Russia’s relentless bombing is contributing to a mounting humanitarian catastrophe. The mayor of Mariupol said his southern port city is going through “Armageddon,” while the Pentagon expressed concern Thursday that the northern city of Chernihiv also appears to have been blockaded. According to the United Nations human rights office , it received “credible” reports that Russia used cluster bombs in Kharkiv and other cities. This could be considered war crimes. Almost 2.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Feb. 24, according to the United Nations.
Here’s what to know
- Russia’s prosecutor general is seeking to have the company Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, declared an extremist organization and banned in Russia following reports that Facebook would allow posts calling for violence against Russian forces in Ukraine.
- President Biden formally called on Congress on Friday to end normal trade relations with Russia and announced a new slate of bans on Russian imports and exports. Biden will be joined by leaders of the Group of Seven countries to announce economic sanctions against Russia in an effort to make President Vladimir Putin responsible for his ongoing invasion.
- Congressional Democrats and Republicans took the final step Thursday night to approve roughly $14 billion in humanitarian, military and economic assistance to Ukraine. More than 40 GOP senators have also called for Biden to “work with Poland and our NATO allies to expedite the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems” to Ukraine.
- The U.N. Security Council met Friday at Russia’s request to discuss its allegation that Washington is carrying out “military biological activities” in Ukrainian territory. The White House has denied the Russian allegations and accused Moscow of planning a possible a false-flag attack.
UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
U.S., Russia clash over biological weapons claim at U.N. Security Council meeting
Russia accused the United States at the United Nations on Friday of supporting a biological weapons program in Ukraine, a fact Moscow said it uncovered as its forces press deeper into Ukraine.
The Russian representative to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, told the body’s Security Council that Russia had discovered “truly shocking facts” related to what he said were at least 30 Ukrainian laboratories working on diseases including anthrax, cholera, and “the plague” with funding and oversight by the U.S. military. According to Nebenzya, the reckless activity involved research on diseases caused by insects and birds.
“We call on you to think about a very real biological danger to the people in European countries which can result from an uncontrolled spread of bio-agents from Ukraine,” he said.
Russia requested the meeting on Thursday amid its allegations of U.S.-supported bioweapons research — claims rooted in long-standing strains of Russian disinformation and unproven allegations. The U.S. has denied the accusations and suggests that Moscow might be using these allegations to justify its use of biological or chemical warfare against Ukraine.
A defense official, speaking to reporters on Thursday on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, said that Ukraine had five biological research centers that were focused on disease prevention and treatment.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., hit back against Russia’s claims. Although she claimed that the United States assisted Ukraine in the establishment of public health labs, she said Moscow may have laid the foundations for the use of chemical or biological weapons to assassinate or conduct military operations in Ukraine.
“Russia is attempting to use the Security Council to legitimize disinformation and deceive people to justify President Putin’s war of choice against the Ukrainian people,” she said.
She also said China was “spreading disinformation in support of Russia’s outrageous claims.”
The British representative, Lady Barbara Woodward, said Russia was demonstrating its use of misinformation and deception in its assault on Ukraine. She called the bioweapons claim “utter nonsense.”
“Russia is sinking to new depths today, but this council must not get dragged down with it,” she said.
At the beginning of the session, the U.N.’s high representative for disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, said the U.N. was not aware of any biological weapons program in Ukraine.
Nearly 1,600 Mariupol civilians killed during Russian invasion, city council says
The Mariupol city council said Friday that nearly 1,600 civilian residents of the southeastern port city have been killed by Russian forces during the invasion.
In a message posted to its Telegram account, the council wrote that “1,582 peaceful Mariupol residents” were killed by Russian forces during a 12-day period in which the Russians surrounded and shelled the city. The Washington Post is unable to verify that the claim of the city council regarding the death count was true.
The city council’s message came after Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the city was going through “Armageddon” and had faced “two days of hell,” including a strike that tore through a maternity hospital Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring 17. Boychenko said in a video Thursday that planes struck residential areas in the city every 30 minutes, “killing civilians: old people, women, children.”
The Mariupol city council told The Post in a Thursday statement that 43 people have been buried in what it described as the city’s first mass grave in the conflict. The Associated Press footage showed bodies being wrapped in body bags or shrouds and placed in a trench.
The destruction this week led the city council to post a message to Russian forces Friday.
“Every occupier will burn in hell,” the council wrote. “We will never forget and will never forgive this crime against humanity, against Ukraine, against Mariupol!”
Putin welcomes foreign ‘volunteers,’ most from Middle East, to reinforce troops in Ukraine
Putin on Friday approved recruiting foreign “volunteers” to reinforce the Russian military’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“If you see that there are people who want to come voluntarily, especially free of charge, and help people living in the Donbas, you need to meet them halfway and help them move to the war zone,” Putin told his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, during a televised Russian Security Council meeting Friday.
Donbas is a region of eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed separatists have declared independent “republics” and where Putin has baselessly accused Ukraine of committing a genocide against Russian speakers.
Shoigu said that Moscow has received “a colossal number of applications” from across the world to join what it is calling a “Ukrainian liberation movement.” The defense minister said the Kremlin got more than 16,000 applications, of which most came from the Middle East.
‘Putin must pay the price’: Biden announces move on Russian trade status
President Biden formally urged Congress on Friday to end normal trade relations with Russia and announced a new slate of bans on Russian imports and exports.
During brief remarks at the White House, Biden said these moves are being made in collaboration with other global powers, noting that the “world is coming together” to punish Russia.
Biden and leaders from the six other Group of Seven nations will on Friday announce new economic actions against Russia meant to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Biden of the United States called for Congress to remove Russia from its “most-favored country status”, which allows Russian imports to be preferred. Russian products won’t be eligible for preferential status in America if the “most-favored nation” status is revoked.
Biden will sign an executive order to end the exportation of luxury items to any person in Russia, including high-end watches, apparel, alcohol and jewelry. This executive order will ban imports from certain “signature” segments of Russia’s economy such as seafood, vodka, and non-industrial diamonds. The White House claims that Russia will lose more than $1 million in export revenues as a result of this executive order.
“We’re going to hit Putin harder because the United States and our closest allies and partners are acting in unison,” Biden said. The Russian economy is being crushed by our sanctions and export control. Ruble has lost more than half its value.”
Biden again speaks to Zelensky, moves to ban Russian vodka, seafood
President Biden said Friday morning that he spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky to underscore U.S. support for Ukraine.
According to the White House, Biden “highlighted how the United States is continuing to surge security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine.” The president also updated Zelensky on the actions the United States will take Friday in coordination with the Group of Seven nations and the European Union to further raise costs on Russia.
The president also announced that he will ask Congress to strip Russia of its “most-favored nation” status, which would mean further economic restraints on the country.
Biden said he told Zelensky once again that “the United States stands with the people of Ukraine and their bravery as they fight to defend their country.”
The new sanctions on Russia would mean the country’s exports would not receive favored-nation treatment in the U.S. economy.
Biden also plans to sign an executive order banning the export of luxury goods from the United States to Russia and prohibiting imports to the United States of Russian seafood and vodka, among other products.
“As Putin continues this merciless assault, the United States and our allies and partners continue to work in lockstep to ramp up their economic pressure on Putin and to further isolate Russia on the global stage,” Biden said.
“Revoking [this status] for Russia is going to make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States,” Biden added. It’s already suffering very badly.”
Instagram access in Russia will be limited due to posts urging ‘violent acts,’ media regulator says
The Russian government announced Friday that access to Instagram would be limited in the country due to posts “containing calls to commit violent acts” against Russian citizens in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“The Instagram social network distributes informational materials containing calls to commit violent acts against citizens of the Russian Federation, including military personnel,” Russia’s media regulator said in a news release.
The Russian prosecutor general’s office wants the company Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to be declared an extremist organization and to be banned in the country.
The move comes after the prosecutor general asked Russia’s media regulator to block access to Instagram because of actions “aimed at inciting hatred and enmity toward the citizens of the Russian Federation.” The agency said earlier this month that it was blocking Facebook.
The news followed reports that Facebook will allow calls for violence against Russian forces as the assault on Ukraine rages, creating an unusual exception to its long-standing hate speech rules that prohibit such language. The company stated that users will now be able to call for President Vladimir Putin’s death or the arrest of his ally, Alexander Lukashenko. This is in addition to allowing them the right to make calls for violence against Russian civilians, including those from Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.
A company spokesman said it has temporarily made allowances for what “would normally violate our rules, like violent speech such as ‘Death to the Russian invaders.'” The spokesman added, “We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.”
A Russian lawmaker said earlier Friday that Russia could ban Instagram if it confirms the change in content moderation policy or if Meta does not respond to an inquiry. “Silence will be viewed as a confirmation in this case,” Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the Russian State Duma, told television channel Russia 24. The “sharpest” option would have been to stop the platforms, he said.
Ukraine military says Russia attacked Belarusian town in attempt to draw nation into war
ODESSA, Ukraine — Ukraine’s military claimed Friday that Russia conducted an airstrike on a Belarusian town in an attempt to blame Ukraine for the attack and prompt Belarusian forces to fight with Russia.
At 2: 30 p.m., Russian planes left an airfield over Belarus, entered Ukrainian airspace and then turned around over the northwestern Ukrainian towns of Tumen and Horodyshche, the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement on Twitter. According to the statement, they then “inflicted an infernal defeat on the settlement Kopani”, a Belarusian village near the Ukrainian border.
In a Facebook post, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Russia “is preparing a series of bloody provocations” on Belarusian territory.
“To mask this crime, Russia intends to carry out the strike from Ukrainian airspace,” Reznikov wrote. “The purpose of this provocation is to force the current leadership of Belarus into war against Ukraine.”
“I guarantee that the Ukrainian army did not plan, is not planning and will not plan any aggressive actions against Belarus,” Reznikov added.
However, the Belarus Defense Ministry, on its official Telegram channel, denied that any airstrikes had taken place.
“The disseminated information about the strikes on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is another provocation and an attempt to destabilize Belarusian society,” the ministry’s statement said.
Ukraine has said Russia is launching missiles at Ukraine from Belarusian territory but that Belarusian troops have yet to participate in the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met in Moscow on Friday. Lukashenko stated that he had supported Russia’s invasion of Donbas and that Ukraine was “placing positions to attack Belarus” in his opening remarks. Kyiv denied these allegations.
Russians strike Kharkiv boarding school for children with psychological disabilities, Ukrainian officials say
Kharkiv emergency services said Friday that Russian forces struck and destroyed a boarding school for children with psychological and nervous disabilities in the Izyum region.
Oleh Synehubov, the governor of Kharkiv Oblast, said the number of victims in the attack at the Oskil Psychoneurological Institute is still “being determined.” The
State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast wrote in a Facebook post that there were no victims as of Friday morning.
Synehubov said that 330 people were in the building at the time of the strike, and that 73 were evacuated to a neighboring boarding school. According to Kharkiv emergency service, most of the people affected by the strike were located in safe areas.
The governor denounced what he called the latest “brutal attack on civilians.”
“This is a war crime against civilians, genocide of the Ukrainian nation!” he exclaimed.
Photos posted to social media by Kharkiv emergency services show what’s left of a building that’s now mostly rubble.
“The explosion resulted in the destruction of the building’s construction structures at the 2nd and 3rd floors, as well as local occupations in several places,” the agency wrote.
The strikes in Kharkiv come at a time when at least 27 schools have been destroyed by Russian forces, according to the city’s mayor, Igor Terekhov.
“Children died in the city, it’s terrible,” Terekhov said during a Thursday video conference with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D). “It’s a terrible situation.”
Oil, stocks waver as investors keep watch on Ukraine
U.S. stocks wavered Friday, with markets mixed in morning trading as investors stayed glued to headlines pouring out of Ukraine.
Around 10: 15 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up about 130 points, or 0.4 percent. The S&P 500 was virtually flat, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down about 0. 25 percent.
Wall Street has endured a volatile start to 2022 that has only been compounded by the situation in Ukraine. After the failure of the first round of high-level talks between Russia, Ukraine and Russia to resolve their differences, global stocks crashed on Thursday. Russia’s military aggression in western Ukraine has only made matters worse.
“Stocks and futures spiked after unconfirmed comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin that there was a positive shift in current talks with Ukraine,” Ivan Feinseth, chief investment officer at Tigress Financial Partners, said Friday in comments emailed to The Post. “While there has been no confirmation or response from Ukrainian President Zelensky or its foreign minister, the market’s reaction continues to highlight how powerful a snapback could be if there is a cease-fire and some type of diplomatic negotiation.”
Geopolitical conflicts are normally shrugged off by investors, but the far-reaching implications of the situation in Ukraine have kept it keenly in focus. Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, and further disruption to energy markets will only exacerbate inflation that already surged to a 40-year high before the invasion.
Oil prices — which have brushed $130 in recent trading — edged up but remained well-below recent highs, with Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, climbed 1.3 percent to trade around $110. 75 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. oil benchmark, gained about 1.2 percent to trade around $107 per barrel.
The U.S. average price for a gallon of gas Friday was $4. 33, up 50 cents from last week. At the same time last year, the national average was just $2.82.
European markets, which also sold off sharply Thursday, rebounded Friday. The benchmark Stoxx 600 index gained 2 percent in midday trading, while Germany’s DAX (which is very Russia-exposed) bounced nearly 3.5 percent. France’s CAC40 gained 2.4 percent, and Britain’s FTSE100 advanced 1.4 percent.
Visiting Romania, Harris says the world is ‘witnessing horror’ in Ukraine
Vice President Harris said Friday that the world is “witnessing horror” in Ukraine, as she continued a trip abroad to reassure NATO allies increasingly anxious about Russian aggression.
She made the comment at a news conference in Bucharest following a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
“It is painful to watch what is happening to innocent people in Ukraine who just want to live in their own country and have pride in themselves as Ukrainians, who want to be home speaking the language they know, going to the church that they know, raising their children in the community where their families have lived for generations,” Harris said. “We have the unfortunate experience, all of us right now who are not in Ukraine, of witnessing horror.”
On Thursday, Harris voiced support for investigating Russia for war crimes following a meeting in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
“I’ll say it again: We are clear that any intentional attack or targeting of civilians is a war crime. Period,” Harris said Friday.
During the news conference, Harris also thanked Romanian citizens for accepting Ukrainian refugees and touted the efforts of the United States and its allies to hold Putin responsible through economic sanctions.
“The Russian stock market is still not open,” Harris said. “Their credit rating is now junk, and there will be more announcements about more action that we will take to ensure serious consequence for what is atrocious and outrageous conduct on behalf of the Russian people by Putin.”
Belarusian leader Lukashenko claims electricity restored to Chernobyl ‘by force’; Ukraine says power still cut off
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that his country had to use force to restore electricity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, but Ukraine’s state nuclear power regulator disputed the assertion, saying power to the closed but still hazardous facility remains cut off.
“Now we see what is happening in Chernobyl,” Lukashenko, a close Kremlin ally, said during a meeting Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. You asked for electricity. It is clear that the [the Ukrainian authorities] don’t need electricity. They are fighting back against whatever happened there. We have brought electricity there by force, just as I promised.”
Even though the Chernobyl plant has remained closed following a catastrophic 1986 nuclear accident there, maintaining its electricity supply is crucial to cooling nuclear fuel stored there and preventing another disaster. Ukrainian authorities warned that radiation could leak if the high-voltage power line to the plant is not fixed. These lines were destroyed during fighting to control the plant which is currently occupied by Russian troops.
“Attempts to restore the external power supply to the site are in progress,” the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine said in a statement, Reuters reported. An emergency diesel generator has been activated in the event of no power coming from the grid. However, Ukrainian authorities are concerned that it might run out of fuel.
In his meeting with Putin, Lukashenko repeated Kremlin talking points about the invasion, which was launched in part from Belarusian territory.
“People are slowly beginning to understand what is what and who has truth on their side,” Lukashenko said.
“That’s why it was not us who unleashed this war,” he said. Our conscience is unambiguous. It’s good that we participated in it. Biological weapons, the largest nuclear power plants, and they stood ready to blow it all up.”
Referring to the alleged Belarusian effort to restore electricity to Chernobyl, he added: “Had we not done it the day before, believe me, in a few days we would have drunk the whole cup, with huge losses.”
After more than two weeks of war, the Russian military grinds forward at a heavy cost
They don’t fully control the skies, despite possessing one of the world’s most advanced air forces. They have been slowly advancing on the capital for several days with an extended convoy that is hampered by supplies. They are also suffering heavy equipment and personnel losses.
Two weeks after Russian forces streamed into neighboring Ukraine following months of buildup, evidence is mounting that the invasion has not gone to plan — and that Russia’s much-vaunted military may not be the formidable force once feared.
Kellyanne Conway, who coined ‘alternative facts,’ claims Biden has ‘a fact problem’ on Russian invasion
Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump who coined the phrase “alternative facts,” claimed Thursday night that President Biden and his administration have “a fact problem” when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Conway, one of the most influential people in Trump’s inner circle, said Biden and White House press secretary Jen Psaki have “lost credibility” in their messaging on the war. Conway claimed, with no evidence, that the White House is ignoring facts in its messaging about the war and high fuel prices to Americans.
“I like to say the Democrats don’t have, this administration doesn’t have, a messaging problem,” she said. “They have a fact problem.”
When asked for a comment about Conway’s remarks, a White House spokesman responded by pointing to The Washington Post’s “strong reporting on Trump caving to and empowering Russia.”
The Washington Post’s Tony Romm reported that President Biden is set Friday to call on Congress to end normal trade relations between the United States and Russia, opening the door for the administration to impose new tariffs in response to the Russian invasion.
Conway famously uttered the phrase “alternative facts” in January 2017 in an interview on “Meet the Press,” using the term to explain then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s false and easily disprovable claims about the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd.
“Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck,” Conway told NBC News’s Chuck Todd. “You’re saying it’s a falsehood, and they’re giving — our press secretary, Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts to that.”
Footage shows aftermath of deadly Russian strike on shoe factory in Dnipro
Russian aerial bombardment struck a factory Friday in Dnipro, Ukraine, killing at least one person, according to video verified by The Washington Post.
The footage shows catastrophic damage to the shoe factory in a largely residential district of the city, with sections of the building completely collapsed. The explosion caused a huge firestorm and emergency crews were seen trying to extinguish it. The video shows at least one victim, who is covered in debris.
The State Emergency Services of Ukraine reported that the strike occurred around 6: 10 a.m., killing one person and damaging eight nearby apartment buildings.
A separate security camera video in a nearby industrial area, shows the bombardment early Friday followed by a massive explosion in an area near the strike.
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