Burned corpses and cars are seen on the road in Kyiv Oblast on April 2, 2022. (Getty Images)
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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)
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on March 31 to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil exports if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not "make a deal" to end the war in Ukraine.
Military representatives from the "coalition of the willing" will meet in Ukraine later this week to discuss peacekeeping troops and security guarantees.
The contract includes the delivery of air defense equipment and logistical support for Patriot missile systems, the Polish Defense Ministry announced on March 31.
The U.S. president "has expressed his displeasure with comments that have been made by leaders of both sides of this conflict," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on March 31.
Foreign ministers from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, and Poland, along with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, called on Russia to agree to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire on equal terms and with full implementation."
The Supreme Court is set to review the request on April 17 in a closed session. The Taliban remains on Russia's federal list of terrorist organizations since 2003.
Although Russian conscripts are typically not deployed in active combat, Moscow has relied on financial incentives and pardons to recruit civilians for the war in Ukraine.
The soldiers and their tracked vehicle disappeared on March 25 during an exercise at a training ground near the Lithuanian city of Pabrade, located about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the border with Belarus. Pabrade hosts Camp Herkus, a U.S. military facility.
The move follows reports that Moldovan lawmaker Alexandr Nesterovschi, sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally financing the banned pro-Russian Shor Party, escaped to Russian-controlled Transnistria with help from Russian diplomats, according to Moldovan media Newsmaker.
Alexander Vindman served as the director of European affairs for the United States National Security Council in 2018-2020, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration. The Kyiv Independent's Kate Tsurkan sits down with Vindman to discuss how Washington has historically misjudged Russia, "succumbing to hopes and fears," and why there is no real prospect of peace between Ukraine and Russia now.
A French court on March 31 found Marine Le Pen, one of the leaders of the far-right National Rally party (RN), guilty of embezzling EU funds and banned her from running for public office "with immediate effect."
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukraine's main tasks are holding defensive lines and stabilizing threats, which have been partially achieved, particularly in the Pokrovsk direction.
The Moscow metro website became unavailable on March 31, displaying only a banner with a message on the technical failure from the recently hacked Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia).
Ukrainian and U.S. government and legal teams continue discussions on the mineral deal, a source in the Presidential Office told the Kyiv Independent on March 31 as U.S. President Donald Trump is escalating his rhetoric on the agreement.
"The package includes, among other things, support for Ukraine’s air defense, artillery, satellite communications, and maritime capacity," Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson announced.
The visit comes on the third anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, a Kyiv Oblast town where Russian forces massacred hundreds of civilians during the occupation in early 2022.
"Since this is also a priority sector, the Russians are trying to use every chance to bypass Ukrainian troops," said Victor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia group of forces.
Earlier this month, Trump said his first trip during his second term would be to Saudi Arabia, as it had agreed to invest $1 trillion in the U.S. economy.
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