Kyiv mayor says all European payments to Russia are ‘bloody’

The mayor of Kyiv urged European politicians to cut all commercial ties with Moscow, saying on Tuesday all payments to Russia were “blood money” that would fuel a “genocide of Ukrainians”.

The US and Europe are planning new sanctions after dead civilians were found in recaptured satellite towns near Kyiv, including a shallow mass grave in Bucha, but Russian gas exports to Europe continue.

Moscow has dismissed the reports of civilian killings in Bucha as “fakes” aimed at discrediting Russia.

“Every Euro, every cent you receive from Russia or send to Russia has blood. It is blood money and the blood is Ukrainian blood, the blood of Ukrainian people,” Vitali Klitschko, dressed in military clothes, told a mayors’ conference in Geneva via video link.

“You can’t be half-pregnant. Right now the war is black and white. Are you for peace and support Ukraine or do you support the aggressors, Russia?” he said in a message to politicians.

Klitschko described seeing the bodies of civilians, including an old woman, during visits to Bucha and other towns near Kyiv in the past two days. A car with a white flag and the word “children” on the outside had been fired at and had blood inside, he said, adding officials were looking for the occupants’ bodies.

Russia has denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians and said it would present “empirical evidence” to a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday proving its forces were not involved.

Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxer, said life in the capital was improving, with some people returning, but described the situation in eastern Ukraine as “critical”. His counterpart in besieged Mariupol told him 5,000 civilians have died there, without giving details.

Klitschko repeated a call for more defensive weapons for Ukraine, saying it was in Europe’s own interests to provide them.

“This war can touch everyone in European countries. Where is the end of Russia’s ambitions?” he asked.