After 40 days of war in Ukraine, Russia began to secretly mobilize reservists. That’s according to a report by the Ukrainian General Staff, published early this morning and quoted by the BBC. “When selecting candidates, preference is given to those who already have combat experience,” says the report, according to which Moscow plans to mobilize about 60,000 more soldiers.
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Meanwhile, Moscow’s troops have begun withdrawing from eastern Ukraine’s Sumy region. This was reported overnight by the head of the regional administration, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, who said, however, that it was too early to determine whether the region had actually been liberated. According to Zhyvytskyi’s reports to the UNIAN agency, the Russian vehicles returned to Russia via a corridor that runs from Kyiv to Chernihiv and is now littered with numerous carcasses of tanks and other vehicles.
The port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine was hit by a rocket during the night. This was announced by the spokesman for the Odessa regional military administration, Sergey Bratchuk, according to reports from Ukrainian Pravda.
BUCHA The massacre of civilians in Bucha has shaken the world. Dozens of civilians were killed in the Ukrainian city on the outskirts of Kyiv. The bodies of many dead were piled up in mass graves. The images document the presence of abandoned corpses on the streets. Bucha has been recaptured by Kiev forces in recent days. “Here, in this pit, 57 people are buried,” said Serhii Kaplychny, chief of operations for the recovery of the bodies.
ZELENKSY “It’s genocide,” says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy, who accused Moscow of wanting to wipe out “the whole Ukrainian nation.” “Yes, that is genocide. The annihilation of the whole nation and people. We have more than 100 nationalities. It’s about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities,” he said in an interview with CBS. Zelenskyy then turned to Russian mothers: “I want every Russian mother to see the bodies of the people who were killed in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel. What did these people do to the Russians? Why did they torture ordinary civilians in a peaceful city? How. Can you rape women in front of their children? and kill.”
RUSSIA Russia denies any responsibility for the Bucha massacre. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, quoted by TASS, the released photos and videos are “another provocation” by Kiev, as all Russian units left the city last Wednesday.
“While this place was under the control of Russian forces, no residents were subjected to violent actions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. “All the locals had the opportunity to leave the settlement north unhindered,” he adds, arguing that Bucha was bombarded 24 hours a day by Ukrainian forces with heavy weapons when it was under Russian control.