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)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the results of Ukraine’s talks with the U.S. in Jeddah, on March 11, and reaffirmed the EU’s support.
Russian troops launched a series of attacks on March 11 against Donetsk Oblast, killing at least four civilians and injuring five, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported.
Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Poland is ready to activate its Jasionka hub, maintaining full operational capabilities for American support.
"If we can get Russia to do it, that'll be great. If we can't, we just keep going on, and people are going to get killed, lots of people," Trump told reporters at the White House on March 11.
"I have confirmation that security assistance from the U.S. has been resumed. The agreements are being implemented," Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa wrote on March 11.
Speaking at a closed-door meeting in Paris on March 11, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said his country "will reject any form of demilitarisation of Ukraine."
Kyiv is ready to accept Washington's proposal to immediately implement a temporary, 30-day ceasefire which can be extended by mutual agreement, the Presidential Office announced on March 11 after the talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia.
According to a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) at the request of the Kyiv Independent, 51.2% of Ukrainians believe that Western countries fear that Russia will lose the all-out war against Ukraine and hold off military aid to Kyiv as a result.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance did not talk publicly about his cousin Nate's service in Ukraine because he "didn't want to endanger his life more than it already was," the official told Fox News on March 11.
France will not accept "any demilitarization of the Ukrainian army," French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on March 11, The Guardian reported.
According to a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) at the request of the Kyiv Independent, 47.1% of Ukrainians consider it "completely unacceptable" to agree to territorial concessions and give up on NATO membership as a prerequisite to ending the war. Only 8.2% said they would "easily agree" to this scenario.
Moscow is expecting to receive information from Washington on the progress of Ukraine-U.S. negotiations in Saudi Arabia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax on March 11.
The Ukrainian and American delegations discussed a potential ceasefire in the air and at sea, as well as a minerals deal, during the first round of talks in Saudi Arabia, Suspilne reported on March 11, citing an undisclosed source.
Ukrainian forces reportedly struck the Druzhba pipeline in Russia's Oryol Oblast on March 11. Following the attack, Peter Szijjarto said that the oil supply was halted.
"President Trump has brought Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table through historic peace talks in Saudi Arabia in pursuit of peace," the official statement reads.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has deliberately set "maximalist" demands on land, peacekeepers, and Ukraine's neutrality, knowing they will likely be unacceptable to Kyiv and European nations, undisclosed officials told Bloomberg.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the OSCE chief witnessed the damage firsthand, writing on Telegram, "It is impossible to deny the obvious, especially what we have seen with our own eyes."
"As I arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a ceasefire in the three-year war the Russian Federation has waged on my country has never seemed closer," Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak wrote.
A Ukrainian soldier on leave provided first aid to a victim of a stabbing attack in Venice on March 10, saving his life, according to the soldier's testimony and the Italian media.
