KRAMATORSK: Ukraine is preparing for “important battles” against Moscow’s forces in the east of the country, officials in Kyiv said, as Pope Francis on Sunday called for an Easter truce to end the war.

Evacuations continued from Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, where a missile strike on Friday killed 52 people at a railway station, while an airport in the central city of Dnipro was completely destroyed in fresh shelling on Sunday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky again condemned atrocities against civilians, and after speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they agreed “that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished”.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said the country was examining the alleged culpability of 500 leading Russian officials for thousands of war crimes, including President Vladimir Putin.

Pope Francis calls for an Easter truce to end war

Pope Francis meanwhile called for an Easter ceasefire in Ukraine to pave the way for peace through “real negotiation”. “Let the Easter truce begin. But not to provide more weapons and pick up the combat again — no! — a truce that will lead to peace, through real negotiation,” he told a public mass at Saint Peter’s Square.

The pontiff denounced a war where “defenceless civilians” suffered “heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty”.

But Russia’s Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a key Putin ally, issued his own appeal against Russia’s “enemies”. “In this difficult period for our fatherland, may the Lord help each of us to unite, including around power,” he said.

“This is how true solidarity will emerge in our people, as well as an ability to push back external and internal enemies, and to build a life with more good, truth and love.”

The appeals came after Zelensky said Kyiv was readying for a Russian onslaught.

“Sadly, in parallel we see the preparations for important battles, some people say decisive ones, in the east,” he said on Saturday at a press conference with visiting Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

“We are ready to fight and to look in parallel to end this war through diplomacy.”

The UN on Sunday said 4,232 civilian casualties had been recorded in Ukraine to date, with 1,793 killed and 2,439 injured.

Ukraine said Kremlin propaganda had laid the groundwork for the bloody campaign, accusing Russian media of long sowing hatred towards Ukrainians.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba cited civilian killings in the town of Bucha outside of Kyiv after bodies were discovered as the Russian army retreated from the area.

“Bucha did not happen in one day,” he said on Twitter on Sunday. “For many years, Russian political elites and propaganda have been inciting hatred, dehumanising Ukrainians, nurturing Russian superiority and laying ground for these atrocities.”

The comments came on the heels of a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the latest Western leader to visit the capital in a show of support.

Hailing the country’s response to the Russian invasion, Johnson offered Ukraine armoured vehicles and anti-ship missiles, crucial to halting the Russian naval siege of Black Sea ports, to help ensure that the country will “never be invaded again”.

At least two bodies were found inside a manhole at a petrol station on a motorway outside Kyiv on Sunday, an AFP reporter saw. The bodies appeared to be wearing a mix of civilian and military clothing.

A distraught woman appeared at the manhole and peered inside, before breaking down and clawing the earth. She wailed “my son, my son”.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2022