Burned corpses and cars are seen on the road in Kyiv Oblast on April 2, 2022. (Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance
April 4 marks 40 days of Russia's barbarous war in Ukraine.
The extent of Russia's cruelty against Ukrainians, however, was discovered just two days ago.
On April 2, Ukrainian forces regained control of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, revealing the many horrific atrocities of Russia's weeks-long occupation.
Hundreds of civilian residents were found dead on the streets, by their homes and in mass graves.
Following one of the darkest days of the war, one that truly shocked the Ukrainian nation and the whole world, President Volodymyr Zelensky gave the kind of address that "presidents don't usually give."
"Concentrated evil has come to our land," he said. "Murderers, butchers, rapists, looters, who call themselves an army and who deserve only to die after what they have done."
Since Moscow unleashed its all-out war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, at least 1,232 civilian Ukrainians have been killed, according to the United Nations. The actual figures, however, are expected to be much higher, as casualties from front-line areas aren't counted due to a lack of data.
At least 161 children have been killed and 264 injured by Russia's war, according to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office.
Bodies lie on a street in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, as Ukrainian forces retook control of the town on April 2, 2022 following weeks of Russian occupation. (AFP via Getty Images)A cyclist rides past buildings on fire following an artillery fire in Kharkiv, a regional capital in northeastern Ukraine, on March 25, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Rescuers remove rubble from the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration building where at least 35 people were killed by a Russian cruise missile attack on April 1, 2022, in Mykolaiv, a regional capital in southern Ukraine. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, on April 3, 2022. Hundreds of killed civilians were found in the town after Ukrainian forces retook it following weeks of Russian occupation. (AFP/Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) walks in the town of Bucha, just northwest of Kyiv, the site of Russia's massacre of civilian residents, on April 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Communal workers and volunteers build a protective structure around a monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in Kyiv on April 3, 2022. (Getty Images)A woman hugs a volunteer fighting with the Territorial Defense Force after the Russian troop withdrawal from the Nova Basan village in Chernihiv Oblast on April 1, 2022. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the 64th Annual Grammy Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images for The Recording Academy)The newlyweds, medical volunteers Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov, pose for a photograph in a ruined courtyard of a shopping and business complex in central Kharkiv on April 3, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A resident walks in front of a destroyed building in Trostyanets, Sumy Oblast, on March 29, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)U.S. President Joe Biden kisses a child while meeting refugees of Russia's war against Ukraine at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on March 26, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)An ostrich walks on the destroyed enclosure at an eco-park in Yasnohorodka, a village north of Kyiv on April 2, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A young girl sits on a suitcase at a train station in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, on April 3, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A destroyed column of Russia's military vehicles is seen on the highway near Buzova village in Kyiv Oblast on April 3, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)The family of Ukrainian soldier Ivan Lipskiy grieves at his casket during a funeral of five Ukrainian soldiers in Odesa on March 29, 2022. Lipskiy was killed on March 18 during a Russian air strike that hit the 36th Ukrainian Naval Infantry Brigade killing more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers in Mykolaiv. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Independent journalism needs a community —
not a paywall.
We’re working hard to show the world the truth of Russia’s brutal war —
and we’re keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information
should be available to all.
Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can
survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us
do it?
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) reported that the June 1 “Spider Web” drone operation caused approximately $7 billion in damages and disabled 34% of cruise missile carriers in key Russian airbases.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on June 1 an updated 14-member Ukrainian delegation for upcoming peace talks with Russia in Istanbul, expanding the original group of 12.
In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur breaks down the top stories of the week, from Germany’s increased military aid to last weekend’s unprecedented attacks on Ukraine.
At least seven people are dead and another 69 injured after a train derailed in Russia's Bryansk Oblast overnight on May 31, following the collapse of an overhead road bridge, Bryansk Oblast Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
Russia launched a series of attacks on Zaporizhzhia Oblast overnight on May 31-June 1, injuring 7 people and damaging homes and critical infrastructure, regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported.
The Atesh partisan group allegedly sabotaged the recently-constructed Volnovakha-Mariupol railway in occupied Donetsk Oblast, disrupting Russian logistics, the group claimed in a Telegram post on June 1.
Top German official Thorsten Frei said in an interview with German media on May 31 that the EU should reconsider using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, urging a tougher stance against the Kremlin.
The EU condemned Georgia's foreign agents law, which officially came into effect, and called on authorities to reverse the country's democratic backsliding in a statement published on May 31.
Ukraine and its partners are still waiting to see what, if anything, Russia plans to present at the upcoming peace talks in Turkey scheduled for June 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Russia-aligned actors are amplifying anti-Ukrainian sentiment through coordinated campaigns across platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, Facebook, and Telegram, according to a new investigation by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
OPEC+ will boost oil production by 411,000 barrels per day in July, marking the third consecutive monthly increase and reinforcing a major strategic shift that has driven crude prices to a four-year low.
According to the Telegraph, senior European diplomats meeting in The Hague agreed to shift their focus from deploying troops to enforce a ceasefire to preparing long-term strategies for supporting Ukraine without American backing.
(Updated: )
