April 3, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in his victory speech on Sunday his re-election sends a message not only to the EU, but also to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Oban is known as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The election campaign was dominated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which put Orban's lengthy association with Putin under scrutiny.

While Hungary ultimately supported most EU sanctions unveiled so far, Orban has been adamant that measures are not extended to imports of Russian oil and gas. Most of Hungary’s oil and natural gas imports come from Russia.

Correction: This post misstated Viktor Orban’s title. He is the Prime Minister of Hungary.

A total of 2,694 people were evacuated through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced in a post on Telegram.                                           

Vereshchuk said 469 Mariupol residents have traveled by their own vehicles via humanitarian corridors from Mariupol and Berdiansk to Zaporizhzhia.

In the Luhansk region, 1,467 people were evacuated from the cities of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Kreminna.

Seven buses accompanied by a delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross reached Manhush on Sunday. Vereshchuk said negotiations are underway to continue the convoy’s movement to Mariupol on Monday.

A convoy of buses carrying more than 350 people from Mariupol and Berdiansk passed through checkpoints, she said.

Ten more buses carrying 408 Mariupol residents from Berdiansk are currently passing through Vasylivka, Vereshchuk said.

Ukrainian Parliament Member Anastasia Radina is on a mission to advocate for more aid from US lawmakers as Russia's war in Ukraine continues.

Radina visited members of Congress in Washington, DC, describing and showing them the dire situation on the ground.

"We are receiving a lot of support and we also are glad to hear that, there is an understanding that action is needed and not just words, but we are calling for this action to happen immediately," she told CNN's Dana Bash during her visit this week alongside other Ukrainian parliament members.

Asked if she was frustrated Radina responded, "A bit. But we are also very much determined to fight until the end because that's basically our only choice."

For Radina, the trip to the US was a difficult decision. She left behind her two-year-old son and elderly father. Radina told CNN she uses an an app on her phone to monitor air raid warnings as she visits DC. She said that the app has alerted to a few air raid alarms. "It's probably one of the most terrifying experiences in my life."

Radina said that "As a mother, I feel guilty, but I also have a duty to speak on behalf of all Ukrainian mothers...as privileged as I am to spread the message across the world about what is happening in Ukraine and what kind of support Ukraine needs to stop that."

During her visit in Congress, Radina carried a binder filled with pictures of the dire situation in Ukraine, including a particularly devastating image of a mother in Mariupol mourning her 19-month-old child, who died after a shelling.

Radina became emotional while describing the situation. "He was shelled in Mariupol, if I'm not mistaken. They managed to get him to a hospital but there's nothing the doctors could do," she explained.

"I cannot look at this picture without tears because what I think of when I look at this picture is my son who is staying in Ukraine right now," Radina said.

Watch the full interview here:

Shocking images came to light from Bucha, Ukraine, on Saturday of at least 20 civilian men dead and lining a single street. The images were captured by Agence France-Presse on the same day Ukraine declared the town liberated from Russian troops.

Accounts of alleged Russian atrocities are emerging as its forces retreat from areas near Kyiv following a failed bid to encircle the capital.

European leaders have condemned the alleged atrocities in Bucha, and called for an investigation into the Russian military and new sanctions. The Russian Ministry of Defense denied the allegations on Sunday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday called the deaths of civilians in Bucha a “brutality” after allegations they were executed by Russian forces in the area.

Here are more of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine conflict:

The regional military governor of Kharkiv said Sunday Russian forces had fired on a district of the city of Kharkiv, causing civilian casualties, and he warned of threats of missile strikes in the region. 

Syniehubov warned as well of "threats of missile strikes" south of Kharkiv in the community of Lozova. 

"We recommend evacuating the population. Tomorrow we plan to transport Lozova residents in the direction of the Poltava region by electric train," he said. 

The military governor said the most intense fighting was in the vicinity of Izium. He claimed the Ukrainian Air Force shot down a Russian Su-34 bomber in the Izium area, taking the pilot prisoner. The claim could not be immediately verified.

The bodies of at least 20 civilian men were found strewn across a street in the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the area, according to disturbing images released by AFP on Saturday.

European leaders have condemned the alleged atrocities and called for an investigation into the Russian military. The Russian Ministry of Defense denied the allegations on Sunday.

Here's a look at how leaders from around the continent are reacting:

UK: Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Sunday accused Russian forces of committing "appalling acts" in the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Irpin and demanded that they be investigated as war crimes.

“As Russian troops are forced into retreat, we are seeing increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha," Truss said in a statement on Sunday. 

Truss stressed that Russia should not be allowed to "cover up their involvement in these atrocities through cynical disinformation," adding that the UK will play its part in ensuring this doesn't occur. 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also released a statement on Sunday condemning the events in Ukraine.

“Russia’s despicable attacks against innocent civilians in Irpin and Bucha are yet more evidence that Putin and his army are committing war crimes in Ukraine," the statement said.

“No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth – Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger," the leader added.

"I will do everything in my power to starve Putin’s war machine. We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground," the statement said.

Truss committed the UK's full support to "any investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its role as the primary institution with the mandate to investigate and prosecute war crimes." On March 24, the UK offered the ICC an additional £1 million funding to assist efforts to investigate Russian war crimes.

Last week, the Attorney General for England and Wales Suella Braverman offered the assistance of top UK lawyer Howard Morrison QC to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General.

She said in a statement that he would "provide independent and expert legal advice to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova in relation to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine."

European Union: Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, tweeted on Sunday: "Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing. An independent investigation is urgently needed."

“Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable," she continued.

European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola, who became the first leader of a European Union institution to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion began when she paid a visit to Kyiv on Friday, said the images from Bucha and other liberated areas in Ukraine show the "cold reality of Putin's war crimes."

In a tweet Sunday, Metsola said she was "appalled" by the "atrocities of Russian army in Bucha & other liberated areas" and stressed that the world must be made "aware of what is happening" in Ukraine and "tougher sanctions must be imposed" on Russia in retaliation. 

"The perpetrators & their commanders must be brought to justice," she concluded. 

Germany: German chancellor Olaf Scholz called the Bucha images “terrible and horrifying" and said the perpetrators must be held accountable.

"We must relentlessly investigate these crimes committed by the Russian military. I demand that international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross be given access to these areas in order to independently document the atrocities. The perpetrators and those who commissioned them must be held consistently accountable," Scholz said.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, meanwhile, said the images coming out of the Ukrainian town of Bucha were “unbearable.”

Baerbock tweeted on Sunday that “Putin's unrestrained violence wipes out innocent families and knows no boundaries," and called for those responsible for “war crimes” to be held accountable.

“We will tighten the sanctions against Russia, and will support Ukraine even more with their defense,” she tweeted.

France: French President Emmanuel Macron also called the images of Bucha "unbearable."

“The images that reach us from Bucha, a liberated city near Kyiv, are unbearable. In the streets, hundreds of civilians were cowardly murdered. My compassion for the victims, my solidarity with the Ukrainians," Macron said in a tweet.

"The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes,” he added.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that if what he called “massive abuses” in Bucha, Ukraine turn out to be war crimes, those responsible will be “tried and convicted.”

“The strongest possible economic and international pressure must be maintained and reinforced on Russia to force the Russian authorities to put an end to the war of aggression that they launched on February 24 against Ukraine, the human cost and humanitarian impact of which are becoming more serious every day," Le Drian said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

Italy: Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy on Sunday condemned Russia's alleged violence against civilians in Bucha.

“The images of the crimes committed in Bucha and in the other areas liberated by the Ukrainian army leave us astonished," he said in a statement released by his press office.

“The cruelty of the massacres of unarmed civilians is frightening and unbearable. The Russian authorities must immediately cease hostilities, stop the violence against civilians, and must account for what has happened," he added.

Spain: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed “horror, pain, and outrage” after seeing images of civilians killed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, in a tweet on his official account on Sunday.

The war crimes that are being committed cannot go unpunished,” Sánchez said. “All our solidarity, help and support to the Ukrainian people.”

CNN's Nathan Hodge, Max Foster, James Frater, Stephanie Halasz, Niamh Kennedy, Nicola Ruotolo and Amy Cassidy contributed reporting to this post.

The top UN official said an "independent investigation" into the civilians killed in Bucha, Ukraine, is "essential" to ensure "effective accountability."

"I am deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Bucha, Ukraine," UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement Sunday.

"It is essential that an independent investigation leads to effective accountability," he continued.

Vitalii Kim, the regional military governor of Mykolaiv region, said a total of 14 people were taken to the hospital following the shelling of the city of Mykolaiv. 

It was not clear from the statement if the person who died was among those delivered to the hospital.

A mass grave has been discovered in the town of Bucha, in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a CNN team found. 

Bodies were first buried in the grave, on the grounds of the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints, in the first days of the war, residents told CNN.

CNN saw at least a dozen bodies in body bags pilled inside the grave. Some were already partially covered. 

According to residents, more bodies are already buried on site. They said they belong mostly to civilians killed in the fighting around Bucha.

Residents told CNN that around 150 people are buried there. 

The mayor of Bucha said in public remarks on Saturday that there could be up to 300 victims buried on site.

CNN was unable to independently verify those numbers or the identities and nationalities of those buried in the grave.

The earth on the church grounds appeared to have been recently moved so it is feasible that a larger number of bodies is buried there. 

Bucha has seen some of the heaviest fighting since the war started. 

Destroyed Russian vehicles line the streets and most houses have been damaged in some way, with a large portion of the buildings there completely destroyed.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen, producer Vasco Cotovio, producer Daria Markina and photojournalist Byron Blunt also saw people at the site of the mass grave crying and looking for the bodies of lost loved ones.

Listen to CNN's eyewitness account: