Officials said a grave containing dozens of Ukrainian civilians had been found in the village of Buzova near Kyiv, the latest such discovery as Russian forces retreated from the attack on the capital and shifted their attack eastward. In a speech to Ukrainians late Saturday, the Ukrainian president said that Russian aggression “was not intended to be limited to Ukraine” and that “the whole European plan is a target for Russia.” “That is why it is not just a moral duty of all democracies, of all the powers of Europe, to support Ukraine’s desire for peace,” he said. “This is, in fact, a defense strategy for any civilized state. “This will be a tough battle, we believe in this fight and our victory. “We are ready to fight at the same time and look for diplomatic ways to put an end to this war.” His remarks came as civilians continued to flee the eastern part of the country ahead of an impending attack and firefighters searched for survivors in a northern city no longer occupied by Russian forces. Zelensky thanked the leaders of Britain and Austria for their visits Saturday in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and pledged further support. Johnson and Zelensky walk in Kyiv – video He also thanked the President of the European Commission and the Prime Minister of Canada for a global fundraising event that brought in more than 10 billion euros for Ukrainians who have fled their homes. Zelensky reiterated his call for a full embargo on Russian oil and gas, calling it a source of “Russian confidence and impunity.” “Freedom has no time to wait,” Zelensky said. “Once the tyranny begins its aggression against anything that keeps peace in Europe, action must be taken immediately.” More than six weeks after the invasion, Russia has withdrawn its troops from the northern part of the country, around Kyiv, and has refocused on the Donbas region in the east. Maxar satellite imagery showed a 13-kilometer escort of military vehicles heading south to the Donbas region via the Ukrainian city of Velykyi Burluk. Western military analysts say an arc of land in eastern Ukraine was under Russian control, from Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second largest city – in the north to Kherson in the south. However, counterattacks threaten Russian control of the Kherson, according to Western estimates, and Ukrainian forces repel Russian attacks elsewhere in Donbas, a predominantly Russian-speaking and industrial area. Civilians evacuated eastern Ukraine after a rocket attack on Friday killed at least 52 people and injured more than 100 at Kramatorsk train station, where thousands shouted for evacuation. With trains not running from Kramatorsk on Saturday, residents boarded buses or looked for other ways to leave, fearing the kind of relentless attacks and squatting by Russian invaders that brought food shortages, building demolition and death in other cities. “It was scary. “Horror, horror,” a resident told Sky News, recalling Friday’s attack on the train station. “Paradise, to live it again. No, I do not want to”. Zelensky described the attack on the train station as the latest example of war crimes by Russian forces. Russia has denied responsibility. “A nightmare”: survivors narrate rocket attack on Kramatorsk train station – video The mayor of Kramatorsk, Oleksander Honcharenko, said he expected only 50,000 to 60,000 of the city’s population of 220,000 to remain as people left. Residents of the besieged Luhansk region will have nine trains on Sunday to leave, wrote the governor of the region, Serhiy Gaidai, in the Telegram messaging service. Ukrainian authorities have been working to identify the victims and document possible war crimes in the north. The mayor of Bucha, a city near Kyiv where graphic evidence of civilian killings has emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces, said search teams were still finding the bodies of people shot close to yards, parks and town squares. Workers discovered 67 bodies Friday from a mass grave near a church, according to Ukraine’s attorney general. Russia falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were staged. Ukrainian authorities say they expect to find more mass killings as soon as they reach the southern port city of Mariupol, which is also in Donbass and has been under siege and heavy fighting for a month. The location of the city in the Sea of Azov is crucial for the construction of a land bridge from the Crimean peninsula, which Russia occupied from Ukraine eight years ago. As journalists who were largely absent from the city began to return, new images emerged from last week’s disaster by an airstrike on a theater that reportedly killed hundreds of civilians seeking refuge. Ukrainian officials have been urging Western powers almost daily to send more weapons and further punish Moscow with sanctions, including the exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a full EU embargo on Russian gas and oil. During his visit on Saturday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he expected more EU sanctions against Russia, but defended his country’s opposition so far to the cessation of Russian gas supplies, while acknowledging that “as long as people die, any sanction is still insufficient “. Austria is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO. The visit of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came a day after the United Kingdom pledged an additional 100 100 million in high-quality weapons. Johnson also confirmed further financial support, pledging an additional $ 500 million in World Bank lending to Ukraine, raising Britain’s total loan guarantee to $ 1 billion. The visits are a sign that Kyiv is returning to some degree of normalcy. Some residents return and cafes and restaurants reopen. Italy has said it plans to reopen its embassy this month. The European Union (EU) on Friday approved new sanctions against Russia, including bans on coal, wood, chemicals and other products. Oil and gas imports from Russia remain untouched. Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, a key pre-war trading partner, with annual imports worth about $ 6 billion. In an interview with the AP, Zelensky noted increased support for the Ukrainian war effort, but when asked if it was sufficient to change the outcome of the war, he replied: “Not yet,” switching to English for emphasis. “Of course it is not enough.” With Reuters and the Associated Press
