U.S. and European leaders Mondaypromised to respond to the discoveries of mass graves and other apparent atrocities in suburban Kyiv with harsher penalties for Vladimir Putin.
Why it matters: Western sanctions and arms shipments came in hard and fast after the invasion, with two key constraints: Europe’s reliance on Russian energy and the unwillingness of NATO countries to risk war beyond Ukraine’s borders. Their calculations may now be shifting, if only slightly.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday the U.S. has "not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide" in Ukraine.
A recently published biography delves into the life of a little-known but key Latino civil rights leader who co-founded one of the most influential Hispanic civil rights organizations and became a U.S. diplomat.
Germany will expel a "significant number" of Russian diplomats, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Monday in a statement, linking the expulsion to the reported atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine.
What they're saying: "The pictures from Bucha bear witness to the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and of those who follow its propaganda, to a will to annihilate that transcends all borders," Baerbock said.
Former Costa Rican Finance Minister and ex-World Bank official Rodrigo Chaves is set to win Costa Rica's presidential runoff, according to preliminary results from the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Why it matters: Sunday's election garnered little enthusiasm in the country, where more than 42% of eligible voters did not participate.
The U.S. and Spain on Monday seized a yacht in Mallorca owned by Russian oligarch and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Department of Justice said Monday.
Why it matters: Attorney General Merrick Garland said it marks the first seizure by the Justice Department's newly created Russian sanctions enforcement task force, adding that it "will not be the last."
President Biden said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin should face a war crimes trial over the reported atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine.
What they're saying: Biden also said he would seek more sanctions on Russia, adding that what's happened is Bucha is "outrageous and everyone's seen it."
Visiting the town of Bucha, where Russian forces are accused of committing war crimes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday told reporters, "We want you to show the world what happened here," per CNN.
Driving the news: As Ukrainian forces retook the Kyiv region and other areas over the weekend, officials and independent photographers reported bodies of civilians — some with their hands tied behind their backs — strewn in the streets of the city of Bucha.
The mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, detailed the city's destruction during an interview with CNN on Monday, saying Ukrainians "will not forgive" Russians for the alleged atrocities committed there.
Driving the news: As Ukrainian forces retook the Kyiv region and northern areas of the country over the weekend, officials and independent photographers have reported bodies of civilians — some with their hands tied behind their backs — strewn in the streets of the city of Bucha.
Dozens of Chinese medical journal articles published between 1980 and 2015, when the Chinese government said it would stop procuring organs from executed prisoners, describe doctors in Chinaperforming organ transplants without following standard procedures for establishing brain death, according to new research published in a top U.S. medical journal.
Why it matters: "This shows, in the words of the physicians themselves, that they prioritized organ procurement over adhering to the most basic medical oath — first do no harm," said research co-author Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplantation unit at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. will seek Russia's suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council in response to allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday.
The big picture: Ukraine's forces retook the Kyiv region and northern areas of the country over the weekend. Officials and independent photographers have reported bodies of civilians — some with their hands tied behind their backs — strewn in the streets of the city of Bucha.
The European Union announced Monday it's working on further sanctions against Russia's government "as a matter of urgency" following allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine.
What they're saying: The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that the 27-nation bloc "condemns in the strongest possible terms" the "reported atrocities."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he claimed victory in the country's elections on Sunday night, per the BBC.
Driving the news: "We have such a victory it can be seen from the moon, but it's sure that it can be seen from Brussels," the far-right leader said in his Sunday night speech, in a nod to his government's long-standing tensions with the European Union, CNN reports.
Newly released satellite images show a 45-foot-long trench in the grounds of a church in Bucha, Ukraine, where a mass grave was found after Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv region city last week.
Driving the news: A CNN team on Sunday visited the grounds of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints Church, where Maxar Technologies' satellite images were captured, and reported seeing "at least a dozen bodies in body bags piled inside the grave" on the grounds.
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam announced Monday she won't seek a second term as chief executive.
Why it matters: Under Lam's tenure, the autonomy and many of the freedoms Hong Kong previously enjoyed that had allowed the Chinese territory to flourish as a global financial hub have been encroached on.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Americans in a pre-recorded video from a bunker in Kyiv to "support us in any way you can. Any — but not silence."
Why it matters: Celebrities urged the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to let Zelensky appear during the Oscars last week but ultimately chose to feature a moment of silence instead.
