More Than 5,000 Civilians Killed in Mariupol, Mayor Says

The mayor of the besieged port city of Mariupol put the number of civilians killed there at more than 5,000 on Wednesday, as Ukraine collected evidence of Russian atrocities on the ruined outskirts of Kyiv.

Ukrainian authorities continued gathering up the dead in shattered towns outside the capital despite telltale signs that Moscow's troops killed civilians indiscriminately.

The U.S. and its Western allies moved to impose new sanctions on the Kremlin over their alleged war crimes.

A U.S. defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said that the pullout of all of Russia's troops from the north was completed and that they were sent to either Belarus or Russia to regroup and fight in the east.

In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the Russian military continues to build up its forces in preparation for the new offensive in the east. He said that Ukraine was also preparing for battle.

Leon Klein said that they will fight and they will not retreat. This is our land. This is our future. We won't give up.

There is still time for people in the Donbas to leave.

"Later, people will come under fire, and we won't be able to help them," said Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister.

A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence estimates, said it will take Russia's battle-damaged forces as much as a month to regroup for a major push in eastern Ukraine.

The mayor of Mariupol said that more than 5,000 people were killed in the Russian bombardment and street fighting. He said Russian forces bombed hospitals, including one where 50 people died.

The infrastructure of the city has been destroyed. The southern city on the Sea of Azov has been attacked, cutting off food, water, fuel and medicine.

The city had a prewar population of 430,000. The Red Cross has been trying for days to get the convoy into the city.

Russia would be able to secure a continuous land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula if Mariupol is captured.

In the north, Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in towns around Kyiv, victims of what Zelenskyy has portrayed as a Russian campaign of murder, rape, dismemberment and torture. Some victims were shot at close range. Some of them had their hands bound.

Workers at a cemetery in the town of Bucha began to load bodies into a shipping truck for transportation to a facility for further investigation after they were collected over the past few days.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of interfering with an international investigation into war crimes by removing corpses and hiding evidence.

The Russian troops are trying to remove the dead people from the streets and cellars of the territory they occupied, he said.

Zelenskyy urged ordinary Russians to confront the Russian repressive machine instead of being like the Nazis for the rest of their life.

If you have a little shame about what the Russian military is doing in Ukraine, he called on Russians to demand an end to the war.

There were still bodies to be collected. Two people were in a house in a quiet neighborhood. There was a time when the town of mines and other unexploded ordnance was being cleared.

The police found at least 20 bodies in the area. The Russians arrived in the village in early March and took phones from the locals. Some people were released. Others had unknown fates. For storing vegetables for winter, cellars are normally used.

Russian armored personnel carriers, a tank and other vehicles were destroyed on both ends of the road after the soldiers were gone. Several buildings were reduced to rubble. People were without heat, electricity or cooking gas.

"First we were scared, now we are hysterical," said Klymenko. She and her husband and two neighbors slept on stacks of potatoes covered with a mattress and blankets. We are crying.

Rescue workers combed through the rubble of apartment blocks looking for bodies. There were mine-disposal units nearby.

The images out of Bucha were staged by the Ukrainians, according to the Kremlin.

Increased numbers of President Putin's troops, along with mercenaries, have been reported moving into the Donbas.

At least five people were killed by Russian shelling in the Donbas, according to the governor.

At least 10 multi-story buildings and a mall were set ablaze in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor. There was no word on deaths or injuries.

Russian forces attacked a fuel depot and a factory in the Dnipropetrovsk region, just west of the Donbas.

In the last three years, Ukrainian forces have been fighting in the Donbas. The Luhansk and Donetsk regions were recognized as independent states by Moscow.

The U.S. announced sanctions against Putin's two adult daughters and said it was toughening penalties against Russian banks. Britain pledged to end its dependence on Russian coal and oil by the end of the year.

An embargo on coal is expected from the European Union.

The United States and the United Kingdom boycotted an informal meeting of the Security Council called by Russia to press its baseless claims that the U.S. has biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine.

Russia has been accused of using the U.N. as a platform to divert attention from the war by Western countries.

Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, who presided over the meeting 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266

The allegations have been discredited before. The network of biological labs that Ukraine operates are not a secret because they have received funding from the U.S. The goal of the program is to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or man-made.

The U.S. worked to dismantle the former Soviet Union's weapons of mass destruction program in the 1990s.

There is a

Oleksandr Stashevskyi and Cara Anna are in Bucha, Ukraine. Edith M. Lederer is at the United Nations.

We can be reached at letters@time.com.