April 7, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Curfews have been announced in the vicinity of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, due to looting, a senior Ukrainian official said Thursday, adding that the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance remained a problem in areas recently wrested from Russian control.

An official statement from the Kyiv region's military governor announced a stricter curfew in Hostomel, near Bucha, ending at 6 a.m. local time on April 14.

Denysenko suggested that the Ukrainian government faces a staggering task to collect and dispose of mines and unexploded ordnance.

Australia is preparing to deliver more lethal aid to Ukraine following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the nation’s parliament last week, its foreign ministry announced Thursday. 

"Australia has delivered five C-17 loads of military support -- lethal and non-lethal -- to Ukraine. We're in the process of preparing the Bushmasters that President Zelensky requested in his address to our parliament -- his momentous address -- last week. They will be transported as soon as possible," Foreign Minister Marise Payne said. 

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that additional military assistance would be sent to Ukraine following Zelensky's impassioned speech to the nation’s parliament last Thursday. 

The new package includes, "tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies," according to a statement from Morrison's office.  

In February, the Australian government committed to providing lethal and non-lethal military equipment, medical supplies, and financial assistance to support Ukraine, as well as contributing $3 million in US dollars to NATO’s Trust Fund. Since then, shipments of lethal aid -- including missiles, ammunition, and armored vehicles -- have made their way into the country. 

Australia has provided close to $70 million in US dollars in lethal aid to Ukraine since the war began.

Australia unveiled new sanctions on 67 Russian officials on Thursday, bringing the total number of sanctioned "individuals and entities" since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine "close to 600," according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The latest sanctions target prominent Russian businessmen, as well as senior military and government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, and senior Russian politician Alexander Babakov.

Among those in the latest listings is Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, named responsible for attacks on "innocent civilians," including the "bombing of the theater" in Mariupol.

"This latest round of sanctions follows the emergence of evidence of war crimes committed by Russia in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv," the statement said. "Australia condemns these atrocities in the strongest possible terms."

"The horror is almost unspeakable, and we see it every day. But I do think Australians can be proud of the effort that our country is making to support Ukraine," Foreign Minister Marise Payne told local radio station 2GB.

Some background: A chorus of world leaders have called for increased sanctions and war crimes investigations on Russia, following the alleged atrocities in the town of Bucha, northwest of the capital Kyiv.

Shortly after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Bucha, civilian bodies were found strewn across a street and a mass grave was discovered, with the mayor of the town saying that there could be up to 300 victims buried on site.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden declared "major war crimes" were being discovered in Ukraine as the White House announced new sanctions on Russia's largest financial institutions and a number of individuals tied to the Kremlin -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters.

The European Union’s top diplomat has expressed his hope that the bloc’s fifth round of sanctions against Russia will be agreed by Thursday or Friday.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the bloc is still looking at “the list of people and the sectors affected” but will hopefully agree on the final measures by “this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest,” he told reporters on his way into a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the bloc announced proposed plans for a five-pillar package of sanctions, including a ban on Russian coal imports and a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks.

A potential embargo on Russian oil “will be discussed on Monday” at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Borrell said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday the fifth package “will not be our last sanctions.”

Read more about the proposed EU sanctions:

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, where NATO and G7 foreign ministers are meeting this week to discuss sanctions against Russia and ways to support Ukraine.

Providing Ukraine with weapons was the best way to “contain Putin and to defeat Russian army in Ukraine, in the territory of Ukraine so that the war does not spill over further,” Kuleba said.

He called on NATO and G7 Foreign Ministers to “put aside their hesitations, their reluctance to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” concluding that “as weird as it may sound, today weapons serve the purpose of peace.”

Speaking beside Kuleba, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO countries “are providing equipment support to you to uphold your right for self defense, which is enshrined in the UN Charter and it is an urgent need to further support Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg said he was certain that NATO will “address the need for more air defense systems, anti-tank weapons, lighter but also heavier weapons, and many different types of support to Ukraine.”

Ukraine-US meeting: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Kuleba on Thursday, according to the US State Department's public schedule.

The two last met in Warsaw in late March.

Blinken on Wednesday met with his NATO counterparts, plus foreign ministers from countries including Australia and Japan.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this post.

Austria declared four Russian diplomats "personae non gratae" and expelled them for conducting activities not "in accordance with their diplomatic status,” Austria’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday in a statement.

They are required to leave the country by April 12 at the latest, according to the statement.

Three of the diplomats were staffers at Russia’s Embassy in Vienna and the other was a staff member at Russia’s consulate in Salzburg, the ministry said.

Some context: Multiple European nations have expelled Russian diplomats in the past week, including Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Sweden.

The expulsion of Russian diplomats is a “short-sighted step” that will “inevitably lead to retaliatory steps,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Tuesday.

Any Russian countermeasures against Japan in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow by Tokyo would be "unacceptable," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.  

Matsuno's remarks came after Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow was considering countermeasures against Tokyo, which has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.  

Japan's government "is stoking anti-Russian hysteria in Japanese society," Zakharova told reporters at a news conference. She also criticized Japan for "obediently following instructions received from across the ocean" and said Tokyo was undermining Russia-Japan relations.  

Some context: Last month, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it would suspend peace treaty talks to formally end World War II hostilities between Moscow and Tokyo due to the sanctions over Ukraine.

"Under the current conditions Russia does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty," the Russian Foreign Ministry said at the time, citing Japan's "openly unfriendly positions and attempts to damage the interests of our country."

The Kuril Islands, referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan, were captured by Soviet forces following Japan's surrender to Allied Forces in 1945. The resulting disagreement over who has rightful ownership of the islands has soured relations between the two countries, contributing to their continued failure to sign a World War II peace treaty.

As Ukrainians find bodies of slain civilians in areas previously occupied by Russian forces, those on the ground say the shocking images emerging from places such as Bucha may only be the start of what is discovered.  

“I think Bucha is just the beginning as we liberate more of our country,” Sviatoslav Yurash, Ukraine's youngest member of parliament, told CNN’s Jake Tapper early Thursday morning.

Yurash, 26, who spoke from Kyiv, said he was in nearby Borodianka on Wednesday, which was “badly mauled by the Russians.”

Borodianka was a jumping-off point for Russian units as they advanced on Kyiv through suburbs like Bucha and Irpin. They faced staunch resistance from Ukrainian forces and were forced to retreat.

A CNN team in Borodianka was present as volunteers discovered and removed the bodies of civilians killed during Russian attacks.

Supply lines: As Russian forces withdraw from northern Ukraine and focus efforts toward the country's east, Kyiv is becoming a hub to distribute supplies to other places under attack, Yurash said.

CNN's Corey James contributed to this post.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is transforming into a grinding war of attrition that portends months of more human carnage and will transmit shockwaves from Vladimir Putin's onslaught to millions of people across the globe.

Rapid reassessments of the duration, character and costs of the war are being prompted by Russia's strategic shift away from a bogged down attempt to take Kyiv and topple the government to a refocusing of military force in southern and eastern areas.

In the early days of the war six weeks ago, it seemed possible a Russian blitzkrieg could quickly storm the country and seize the capital. But fierce Ukrainian resistance, backed by Western arms, and heavy Russian casualties has led to a change of plan by Moscow.

Yet the redeployment, which allowed a horrific trail of atrocities to be unveiled to the world, doesn't mean a vicious war that Putin cannot afford to lose is anywhere near over. In fact, it ensures that economic, political and international forces unleashed by the conflict will last for months and exact a deeper toll.

And the consequences of Russia's ruthless mission will not be contained in Europe.

Read the full analysis:

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A long war of attrition in Ukraine will have huge global consequences | CNN Politics