Yesterday at 12: 20 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 8: 45 p.m. EDT
Yesterday at 12: 20 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 8: 45 p.m. EDT
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Officials in Kyiv and the western city of Lviv reported explosions Saturday, after Russia warned it would step up strikes on Ukraine’s capital in retaliation for purported Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. Russian officials claimed to have hit a military hardware facility in Kyiv.
The attack comes after Ukrainian forces sank the Moskva, the premier warship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, with Ukrainian-made anti-ship missiles, a senior U.S. defense official told The Washington Post on Friday. Moscow disputes Kyiv’s account, maintaining that the ship was lost in a fire that detonated munitions onboard.
Meanwhile, Russia appears to be on the verge of capturing the devastated port city of Mariupol, which is strategically important to the Kremlin because it would connect Russian-annexed Crimea with Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that the situation is “difficult” and warned that if Mariupol is found to have suffered atrocities on the scale of those uncovered in Bucha and other cities, it could be the end of any negotiations with Russia. The Kremlin has given Mariupol a deadline of 6 a.m. Sunday Moscow time (11 p.m. Saturday Eastern time) to surrender, according to a Russian state news site.
Here’s what to know
- Another Russian general, Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov of the 8th Army, died in battle in Ukraine, the governor of St. Petersburg said — the latest in a string of deaths involving high-ranking Russian commanders.
- Aiming to exert greater pressure on Moscow, Zelensky asked President Biden to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, one of the most powerful and far-reaching sanctions in the U.S. arsenal.
- The director of the U.N. World Food Program warned that the disruption of grain exports from Ukraine could cause a global grain shortage and, consequently, a hunger crisis.
- The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates.
Pope gives well-wishes to Ukrainian leaders at Easter service
Pope Francis told Ukrainian leaders in attendance at his Easter vigil service that the church is praying for the suffering caused by the onset of Russia’s war against their country.
“In this darkness that you are living, Mr. Mayor, parliamentarians, the thick darkness of war, of cruelty, we are all praying, praying with you and for you this night,” he said. In attendance were officials, including Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who has been exiled from Melitopol in Ukraine’s southeast since Russia took control of the city early in the invasion.
This is the second time in less than 48 hours that the pope has addressed the war. His Good Friday sermon at the Colosseum in Rome called for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine and attracted criticism from Ukrainian faith leaders who disliked that Ukrainians and Russians carried a cross together during the service. The spiritual leaders said that the dual carrying of the cross makes the suffering of Ukrainians and Russians appear equal.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, called the notion “inopportune, ambiguous” and said it doesn’t take into account the aggression that Russia has demonstrated since it waged war on neighboring Ukraine in late February.
In the Easter homily, Francis exalted the reason for the gathering, saying the greatest thing they were celebrating that day was the rise of Jesus.
“We can only give you our company, our prayer and say to you: ‘Courage! We are accompanying you,’” he told the Ukrainians.
American says he’s alive and not in Ukraine despite Russian video
Cesar Quintana, a 35-year-old father in California, has watched the Russian invasion of Ukraine from afar in horror, unable to visit the warring region to see his 2-year-old son taken by his estranged wife.
On Saturday, Quintana bore witness to yet another maneuver by the Russians: this time using his passport to claim Quintana died fighting on the front lines, even though he was home in California. Quintana heard about the disinformation spread through a pro-Russian Telegram channel from his friend who monitors Russian media.
“It’s pure propaganda,” Quintana told The Washington Post on Saturday, hours after a Russian Army service member claimed in a video that Quintana joined the Ukrainians fighting in Mariupol and died. Showing Quintana’s passport with penciled coordinates, the service member said troops were sharing the location of his body for the benefit of Quintana’s family.
“These are for his relatives, so they will be able to bury him after the fighting ends,” the man said in Russian. “We are people, and we must remain as such.”
Quintana theorized that Mariupol authorities aligned with Russians gave them his passport, which was confiscated in December by police when he tried to retrieve his son, Alexander, as Russian troops amassed at the border of Ukraine. His estranged wife, Antonina Aslanova, had abducted Alexander over a year earlier and gone back to her homeland, authorities say.
Quintana had hoped to return to Ukraine in March to “work out a deal” with Aslanova to get the child back to California. But Aslanova took Alexander to Russia, where Quintana fears the boy is out of reach.
“He might as well be on the moon,” Quintana said. “How am I ever going to get him back from Russia?”
War in Ukraine generates interest in nuclear energy, despite danger
The war in Ukraine has intensified interest across Europe in building new nuclear energy plants or extending the lives of old ones to liberate the continent from its heavy reliance on Russian oil and natural gas.
Belgium made an about-face, deciding to keep open a pair of reactors slated for closure. The Czech Republic invited Western companies to deliver nuclear fuel to replace Russian supplies. Poland is negotiating to build new reactors in a quiet seaside town. The war has reversed the tenor of the nuclear debate, just when its prospects had seemed to dim.
The heightened interest comes as the war in Ukraine shows the dangers of building nuclear reactors on NATO’s front line. Fighting around Ukraine’s nuclear sites raised alarms about damage that enemy troops, drones and missiles might inflict on installations — damage that could lead to radiation releases, which have been linked to a range of cancers years later.
Analysis: Zelensky, Biden use moral outrage as weapons in the conflict with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became a symbol of resistance and resilience in the early days of the war after the Russians invaded his country without provocation. He has also become a voice of moral clarity in the ways in which he has challenged the leaders of the West, upon whose nations he is dependent for support in the war effort.
President Biden also has used his bully pulpit to project — sometimes in undiplomatic ways — his own sense of moral outrage toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and the atrocities Russian military forces have inflicted on Ukrainian citizens during two months of war.
Both probably know the limits of their rhetoric versus the realities of what they are facing. There are obvious risks for both, though different for each leader. But in leveraging their positions, they have added something beyond realpolitik to the broader discussion about the implications of the war for the world at large and for what will happen when the conflict subsides.
Biden has power that Zelensky doesn’t have, but he is constrained by the possible consequences of his actions. Zelensky has less power but has found that morally charged rhetoric is one weapon he can employ and he has chosen to do constantly and consistently.
Another Russian general is killed in Ukraine, governor says
Russian Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov of the 8th Army died in battle in Ukraine and was buried in Russia on Saturday, according to a statement from the governor of St. Petersburg.
The statement from Alexander Beglov offered no details of when or where Frolov was killed. As deputy commander of the 8th Army, Frolov commanded forces deployed to an area near Mariupol, the devastated port city that Russia appears on the verge of capturing.
Russian state media outlet Fontanka reported that Beglov claimed Frolov, whom he described as “a true patriot,” “fell the death of the brave.”
“The people will not forget their heroes,” Beglov said in a statement. “Eternal memory to him.”
Pictures on Russian state media show Frolov’s gravesite at the Serafimovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg covered in red flowers.
Frolov is one of several Russian generals who have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began more than seven weeks ago.
Thousands evacuated Saturday despite persistent shelling, Ukraine says
More than 1,400 people were evacuated through humanitarian corridors on Saturday despite persistent Russian shelling that made it difficult to carry out efforts in various parts of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
The city of Zaporizhzhia received 1,381 people from hard-hit areas of the southeast who traveled in their own vehicles, with residents from Polohy, Vasylivka, Berdyansk and Melitopol making up the majority of those who arrived, Vereshchuk said through Telegram.
Nearly 70 people were evacuated from the eastern region of Luhansk in the face of Russian shelling.
Vereshchuk said the density of shelling prevented the evacuation of people from the eastern city of Lysychansk.
Zelensky: All negotiations could end if Mariupol defenders are killed
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia could end if Russian forces killed all the Ukrainians defending the port city of Mariupol.
In an interview with Ukrainian media, Zelensky was asked about cease-fire and peace negotiations that came to a halt after destruction in cities such as Bucha and Borodyanka, an area northwest of Kyiv that had been pounded by airstrikes earlier this month. The devastation in Borodyanka gouged huge chunks out of residential buildings.
Zelensky warned that if Mariupol is found to have suffered atrocities on the scale of those uncovered in Bucha and other cities, it could be the end of the negotiations.
“There could be 10 Borodyankas there,” he said of Mariupol.
Zelensky added that “the destruction of all our boys in Mariupol” could “[put an end] to any format of negotiations.” He told the journalists that they know what part of Mariupol Ukrainian forces control “and how small it is.”
“I believe this is a big mistake if they definitely want to end the war as they say,” Zelensky said of Russian aggression in the port city. “This is a dead end because … we aren’t bartering using our territories and people. And we understand that the talks are needed to defend our country and end the war.”
Cease-fire negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have essentially collapsed in recent weeks, with both sides unwilling to engage in serious talks, according to an analysis released Friday by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
Zelensky noted to Ukrainian media that the situation in Mariupol is “very difficult,” acknowledging that “many people have disappeared” from the city. He reiterated that the wounded who remained blocked from leaving Mariupol needed to get out.
“A cease-fire is needed to pick up the wounded,” he said, according to the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. “But it depends on Russia’s desire. They offer our people to surrender.”
Zach Nelson contributed to this report.
Moskva crew will continue to serve, Russian military official says
A top Russian military official and other navy leaders told the crew of the Moskva warship that they would continue to serve after the ship was destroyed Thursday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, commander in chief of the Russian navy, and the command of Russia’s Black Sea fleet met with the crew members in Sevastopol, the largest city in the Russian-annexed Crimea region. They told the crew that the Moskva’s traditions “will be carefully preserved and continued,” the defense ministry said Saturday.
Video of the event showed several dozen servicemen standing in two lines. It remains unclear whether any of the 500-person crew was killed or injured.
Ukrainian troops used anti-ship missiles Wednesday to hit the Moskva, the crown jewel of the Black Sea fleet, a senior U.S. defense official told The Washington Post on Friday. The ship sank the next day. Moscow continues to deny that version of events and claim the ship was demolished in a fire that detonated ammunition onboard.
Kyiv wants Washington to name Moscow a state sponsor of terrorism. What would that mean?
As Russia renews and refocuses its attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine, and as more evidence of apparent Russian atrocities emerges, Kyiv has asked Washington to deploy one of the most potent tools in its arsenal: adding Moscow to the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a direct appeal to President Biden during a recent phone call, The Washington Post reported. (Polish President Andrzej Duda also accused Russia of terrorism this week while on a visit to Kyiv.) But Biden — who has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” — did not commit to specific actions on the call, according to people familiar with the conversation.
The United States has led a financial war against the Kremlin since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, while also providing significant military assistance to Kyiv. Here’s what to know about Zelensky’s latest request and what Washington might make of it.
The latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine
Russian-held areas and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POL.
Separatist-
controlled
area
Kyiv
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Mariupol
ROMANIA
Odessa
200 MILES
Control areas as of April 16
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
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
UKRAINE
Kharkiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
Odessa
Mariupol
Berdyansk
ROMANIA
Kherson
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black Sea
Control areas as of April 16
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Sumy
Kyiv
Lviv
UKRAINE
Kharkiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
Mykolaiv
Mariupol
Berdyansk
ROMANIA
Kherson
Odessa
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Control areas as of April 16
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
Mariupol: Russian forces appear poised to capture this strategic southern port city, surrounding Ukrainian defenders holding out in the Azovstal steel plant, one of the largest iron and steel works in Europe. After a weeks-long siege, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told CNN on Friday that Mariupol “is no more.” In his Saturday evening address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said conditions in Mariupol remained “as severe as possible” and were “just inhuman.”
Kharkiv region: Indiscriminate bombardments in the eastern region have ramped up as Russian forces move into the area. The regional governor, Oleh Synyehubov, warned residents to be careful amid increased attacks on residential areas and businesses, including a World Central Kitchen partner restaurant. One person was killed and 18 were injured when a rocket hit the city on Saturday, Synyehubov said. In the city of Izyum, Russian troops continue to amass troops, according to the Washington-based Institute of War.
Luhansk region: Shelling by Russian forces in Lysychansk is making it difficult for civilians to evacuate, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Saturday. The city of Severodonetsk is “70% destroyed,” he wrote, while other towns have been destroyed “beyond recognition.”
Kyiv region: Russian officials said Saturday that they had struck a military hardware facility in the city after Moscow warned of retaliatory strikes on Ukraine’s capital after Ukrainian forces struck the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, with two Neptune missiles on Thursday.
Lviv region: Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems downed Russian cruise missiles Saturday morning in the western region, Gov. Maksym Kozytsky wrote on Telegram.
Kherson: Although this port city on the Dnieper River was seized by Russian forces during the first week of the war, Moscow appears to have lost control of part of it after Ukrainian resistance and civilian protests, the U.S. Defense Department has said. New satellite imagery shows hundreds of graves being dug there.
Photos: Aftermath of Russian attack in Kharkiv
Associated Press photojournalist Felipe Dana was on the scene after a Russian attack in Kharkiv on Saturday.
He made these images as fighting continues in Ukraine and people in the eastern part of the country try to evacuate.
Dana documented the devastation from the attack, as well as firefighters trying to extinguish multiple fires in Kharkiv.
The story of one man’s body found in an abandoned Russian military camp
BUCHA, Ukraine — Police found the body in an abandoned Russian military camp where occupying soldiers had sat around drinking wine, their laughter so loud that neighbors seethed as it echoed down Yablunska Street.
They had known for weeks that there was a body in the camp, yet another among so many corpses the Russians left behind. Overwhelmed crews picking them up simply hadn’t gotten to it yet. So no one knew it was Ivan Monastyrskyi.
His neighbor was the first to identify him, recognizing the unshaven face of a man who had watched his beloved street become a killing field. When his wife, Yulia, approached the body, her blue eyes froze.
There were bullet holes in his calves and his arms were stretched out at strange angles between slats of wood with nails through them. His wife looked at the thin sweater he was wearing and couldn’t help thinking how he must have been so cold in his final minutes.
Yulia’s neighbors heard her that night, inconsolable.
“What happened?” they heard her crying. “What did they do to him?”
Ukraine’s richest man pledges to help rebuild battered Mariupol
Ukraine’s richest man vowed Saturday to help rebuild Mariupol, a strategic southeastern port city that is close to being captured by Russian forces following seven weeks of constant bombardment.
Rinat Akhmetov, who owns Metinvest, Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker, told Reuters that his business has been shattered during the invasion, with Metinvest announcing it was unable to deliver on its supply contracts. He praised fighters in Mariupol who have slowed down Russia’s efforts to claim the city and who have remained defiant throughout the invasion.
“Mariupol is a global tragedy and a global example of heroism,” he said. “For me, Mariupol has been and will always be a Ukrainian city.”
Akhmetov added, “I believe that our brave soldiers will defend the city, though I understand how difficult and hard it is for them.”
Analysts are predicting that Mariupol will be the first major Ukrainian city to fall in the coming days. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said Friday that Mariupol “has been wiped off the face of the earth” by Russian forces.
But Akhmetov emphasized to Reuters that his hope is to rebuild the city into “a Ukrainian Mariupol” and ramp up Mariupol-produced steel through his SCM Group, a private financial and industrial company, so the port city can one again compete in global markets.
“I am confident that, as the country’s biggest private business, SCM will play a key role in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine,” he said.
Among the facilities owned by Akhmetov is the Azovstal steel plant, one of the largest metallurgical factories in Europe. The Azov Battalion, one of Ukraine’s most skilled — and controversial — military units, has defended the sprawling steel plant in the city’s east against repeated assaults from Russian forces this week, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
Akhmetov, whose net worth is listed by Forbes at $3.9 billion, called for an “unprecedented international reconstruction program, a Marshall Plan for Ukraine,” referencing the U.S. aid project that assisted in rebuilding Western Europe after World War II.
“I trust that we all will rebuild a free, European, democratic and successful Ukraine after our victory in this war,” he said to Reuters.
Ukraine’s prime minister to travel to D.C. for financial meetings
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other senior officials will visit Washington in coming days to attend financial meetings, a World Bank official told The Washington Post on Saturday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the visit has yet to be officially announced.
Ukraine’s prime minister, along with the country’s finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, and the head of its central bank, Kyrylo Shevchenko, will attend the spring meetings hosted by the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, according to the official, although Ukraine has not yet confirmed their travel. The trip was first reported by Reuters. Representatives from the Group of Seven countries will also attend the meetings.
The event focused on Ukraine will take place on Thursday, along with bilateral meetings, according to the World Bank official.
Although a number of Western leaders and officials have visited Kyiv since the Russian invasion, this appears to be the first time that a high-level Ukrainian delegation will travel to the United States. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this past week that President Biden will not visit Ukraine, amid growing speculation that a top U.S. official could soon make the trip.
On Tuesday, the World Bank announced it was preparing a nearly $1.5 billion support package for Ukraine, to aid the “continuation of essential government services during the war.”
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also warned in recent days that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was weakening the economic prospects for most of the world’s countries and disrupting global trade, as well as negatively impacting energy and food prices.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his nation late Friday in an address that he had chaired a cabinet meeting to discuss “urgent economic issues,” as swaths of industry have been hurt by the war. He said four-fifths of all Ukrainian enterprises in safe areas have resumed operations and that transport networks were being rebuilt. He praised businesses for adapting during the conflict and retaining employees.
“No matter what, in all cities and communities where there are no occupiers and hostilities, it is necessary to restore the economy to the maximum,” Zelensky said.
Benjamin Soloway contributed to this report.
