Ukraine round-up: UN warns against trial of POWs and the return of top-flight football

Ukraine round-up: UN warns against trial of POWs and the return of top-flight football

Published2 hours agoSharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Mariupol city councilImage caption, The BBC has verified that the images match the interior of the Mariupol concert hallThe UN has expressed concern that Russia may prosecute Ukrainian prisoners of war for simply having participated in the hostilities.

Any such move would constitute a war crime, it says.

A UN spokeswoman said there was evidence of cages being built at the Philharmonic Hall in Mariupol – captured from Ukraine by Russia after a long siege – apparently to restrain prisoners while on trial.

The UN described this as “not acceptable” and “humiliating”.

Ukraine ridicules claims it carried out car bombing

On Monday we reported that Russia had accused Ukraine of organising the car bomb attack that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of prominent ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin.

Now Ukraine has responded sharply to the accusations, saying Russian “propaganda lives in a fictional world”.

“We don’t work in this way,” said National Security and Defence Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov.

Meanwhile a memorial service took place in Moscow for the slain journalist where her father paid tribute.

Choking with emotion, he said she “died for the people”.

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Watch: Memorial service held for Darya Dugina

Ukraine braced for more attacks

Image source, ReutersImage caption, Ukrainians are celebrating independence but public gathering like this – to look at captured Russian armour in central Kyiv – are banned for now

There have been suggestions that Ms Dugina’s death could be used by Russia as a trigger for renewed attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure.

On Wednesday Ukraine celebrates Independence Day, but President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia will do something “cruel and disgusting” to mark the date.

Security measures have been tightened across the country, reports our correspondent Hugo Bachega in Kyiv.

In Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, a nightly curfew has been extended until Thursday, and in Kyiv public events have been banned for two days.

“If they want to bomb us on Independence Day… I don’t know, I don’t care,” one woman told the BBC. “I don’t think people are afraid of it here, I don’t think so. Stay brave like a Ukrainian.”

Where the invasion stands

We are now six months into the war, and you may be wondering how things stand.

Our visual team is tracking the invasion in maps here.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Ukraine reported more shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region – where Europe’s largest nuclear reactor is located – and on the eastern city of Kharkiv. Later in the morning, media in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic reported that shelling had hit the administrative building of the Russia-backed government there.

Crimea – annexed by Russia in 2014 – remains a major focus. There have been a series of explosions there in recent weeks, though Ukraine has not said it was behind any of them.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday told an international conference: “We will take back Crimea – it is our territory.

“We will do this in any way which we decide. We will decide this by ourselves, without consultation with any other country in the world.”

The beautiful game is back

Image source, ReutersImage caption, Shakhtar Donetsk players, as well their opposition Metalist Kharkiv, lined up in the Ukraine flag

Ukraine’s defiance is also playing out on the football field, as top flight matches returned on Tuesday for the first time in six months.

Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv drew 0-0, in an empty stadium with bomb shelters prepared just in case.

Russia’s invasion happened just a day before the second half of the 2021-22 season got under way, and the season was cancelled as the situation deteriorated.

Match officials and players from both teams came out draped in Ukrainian flags, to mark National Flag Day.

Initially matches will only be played in Kyiv, its outskirts and two western regions near the border.

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