Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine could resume video talks on Monday even as kyiv accuses Moscow forces of committing atrocities in northern cities. Russia has called images of executed unarmed civilians fake.

The Kyiv government has asked the International Criminal Court to gather evidence of alleged war crimes, while some European governments are pushing for new sanctions against Russia in light of the allegations, which relate to the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a recorded surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards, where he implored people to talk about the war on social media and on TV. “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskiy said. “They sing for the wounded. In the hospital.

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Ukraine’s president will deliver a virtual speech to South Korea’s parliament on April 11, Yonhap news agency reported.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the harm to civilians “constitutes a violation of international law”.

Regarding new sanctions advocated by some in Europe, the Japanese prime minister told reporters that he would look at the overall situation and work with the international community to do what needs to be done.

U.S. Stock and U.S. Treasuries Futures decreaseswhile Asian stocks were mixed on Monday as traders weighed the prospect of aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and tougher sanctions on Russia.

The Treasury yield curve is increasingly issuing warnings that economic growth will slow as the Fed raises interest rates to rein in inflation fueled in part by commodities. Oil fell, extending a decline triggered by the US announcement of an unprecedented release of strategic reserves to combat high energy costs.

The two European leaders most closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin before his invasion of Ukraine won decisive election victories by pledging to stay out of war.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has spent 12 years consolidating his grip on power and clashing with the European Union over democratic values, won a fourth consecutive term after leading his Fidesz party to a landslide victory over a broad opposition alliance.

Heavy fighting continued in Mariupol, the southern port that has been a key target for Russia, with Ukrainian forces still controlling central parts of the city, according to a daily assessment by British intelligence.

He said intense and indiscriminate strikes continued to hit the city, where Ukraine has accused Russian forces of killing 300 people in a strike on a theater in March. A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross seeking to assist the safe passage of civilians out of Mariupol failed to reach the town last week.

Russia has called for a UN Security Council meeting on Monday to discuss Ukraine’s ‘heinous provocation’ of Bucha, Russia’s first deputy chief of mission Dmitry Polyanskiy says noted on Twitter, without further details.

A Latvian gas supplier partly owned by Gazprom PJSC and Germany’s Uniper SE is wondering if it can pay for Russian supplies in roubles, as Putin demanded.

Latvijas Gaze, which buys natural gas from Russia under a long-term contract, said the payment procedure does not appear to violate sanctions, according to a statement on Sunday. By contrast, neighboring Lithuania said it halted gas imports from Russia in response to the demand for payment in roubles.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on European leaders to hold an emergency summit to discuss the Bucha events, saying the bloc ‘must sever all trade relations with Russia without delay’ and seize Russian assets in banks Westerners as well as those of the Russian oligarchs.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the rouble’s rebound, fueled by “a lot of manipulation” by the Russian authorities, is not sustainable.

Backed by tough capital controls imposed by Russia’s central bank, the ruble rebounded from a March 7 low to 85.42 rubles to the dollar on Friday, nearly matching the February 24 exchange rate when Russia started the war.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said the European Union should discuss a ban on imports of Russian natural gas. Asked twice in an ARD TV interview whether the response to reported Russian atrocities should include an end to gas shipments, Lambrecht said EU ministers “need to discuss precisely that”.

She warned that the EU’s response is stronger when all members adopt a coordinated approach to punitive measures. The EU is divided over the halt to Russian energy imports.

Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta, whose party is part of Italy’s governing coalition and leads in voter preference polls, has called for a “complete oil and gas” embargo on Russia.

Imports from Russia accounted for 38% of Italy’s gas consumption last year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Ukrainian allegations that war crimes were committed by Russian troops in towns near kyiv.

“It’s clear to the naked eye that there are a lot of fakes and staged plans,” Peskov said by text message when asked to comment on footage released by Ukrainian officials of dead civilians in towns recently evacuated by Russian soldiers.

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied any involvement in the killings of civilians in Bucha, calling the accusations “provocations”. He said Russian troops left the town on March 30 and “not a single local resident suffered any violent action” while there, and accused Ukrainian officials of “staged” attacks. photos and videos of corpses.

Officials across Europe condemned Russia when graphic images emerged of dead civilians in Ukrainian towns recently under Moscow’s control.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the footage “unbearable” and said Russian authorities “should answer for these crimes”. Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Italy “condemns these horrors with absolute firmness”.

Earlier, European Council President Charles Michel tweeted that “further EU sanctions and support are on the way”, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK would “fully support any investigation by the International Criminal Court” into possible crimes in Ukraine.

Blinken called the footage of alleged Russian atrocities against civilians in the Kyiv region “a punch in the stomach,” but refrained from calling it genocide.

The United States has already helped document war crimes since the Russian invasion, he told CNN. “The most important thing is that we can’t become numb to it,” he said. “This is the reality of what is happening every day, as Russia’s brutality against Ukraine continues.”

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said the United States would continue to send arms and support to Ukraine. While it looks like Ukrainian forces are winning the war around kyiv, the conflict “is unfortunately far from over” as Russian forces redeploy, Klain told ABC.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked for access to organizations such as the International Red Cross to document what happened in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, and said the perpetrators and their superiors must be brought to justice.

Scholz reiterated a call for Russia to agree to a ceasefire. “This is a terrible, senseless and unjustifiable war that causes great suffering and is of no use to anyone,” he said in a statement. “It has to stop.”

Separately, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the actions revealed to Bucha “must have an impact on the fifth sanctions package”.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights put the number of civilians killed in Ukraine at 1,417 up to April 2, and another 2,038 injured. The actual numbers are likely considerably higher, UNHCR said.

Most of the casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including heavy artillery and multiple rocket launcher system bombardments, as well as missiles and airstrikes, it said. the agency.