Yesterday at 12: 20 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 11: 39 p.m. EDT
Yesterday at 12: 20 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 11: 39 p.m. EDT
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World leaders stepped up efforts to isolate Russia in response to mounting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, with the United Nations voting Thursday to suspend the Russian delegation from the Human Rights Council and the European Union approving a plan to phase out imports of Russian coal.
The coal ban, which will take full effect mid-August, is the fifth sanctions package against Russia to be adopted by the E.U. Although Ukrainian leaders have called on Western allies for more action to stop the money flowing to Russia, this fourth sanctions package against Russia to be adopted by the E.U. Thursday’s vote only applies to coal. It does not prohibit other Russian energy imports like oil and natural gas.
Global outrage has grown since the brutal slaying of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha was revealed after Russian forces withdrew. Ukrainians in the country’s east have been urged to flee as Russian forces shift and regroup. Airstrikes in Donetsk caused a disruption to a train evacuation route on Thursday.
Here’s what to know
- In a rare admission, the Kremlin’s spokesperson acknowledged that Russia has suffered “significant losses of troops” in Ukraine.
- Congress sent two bills aimed at punishing Russia and aiding Ukraine to President Biden for his signature.
- Ukraine’s top diplomat made a pointed appeal to NATO leaders to expedite arms supplies to Ukrainian forces before Russia launches an expected offensive in the country’s east.
- Germany’s foreign intelligence service says it intercepted radio communications in which Russian troops discuss indiscriminately killing soldiers and civilians in Ukraine.
- The Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates.
UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
Zelensky impersonator flees Ukraine, helped by fake Putin, Kim Jong Un
The day after Russia invaded his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the world that he was “the enemy’s number one target.” Around the same time, a man famous for looking startlingly like Zelensky — and who had worked for years as his impersonator — was taking shelter in a bunker while missiles rained down near the capital of Kyiv.
As the real Zelensky took to the streets of the capital, wearing a bulletproof jacket in a video he released to dispel any notion he was fleeing — even as the United States warned him of threats to his life — the fake Zelensky soon realized he needed all the help he could get.
When you look exactly like the man leading a country during a war, life becomes even more strange, and fast. As Umid Isabaev, 41, started contemplating his own precarious position, he was offered help from two unusual figures: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
A month into the war, these companies still struggle to exit Russia
Businesses have found it increasingly hard to justify continued operations in Russia as troubling images of death and despair filter out of Ukraine and Western governments take steps to further isolate Russia economically.
Chip-making giant Intel is the latest global corporation to halt business in Russia, saying Wednesday that it was calling for “a swift return to peace.” The same day, the White House announced a new sanctions package that includes a prohibition on new investment in Russia by any U.S. person — a measure which legal experts said could hasten the departure of many more firms lingering in the country.
The investment ban comes after more than 600 multinational corporations announced plans to voluntarily exit Russia while making the country less attractive to those businesses which plan to stay. At least 155 companies have resisted demands to exit or reduce activities there while another 96 are holding off on new investments or trying to buy time, according to Jeff Sonnenfeld, a Yale professor who is tracking corporate investments in Russia.
Biden at war: Inside a deliberate yet impulsive Ukraine strategy
The crowd at Warsaw’s Royal Castle was still jubilantly waving Polish and American flags when President Biden’s aides realized they had a serious problem. Biden had just delivered a forceful speech March 26 in Poland’s capital — seeking to rally the world against Russia’s war in Ukraine — before careening off-script in the final minute of his remarks to seemingly call for the removal of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
Offstage — as their motorcade idled, waiting to spirit the U.S. president back to Air Force One and back to Washington — Biden’s team raced to clean up his ad-lib. As the group discussed their options, Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, took charge. Biden himself — who ended his remarks at 6: 43 p.m. — also helped workshop and sign off on a statement.
At 7: 20 p.m., aides blasted out a clarification: The president’s point, they said, “was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia or regime change.”
The 37-minute scramble to clarify Biden’s nine-word gaffe, details of which have not been previously reported, illustrates the singular role Biden has played during Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine — at times emotional and freewheeling, at other times carefully choreographed and deliberate, but frequently a central player in helping to marshal the West’s response to Russia.
As the war enters its seventh week Thursday, Biden has left his distinct imprint on the crisis — in ways both intentional and not, and in ways that have both clarified and complicated the situation.
Slovakia’s leader says he may give Soviet-era air defenses to Ukraine
Slovakia would provide Ukraine with requested Soviet-era antiaircraft defense missiles if the NATO member nation can obtain its own permanent replacement system, Prime Minister Eduard Heger confirmed in a New York Times interview.
Heger’s statements indicate Slovakia has not backed down from interest in delivering the systems to repel aerial strikes by Russian jets after Russia previously said it would target such shipments to Ukraine. The equipment is not being transported to the correct hands by the countries that are neighbors with Soviet-era systems such as Greece and Bulgaria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that Moscow “will not allow” the transfer of the S-300 air defense system after Slovakia made the same promise, seeking a replacement system from the United States.
While Ukraine has received other Soviet-era antiaircraft defense missiles, the S-300 can hit targets from a higher altitude and at longer range.
“We need to help Ukraine in every possible way to win this war,” Heger told the Times before he traveled to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The latest on Ukraine’s key battlegrounds and retaken cities
Russian-held areas and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POL.
Chernihiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
Kyiv
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Mariupol
Odessa
ROMANIA
200 MILES
Control zones as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War,
AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
THE WASHINGTON POST
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Separatist-
controlled
area
Odessa
Mariupol
Berdyansk
ROMANIA
Kherson
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black Sea
Control zones as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
Kharkiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
UKRAINE
Mykolaiv
Mariupol
Berdyansk
Kherson
ROMANIA
Odessa
Kherson
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Control zones as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
- Luhansk region: All medical institutions and hospitals in the easternmost province of Ukraine were destroyed by Russian forces, regional Gov. Sergey Gaidai shared photos on Telegram of shattered glass, destroyed buildings and gutted corridors. Shelling in the area has devastated high-rises and blocked evacuation trains where Ukrainian leaders have said that the fiercest fighting is now happening.
- Kharkiv region: In the neighboring region, Gov. Oleg Synegubov said Thursday that at least one woman was killed and 14 other people were wounded in Russian shelling. Residents were urged to evacuate the area. He also stated that evacuations are underway from Barvinkove and Lozova.
- Mariupol: Ukrainian and Russian officials’ accounts of the status of the hard-hit port city in southeastern Ukraine conflicted Thursday, both claiming control after the city has been under a Russian siege for weeks. An estimated 100,000 residents are believed to be caught in clashes and rationing dwindling supplies.
- Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touted diplomats’ return to the capital formerly under bombardment in his address Thursday, as Russian forces have retreated from the area. Since the withdrawal from the area, German intelligence has shown the involvement of Russian troops in the slaying of citizens in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.
- Borodyanka: When Ukrainian authorities returned to the newly liberated community, 30 miles northwest of Kyiv, they discovered decimated buildings, rattled survivors and a growing number of bodies. During a search of two apartment buildings, 26 bodies were found under the rubble, said Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova. And there was still more debris and many other structures to search, she said, calling Borodyanka “the most destroyed city in the Kyiv region.”
- Melitopol: Mayor Ivan Fedorov said Russians have kidnapped more than 100 people, including teachers at the State Pedagogical University, as occupying Russians seek to resume education under their control.
Zelensky warns of more civilian deaths after Russia’s suspension from U.N. Human Rights Council
In his nightly video address, Zelensky applauded Russia’s suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council and again warned that Russia would attempt to cover up alleged atrocities.
“Russia has nothing to do with this concept of human rights for a long time already,” said Zelensky, pointing to Bucha and Borodyanka, cities where many civilians are feared dead, before saying it will be much worse in Mariupol.
“There, on almost every street, is what the world saw in Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian troops. It was the same cruelties. He said that the same horrible crimes were committed.”
Russian officials have called images of dead bodies fake and denied involvement even as more photos and video surface.
Zelensky said Russia will likely further attempt to rebut reports of civilian deaths by staging scenes to blame Ukraine.
“To justify their own killings, they take the murdered people simply as scenery as propaganda props,” he said. “And this is a separate war crime, for which each of the propagandists will be held accountable.”
Harrowing reports emerge in Borodyanka, where toll could exceed Bucha
When Ukrainian authorities returned to the newly liberated community of Borodyanka, 30 miles northwest of Kyiv, they discovered decimated buildings, rattled survivors and an increasing number of bodies.
Cleanup in the town began Wednesday, and by Thursday officials said more than 200 people had been reported missing — a number they expect to quickly rise, along with the death toll. Before Ukrainian troops retook it, Borodyanka was relentlessly pummeled by Russian airstrikes and occupied by Moscow’s forces, who dug a trench through a playground.
During a search of two apartment buildings, 26 bodies were found under the rubble, said Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova. And there was still more debris and many other structures to search, she said, calling Borodyanka “the most destroyed city in the Kyiv region.”
“Evidence of Russian war crimes is here at every turn,” she said in a post to Twitter.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the death toll there may be even higher than that of Bucha, the suburb where Ukrainian officials say Russian troops killed more than 300 civilians.
Officials have so far confirmed 400 civilians killed in the Kyiv region, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said Thursday.
“But this figure will increase,” Herashchenko said.
Zachary Nelson and Paulina Firozi contributed to this report.
Canada pledges nearly $400 million in new military aid to Ukraine
TORONTO — Canada will provide nearly $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine and offer up to $790 million in new loan resources through the International Monetary Fund, according to the federal budget released Thursday.
“Because they are fighting our fight — a fight for democracy — it is in our urgent national interest to ensure that they have the missiles and the money they need to win,” Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, said in prepared budget speech remarks. “And that is what this budget helps to provide.”
The budget also pledged a review of Canadian defense policy and an additional $6 billion in defense spending on top of already planned increases. It does not specify how this new money will be spent, and it is insufficient to help Canada reach its NATO targets.
A parliamentary budget watchdog told CTV News last month that the country would need to spend up to $20 billion each year to meet its NATO spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product. Canada contributes just 1.4%.
Ukraine presses NATO for more aid: ‘Weapons, weapons, weapons’
BRUSSELS — Ukraine’s top diplomat made a pointed appeal to NATO on Thursday to drop reservations about providing additional arms to Ukrainian forces that he said were urgently needed to prevent further Russian atrocities against civilians.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba traveled to Brussels to address a gathering of his counterparts from across the Western alliance, saying he had a threefold agenda: “weapons, weapons, weapons.”
“The more weapons we get, and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved,” Kuleba said ahead of the meeting. The more villages and cities that are not destroyed, the better. And there will be no more Buchas,” he said, referencing the city outside Kyiv where the withdrawal of Russian troops revealed scenes of horrific human suffering, including apparently tortured and executed civilians.
“I call on all allies to put aside their hesitations, their reluctance to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” Kuleba continued. “Because, as weird as it may sound, but today weapons serve the purpose of peace.”
Photos: People are evacuating eastern Ukraine as the war continues
Ukrainian officials have called for evacuations in three provinces near the Russian border as signs emerge that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops are escalating their assault on eastern and southern cities, The Post reported.
These photos show people attempting to leave the Kharkiv region, with some heading to the relative safety of western Ukraine.
E.U. countries approve more sanctions, including coal phase-out
European Union countries on Thursday approved a new package of sanctions that includes a phaseout of Russian coal, amid growing outrage over possible war crimes in Ukraine.
The latest E.U. The European Commission proposed Tuesday the latest E.U. sanctions package, the fifth since Russia invaded Ukraine. These measures will be in effect Friday.
What was first pitched as a ban on Russian coal will in fact be a four-month phaseout. These new sanctions will be imposed on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter and block all Russian vessels from the E.U. port, as well as ban certain technology exports to Russia. Russian banks also face sanctions.
The phaseout of Russian coal comes amid growing calls for a full-scale ban on Russian energy.
Ukrainian officials and some E.U. countries have urged the 27-member bloc to stop importing Russian energy immediately. Many countries including Germany, Hungary and others have refused to stop importing Russian energy. They are concerned about how this will impact their domestic energy prices.
As photographs of atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha circulated this week, the idea of additional energy sanctions, particularly on oil, gained traction.
Several nations, including France have suggested that an oil ban is in the making.
On Wednesday, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said sanctions on oil and gas “will also be needed sooner or later.”
European lawmakers on Thursday endorsed a nonbinding resolution calling the E.U.
In 2020, the bloc imported 20 percent of its coal from Russia, compared to 35 percent of its oil and 40 percent of its natural gas, according to the E.U. Statistics office.
Kremlin spokesman acknowledges ‘significant losses’ of Russian troops
In a stark acknowledgment, the Kremlin’s spokesman said Russia had suffered “significant losses of troops” in Ukraine, despite past proclamations of success in its invasion.
“We have significant losses of troops,” Dmitry Peskov said in a half-hour interview with Sky News on Thursday, “and it’s a huge tragedy for us.”
While Moscow has not publicly recognized the scope of its losses, a senior NATO military official estimated last month that roughly 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in the first four weeks of fighting in Ukraine.
During his first interview with a British broadcaster since the war began, Peskov pushed back when journalist Mark Austin said the Russian invasion has not gone as planned, pointing to the retreat from Kyiv, the loss of thousands of Russian troops and six Russian generals, and the continued reign of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Peskov disputed that the effort had become “a humiliation,” retorting that “it’s the wrong understanding of what’s going on.”
Peskov said the withdrawal of troops was an act of goodwill and claimed without evidence that the verified graphic photos and videos of damage and death apparently inflicted by Russian forces were “fake.”
Russian editor Muratov, a Nobel laureate, attacked on train
Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov was attacked on a train Thursday, doused with a paint-and-acetone mixture that left his eyes burning, his publication said.
The attack occurred just days after Muratov was forced to suspend Novaya Gazata’s operations until the end of Russia’s war with Ukraine, after receiving a second warning from Russian authorities.
“They poured oil paint with acetone in the compartment. In a short report by an independent newspaper, Muratov stated that his eyes were burning.
The editor, who was en route from Moscow to Samara, said the assailant shouted “Muratov, here’s one for our boys” as he threw the paint.
“Oil smell all over the carriage,” Muratov said in the report, which included photos of the mess.
The 60-year-old dean of Russian journalism has spent decades leading Novaya Gazeta, which became known for its pathbreaking investigative coverage.
In recent weeks, punitive new censorship laws in Russia have prompted many journalists to flee the country out of concern they could be arrested for reporting basic facts about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Muratov stayed and continued publishing Novaya Gazeta until March 28, when the paper said it was suspending operations because it had received a second warning from the Russian media regulator.
“Two warnings from Roskomnadzor in a year risks a revocation of our media license,” the paper said.
Blinken said U.S., allies considering additional weapons for Ukraine
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States and allies are continuously considering whether there are more weapons and systems that can be provided to support Ukraine in its efforts to push back against Russia.
“We’re not going to let anything stand in the way of getting Ukrainians what they need and what we believe can be effective,” Blinken told reporters during a briefing on Thursday after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
He said weapons provided even before Russia’s invasion began have been critical in helping Ukraine mount fierce resistance.
“And since the aggression, we have repeatedly and continuously — along with many allies and partners — supplied them with the most effective systems we believe they need to deal with the armored vehicles, to deal with tanks, to deal with planes, to deal with helicopters,” he said. “We’re looking day in and day out at what we believe they most need, to include new systems that have not heretofore been provided.”
Ukrainian officials have been pointed in their requests to NATO to fast-track weaponry support. Before the NATO meeting, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, stated that the Ukrainian government is pressing NATO to expedite weaponry support.
Blinken was also asked about whether he is pressing European leaders for a more aggressive timeline on banning Russian oil and gas, particularly after a recent call from Kuleba to “stop financing Putin’s war machine.”
Blinken said he’s hearing a commitment from Europe to end Russian energy dependence.
“We’ve seen again and again Russia use energy as a weapon, as political leverage, and of course the proceeds it gets from the sale of its energy is now — yes — helping to fuel its aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
“But it’s not like flipping a light switch — you have to do it methodically. You have to put in place the necessary alternatives.”
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