Boichenko said in a video that humanitarian supplies were unable to enter Mariupol for a sixth day Thursday, as a Russian blockade leaves the seaside hub without much water, electricity or heat and impedes communication.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said not one person has been evacuated from Mariupol, even as escape routes open for civilians in other major cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said just after midnight local time on Friday that nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated in the past two days, nearly 40,000 of them on Thursday.
Here’s what to know
Russia’s economy faces economic peril because of international punishment, Biden says
Return to menuPresident Biden told a Democratic conference on Friday that the United States, European Union, Group of Seven nations and Asian allies are taking steps to rescind Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status and financially isolate the country in response to its war against Ukraine.
“We’ve been able to ramp up our economic pressure on Putin and further isolate Russia on the global stage,” he said at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Philadelphia.
Biden noted that Russia depends heavily on its export of oil. On Tuesday, the president said he was banning all imports of oil and natural gas from Russia to the United States.
“Point is: revoking PNTR [permanent normal trade relations] for Russia has made it harder for Russia to do business with the United States and our allies,” he said. “It’s a crushing blow to Russia.”
Biden said the totality of economic sanctions against Russia will be devastating to the Russian economy. He cited the declining value of the Russian ruble compared to the U.S. dollar and the closure of the Moscow Stock Exchange for nearly two weeks.
“It’s closed for a simple reason: The moment it opens, it will be disbanded,” he said. “It will blow up.”
Analysis: These no-fly zone polls still won’t fly
Return to menuLast week, when yet another new poll suggested Americans strongly favored imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, The Fix pleaded with pollsters: How about we tell people what that would actually mean — i.e. something akin to a declaration of war with Russia — and then see where support lands?
Thankfully, a pollster has stepped forward to assist. Unfortunately, we probably still don’t really know the answer.
In a pair of new polls, YouGov noted to respondents what this probably would entail: shooting down Russian planes. But curiously, that seemed to depress support in one poll, while making very little difference in the other.
More than 40 GOP senators urge Biden to aid ‘transfer of aircraft’ to Ukraine
Return to menuMore than 40 Republican U.S. senators on Thursday called for President Biden to aid “the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems” to Ukraine after officials quashed Poland’s offer to send fighter jets with American help.
The senators said in a letter that they “strongly disagree” with the Biden administration’s stance on Poland’s proposal, and that the Ukrainian military is in “dire need of more lethal aid” as it fights Russia’s invasion. They urged the president to work with NATO allies on providing those resources — uniting behind a step that U.S. officials worry could pull the Western alliance into war.
American officials have criticized Poland’s proposal to transfer MiG-29 jets through the United States as risking escalation without significantly changing the situation in Ukraine, given that Ukraine’s air force is largely intact. Asked about the senator’s letter Thursday evening, White House spokesperson Sean Savett noted comments from the Pentagon and the U.S. military commander in Europe expressing those views.
Stalled Russian convoy appears to disperse and reposition near Kyiv
Return to menuA large, lumbering convoy of Russian military vehicles that was stalled for days near the Hostomel airport, on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv, appears to be dispersing and redeploying, according to satellite images taken Thursday morning local time.
The images, captured and distributed by U.S. firm Maxar Technologies, indicate that some of these Russian forces have been repositioned to towns including Berestyanka and Ivankiv. In Lubyanka, about 20 miles from the center of Kyiv, Russian military equipment is shown deployed along tree lines, with towed artillery set up in firing position.
The Pentagon assessed Thursday that the lead of the column was about nine miles from Kyiv’s center, down from about 12 for the past several days. A senior U.S. defense official described the movement of the column as “creeping,” and said it is “very difficult” to predict how long it could take for Russian forces to make more serious movement.
Since the early days of Moscow’s invasion, Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers have dug trenches and set up positions and equipment — including an antiaircraft gun — to prepare for the potential arrival of Russian troops in the capital. But this extended parade of Russian armored vehicles, tanks and towed artillery — originally 40 miles long — failed to make significant advances toward Kyiv, probably because of logistical failures on the Russian side as well as Ukrainian attacks on some parts of the convoy.
Twitter to label posts from Belarus-owned media outlets
Return to menuTwitter plans to add labels to state-owned media outlets from Belarus, the latest effort by Silicon Valley companies to limit the spread of pro-Russian propaganda on their platforms.
Twitter has been labeling tweets that include links from Russian state-controlled media. Those labels, the company said, have reduced the reach of these channels by 30 percent. They tell users that the news outlet is controlled by a particular government, so users understand that the content reflects that government’s viewpoint.
Now Twitter will add those labels to content from about 15 media outlets controlled by Belarus, a close Russian ally in the region.
Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube blocked Russian state-owned media in Europe late last month after requests from governments there.
Ukrainian Jews flee just decades after rebuilding Jewish life in Ukraine
Return to menuUkraine’s Jewish community was on the up.
After centuries of pogroms and emigration driven by antisemitism, followed by the devastation of the Holocaust in World War II, and then Soviet repression, recent decades brought a flourishing of synagogues, Jewish schools and community centers. Estimates of how many Jews remained vary, in part because of differences in how Jewish communities define who is Jewish. But Jewish aid organizations estimate that 200,000 Ukrainian Jews — some religious, many more not — were integrated into the life of the country. The most notable part of secular President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewishness was that it was barely considered a factor in his 2019 campaign.
Then Russia invaded.
With an exodus from Ukraine underway — more than 2 million people, mainly women and children, have fled — Ukrainian Jews are pouring out of the country or digging in to fight, and the turmoil could spell the beginning of another ending for what was so meticulously rebuilt.
Map: Russia’s latest advances in Ukraine
Return to menuRussian forces remain stalled around Kyiv and are suffering similar setbacks in their attempts to seize Sumy in the north and Mykolaiv in the south.
Meanwhile, the siege and bombardment of Mariupol continue, causing a humanitarian crisis its mayor likened to “Armageddon.”
As the war intensifies, accurate casualty figures remain elusive
Return to menuAs Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third week, military and civilian casualties are mounting — but no one, not even the United Nations or the Ukrainian government, can provide an accurate count of how many people have been injured or killed.
According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has been tracking civilian casualties, at least 549 civilians have been killed and another 957 wounded since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. In the seaside hub of Mariupol, the target of relentless Russian shelling in recent days, an adviser to the mayor said that 1,300 people have been killed in the city alone and that at least 3,000 more have been injured.
For independent observers, the ongoing fighting across much of the country means that the effort to count the dead and wounded has become a painstaking but necessary struggle.
U.S. won’t send Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, Pentagon official says
Return to menuThe Pentagon on Thursday ruled out sending its Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, with a senior U.S. defense official saying the system is unfamiliar to the Ukrainians and would require U.S. troops on the ground.
The question has circulated repeatedly since the U.S. military announced Tuesday night that it was sending two Patriot missile batteries to Poland, where the United States has amassed thousands of troops to reassure NATO allies after Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. analysts and veterans had considered it unlikely, citing the complexity of the system and the months of training necessary to learn about the system.
Patriot missiles have been used in combat since the Persian Gulf War to take down incoming ballistic missiles. As of Thursday, Russia had launched 775 missiles at Ukraine since its invasion began Feb. 24.
The defense official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.
Russia’s attacks may be ‘war crimes,’ U.S. ambassador to U.N. says
Return to menuRussia’s aggression against Ukraine constitutes war crimes, according to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
“They constitute war crimes,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview with BBC “Newshour” on Thursday. “It is unconscionable. We call on Russia to change course. They have to end this conflict. ”
Thomas-Greenfield said she’s working with the international community to chronicle Russian aggression, though she didn’t provide a pathway for how the crimes would be punished; the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which investigates alleged crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and crimes of aggression.
War crimes are difficult to prosecute, and the ICC has issued five convictions for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide from 38 defendants, Reuters reported.
The nebulous manner in which potential war crimes could be prosecuted hasn’t thwarted evidence collection, Thomas-Greenfield said.
Russia’s willingness to attack a nuclear plant shows that the country is willing to test limits or proving it has none at all, she said.
“As we have watched Russia’s actions over the course of past the two weeks, nothing is off the table for them,” she told BBC. “We just have to make sure we’re prepared to respond and call them out on this. We’re willing to do that at every possible level.”
Tech companies race to extract employees from Russia
Return to menuMultinational technology companies that last week were helping evacuate their employees from Ukraine now are doing the same in Russia, chartering planes and procuring visas for a well-connected workforce anxious about the stumbling economy, growing isolation and the crackdown on speech and information.
“It’s like an exodus of people who don’t support this war, and there are a lot of them,” said a Russian emigre who has lived in Switzerland for 10 years and is now an executive at one small software company and an investor in others. He, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition that neither he nor his company be named because he still has ties to Russia.
Russian forces edge closer to Kyiv and isolate Chernihiv, Pentagon says
Return to menuRussian forces continue to make slow advances around several cities, including the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
A long-stalled column of Russian military vehicles north of Kyiv moved a bit closer to the city Thursday, the official said. The lead is about nine miles from the city’s center, down from about 12 for the past several days, the Pentagon assessed.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, described the movement of the column as “creeping,” and said it is “very difficult” to predict how long it could take for Russian forces to make more serious movement. Another advance on Kyiv from the east is about 25 miles east of the capital’s city center.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon says the city of Chernihiv is now isolated — similar to Mariupol, where a Russian blockade has cut off utilities and supplies. Located in northern Ukraine, Chernihiv is home to more than 280,000 people.
Hannah Knowles contributed to this report.
Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov joins Russian diaspora effort to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees
Return to menuMikhail Baryshnikov and two other prominent Russian emigres have launched a drive to raise money for Ukrainian refugees, saying they want to show “that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not speak and act for all Russians.”
The famed dancer, along with the author Boris Akunin and the economist Sergei Guriev, created a website for donations, True Russia, which by Thursday afternoon had collected more than $175,000.
“The dictator who currently holds power in the Russian Federation has launched a criminal war,” they wrote. “The real Russia is bigger, stronger, and more durable than Putin. This Russia lives and will outlive him. The dictator is fighting a war not only with Ukraine, but against the better part of his own country. He is smothering Russia’s future.”
Baryshnikov fled the Soviet Union for the United States in 1974. Akunin, a prolific writer of detective novels, is based in the United Kingdom. Guriev is an economics professor at Sciences Po in Paris who fled Russia in 2013 after coming under government pressure.
Facebook to allow for some calls for violence against Russia
Return to menuFacebook will allow some calls for violence against Russian invaders, creating an unusual exception to its long-standing hate speech rules that prohibit such language.
“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders.’ We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” said spokesman Andy Stone.
Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies have faced immense pressure to isolate and crack down on Russia as the war enters its third week. Facebook, TikTok and YouTube banned Russian state media in Europe and in Ukraine in response to government requests, limiting Russia’s ability to spread propaganda and misinformation to millions of people. But the Ukrainian government has pressed the companies to go further — asking them to fully shut down their services in Russia as punishment for the invasion.