LIVE: Russia has withdrawn two-third of forces near Kyiv, says US official

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the forces would likely be redirected towards eastern Ukraine, but it was still not confirmed

Live news updates: Sri Lanka’s central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said he is resigning from the post less than seven months into the role amid the worst economic and political crises in decades. Cabraal announced his resignation in a Twitter post on Monday.

Cabraal, a veteran policy maker who was named governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in September amid a deepening foreign exchange crisis, favored reducing reliance on foreign debt, especially from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund. His resignation comes amid a political turmoil following depleted foreign exchange reserves and rising inflation, Bloomberg reported.

Ukraine's troops found brutalised bodies with bound hands, gunshot wounds to the head and signs of torture after Russian soldiers withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv, authorities said Sunday, sparking new calls for a war crimes investigation and sanctions against Russia.

Associated Press journalists in Bucha, a small city northwest of the capital, saw the bodies of at least nine people in civilian clothes who appeared to have been killed at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. The AP also saw two bodies wrapped in plastic, bound with tape and thrown into a ditch.

11:48 PM

Putin's Western accusers should examine own consciences: Lavrov

Western leaders should examine their own consciences before accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

 

He said Moscow would hold a news conference later in the day to demonstrate that Western accusations that its soldiers killed civilians in Northern Ukraine were false.

 

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday accused Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to the global outcry over civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha as more graphic images of their deaths emerged.
 

The Kremlin categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha, where it said the graves and corpses had been staged by Ukraine to tarnish Russia.

11:25 PM

Russia backs self-proclaimed pro-Kremlin mayor in Ukraine's Mariupol, says city council

Russia has backed a self-proclaimed mayor of Ukraine's southeastern port city of Mariupol who is collaborating with Russian forces, the city council said on Monday in an online post.

 

Mariupol has been encircled by Russian forces, who have taken control of some of the city, but as of Monday Russia had not succeeded in taking full control, according to the Ukrainian defence ministry.

11:19 PM

Biden's comment on Putin shows some have issue with conscience: Russia's Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that comments made by U.S. President Joe Biden about Vladimir Putin show some in the West have issues with their conscience.

 

Biden on Monday accused Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to the global outcry over civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha as more graphic images of their deaths emerged.

 

Lavrov also said Russia will hold a news conference later on Monday in New York to address allegations about its role in the situation in Bucha.

 

11:18 PM

Ukraine has opened new logistics routes for exports, says prime minister

Ukraine has established new logistics routes for exports, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday.
 

Ukraine, one of the world's largest grain exporters, used to ship most of its commodities out via the Black Sea, but with war raging along much of the coast, traders are being forced to transport more grain by rail.

 

"(We have) formed new logistics routes for the maximum possible renewal of Ukraine's exports. We are searching for new possibilities and creating new infrastructure on our borders," he said in a video address.

11:18 PM

Russian central bank to suspend daily fine-tuning auctions from April 6

The Russian central bank said on Monday it will hold a one-week repo, or repurchase agreement, auction on Tuesday before returning to standard monetary policy instruments from Wednesday.

 

The central bank said it will not hold "fine-tuning" repo and deposit auctions on a daily basis from April 6 as the situation with liquidity is gradually stabilising.

11:06 PM

Russia prepares bill seeking jail terms for adhering to sanctions

Russian lawmakers submitted a draft bill to the lower house of parliament, or the Duma, that envisages a prison term of up to 10 years and fines for adhering to Western sanctions in Russia, Interfax state news agency reported on Monday.

 

The bill, if passed, would mark further tightening of Russian laws after Moscow launched what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, prompting an unprecedented wave of Western economic sanctions in response.

 

The new bill, which needs to be approved by the parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law, aims to prevent a deterioration of Russia's economic situation, Interfax quoted lawmaker, Pavel Krasheninnikov, as saying.

10:26 PM

'If a person is caught drinking alcohol for the first time, he/she will be fined Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000'

10:22 PM

I got Putin wrong, says chastened German President

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, long an advocate of Western rapprochement with Russia, expressed regret for his earlier stance, saying his years of support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline had been a clear mistake.

 

Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who served as Foreign Minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel before being elevated to the presidency, said Russia's invasion of Ukraine meant he and others had to reckon honestly with what they had got wrong.

 

"My adherence to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake," he said. "We were sticking to a bridge in which Russia no longer believed and which other partners had warned us against." Steinmeier was a prominent member of a wing of his Social Democratic Party, led by former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, that argued close economic ties to Russia were a way of anchoring it within a western-oriented global system.

10:19 PM

Ukraine foreign minister says Bucha killings are just the 'tip of the iceberg'

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday the evidence of civilian killings from the town of Bucha are just the "tip of the iceberg" and show the need for tougher sanctions on Moscow.

 

Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating possible war crimes by Russia after images from Bucha showed the bodies of civilians lying on the ground and makeshift graves.

 

"The horrors that we've seen in Bucha are just the tip of the iceberg of all the crimes (that) have been committed by the Russian Army," Kuleba said at a press conference alongside British foreign minister Liz Truss.

 

"Half measures are not enough any more. I demand most severe sanctions this week, this is the plea of the victims of the rapes and killings. If you have doubts about sanctions go to Bucha first."

10:08 PM

Ukraine president asks Romania for more help to counter Russia threat

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday asked Romanian lawmakers to step up sanctions pressure on Russia, which he warned posed a threat to all of eastern Europe and the Black Sea region.

 

Addressing the parliament in Bucharest by video link, Zelenskiy said Ukraine needed further support from foreign allies, including weapons, to counter Russian forces.

 

"Ukraine is not the last target of Russian aggression. The fate of eastern Europe and the Black Sea region is being decided in Ukraine right now."

9:51 PM

Oil jumps 4% as deaths near Kyiv prompt talk of new sanctions

Oil jumped about 4% to over $108 a barrel on Monday, as mounting civilian deaths in Ukraine increased pressure on European countries to impose sanctions on Russia's energy sector, prompting new concerns from market participants around tighter supply.

 

Global benchmark Brent crude was up $3.85, or 3.7%, to $108.24 a barrel by 11:21 a.m. EDT (1521 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $4.11, or 4.1%, to $103.38 a barrel. Both contracts were down more than $1 earlier in the session.

 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters would "feel the consequences" of events in Bucha, outside the capital Kyiv, where a mass grave and tied bodies shot at close range were found.

 

9:50 PM

Russia has withdrawn 2/3 of forces near Kyiv: US official

Russia has repositioned about two thirds of its forces from around Kyiv, with many consolidating in Belarus where they are expected to be refit, resupplied and redeployed elsewhere in Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.

 

Over the weekend, Ukraine said its forces had seized back all areas around Kyiv, claiming complete control of the capital region for the first time since Russia launched the invasion.

 

The U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters the United States estimated that prior to the pullback, there had been just under 20 battalion tactical groups focused on Kyiv. That was less than a sixth of the battalion tactical groups that the Kremlin deployed for the invasion.

9:33 PM

Germany declares 'significant number' of Russian diplomats as undesirable

Germany decided on Monday to declare undesirable a "significant number" of officials at the Russian embassy, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, adding that Berlin would also boost its support to Ukraine's armed forces.

 

"The images from Bucha testify to an unbelievable brutality on the part of the Russian leadership and those who follow its propaganda," Baerbock said in a statement, referring to civilian killings in north Ukraine.

 

"The Federal Government has therefore decided today to declare undesirable a significant number of members of the Russian Embassy who have worked here in Germany every day against our freedom, against the cohesion of our society." Germany's Foreign Ministry lists 104 accredited Russian diplomats in Germany.

9:07 PM

Pentagon can't independently confirm atrocities in Ukraine's Bucha, official says

The U.S. military is not in a position to independently confirm Ukrainian accounts of atrocities by Russian forces against civilians in the town of Bucha, but has no reason to dispute the accounts either, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.

 

"We're seeing the same imagery that you are. We have no reason whatsoever to refute the Ukrainian claims about these atrocities -- clearly, deeply, deeply troubling," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

"The Pentagon can't independently and single handedly confirm that, but we're also not in any position to refute those claims."

 

The Kremlin has denied accusations related to the murder of civilians in the town.

9:03 PM

Red Cross says its team travelling to Mariupol was stopped, now being held

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was stopped during an attempt to reach Mariupol, Ukraine to evacuate civilians and is now being held in the nearby town Manhush, a spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

 

"A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is being held in the town of Manhush, 20 kilometers west of Mariupol," ICRC spokesperson Jason Straziuso told Reuters.

 

He said the team was being held by police, without giving further details. "It's not a hostage situation," he added.