The six-week Russian invasion failed to quickly occupy the Ukrainian capital and achieve what Western countries say was President Vladimir Putin’s original goal of ousting the Ukrainian government. Russia’s focus is now on Donbass, a predominantly Russian-speaking region in eastern Ukraine. In Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba urged NATO to provide more weapons to its war-torn country to help prevent further atrocities such as those reported in the northern suburbs of Kiev. Ukrainian authorities are working to identify hundreds of bodies they say were found in Bhutan and other cities after the withdrawal of Russian troops and to substantiate what they say were war crimes. “My agenda is very simple; it’s weapons, weapons and weapons,” Kuleba said as he arrived at NATO headquarters for talks with the military’s foreign ministers on Ukraine’s struggle to defend itself. “The more weapons we have and the faster they reach Ukraine, the more lives will be saved,” he said. Some NATO members worry that it could be Russia’s next target, but the alliance is trying to avoid actions that could pull any of its 30 members directly into the war. However, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Member States to send more weapons to Ukraine than just defensive weapons. “Ukraine is waging a defense war, so this distinction between offensive and defensive weapons does not make sense,” he said. Western countries have supplied portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, but were reluctant to supply aircraft or tanks plus any equipment that Ukrainian troops would have to be trained to use. Asked what else his country was looking for, Kuleba listed airplanes, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and air defense systems. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia had withdrawn all 24,000 or more troops from the Kiev and Chernihiv regions in the north, sending them to Belarus or Russia for supplies, reorganization and possibly preparing to return. to fight in the East. It has been reported that a growing number of Putin’s troops, along with mercenaries, are moving to Donbass, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and controlling two areas. Prior to its February 24 invasion, Moscow recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states. Military analysts said Putin could also seek to expand into government-controlled areas of Donbass. Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kirilenko said at least five civilians had been killed and eight others injured in Russian bombings Wednesday. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged civilians to flee to safer areas before it was too late. “Later, people will come under fire and there is nothing we can do to help them,” Verestsuk said. Another Western official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments, said it could take up to a month for Russian forces destroyed by the fighting to regroup for a major boost. eastern Ukraine. Oleksandr Shputun, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on Thursday that near Donbas, Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, remained under siege. He said Russian forces were also carrying out “brutal measures” in the southern region of Kherson, which they occupy. In his overnight address to the nation late Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was also preparing for battle. “We will fight and we will not retreat,” he said. “We will look for all possible options to defend ourselves until Russia begins to seriously pursue peace. This is our land. This is our future. And we will not give up. “ In areas north of the capital, Ukrainian officials gathered evidence of Russian atrocities amid indications that Moscow troops had killed people indiscriminately before retreating. Ukrainian authorities say the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in cities around Kyiv, victims of what Zelenskyy has described as a Russian campaign of killings, rapes, mutilations and torture. Some victims were apparently shot at close range. Some were found with their hands tied. Western officials have warned that similar atrocities may have taken place in other areas occupied by Russian troops. Zelensky accused Russian forces of trying to cover up war crimes in areas still under their control, “fearing that global anger over what happened in Bucha would be repeated.” “We have information that Russian troops have changed tactics and are trying to remove dead people, dead Ukrainians, from the streets and cellars of the occupied territory,” he said in a video overnight. “This is just an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more.” Going from speaking Ukrainian to Russian, Zelensky urged ordinary Russians to “somehow deal with the Russian repressive machine” instead of “equating themselves with the Nazis for the rest of your life.” He called on the Russians to demand an end to the war, “if you are even a little ashamed of what the Russian army is doing in Ukraine.” In response to the alleged atrocities outside Kyiv, the United States announced sanctions against Putin’s two adult daughters and said it was tightening sanctions on Russian banks. Britain has banned investment in Russia and pledged to end its dependence on Russian coal and oil by the end of the year. The U.S. Senate plans to pass legislation Thursday to end normal trade relations with Russia, paving the way for higher tariffs on some imports and codifying President Joe Biden’s executive action banning Russian oil imports. The European Union is also expected to take additional punitive measures, including a carbon embargo. The Kremlin has insisted that its troops have not committed war crimes and claims that the images of Bucha were directed by Ukrainians. The corpses were still being collected in the city. On Wednesday, the Associated Press saw two in a house in a quiet neighborhood. From time to time, the suffocating explosion of workers clearing the city of mines and other unexploded ordnance broke the silence. Workers at a cemetery began loading more than 60 corpses into a grocery transport truck for transport to a facility for further investigation. Police said they found at least 20 bodies in the Makariv district west of Kiev. In the village of Andriivka, residents said the Russians arrived in early March, taking the phones of locals and holding and then releasing some people. Others experienced unknown fortunes. Some have described housing for weeks in cellars commonly used to store vegetables. “At first we were scared, now we are hysterical,” said Valentyna Klymenko, 64. She said she, her husband and her two neighbors overcame the siege by sleeping on stacks of potatoes covered with a mattress and blankets. “We did not cry at first. We are crying now. “ In the southern port city of Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said that of the more than 5,000 civilians killed during weeks of Russian bombing and street fighting, 210 were children. Russian forces bombed hospitals, including one in which 50 people were burned to death, he said. Boichenko said more than 90% of the city’s infrastructure had been destroyed. Attacks on the strategic city in the Sea of ​​Azov have cut off food, water, fuel and medicine and pulverized homes and businesses. British defense officials say 160,000 people remain trapped in the pre-war city of 430,000. A humanitarian aid convoy accompanied by the Red Cross has been trying to enter the city for days without success. The occupation of Mariupol will allow Russia to secure a continuous land corridor to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow occupied from Ukraine in 2014.

Oleksandr Stashevskyi and Cara Anna in Bucha, Ukraine, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.

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