukraine could lead to a malnutrition crisis for millions of children in other parts of the world. Prices have also risen for essentials, including wheat, cooking oil and fuel and if this situation continues, it will severely impact children, especially in Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen”, UNICEF has warned.
8. More than four million people have been displaced from their homes, according to the UN, in one of the worst refugee crises the world has seen in recent times.
9. Food prices have been reported to have soared to record levels as the war continues.
10. Russia launched the offensive on February 24 as a "special operation" with what Putin described with an aim to "denazify" the country. The Kremlin has drawn huge criticism and global sanctions as the onslaught continues.
(With inputs from AP, Reuters)
