EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is on her way to Kyiv.

She wants to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy there.

Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of atrocities against civilians in other Ukrainian cities.

In Germany, war refugees from the Ukraine are to receive basic state security from June 1st, i.e. the same benefits as, for example, Hartz IV recipients.

Von der Leyen took the train from south-eastern Poland to the Ukrainian capital on Friday night.

The former German Defense Minister is the first Western top politician to visit Ukraine since the war atrocities in the Kiev suburb of Bucha became known.

Kyiv: "Tougher sanctions are needed"

In reaction to the massacre of civilians in Bucha, the EU member states decided on further sanctions against Russia on Thursday.

These include an import ban on coal from Russia, new trade restrictions and a far-reaching ban on Russian ships entering EU ports.

Zelenskyi welcomed the sanctions but said they were not enough to stop Russia and end the war.

“More sanctions are needed.

Tougher sanctions are needed.” At the same time, Zelenskyj called for weapons for his country “with which we can win on the battlefield”.

That will be the strongest sanction against Russia, he said in his daily video message.

Missile attacks on the Odessa region

Selenskyj spoke of further atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine.

In the small town of Borodjanka near Kyiv, where clean-up work was underway, it was "much more terrible" than in Bucha.

There are "even more victims" of Russian units.

Zelenskyy also asked what will happen when the world finds out what Russian units have done in the heavily contested port city of Mariupol.

There is on "almost every street" what the world saw after the withdrawal of the Russian troops in Bucha and other places around Kyiv.

According to Ukrainian sources, a rocket attack by Russian forces hit infrastructure facilities in the Odessa region in the south of the country.

The rocket attack was launched from the sea, the online newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda reported, citing the Odessa City Council.

The information could not be independently verified.

Ukraine: More than 4,500 people brought to safety

According to Ukrainian information, more than 4,500 people were brought to safety from contested areas on Thursday.

Around 1,200 came from the port city of Mariupol, which was besieged by Russian troops, and another 2,000 from several cities in the Zaporizhia region, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk.

Around 1,400 people were also evacuated from the Luhansk region in the east of the country from the cities of Lisichansk, Sievjerodonetsk, Rubischne and Kreminna.

Ukraine is expecting a new Russian offensive in the east of the country.