Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing – April 5, 2022

ISTANBUL 

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

With a top US diplomat visiting the Turkish capital, Turkiye and the US launched a strategic mechanism Monday to further expand the countries’ bilateral cooperation, according to a joint statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed bilateral and regional issues with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a phone call Monday.

Mentioning efforts for the liberation of Mariupol, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed to Turkiye's possible mediation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday visited the city of Bucha, where Ukrainian troops are said to have found bodies of civilians, defining what happened in the city as "war crimes."

The footage of dead civilians left behind after the Russian pullout from the Ukrainian city of Bucha constitutes a “fake news attack,” Moscow argued Monday.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said Monday that the bodies of five people tortured by the Russian army were found in the city Bucha near the capital Kyiv.

Russia is in the midst of a mass redeployment of its forces to "overwhelm" Ukrainian forces in the country's east, the US warned Monday.

US President Joe Biden called Monday for his Russian counterpart to face a war crimes trial after apparent evidence of mass atrocities by Russian forces emerged from the Ukrainian city of Bucha near the capital Kyiv.

The Turkish Embassy in Kyiv said the images of the massacre reported by media from various regions near Kyiv, including Bucha and Irpin, are ”horrifying” and called for an "independent investigation.”

France on Monday announced its decision to expel "many Russian diplomats" hours after President Emmanuel Macron called for fresh sanctions in light of alleged atrocities carried out by Russian forces in Bucha near Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Germany has decided to expel dozens of Russian diplomats in response to "the war crimes committed in Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen has pledged to impose a total ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in public places if elected France's next president.

Turkiye saw a 61.14% annual hike in consumer prices in March, the country’s statistical authority said Monday.

Elon Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX, has purchased a 9.2% share in Twitter, according to a statement issued to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.