Kyiv’s suburbs go quiet as Russian forces move out.

The Russian forces that stormed toward Kyiv in the opening days of the war in imposing tanks columns were in wholesale retreat from the capital on Saturday, pulling back under fire in dozens of outlying towns and villages and leaving behind burned tanks and dead soldiers, according to Ukrainian officials, satellite images, military analysts and reporting from the towns themselves.

Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine have not abated, and the Pentagon has cautioned that Russian formations near Kyiv could be repositioning to refit or resupply for renewed assaults. But by Saturday, suburban towns just outside Kyiv that had for weeks echoed with a cacophony of gunfire and artillery booms had gone quiet. Read more

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Interactive: Here’s how Kyiv has withstood Russia’s attacks.

Kyiv is the ultimate prize for Russia: the heart of Ukraine, and the seat of a government it has sought to replace. For weeks, Russian troops have pressed in on the city from both sides of the Dnipro River.

Russia sent a small force directly into Kyiv early in the invasion, intent on a quick victory. But the Russians were forced to retreat by Ukrainians attacking the Russian trucks that were exposed on a main thoroughfare of the city.

Russia vastly underestimated Ukrainians’ resolve to defend their homeland. And a Russian military trained for open spaces has also struggled with basic realities of urban warfare. Even a finely orchestrated military would be challenged by the block-to-block fighting required to secure Kyiv. The Russian army has failed to even surround it. Read more

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More than 50 cultural sites in Ukraine have been damaged in the war, UNESCO says.

Alongside the scenes of human suffering caused by five weeks of war, another scar has emerged: the leveling of Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

Churches, historic buildings and public squares across the country are being reduced to rubble by Russian rockets, missiles, bombs and gunfire, according to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. It has identified at least 53 Ukrainian historical sites, religious buildings and museums that have suffered damage during Russia’s invasion, and says the damage is probably far more extensive given the continued assault.

“We are holding damage-control meetings every day, and the list of damaged sites keeps growing,” said the agency’s director, Ernesto Ottone Ramírez. “We are very concerned about the situation, from a humanitarian point of view and for the protection of heritage. It is the heritage of humanity that is at risk.”

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Grim signs of a Russian retreat are visible on the outskirts of a village west of Kyiv.
Signs of a grim and chaotic Russian retreat lined the forest road near a village west of the capital on Saturday.

On the outskirts of the village, Dmytrivka, nine tanks and armored vehicles lay destroyed and gutted by fire from a tank battle three days earlier. The turrets and heavy guns of two tanks had been blown off. The burned human remains of men were visible inside their armored personnel carrier.

The bloody retreat from this village was part of a broader withdrawal of Russian troops from around the capital, Kyiv, after weeks of humiliating losses. Moscow had announced last week it planned to redirect its forces from the region to focus on operations in the south and east of Ukraine, but the scale of the Russian pullback has surprised Ukrainians.

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Scenes of desperation and death as the Russians retreat from suburbs outside Kyiv.

Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion walked through the remnants of a Russian military convoy in the recently liberated town of Bucha on Saturday, just outside the capital after the Russians withdrew. Nearby residents reached for food being distributed by Ukrainian soldiers. Many had not received food, or had electricity or gas to cook with — for more than month. Older residents stood near a body left on the sidewalk.

In the nearby town of Irpin, members of the Odin Unit, which includes foreign fighters from the United States and United Kingdom, took cover on Tuesday as they moved through the streets and cleared remaining Russian forces.

For the past five weeks, photographers with The New York Times and other news organizations throughout Ukraine have chronicled the invasion.

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Russia denies killing civilians in Bucha, but acknowledges a pullback of forces.

Reports of atrocities committed by retreating Russian forces in the town of Bucha near Kyiv are “fake,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram on Sunday, in what was also a rare acknowledgment that its troops were withdrawing from the area.

The statement, reposted by the ministry on the messaging app from an account that debunks claims made against the Russian war effort in Ukraine, said that the country’s forces had left Bucha on Wednesday.

Without providing any evidence, it claimed that Ukrainian forces had shelled the area following the Russian retreat, which led to losses of civilians. It also referred to a video posted by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Twitter that showed the aftermath of the withdrawal, claiming that one of the corpses in Bucha “is moving its hand.”

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Zelensky speaks to Grammys audience in a prerecorded video.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, addressed the Grammy Awards in a video, giving an emotional plea for support in his country’s war against Russia.

“What is more opposite to music?” Zelensky said. “The silence of ruined cities and killed people.”

The leader’s aides had lobbied for an appearance at the Academy Awards last week, but organizers did not commit to it, drawing some backlash.

In his brief address, Zelensky emphasized that many of the musicians in his country were fighting in the battle against the Russian invasion.

“Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” he said. “They sing to the wounded in hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them.”

“Support us in any way you can,” he added. “Any, but not silence.”

After Zelensky’s address, John Legend performed his song “Free,” featuring a Ukrainian singer, Mika Newton, and a poet, Lyuba Yakimchuk, who fled the country days ago.

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Zelensky says he’s approved the creation of a ‘special mechanism of justice’ to investigate war crimes.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Sunday that he had approved the creation of a “special mechanism of justice” to investigate anyone who committed or participated in Russia’s war against Ukraine, in a video address that called on the world to “make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth.”

Mr. Zelensky’s remarks came as world leaders expressed horror at images that appeared to show civilians lying dead, some with their hands bound behind their backs, in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, after Russia withdrew troops from the area.

The Ukrainian president described Russia’s actions as genocide on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry called the reports of atrocities in Bucha “fake.”

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Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

As the world reacted in horror to images of dead bodies lying in the streets of Kyiv’s suburbs President Zelensky called on Western leaders to take tougher steps to ensure that the killings blamed on retreating Russian forces were the “last manifestation of such evil on earth."

The photos of civilians, who Ukrainian officials said had been executed, prompted some European leaders to demand further sanctions against Russia, potentially including a cutoff of Russian gas. But E.U. nations remained divided over the drastic step, underscoring the bloc’s dependence on Russian energy.

The outrage in Washington and in some European capitals was met with accusations from the Kremlin that the West had fabricated evidence of atrocities. Mr. Zelensky, in a speech released late Sunday that was laced with condemnation and anguish, switched between Ukrainian and Russian, directly urged the Russian people not to look away from the atrocities their army was accused of. Read more

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A Red Cross convoy for Mariupol is still stalled, on the fourth day of trying to reach the city.

A desperately needed evacuation convoy and humanitarian aid has again been unable to reach the besieged southern city of Mariupol on Monday, the fourth day of trying, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The possibility of evacuations from Mariupol had loomed large earlier in the day after a planned I.C.R.C. convoy faltered over the weekend. Ukrainian government officials had initially issued hopeful messages that a convoy was on its way to the city.

But the team from the I.C.R.C. was stopped by the local police not far from Mariupol in the town of Mangush, where it had been carrying out humanitarian work, according to Jason Straziuso, a spokesman for the organization. He said the I.C.R.C. was in contact with all sides of the conflict. Read more

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Satellite images show bodies lay in Bucha for weeks, despite Russian claims.

An analysis of satellite images by The Times refutes claims by Russia that the killing of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, occurred after its soldiers had left the town.

When images emerged over the weekend of the dead civilians lying on the streets of Bucha — some with their hands bound, some with gunshot wounds to the head — Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied responsibility. In a Telegram post on Sunday, the ministry suggested that the bodies had been recently placed on the streets after “all Russian units withdrew completely from Bucha” around March 30.

Russia claimed that the images were “another hoax” and called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on what it called “provocations of Ukrainian radicals” in Bucha.

But a review of videos and satellite imagery by The Times shows that many of the civilians were killed more than three weeks ago, when Russia’s military was in control of the town. Read more

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Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

The U.N. Security Council will meet on Tuesday as the U.S. and Europe threaten to further isolate President Vladimir Putin and demand that he be held accountable for possible war crimes by Russian forces outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

France, the U.S. and Britain are likely to present evidence that atrocities were committed in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, where more than 300 bodies have been found since Russian forces retreated last week. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine traveled there on Monday and called out Europe’s leaders for not doing enough to stop Russia. He said he expected the civilian death toll to rise as officials cleared more homes.

“The cities are simply ruined,” Mr. Zelensky said after his trip to Bucha, Stoyanka and Irpin.

It will be difficult for the council to agree on any concrete measures because of the veto power held by Russia and China. Moscow has denied that its soldiers committed war crimes, and China, a Russian ally, has repeatedly avoided criticizing Russia since the war started.

With the world’s attention on the devastation in Bucha, Russia has focused on attacking Ukraine’s east, where it has already controlled one region since 2014. Mr. Zelensky, in his nightly remarks, said that his country was preparing for “even more brutal activity.”

“We know what they are going to do in Donbas. We know what they are going to do near Kharkiv,” he said. “There will be more.”

Here are some other major developments:
- Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said that while Russia was refocusing offensive operations on eastern and southern Ukraine, Moscow is likely to continue to strike the rest of the country “to cause terror.”
- Residents of Nova Basan, a town east of Kyiv, emerged from their cottages and farmhouses on Monday and described living through the terrifying ordeal of the Russian occupation — detentions, threats and a strict curfew that confined them to their homes with no outside communication for more than a month.

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The E.U. moves to ban Russian coal in new sanctions.

Spurred by emerging atrocities in the aftermath of Russian forces’ retreat from occupied areas around Ukraine’s capital, the European Commission proposed a new set of sanctions against Russia, banning coal imports, targeting a raft of other industries and adding that it was working on soon banning Russian oil.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that the sanctions would also include banning Russian vessels from E.U. ports, as well as Russian and Belarusian road transport operators, effectively preventing their trucks from moving goods into the European Union.

“Russia is waging a cruel and ruthless war not only against Ukraine’s brave troops, but also against its civilian population,” Ms. von der Leyen said in a televised statement in which she singled out President Vladimir Putin of Russia. “It is important to sustain at most pressure on Putin and the Russian government at this crucial point.” Read more

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Russian airstrikes in town near Kyiv leave dozens missing and feared dead.

As many as 200 people are missing and presumed dead under the rubble of this small town that has been devastated by Russian airstrikes, the acting mayor said Tuesday.

Borodyanka is a one-street town, just northwest of Kyiv, the capital. A quiet, modest place, as one resident described it.

But it lies on a key access road leading to the capital, and it was among the first communities to be hit by Russia’s aerial bombardment in Ukraine’s six-week-old war, Ukrainian officials said.

The town was visited by New York Times journalists on Tuesday, after Russian forces withdrew. The scars left behind are shocking. Great gashes have been sliced through multistory complexes along the main street. Four apartment buildings collapsed in the airstrikes, the layers of apartments crushed like a concertina to ground level. Read more

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Some Ukrainian Refugees Are Returning Home, Despite the Risks

A growing number of travelers coming through the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and other transit hubs are returning home rather than fleeing.

There are still far more citizens leaving their homes. But according to travelers and officials, the surge in returnees reflects a growing belief that the war could last years, and a willingness to live with a measure of danger rather than live as a refugee in another country, bereft of home and community.

It also highlights the difficulties European countries have had providing for Ukrainians in the continent’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

“The statistics have changed a lot recently,” Yurii Buchko, the deputy military administrator for Lviv, said in an interview. “In the beginning of the war 10 times the number of people left as those who returned.” Now, he said, on some days half of those crossing the border in Lviv Province were returning home rather than leaving.
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Russian soldiers opened fire on a cyclist in Bucha, new video shows.

New video has emerged that adds to mounting evidence of atrocities carried out while Russia’s military occupied the suburban town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

The video shows a cyclist moving along a street in Bucha, dismounting and walking a bicycle around the corner onto a street occupied by Russian soldiers. As soon as the cyclist rounds the turn, a Russian armored vehicle fires several high-caliber rounds along the thoroughfare. A second armored vehicle fires two rounds in the direction of the cyclist. A plume of dust and smoke rises from the scene.

The video is aerial footage recorded by Ukraine’s military in late February, when Russian forces still held the town. It has been independently verified by The New York Times. Read more

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Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine pushed world leaders to impose more “powerful sanctions” on Russian banks and energy companies as he criticized their response to the invasion of his country.

Hours earlier, he showed the U.N. Security Council a graphic video of what he called war crimes committed by Russian forces against civilians in the city of Bucha.

While Russia has denied committing war crimes, European leaders are scheduled to vote on Wednesday on measures that could cut off imports of Russian coal.

And in the U.S., the Biden administration is expected to impose broader sanctions on two of Russia’s biggest banks in response to the killings in Bucha.

Mr. Zelensky’s call for stronger sanctions comes as Russian force refocus their efforts in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky said that his government would continue to “do everything to ensure” that Ukrainian troops can resist Russian forces.

Here are some other major developments:

- A desperately needed aid convoy that has been trying to reach the city of Mariupol since Friday has stalled, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday.

- The U.S. has started blocking Russia from making debt payments using dollars held in American banks.

- For the first time since the war, journalists from The New York Times were able to reach the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, where the mayor estimated 200 dead lay beneath the rubble.

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In the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, residential areas are increasingly under threat.

Residential areas of Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Mykolaiv have been under near constant bombardment for days, according to local officials, the latest escalation in a southern city as Russian forces have increasingly shifted focus to the region and the east of the country.

Last week, a missile blasted a hole in the side of a government building in Mykolaiv, killing dozens. On Sunday, deadly strikes injured a 15-year-old, among several others. On Monday, at least 11 people were killed and 61 wounded in attacks, the regional governor said.

Shelling in the city has continued nearly every day for weeks, but civilian infrastructure and homes have increasingly been targeted, local officials and soldiers say. Russian forces have struck residential buildings, a hospital, an orphanage and schools in recent days, Oleksandr Senkevych, the mayor of Mykolaiv, said. Read more

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In Ukraine’s east, local leaders urge evacuations as they brace for a Russian assault.

Civilians are fleeing the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as Ukrainian officials and Western military analysts warn that Russia’s actions point to an impending escalation of fighting there.

Many people have been leaving since Russian forces started scaling down their offensive in the north to refocus on the east and south, according to Ukrainian officials and photos and videos posted online. That comes as images have emerged of bodies lying in the streets from areas in which Russian forces have pulled back.

Ukrainian officials say Russian troops have been massing in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. Read more

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The Pentagon trains Ukrainian soldiers to use armed drones against Russian forces.

The Pentagon is training Ukrainian soldiers in the U.S. to use armed drones to attack Russian tanks and other armored vehicles.

The U.S. defense secretary disclosed the training for the first time in House testimony on Tuesday and Pentagon officials offered more details on Wednesday.

The Pentagon announced last month that it was sending 100 Switchblade drones to Ukraine as part of a $800 million military aid package to Ukraine.

Military officials call the weapon the “kamikaze drone” because it can be flown directly at a tank or a group of troops and is destroyed when it hits the target and explodes.

When Pentagon officials realized that about a dozen Ukrainian soldiers had arrived in the U.S. on an assignment that was scheduled before the February invasion, they decided to give the troops a quick course. By the time they arrive back home in the coming days, the Switchblades will be waiting for them.

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U.N. members vote to suspend Russia from the body’s Rights Council.

A United Nations General Assembly vote on Thursday approved an American-led effort to suspend Russia from the 47-member Human Rights Council over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

Suspension from the council, which is based in Geneva, is a large diplomatic slap at Russia, one of the United Nations’ founding members. The resolution to suspend Russia needed a two-thirds majority of votes cast, with abstentions not counting as votes, and is seen as a barometer of the world’s abhorrence over the apparent atrocities in Ukraine.

The resolution received 93 votes in favor and 24 against, and 58 countries abstained. China had said before the vote that it would not support the measure, as did nations including Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Iran and South Africa. Their arguments included that the move could worsen the war, and that further investigation of reported atrocities was needed before the United Nations took action. Read more

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