TOP HEADLINES

• "Ukraine is a crime scene," the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said on a visit to the town of Bucha west of Kyiv. 

• An official in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro said the remains of more than 1,500 Russian soldiers were being kept in its morgues.

• The Kremlin said that it categorically disagreed with U.S. President Joe Biden's description of Russia's actions in Ukraine as "genocide".

• Russia will view U.S. and NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukrainian territory as legitimate military targets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS news agency.

• An initial report by a mission of experts set up by nations belonging to the Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) documents a "catalogue of inhumanity" by Russian troops in Ukraine including war crimes, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE said.

• Russia's defense ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in Mariupol. Ukraine's defense ministry spokesman said he had no information about such a surrender.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia's offensive is proceeding "calmly" and according to plan, with the goal of "minimizing losses". He dismissed reports of the discovery of hundreds of bodies of civilians in Bucha as "fake". 

• The mayor of Bucha says more than 400 people have been found dead so far and 25 women have reported being raped.

• Britain and the European Union announced coordinated sanctions against pro-Russian separatists, as well as more oligarchs and their relatives, on Wednesday.

• The Polish and Baltic presidents visited the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka not far from Kyiv, with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda saying it was "permeated with pain and suffering".

• Pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who was captured by Ukraine on Tuesday, did not have any communication back-channel to the Russian leadership, the Kremlin said, adding that Medvedchuk was a Ukrainian citizen and a foreign politician.

• Russia can easily redirect exports of its vast energy resources away from the West to countries that really need them, while increasing domestic consumption of oil, gas and coal, President Vladimir Putin said.

• French far-right leader Marine Le Pen backed closer ties between NATO and Russia, adding that if she won the presidency Paris should once again leave the military command of the military alliance.

• Russia will take "many years" to rebuild its economy if western sanctions over Ukraine remain in place for a long time, said Alexei Kudrin, the head of Russia's audit chamber and former finance minister.

• Reckitt Benckiser Group said it had begun a process aimed at transferring ownership of its Russian business, becoming the first major personal goods maker to do so since the start of the conflict.

• Indian software giant Infosys said it was "transitioning" out of the Russian market following Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine, and conflict of interest accusations against British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, whose wife has an estimated $900m stake in Infosys.

IN DETAIL

Evidence of 'crimes against humanity'

A mission of experts set up by Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) nations has found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, an initial report by the mission said on Wednesday.

The mission was set up last month by 45 of the OSCE's 57 participating countries to look into possible offences, including war crimes in Ukraine, and to pass on information to bodies such as international tribunals, a move that was opposed by Russia. 

"The mission found clear patterns of international humanitarian law violations by the Russian forces," the report said, citing failures to take necessary precautions, act proportionately or spare sites like schools and hospitals. It said it had also found some violations by Ukraine, particularly in its treatment of prisoners of war, but it said Russia's violations "are by far larger in nature and scale".

Despite Russian denials, the report said a March 9 attack on the Mariupol Maternity House and Children's Hospital was carried out by Russia and those responsible had committed a war crime. 

It also said the attack on Mariupol's Drama Theater on March 16, in which local Ukrainian officials say as many as 300 people may have been killed, was a war crime. 

"The Mission is not able to conclude whether the Russian attack on Ukraine per se may qualify as a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population," it said, referring to the context in which crimes like murder and rape constitute crimes against humanity.

"It however holds that some patterns of violent acts violating International Human Rights Law, which have been repeatedly documented in the course of the conflict, such as targeted killing, enforced disappearance or abductions of civilians... are likely to meet this qualification," it said.

"Any single violent act of this type, committed as part of such an attack and with the knowledge of it, would then constitute a crime against humanity."

'We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin's war machine'

Britain and the European Union (EU) announced coordinated sanctions against pro-Russian separatists, as well as more oligarchs and their relatives, on Wednesday.

The UK government said that, in coordination with the EU, it is sanctioning "178 Russian separatists" in eastern Ukraine, in addition to six more oligarchs and their families and employees.

"This comes after multiple reports last week that Russia was barbarically targeting civilians in those regions," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement.

The latest sanctions include Alexander Ananchenko and Sergey Kozlov, who are described by the UK Foreign Office as "self-styled" leaders of the Russia-backed so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

"In the wake of horrific rocket attacks on civilians in Eastern Ukraine, we are today sanctioning those who prop up the illegal breakaway regions and are complicit in atrocities against the Ukrainian people," said UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

"We will continue to target all those who aid and abet Putin's war."

Britain is taking part in an international effort to punish Russia with asset freezes, travel bans and sanctions, after President Valdimir Putin ordered the assault on Ukraine on February 24.

Those sanctions have so far targeted Russian defense, trade and transport companies.

Truss said the latest package would include extending a UK import ban on Russian goods, to include iron and steel from Thursday.

"We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin's war machine in its tracks," Truss said. 

London has sanctioned more than 1,400 individuals and businesses linked to Russia – including more than 100 oligarchs and their family members – since Moscow's military campaign began.

Russia claims over 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers surrender in Mariupol

Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday that more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in Mariupol, the strategic eastern port that has been besieged by Moscow's troops for over a month. 

"In the city of Mariupol... 1,026 Ukrainian servicemen of the 36th marine brigade voluntarily laid down their arms and surrendered," the ministry said in a statement. 

Among the troops were 162 officers and 47 were women, the ministry added. More than 100 were wounded.

If the Russians seize the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they will be in full control of Mariupol, the lynchpin between Russian-held areas to the west and east providing a land corridor for troops and supplies. 

It would be the first major city to fall to Russian forces since the conflict started on February 24.

Ukraine's general staff said that Russian forces were proceeding with attacks on Azovstal and the port. However, Ukraine's defense ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender.

Thousands of civilians are believed to have died in the city, which has seen some of the most intense fighting in the conflict.