Damage in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, from Russian attacks. Officials fear they may find mass killing of civilians, similar to Russian atrocities in nearby Bucha (AP)

EA on Australia’s ABC: NATO and International Support for Ukraine

Assad Regime Distances Itself From Syrian Fighters for Putin’s Ukraine War

EA on India’s NDTV and Turkey’s TRT World: War Crimes, Justice, and Zelenskiy’s Speech to the UN

Wednesday’s Coverage: New Sanctions as Zelenskiy Tells UN, “Russian Leaders Must Be Brought to Justice”

UPDATE 1700 GMT:

A Russian airstrike near a railway station in the northern Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine has blocked three evacuation trains from departing.

Thousands of people were leaving from Barvinkove station, the only evacuation route controlled by Ukraine from areas such as Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, and Lyman.

UPDATE 1640 GMT:

At least 52 Belarusians, including 30 railway workers, have been arrested on charges of treason, terrorism, and espionage for disrupting movement of Russian troops and military hardware, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.

The Lukashenko regime is trying to blunt “The Rail War” by declaring the Telegram channel of the “Association of Railway Workers of Belarus” an extremist organization.

UPDATE 1600 GMT:

The UN General Assembly suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council by a 93-24 vote, with 58 abstentions.

Last month, the General Assembly voted 141-5 with 35 abstentions to condemn the Russian invasion.

In today’s vote, Belarus, North Korea, Iran, and Syria again supported Russia, and were joined by countries such as China, Tajikistan, Kazazhstan, and Ethiopia.

However, other Asian and African countries voted for the suspension. India, Pakistan, and South Africa were among those who abstained.

UPDATE 1150 GMT:

Japan has requested an International Criminal Court investigation of the mass killing of civilians in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, “The killing of these innocent civilians is a war crime, and our country has requested the International Criminal Court investigate this. I believe that Russia must be held strictly accountable.”

UPDATE 1138 GMT:

Residents of Obukhovychi in northern Ukraine say they were used as human shields by Russian troops trying to protect themselves from a Ukrainian counter-attack.

On the night of March 14, the Russian were losing soldiers and armoured vehicles in the village, just south of the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear site. So troops rounded up 150 people at gunpoint in door-to-door raids, taking them to a freezing school gym.

Lydmila Sutkova said, “They took us from the cellars where we were hiding and forced us out. Old ladies, children, everyone. It was terrifying. They broke open the doors of anyone who wouldn’t open up.”

Another villager, Maryana, said of her child, “A two-year-old girl should not see this. I was afraid that we would all be shot in that gym. I was scared for my daughter.”

UPDATE 1100 GMT:

In his latest address to a national parliament, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken to Greek legislators about the plight of besieged Mariupol, the southern Ukraine city where more than 100,000 ethnic Greeks lived before the Russian invasion.

What has happened has not happened in European history for more than half a century…. Russian soldiers are destroying everything, they have bombed hospitals, maternity wards, even the town’s municipal theatre. We have all seen these things, we have all seen what Russian pilots have done. Mariupol has been destroyed. This peaceful town has experienced the violence of Russian troops.

Zelenskiy said he feared that because of the Russian attacks, Ukraine will lose a large part of its identity “that Greek culture had brought”.

As always, he connected Ukraine in 2022 to the historical memory of his audience. Speaking of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821, he said: “Your own revolutionaries said ‘freedom or death’ and that today is what we are saying. Beside Mariupol, Odesa, another big center of Hellenism, is also threatened.”

UPDATE 0955 GMT:

Evidence is accumulating of the mass killing of civilians by Russian forces in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

Aerial footage, verified by The New York Times, shows a Russian armored vehicle firing high-caliber rounds and killing a cyclist.

Der Spiegel reports on German intelligence intercepts of Russian military radio traffic discussing the mass killings.

The German intelligence service BND briefed legislators on Wednesday about the intercepts. In one conversation, a soldier tells another that his unit just shot a person on a bicycle. In another intercepted conversation, a man says, “First you interrogate soldiers, then you shoot them.”

Another claim of an intercepted call about a Russian atrocity, from besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

UPDATE 0835 GMT:

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed missile strikes have destroyed fuel storage facilities in Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Chuchiv.

There is no verification of the claim but UK military intelligence notes, “Russian strikes against infrastructure targets within the Ukrainian interior are likely intended to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian military to resupply and increase pressure on the Ukrainian Government.”

The British report adds, “Despite refocussing forces and logistics capabilities to support operations in the Donbas, Russian forces are likely to continue facing morale issues and shortages of supplies and personnel.”

UPDATE 0825 GMT

In contrast with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s criticism of inadequate sanctions on Russia, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has welcomed American legislation expanding military aid to Kyiv.

At the NATO meeting in Brussels, Kuleba asked for “weapons, weapons, and weapons”.

UPDATE 0804 GMT:

Austria is the latest European country to expel Russian staff, announcing the removal of three Russians from the Embassy in Vienna and one from the Consulate in Salzburg for actions “incompatible with their diplomatic status”.

UPDATE 0800 GMT:

Australia has announced sanctions on another 67 Russians over the Ukraine invasions.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the measures are on “those close to Putin who facilitate and support his outrageous actions”.

Payne is attending the NATO meeting in Brussels as a guest.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The US and Europe announce new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and war crimes, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls for even tougher action.

The Biden Administration, followed by the UK, set out restrictions on leading Russian financial institutions and on Russian leaders and their relatives.

Full blocking sanctions were imposed on Sberbank, which holds 1/3 of Russia’s total banking assets, and Alfabank. Energy transactions are covered by the new restrictions.

Among the high-profile actors sanctions Vladimir Putin’s adult daughters, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s wife and daughter, and members of Russia’s Security Council.

Americans are also banned from investing in Russia.

The UK Government also made a commitment to end all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022, with gas to follow as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU’s proposed 5th set of sanctions against Russia. The measures include an import ban on coal, worth €4 billion per year; a full transaction ban on 4 major Russian banks, including the second-largest bank VTB; restrictions Russian and Russian-operated vessels and Russian and Belarusian road transport operators; and further export and import bans.

Zelenskiy: Insufficient Sanctions are “Permission for Russian Attack”

Zelenskiy said in his late-night video address to the nation:

This package has a spectacular look. But this is not enough.

If there is no really painful package of sanctions against Russia and if there is no supply of weapon… it will be considered by Russia as a permission. A permission to attack.

He reiterated the appeal for an embargo on Russian oil and gas exports and a full cut-off of Moscow from the SWIFT global transactions system.

The US has announced a halt to purchases of Russian oil, gas, and coal.

Some European Union have held out against a commitment because of the concern of economic shocks amid energy shortages. Germany shifted its position last weekend, with Defense Minister Christine Liebknecht calling for an EU ban on Russian gas; however, Hungary’s President Viktor Orbán said on Wednesday that he will defy any halt to imports.

Russian State gas producer Gazprom said on Thursday that supplies to Europe are steady. Requests on Wednesday were for 105.4 million cubic meters, slightly down on the previous day.

Gazprom’s figures highlighted the criticism of EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell that the bloc has given €35bn to Russia in energy payments since the February 24 invasion, compared to €1bn in military aid to Ukraine.

Withdrawing from North, Russian Military Focuses on East

Zelenskiy’s criticism came amid the growing concern of Ukrainian officials about a Russian offensive in the east of the country.

Having withdrawn from much of the north, including near the capital Kyiv, the Russian military is redeploying in a possible effort to seize territory around the Russian proxy areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the Donbas.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces now control 60%% of the town of Rubizhne: “Evacuations are taking place under the roar of enemy guns.” In the town of Sievierodonetsk, 10 high-rise buildings were set on fire by Russian shelling.

The governor called on residents to evacuate if they could because of the anticipated Russian attacks.

Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported at least two civilians were killed and five wounded by Russian artillery shelling of an aid distribution point in the town of Vuhledar.

A “Western official” said Ukraine’s military has not been able to reinforce troops in the Donbas because they are securing liberated areas in the north while defending against any surprise renewal of the Russian offensive.

Zelenskiy: Russia Hiding Evidence of 1000s Killed in Mariupol

Following the discovery of Russia’s mass killing of civilians in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, Zelenskiy warned of the Russian military’s attempts to prevent discovery of their war crimes in other towns across Ukraine.

We have information that the Russian military has changed its tactics and is trying to remove people who have been killed from streets and basements….This is just an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more.

The President referred specifically to Mariupol in southern Ukraine, where more than 100,000 residents are still trapped by a six-week siege. He said Russian forces are hiding thousands of slain civilians, blocking humanitarian access to avoid exposure of the mass killings.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said more than 5,000 civilians, including 210 children, have been killed during the Russian invasion. About 90% of the city’s infrastructure has been destroyed, including a hospital where 50 people were burned to death.

Maintaining the siege, the Russians have blocked a Red Cross attempt to enter the port city for almost a city. However, on Tuesday about 1,000 people made it out of Mariupol in a convoy of buses and private cars, going to Zaporizhzhia, 132 miles to the northwest.