Germany said on Sunday that the West would agree to impose more sanctions on Russia in the coming days after Ukraine accused Russian forces of war crimes near Kyiv, ratchetting up the already vast economic pressure on Russia over its invasion.
Russia's economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union after the United States and its allies imposed crippling sanctions due to Putin's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia on Sunday denied its forces were responsible for the deaths of civilians in the town of Bucha and said Ukraine had staged a performance for the Western media.
Reuters saw corpses strewn across the town. One appeared to have his hands bound by the white cloth, and to have been shot in the mouth. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of carrying out a "genocide".
The West warned of more sanctions.
"Putin and his supporters will feel the consequences" of their actions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement to reporters in the chancellery.
German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said the European Union should talk about ending Russian gas imports.
Germany, Europe's largest economy, has so far resisted calls to impose an embargo on energy imports from Russia, saying its economy and that of other European countries are too dependent on them. Russia supplies 40% of Europe's gas needs.
The United States said that those responsible for any war crimes must be held responsible, Britain said it was stepping up its sanctions and France condemned "massive abuses" by Russian forces in Ukraine.
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