The capital city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said civilians were “shot with joined hands” and told German newspaper Bild that “what happened in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv can only be described as genocide.”
Ukrainian fighters reclaimed several areas near the capital after forcing the Russians out or moving in after them, officials said. The visible shift did not mean the country faced a reprieve from more than five weeks of war or that the more than 4 million refugees who have fled Ukraine will return soon.
Ukraine's defense ministry cited two reasons for the Russian exit: military losses and radiation exposure. They likely disturbed polluted soil in the Chernobyl zone's contaminated Red Forest.
Pope Francis has begged forgiveness for the “deplorable” abuses suffered by Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s residential schools. He says he was “ashamed” and “indignant” at all they had endured.
The European Union is seeking China's assurances that it won't assist Russia in circumventing economic sanctions for invading Ukraine and cooperation on ending the war at today's virtual meeting.
Ukrainian authorities at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant say Russian forces have left the damaged plant. The exit happened early Friday after soldiers got “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site.
Guterres said the world is grappling with the most conflict since 1945, and proposed a New Agenda for Peace to bring stability to places such as Yemen, Myanmar, Syria, Sudan and Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials say Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine’s capital and another city just hours after Moscow pledged on Tuesday to scale back military operations in those places.
Mark Vande Hei, a NASA astronaut, is back on Earth after a yearlong, record-setting spaceflight. He caught a Russian ride from the International Space Station on Wednesday with two cosmonauts.
The launch comes six days after North Korea conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017 in an apparent attempt to pressure on the Biden administration amid stalled talks.