By Julia Hollingsworth, Joshua Berlinger, Sana Noor Haq, John Sinnott, Adrienne Vogt, Veronica Rocha and Emma Tucker, CNN
Updated 12:17 a.m. ET, April 3, 2022
As Ukrainian forces retake the greater Kyiv area, more horrors of Russia's occupation become clear. Civilian bodies were found littering the streets in Bucha, northwest of the capital, following the withdrawal of Russian forces, according to images released by AFP on Saturday.
In light of fierce Ukrainian resistance, US intelligence suggests Russia has revised its invasion strategy to focus on taking control of the Donbas and other regions in eastern Ukraine, with a target date of early May. A Ukrainian presidential adviser warned that fighting in those regions in the days ahead "will not be easy."
More than 4,200 Ukrainian civilians were able to flee through multiple evacuation corridors along key routes on Saturday. A Red Cross mission is underway to reach the besieged city of Mariupol, where 100,000 residents remain trapped and local leaders say Russia is not admitting aid.
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10:20 p.m. ET, April 2, 2022
Civilian bodies found littering streets of Ukrainian town following withdrawal of Russian forces
From CNN's Jonny Hallam
A man walks with bags of food given to him by the Ukrainian Army in Bucha, Ukraine on April 2. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)
The bodies of at least 20 civilian men have been found lying strewn across the street in the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the area in shocking images released by AFP on Saturday.
The dead, all in civilian clothing, are found in a variety of awkward poses, some face down against the pavement, others facing upwards with mouths open.
"Three of them are tangled up in bicycles after taking their final ride, while others, with waxy skin, have fallen next to bullet-ridden and crushed cars," according to AFP journalists who accessed the town after it had been cut off for nearly a month.
One corpse can be seen with his hands tied behind his back with a white cloth.
The Mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, said the dead civilians had received inhumane treatment at the hands of Russian forces.
"Corpses of executed people still line the Yabluska street in Bucha. Their hands are tied behind their backs with white 'civilian' rags, they were shot in the back of their heads. So you can imagine what kind of lawlessness they perpetrated here," Fedoruk told Reuters on Saturday.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the bodies of the men found with hands tied, "were shot dead by Russian soldiers," in a tweet on Saturday.
Podolyak added, "these people were not in the military. They had no weapons. They posed no threat. How many more such cases are happening right now in the occupied territories?"
CNN has not been able to independently confirm the details around the men's deaths.
Russian forces withdrew from several towns near Kyiv in recent days after Moscow's bid to encircle the capital failed, with Ukraine declaring that Bucha had been "liberated."
9:09 p.m. ET, April 2, 2022
Russian aircraft "still vulnerable" to Ukrainian air defense: British military intelligence
From CNN's Sahar Akbarzai and Jonny Hallam
British military intelligence said on Saturday that Ukraine's air defense capability continues to pose significant challenges to Russian aircraft, despite the invading forces' continued effort to diminish Ukraine's air defenses.
"Ukraine continues to provide a significant challenge to Russia Air and Missile operations. As a result, Russian aircraft are still vulnerable to short and medium range air defense systems," the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) said in an Intelligence Update.
Russia has not been able to obtain control of the air due its inability to find and destroy Ukrainian air defense systems, the ministry said. Thus, this inability has significantly affected Russia's, "ability to support the advance of their ground forces on a number of fronts," according to the MOD.
The ministry also reported that there has been significant Russian air activity towards southeastern Ukraine, "likely a result of Russia focusing its military operations in this area."
Number of Ukrainians at US-Mexico border seeking US asylum grows
From CNN's Sharif Paget and Karol Suarez
An improvised camp of Ukrainians seeking asylum in the United States is seen on the Mexican side of the San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Mexico on April 2. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images)
Hundreds of Ukrainians fleeing Russia's invasion of their country have arrived at the Mexican border city of Tijuana to seek US asylum and more are expected, a Tijuana city official and a volunteer told CNN on Saturday.
Enrique Lucero, director of migrant affairs for the city of Tijuana, said there were around 1,500 Ukrainians in the city currently and he expected the number to increase to 2,000 by the day's end.
"We had a surprising influx in the past four days, mainly because after the conflict we started seeing arrivals as of March 11, and those were arrivals of 30 people, not the large amounts we are seeing today."
Lucero said he expects all the migrants to enter the United States, but said American authorities have been slow to process them. The city was working to convert a sports facility into a temporary shelter to house all the incoming arrivals, Lucero told CNN.
Inna Levien, an Orange County, California resident who belongs to a group that is spearheading a volunteer effort to assist Ukrainians gathered near the border, told CNN that the number of Ukrainians has quadrupled in the past three days.
A Ukrainian child seeking asylum in the United States is seen inside a bus station on the Mexican side of the San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Mexico on April 2. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images)
Once the migrants arrive at the border, Levien's group puts them on a list and assigns them a number, that way they don't have to wait in line the entire time for entry. She said the wait to get across can take more than 24 hours.
The city of Tijuana has been instrumental in providing relief, Levien said. A bus stop was recently converted by the city into a temporary shelter while a network of churches has sprung to help house families as they wait for their turn to be processed, Levien added.
CNN has reached out to the State Department and US Customs and Border Protection but did not receive a response Saturday.
Some context: The Department of Homeland Security is allowing Ukrainians, on a case-by-case basis, to be exempted from Trump-era pandemic restrictions on the US-Mexico border. Those restrictions will end on May 23, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. The US will welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and others fleeing Russia's aggression, the Biden administration announced last month.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
It's 3 a.m. in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know
A man walks in the rubble of a destroyed building in the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv on April 2. (Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)
In the early morning hours on Sunday in Ukraine, these are the latest developments in the war:
Russia shifting focus to victory by early May in eastern Ukraine, US officials say: Russia has revised its Ukraine war strategy to focus on taking control of the Donbas and other regions in eastern Ukraine with a target date of early May, according to several US officials familiar with the latest US intelligence assessments.
More than a month into the war, Russian ground forces have been unable to keep control of areas where they have been fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is under pressure to demonstrate he can show a victory, and eastern Ukraine is where he is most likely to achieve that, officials say. US intelligence intercepts suggest Putin is focused on May 9, Russia's "Victory Day," according to a US official.
May 9 is a prominent holiday on the Russian calendar, a day on which the country marks the Nazi surrender in World War II with a huge parade of troops and weaponry across Red Square in front of the Kremlin. The officials say Putin wants to celebrate a victory of some kind in his war that day.
Ukrainian negotiator claims advances in talks with Russia, possibility of 'direct consultations' between Zelensky, Putin in future: David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian negotiating team in talks with Russia, said the Russian side has responded positively to Ukrainian positions on several issues.
Arakhamia said there is a possibility of "direct consultations" between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, something he said had been facilitated in part by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The status of Crimea -- annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014 -- has been a sticking point in potential negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine and most of the international community consider the peninsula to be illegally occupied. The Kremlin consistently says the status of Crimea is settled.
The Ukrainian side said there had been agreement to suspend negotiations on the status of Crimea for 15 years, but the Russian side has not confirmed, and the Kremlin has publicly reiterated its position Crimea is part of Russia.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said there was no official confirmation of those positions in writing, according to Arakhamia.
However, Arakhamia added: "Orally, as of yesterday, in a video conference, we heard that the Russian side does not object to such [Ukrainian] positions."
Ukrainian negotiator claims advances in talks with Russia, possibility of 'direct consultations' between Zelensky, Putin in future
From CNN's Olga Voitovych and Nathan Hodge in Lviv
David Arakhamia, left, Mykhailo Podolyak, center and Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev speak with the media after their meeting with Russian negotiators in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29. (Mehmet Emin Caliskan/Reuters)
David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian negotiating team in talks with Russia, said the Russian side has responded positively to Ukrainian positions on several issues and there is a possibility of "direct consultations" between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, something he said had been facilitated in part by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"We announced our Ukrainian position in Istanbul," Arakhamia said in nationally televised remarks. "And the Russian Federation has given an official answer to all these positions, which is that they accept this position, except for the issue of Crimea."
Ukrainian officials have outlined their vision of a roadmap to a potential truce, which would include possible neutral status for Ukraine backed by a broad alliance of security guarantors.
Arakhamia held out the possibility of a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, saying, "The drafts of the documents were sufficiently developed to hold direct consultations between the two leaders, the presidents of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Therefore, our task now is to quickly prepare the final stage not of the document itself, but of the issues we have already touched upon, and to prepare for a possible meeting of the presidents."
Arakhamia added: "Yesterday, Mr. Erdogan called both us and Vladimir Putin. He also allegedly confirmed for his part they are ready to organize a meeting in the near future. Neither the date nor the place is known. But we believe that with a high probability it will be in Istanbul or Ankara, that is, in Turkey."
The possibility of a role for China as a potential security guarantor for Ukraine appears to be credible, according to Arakhamia.
Asked about the status of talks with China on the matter, Arakhamia said: "We are negotiating through diplomatic channels. The state of negotiations with China is probably the least ready compared to the countries that are now actively helping us, and we keep in touch twice a day. With China, it's getting a little harder."
Russia shifting focus to victory by early May in eastern Ukraine, US officials say
From Barbara Starr, Jim Sciutto, Katie Bo Lillis, Alex Marquardt and Jeremy Herb
A column of tanks marked with the Z symbol stretches into the distance as they proceed northwards along the Mariupol-Donetsk highway on March 23. (Maximilian Clarke/SOPA/Sipa/Reuters)
Russia has revised its Ukraine war strategy to focus on taking control of the Donbas and other regions in eastern Ukraine with a target date of early May, according to several US officials familiar with the latest US intelligence assessments.
But other officials note even if there is a Russian celebration, an actual victory may be further off.
"Putin will have a victory parade on 9 May regardless the status of the war or peace talks," a European defense official said. "On the other hand: a victory parade with what troops and vehicles?"
Still, US and European officials say any deadlines Moscow may set rhetorically don't change the reality on the ground that Russia appears to be preparing for the prospect of an extended conflict.
A European diplomat said while the Kremlin is talking optimistically, Putin is preparing for a "Chechnya-style long, drawn-out war, because he, to a certain extent, has nowhere else to go on this."
There are several reasons behind the May timeframe, the officials say. As the winter freeze ends and the ground softens, it will be harder for heavy Russian ground units to maneuver, meaning it's vital for those forces to get into place as soon as possible, US intelligence assesses.
Russian-backed fighters have also already been in that region for years. The Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine is where Russian separatist forces took control of territory in 2014.
Ukrainian officials have publicly pointed to the date as well. "Ahead of May 9, Putin set the goal of a victory parade for this war," Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Thursday.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Friday the Ukrainians believe they are facing a "very complex and difficult month" as Putin tries meet a deadline.
"His ultimate goal is, was, and will be to take over Ukraine, but he failed. He failed due to a very strong resolve of Ukrainian military and very strong unity of Ukraine and the Western world, and the sanctions that have been imposed by the United States and G7 and the European Union," Yatsenyuk said. "So now, as far as I see, Putin switched to Plan B. My take is that this Plan B has a, kind of, deadline."
The US also assesses Putin is now preparing, for the first time, to name an overall commander of the war to achieve greater Russian successes, two US officials said. The US believes Putin will likely name a general who has been in the southern part of Ukraine because that is a place where Russians have succeeded in their objectives.
It's 11 p.m. in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know
A humanitarian convoy of 42 buses from Mariupol arrives at a refugee center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on April 1. (Andrea Carrubba/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
As Sunday approaches in Ukraine, catch up on the latest developments here.
Russians move out of Kyiv region as officials look to the east: Ukraine's deputy defense minister said Saturday the Kyiv region had been "liberated" from Russian forces. Meanwhile, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said heavy fighting is still expected in the east of Ukraine, near Mariupol, and in the country's south. He warned that the military effort "will not be easy" in those regions.
Further evacuations: More than 4,000 civilians were evacuated through corridors in Ukraine on Saturday, according to the country's deputy prime minister, including over 2,000 people for the besieged port city of Mariupol.
The International Committee for the Red Cross team that departed Zaporizhzhia on Saturday morning as part of renewed attempt to reach Mariupol have yet to reach the city, an ICRC spokesperson told CNN.
US to facilitate tanks transfer: The US is expected to help facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era tanks "within days" to Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak earlier on Saturday called on the US and its allies to deliver heavier weaponry to Ukraine as the Russian military shifts its campaign focus.
Gas keeps flowing: Russian gas continues to enter Germany despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's ultimatum on Thursday for "unfriendly" nations to pay for their energy in rubles starting Friday or risk being cut off from vital supplies. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia would not turn off gas supplies to Europe immediately.
"Deliveries are incoming. Supply security is still guaranteed," a German government spokesperson told CNN.
Kyiv region "liberated" from Russian forces, senior Ukrainian defense official says
From CNN staff in Lviv
Civilians cheer along with a Ukrainian serviceman as a convoy of military and aid vehicles arrives in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukraine on Saturday, April 2. (Vadim Ghirda/AP)
Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, said Saturday that the Kyiv region had been "liberated" from Russian forces.
She said in a post on Facebook that Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel and "the whole Kyiv region was liberated from the invader."
CNN could not immediately verify that the entire Kyiv region had been cleared of Russian troops by Ukrainian forces, but the Ukrainian military has in recent days regained control of suburbs around the capital, which has remained under government control. The Russian military has said it is "de-escalating" around Kyiv.
US will facilitate transfer of Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine, source says
From CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Jim Sciutto
The US is expected to help facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the plan.
The tanks the US is transferring to Ukraine will be Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which Ukrainian military personnel have experience operating, a senior US official tells CNN.
Those tanks will be delivered "within days, not weeks," the official said, and will be delivered from NATO partner countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asked countries for more tanks.
The New York Times first reported on the transfer.