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British defense officials said Sunday that more evidence has been uncovered of war crimes by Russian troops and that it includes the reported discovery of a mass grave containing bodies of civilians near Burzova.
NBC news has been unable to confirm the report with the U.S. Department of Defense or Ukrainian officials.
Civilians continued to flee the Russian onslaught in the eastern parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Russia’s reported appointment of Gen. Alexander Dvornikov to take over operations in Ukraine marked what some military analysts see as an indication that Moscow intends to terrorize civilians as the war progresses.
Dvornikov, working to crush resistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war, destroyed whole cities while dropping barrel bombs targeting civilians.
Also Sunday, a British military intelligence briefing reported that Russia’s armed forces were seeking to strengthen troop numbers with personnel discharged from military service since 2012.
And in a late-night address posted Saturday to his Telegram channel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia is targeting the whole of Europe with its aggression and that stopping the invasion of Ukraine is essential for the security of all democracies.
Zelenskyy repeated his call for a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas, saying they were “the two sources of Russian self-confidence” and “their sense of impunity.” He added that the “whole European project is a target for Russia.”
More Americans view Russia as an enemy since the invasion
Former President Donald Trump made clear his policy on Russia: Friendship is better than war. It's a reasonable concept, but more and more Americans don't buy it now that they've seen the devastation in Ukraine.
In fact, without Trump in office, with Russia meddling in a second presidential election and with the daily imagery of Ukraine's manifest demolition, U.S. views have shifted dramatically: Seven in 10 Americans see the country as an enemy, compared with 4 in 10 in January, the Pew Research Center said in an email blast over the weekend about its latest polling data.
But the real mind-blower here is that Republicans and Democrats agree to nearly within the +-2.3 percentage-point margin of error. About 72 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Republicans now describe Russia as an enemy.
Republicans had the biggest change of heart, with the proportion of GOP adults who have very unfavorable views of Russia doubling to 67 percent since 2020, Pew said.
The highest proportion of American adults since Pew began measuring attitudes on Russia in 2008 now believes Russia is a major threat to the nation: 65 percent.
U.K. defense ministry: Evidence of war crimes continues to mount
The British defense ministry said Sunday that evidence of war crimes by Russian troops continued to mount as the invaders' retreat pulled the covers off new scenes of carnage.
The ministry, citing intelligence, said the latest evidence was uncovered in northern Ukraine and that it includes the reported discovery of a mass grave containing the bodies of civilians near Burzova.
NBC News has been unable to confirm the report with the U.S. Defense Department or Ukrainian officials.
The U.K. ministry added that allegations of sex crimes by Russian troops have persisted as the forces appeared to ebb in the north.
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of 'cowardliness' in latest video address
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russian military of lying and cowardliness in his latest official video post Sunday as he proposed and promoted new sanctions against Russia.
“The Russian military are lying so much that even after six weeks of the war they claim that they did not hit a single civilian target. You know why? Because it is cowardliness. Total. Of everyone, from top to bottom,” he said.
“They captured Crimea and blamed us. They destroyed normal life in Donbas, and we are somehow to blame. They shot down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing, and we are somehow to blame. For eight years, they have been killing the people, children on our land. And we are somehow to blame,” Zelenskyy added.
Zelenskyy said that when people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adapt to reality and learn, they become "monsters." "And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that the world must adapt to them. Ukraine will stop all this. Nothing will help Russian cowardice. The day will come when they will have to admit everything, admit the truth.”
New Russian commander dubbed 'war criminal' for brutal tactics
WASHINGTON — Russia’s newly appointed battlefield commander in Ukraine made his reputation crushing resistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad during that country’s devastating civil war.
Russian forces led by Gen. Alexander Dvornikov destroyed whole cities while dropping barrel bombs that targeted civilians. With Moscow supporting Assad, the war in Syria has killed more than 350,000 people.
Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, a Syrian army defector, said Sunday he expects a similar “scorched-earth” strategy under the commander in Ukraine. Speaking by telephone from Turkey, al-Bayoush said he believes the aim of naming Dvornikov as Ukraine war commander is to cause widespread destruction in many places at once.
“He has very good experience in this policy,” al-Bayoush said. “This commander is a war criminal.”
Search for survivors continues in Borodianka after Russian occupation
BORODIANKA, Ukraine — Firefighters continued searching Saturday for survivors or the dead in the debris of destroyed buildings in a northern Ukrainian town that was occupied for weeks by Russian forces.
Residents of Borodianka expect to find dozens of victims under the rubble of the several buildings destroyed during fighting between Russian forces and Ukrainian troops. The town is about 75 kilometers (47 miles) northwest of the capital of Kyiv and had more than 12,000 residents.
Russian troops occupied Borodianka while advancing towards Kyiv in an attempt to encircle it. They retreated during the last days of March following fierce fighting. The town is without electricity, natural gas or other services.
A 77-year-old resident, Maria Vaselenko, said her daughter and son-in-law’s bodies have been under rubble for 36 days because Russian soldiers would not allow residents to search for loved ones or their bodies. She said her two teenage grandchildren escaped to Poland but are now orphans.
“The Russians were shooting. And some people wanted to come and help, but they were shooting them,” she told The Associated Press. “They were putting explosives under dead people.”
Biden will press India to take hard line against Russia’s Ukraine invasion
WILMINGTON, Del. — The White House said President Joe Biden will press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a hard line against Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Press secretary Jen Psaki says the leaders plan a virtual meeting on Monday.
India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”
India abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations of war crimes. India continues to purchase Russian energy despite Western pressure to avoid buying Russian oil and gas. And the U.S. has considered sanctions on India for its recent purchase of advanced Russian air defense systems.
Psaki’s statement says Biden will discuss how Russia’s war against Ukraine is destabilizing the global food supply and commodity markets, and the need to strengthen the global economy while ”upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity.”
Airport hit twice by missile attacks on Sunday
KYIV, Ukraine — The governor of the region that includes Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, Dnipro, says the airport was hit twice by missile attacks on Sunday. The Ukrainian military command said Russian forces also keep shelling Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and have kept up their siege of Mariupol, the key southern port city that has been under attack for nearly six weeks.
The Russian Defense Ministry says it’s air-launched missiles hit Ukraine’s S-300 air defense missile systems in two locations, while sea-launched cruise missiles destroyed a Ukrainian unit’s headquarters in the Dnipro region. Neither side’s military claims could be independently verified.
The Pentagon said Russia has a clear advantage in armored forces for its next phase in its war on Ukraine. Press secretary John Kirby said Friday that the Russians spread themselves too thin to take the capital, but now they’re more focused on a smaller region, and still have the vast majority of their combat power. A major effort by Ukrainian defenses and more Western assistance will be needed to push them back.
Austrian Chancellor to meet with Putin in Moscow on Monday
BERLIN -- Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Nehammer told reporters in Vienna on Sunday that he plans to make the journey. It follows a trip on Saturday to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
APA reported that Nehammer aims to encourage dialogue between Ukraine and Russia and also address Russian “war crimes” in his meeting with Putin.
Austria is a member of the European Union and has backed the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO.
Nehammer said he was taking the trip on his own initiative, and that he had consulted with the European Union’s top officials. He said that he also informed Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.