Hugh Williamson, director of the Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division, wrote in an OpEd in the Telegraph that the HRW is racing to document war crimes in Ukraine.

Williamson said one apparent war crime was when seven Ukrainian civilians were allegedly executed by Russian soldiers.

Regarding the images of civilian bodies in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, Williamson said they're concerned many of the deaths may be the result of war crimes, but "it's too early to say for certain now, and legal proceedings are still at a nascent stage."

This comes as a spokesperson for Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs doubled down on Russian claims that civilian killings in Bucha were staged.

"On April 3, the world witnessed another crime by the Ukrainian authorities, this time in the town of Bucha, where a criminal false flag operation [showing] the alleged killing of civilians by Russian troops had been staged," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday according to state-run TASS. Zakharova claimed that when Bucha was controlled by the Russian Armed Forces, not a single local resident was affected by acts of violence.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

New U.S. sanctions are targeting "the key architects of the war" and their family members, including Russian President Vladimir Putin's adult children, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's wife and daughter and members of Russia's security council, a senior administration official told reporters.

"We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members and that's why we're targeting them," the official said.

The new sanctions are also the most severe sanctions yet on Russia’s largest private bank, Alfa Bank, and its largest financial institution, Sherbank, the official said.

This will "generate a financial shock" to Russia's economy," the official said. "[Sherbank] holds nearly one-third of Russia's total banking sector assets. That's over $500 billion. That's roughly twice the size of the second largest Russian bank, which we previously fully blocked. And in total, we've now fully blocked more than two thirds of the Russian banking sector, which before the invasion held about $1.4 trillion in assets."

The official warned that "Russia will very likely lose its status as a major economy."

The official noted how these sanctions will hurt everyday Russians.

"It means their debit cards may not work. They may only have the option to buy knockoff phones and knockoff clothes. The shelves at stores may be empty. The reality is the country's descending into economic and financial and technological isolation. And at this rate, it will go back to Soviet style living standards from the 1980s," the official said.

-ABC News' Mary Bruce and Molly Nagle

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has charged Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev with sanctions violations, alleging Malofeyev was one of the main sources of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea and for providing material support for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.

These actions are part of the KleptoCapture Task force, which is a Justice Department task force established last month aimed at seizing Russian oligarch assets from around the country.

"After being sanctioned by the United States, Malofeyev attempted to evade the sanctions by using co-conspirators to surreptitiously acquire and run media outlets across Europe," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters. "We are also announcing the seizure of millions of dollars from an account at a U.S. financial institution, which the indictment alleges constitutes proceeds traceable to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations."

One of Malofeyev's co-conspirators, according to the DOJ, is former U.S. TV producer Jack Hanick, who was arrested last month in the United Kingdom, where he had been living for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The Justice Department also on Wednesday announced the disruption of a global botnet run by the GRU, Russia's Chief Intelligence Office. FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters the team behind the global botnet was responsible for some of the most infectious cyberattacks in recent memory, including the cyberattacks against the Winter Olympics in 2018, attacks on Ukrainian power grid in 2015 and the attack on the country of Georgia in 2019.

The Justice Department seized a yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
In addition to the seizure of Vekselberg's yacht, U.S. authorities also obtained seizure warrants unsealed in Washington, D.C., Monday that target roughly $625,000 associated with sanctioned parties at nine U.S. financial institutions, the Justice Department said.

At the news conference, Garland also expressed outrage over the images of civilian bodies in Ukraine.

"We have seen the dead bodies of civilians, some with bound hands, scattered in the streets. We have seen the mass graves. We have seen the bombed hospital, theater, and residential apartment buildings. The world sees what is happening in Ukraine. The Justice Department sees what is happening in Ukraine," Garland said.

Garland said the DOJ is in the "collection of evidence" stage of any war crime prosecution.

-ABC News' Alex Mallin, Luke Barr

A school-turned-shelter in eastern Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region came under attack on Wednesday, according to Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Kyrylenko released images showing several wounded people lying on the ground among debris outside the school, which is currently being used as a humanitarian aid center. First responders were seen helping the victims. Another image showed the inside of a classroom that was damaged during the attack, with the windows shattered and some desks broken.

ABC News' Visual Verification team confirmed that the photos were taken at a school in Vugledar, a small village about 40 miles from Donetsk city.

-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher

The United States is supporting a multinational team of independent war crimes investigators, including American experts, that are working with Ukraine's prosecutor-general on a probe of alleged Russian war crimes, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.

The team is working in Eastern Europe, but not in Ukraine itself, Price said. He said the team is collecting, preserving and analyzing evidence with a view toward prosecutions and other forms of holding Russia accountable, Price said.

The United States is also supporting the effort through funding for non-government organizations that are part of the effort, Price said. He said he could not provide further details, including how many Americans are involved or how much funding is being allocated.

At the start of his briefing on Monday, Price noted the horrific reports from Bucha, Ukraine, and other towns outside of the capital of Kyiv, describing reports of "civilians, many with their hands tied, apparently executed in the streets, others in mass graves."

"We are seeing credible reports of torture, rape and civilians executed alongside their families," Price said. "There are reports and images of a nightmare litany of atrocities, including reports of land mines and booby traps left behind by Putin's forces to injure even more civilians and slow the stabilization and recovery of devastated communities after they failed in their objective and withdrew."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss the reported atrocities with his NATO foreign minister counterparts during the Western military alliance's spring meeting this week, Price said.

President Joe Biden said earlier Monday that he is calling for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia in light of the reports from Bucha.

"We're continuously tightening sanctions and preparing for additional sanctions, jointly with our allies and partners," Price said.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan