EU leaders killing unarmed civilians in Bucha and Kyiv | Ukraine

European leaders have condemned the killings of unarmed civilians in Bucha and the surrounding areas of Kyiv, while vowing to impose further sanctions against Russia.

The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, said he was shocked by “haunting images of atrocities committed by [the] Russian army in liberated region of Kyiv”, adding that “further EU sanctions and support are on their way”.

Germany’s vice-chancellor, Robert Habeck, condemned the killings of civilians in the town of Bucha as a “terrible war crime [that] cannot go unanswered” and called for a strengthening of sanctions. The country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said the images from Bucha were “unbearable”.

“Putin’s frantic violence is wiping out innocent families and knows no bounds,” she wrote on Twitter, adding that those responsible for war crimes must be held to account.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing”. An independent investigation was urgently needed, she said, and “perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable.”

Michel said the EU was helping Ukraine and non-governmental organizations gather evidence for international courts.

The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, who spoke to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Saturday, said the UK “will continue to step up military, economic and diplomatic support, including further ramping up sanctions to increase the economic pressure on Putin’s war machine , while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian territory”.

As Russian forces retreated from the towns and suburbs of Kyiv, reporters found horrifying evidence of atrocities against civilians, including families with children killed trying to escape.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, urged the international criminal court and international organizations to come to the region to collect evidence of Russian war crimes.

Speaking on Times Radio on Sunday, he said Bucha was a “deliberate massacre.” Describing Russia as “worse than Isis”, he said Russian forces were guilty of murder, torture, rape and looting. He also urged G7 countries to impose “devastating” sanctions immediately.

At a Brussels summit last week, the EU’s 27 leaders agreed to “move quickly with further coordinated robust sanctions” against Russia and its ally Belarus, but they have been divided about next steps.

Germany, whose industrial economy is heavily dependent on Russian gas, has resisted calls for an immediate ban on Russian fossil fuels, angering Poland and the Baltic states, who would like the most stringent measures against the Kremlin’s war machine.

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who is facing a stiff challenge from a united opposition in parliamentary elections on Sunday, has also faced criticism from Ukraine for his past support for Russia.

Over the weekend, Zelenskiy renewed his attack on Orbán, saying he had failed to show moral leadership and lacked honesty. “He is virtually the only one in Europe to openly support Mr Putin,” Zelenskiy said.

On Saturday, Latvian authorities announced that all three Baltic states had stopped importing Russian gas since 1 April. Lithuania’s president, Gitanes Nausėda, said his country was no longer importing Russian gas. ”If we can do it, the rest of Europe can too,” he wrote on Twitter.

Nausėda said the “photo and video evidence from Irpin [and] Bucha unveils the brutal reality of horrific war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine”.

Russia’s actions in Bucha were consistent with more than a century of military practice, said Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. “Anyone saying that Bucha is the result of brutalization or rogue behavior is wrong. This was the plan. It was premeditated,” he wrote on Twitter. “And if the Russian military had been more successful there would have been many more towns like it.”

“Now that the Ukrainians have pushed the Russians out of Kyiv, the Russians are in this kind of dangerous inflection point, where the Russians have a more credible concept of operation,” he told the Guardian, referring to Russia’s decision to focus on southern Ukraine and the Donbas.

“The Russians could regroup and rebuild momentum and start taking ground again, but they are currently on the back foot and they are somewhat disorganized and morale is very low. If Ukrainians can capitalize on that they can potentially roll back the Russians.”

He added that the next couple of weeks “are a critical turning point in terms of whether the Ukrainians can keep the momentum”.

Western countries needed to prioritize military equipment, such as anti-tank weapons, air defense missiles and a portable air defense system that would allow Ukraine “to start attriting the Russian air defense systems command posts, electronic warfare assistance, high-value targets”.

“Not all western countries have those systems and those that don’t should help resource those that do.”

The evidence of atrocities emerged against a backdrop of false peace talks. Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said talks on an agreement were not advanced enough to allow a meeting between Zelenskiy and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, contradicting a more optimistic statement from his Ukrainian opposite number, David Arakhamia. Ukraine has offered to relinquish its goal to join Nato, a key Russian demand, but the two sides have not agreed on the status of Russia-annexed Crimea and two self-declared republics in the Donbas.