KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� European foreign ministers visited Ukraine on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of by Russia鈥檚 invading forces.
With U.S.-led on hold and Washington鈥檚 attention gripped by the , European governments are keen to keep a spotlight on in decades, now in its fifth year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would hold a video call on Wednesday about ways to end Russia’s invasion, with American negotiators as well as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte joining in. Washington’s representatives will include Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, he said. The talks have yielded no breakthroughs on key issues so far.
Meanwhile, Ukraine鈥檚 long-range drones hammered Russian oil facilities in the Baltic Sea Monday night for the fifth time in just over a week, as Kyiv tries to prevent Moscow from profiting off its oil exports amid an energy crisis, prompted by the Iran war, and a temporary U.S. waiver on Russian oil sanctions. The export income finances Moscow’s war effort, Ukraine says.
Fourth anniversary of Bucha atrocities
A group of 12 European foreign ministers, as well as numerous lower-ranking officials, arrived by train in Kyiv where they were welcomed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who noted the 鈥済rim anniversary鈥� of the atrocities in Bucha.
Russian troops quickly occupied the town after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. They stayed for about a month.
When Ukrainian troops retook Bucha, they found more than 400 bodies left by . The Russians hunted people on lists prepared by their intelligence services and went door to door to identify potential threats.
鈥淪uch a strong European presence (in Ukraine) on this day demonstrates that justice for this and other Russian atrocities is inevitable,鈥� Sybiha said in a post on X. 鈥淐omprehensive accountability for Russian crimes is vital to restore justice in Europe.鈥�
At the Church of St. Andrew in Bucha, after viewing dozens of graphic photographs and a video display of the massacres with his European Union counterparts, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski was grim.
鈥淎nybody who claims that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin is not a war criminal should come and see for themselves,鈥� Sikorski told The Associated Press.
Authorities say that many of the victims were gunned down in the street. Some had their hands tied behind their backs, and others showed signs of torture or rape.
The United Nations has documented more than 70 summary executions.
EU seeks to hold Russia accountable
Part of Tuesday鈥檚 meeting between EU officials and their Ukrainian counterparts was to focus on reassuring Kyiv of continued European efforts to hold Russia to account for its invasion.
On the way to Kyiv, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas underlined the importance of ensuring that those who gave the orders to kill in places like Bucha are held to account, as much as those who carried out the atrocities.
鈥淥ne of the things that is really necessary is accountability. Otherwise, you have revenge and retaliation,鈥� Kallas said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 see people doing this to your family held accountable, you will want revenge.鈥�
The Iran war is currently a top priority for the United States and risks diverting resources that Ukraine needs, such as air defense systems.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 let it (the war in Ukraine) slip off the table,鈥� Kallas said. 鈥淲e are the ones who have to keep this up, because nobody else does.鈥�
The EU has faced its own challenges in helping Ukraine. The 27-nation bloc new sanctions on Russia last month, after objections from Hungary. Budapest, which has quarreled with its EU partners over support for Ukraine and Russian oil deliveries, has also as Kyiv runs low on cash. Ukraine鈥檚 application for EU membership, meanwhile, is expected to take years.
Ukraine steps up long-range drone attacks
Russia, meanwhile, could from a surge in oil prices and the U.S. temporary waiver on Russian oil sanctions designed to ease supply shortages. Russia is one of the world’s main oil exporters, and Asian nations are for Russian crude oil as an energy crisis mounts.
In response, Ukraine has intensified its long-range drone attacks on Russian oil facilities, which have .
Ukraine鈥檚 Defense Ministry said that its forces carried out a series of strikes over the past week targeting Russia鈥檚 oil export infrastructure on the Baltic Sea, hitting key facilities in the northwest Leningrad region used to ship crude and petroleum products.
Ukrainian drones struck oil loading infrastructure and storage tanks at the Transneft terminal in Primorsk on March 22鈥�23, starting a fire, the ministry said. Repeated strikes on the Novatek Ust-Luga port complex have damaged storage facilities and loading docks and ignited large fires.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has also struck Russia鈥檚 oil ports in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea with more than 2,500 drones, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a news conference in Helsinki.
鈥淚t is likely that Ukraine鈥檚 operations will continue,鈥� he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that 鈥渋ntensive work is being carried out鈥� to strengthen air defenses at the oil port of Ust-Luga and other critical infrastructure facilities.
___
Illia Novikov in Kyiv, and Kostya Manenkov in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of the war in Ukraine at
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
