Ukraine was bracing to battle for control of its industrial east and appealing for more help from the West after Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup. Authorities were urging people to immediately evacuate from the Donbas region before Russia intensifies its offensive. In Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged NATO to provide more weapons for his war-torn country to help prevent further atrocities like those reported in the city of Bucha. “My agenda is very simple… it’s weapons, weapons, and weapons,” Kuleba said as he arrived at NATO headquarters Thursday for talks with the military organization’s foreign ministers about Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. “We know how to fight. We know how to win. But without sustainable and sufficient supplies requested by Ukraine, these wins will be accompanied by enormous sacrifices,” Kuleba said. “The more weapons we get and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged members to provide more weapons and not just defensive arms. Some NATO members worry that they may be Russia’s next target but the alliance is striving to avoid moves that might pull countries directly into the conflict.

“NATO is not sending troops to be on the ground. We also have a responsibility to prevent this conflict from escalating beyond Ukraine, and becoming even more deadly, even more, dangerous and destructive,” Stoltenberg said. A U.S. defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said Russia had pulled all of its estimated 24,000 or more troops from the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas in the north, sending them into Belarus or Russia to resupply and reorganize, probably to return to fight in the east. Growing numbers of Putin’s troops, along with mercenaries, have been reported moving into the Donbas. “Later, people will come under fire,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in urging civilians to evacuate from the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region, “and we won’t be able to do anything to help them.” Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas since 2014. Ahead of its Feb. 24 invasion, Moscow recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states. Another Western official, also speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence estimates, said it may take Russia’s battle-damaged forces as much as a month to regroup for a major push on eastern Ukraine.

In his nightly address Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also warned Russia's military is gearing up for a new offensive in the east. Ukraine, too, was preparing for battle, he said. “We will fight and we will not retreat,” he said. “We will seek all possible options to defend ourselves until Russia begins to seriously seek peace. This is our land. This is our future. And we won’t give them up.” In areas north of the capital, Ukrainian officials were gathering evidence of Russian atrocities amid signs Moscow’s troops killed people indiscriminately before retreating. Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of at least 410 civilians were found in towns around Kyiv, victims of what Zelenskyy has portrayed as a Russian campaign of murder, rape, dismemberment, and torture. Some victims had apparently been shot at close range. Some were found with their hands bound.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of interfering with an international investigation into possible war crimes by removing corpses and trying to hide other evidence in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. “We have information that the Russian troops have changed tactics and are trying to remove the dead people, the dead Ukrainians, from the streets and cellars of the territory they occupied,” he said during his latest video address. “This is only an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more.” Switching from Ukrainian to Russian, Zelenskyy urged ordinary Russians “to somehow confront the Russian repressive machine” instead of being “equated with the Nazis for the rest of your life.” He called on Russians to demand an end to the war, “if you have even a little shame about what the Russian military is doing in Ukraine.” In reaction to the alleged atrocities outside Kyiv, the U.S. announced sanctions against Putin’s two adult daughters and said it is toughening penalties against Russian banks. Britain banned investment in Russia and pledged to end its dependence on Russian coal and oil by the end of the year.

The U.S. Senate planned to take up legislation Thursday to end normal trade relations with Russia, paving the way for higher tariffs on some imports, and codifying President Joe Biden’s executive action banning imports of Russian oil. The European Union is also expected to take additional punitive measures, including an embargo on coal. The Kremlin has insisted its troops have committed no war crimes and alleged the images out of Bucha were staged by the Ukrainians. Bodies were still being collected in the city. On Wednesday, The Associated Press saw two in a house in a silent neighborhood. From time to time there was the muffled boom of workers clearing the town of mines and other unexploded ordnance. Workers at a cemetery began to load more than 60 bodies into a grocery shipping truck for transport to a facility for further investigation.