Russia rejects US ‘genocide’ claim as Ukraine warns of ‘endless bloodbath’

Russia has rejected US allegations that it is committing genocide in Ukraine, where president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv's military needs more heavy weapons and ammunition urgently to prevent its war with Moscow becoming "an endless bloodbath".

The Kremlin said it was "unacceptable" for US president Joe Biden to "distort the situation" in Ukraine by accusing Russian forces of committing genocide during a seven-week invasion that has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 10 million.

Mr Biden said it has "become clearer and clearer" that Russian president Vladimir Putin "is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian".

"This is hardly acceptable from a president of the United States, a country that has committed well-known crimes in recent times," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

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Kyiv and western allies believe Russia is now preparing for a major assault on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, having withdrawn from areas near the Ukrainian capital after suffering significant losses during several weeks of fierce fighting.

Moscow’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered in Mariupol, a strategic Donbas port on the Azov Sea where local officials say some 20,000 residents may have died during a month-long siege.

Kyiv denied reports of the surrender, and said some parts of Mariupol were still held by government forces and that a group of marines had successfully undertaken a “risky manoeuvre” to link up with members of the Azov regiment in the ruined city. Neither the Russian nor Ukrainian claims could be verified.

Mr Zelenskiy made a new appeal to western allies to send heavy weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, listing tanks, air defence systems, artillery pieces and shells, multi-launch rocket systems and fighter aircraft as top priorities.

“Without additional weaponry, this war will become an endless bloodbath . . . Nobody will stop Russia except Ukraine with heavy weapons,” he said. “It must be done now . . . Freedom must be armed better than tyranny. Western countries have everything to make it happen.”

Poland and the Czech Republic are supplying Ukraine with Soviet-designed tanks that its servicemen know how to operate, and Slovakia sent an advanced S-300 air-defence system to Kyiv. Anti-tank and anti-aircraft rockets from western allies helped Ukraine's army halt Russian troops on the outskirts of Kyiv and then force them to pull back.

Evidence that Russian troops allegedly murdered large numbers of civilians in the area has come to light since they withdrew, and on Wednesday the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court visited Bucha, near Kyiv.

"Ukraine is a crime scene," said Karim Khan. "We're here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed. We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth."

Mr Zelenskiy hailed news that Ukraine's SBU security service had recaptured Viktor Medvedchuk, the wealthy leader of the country's main pro-Kremlin political party and probably Mr Putin's closest friend and ally in Ukraine.

Mr Medvedchuk, who denies charges of treason, fled house arrest at the start of the war and was widely believed to have escaped to Russia or Belarus, where he would have enjoyed the protection of Mr Putin, who is godfather to one of his daughters.

“Medvedchuk is not a Russian citizen and has no connection to the special military operation [in Ukraine], he is a foreign political figure,” Mr Peskov said in response to suggestions that he could be swapped for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“We do not even know if he wants any kind of Russian involvement in resolving this situation.”