“And these are 7,144 reasons to try to organize evacuations for Ukrainians from the besieged cities tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” Zelensky said in a video address.
In response to the crisis, President Biden formally called on Congress to end normal trade relations with Russia and announced a new slate of bans on Russian imports and exports. Biden and leaders from the other Group of Seven nations also plan to announce new economic actions against Russia meant to hold President Vladimir Putin accountable for the invasion.
Here’s what to know
Map: Russia’s latest advances in Ukraine
Return to menuBombardments continued Friday in Mariupol in southern Ukraine, while Russian forces remained stalled outside Kyiv in the north and failed to advance in Sumy to the east.
Ukraine says it has started repairing power lines for Chernobyl plant
Return to menuUkraine told the United Nations nuclear watchdog that its technicians have started repairing damaged power lines that serve the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and that additional fuel for diesel generators that power nuclear storage facilities have been delivered.
The development comes after Ukraine said power lines for the closed plant were disconnected by Russian forces that had targeted the facility in February, soon after invading Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly asked for a cease-fire so that technicians could restore power and resupply the plant, where a major nuclear disaster took place in 1986.
Electricity is needed to cool spent fuel, ventilation and fire-extinguishing systems. The plant has been relying on emergency diesel generators, according to Kyiv. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the Chernobyl plant’s disconnection from the power grid would not have a critical impact on safety functions.
“The volume of cooling water in the spent fuel facility is sufficient to maintain heat removal without a supply of electricity,” it said in a statement Friday.
Zelensky compares Russia to ISIS and questions the point of diplomatic talks
Return to menuUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday compared Russia’s invasion to the Islamic State and suggested that diplomatic talks could not proceed if Moscow continued to bombard civilians and target government officials.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Russian troops had detained Ivan Federov, the mayor of the southern city of Melitopol, and Zelensky denounced the move.
“The capture of the mayor of Melitopol is a crime not only against a particular person, not only against a particular community, and not only against Ukraine — this is a crime against democracy,” he said in a video address shared late Friday.
Zelensky said such tactics “will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists.”
“If you are becoming an analogue of ISIS terrorists, then what is the point of talking to you about something at all?” he said, as if speaking directly to the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president said Russia had again disrupted the evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridors but that 7,144 residents were allowed to leave — fewer than in recent days.
“These are 7,144 reasons to try to organize evacuations for Ukrainians from the besieged cities tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” Zelensky said.
What’s at risk in Chernobyl
Return to menuFew names summon up the same images of nuclear reactor ruin as the name Chernobyl.
The nuclear complex was home to four reactors when in 1986 an explosion badly damaged unit No. 4, blowing off its concrete lid, spreading radiation into the air and leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents across an “exclusion zone.”
The other three reactors continued to function, with the last of them shutting down in 2000. The radioactive fuel was removed from the reactor vessels and stored in another building at the site.
It wasn’t until 2016, in a feat of engineering, that the unit 4 remains were covered with a massive structure weighing 36,000 tons.
But with war breaking out, Chernobyl has once again resurfaced in the headlines. First Russian forces occupied the nuclear plant, then on Wednesday they damaged a high-voltage line that connected the reactor site with the electricity grid.
Poland’s largest cities say they can no longer absorb Ukrainian refugees
Return to menuOfficials in Poland’s two largest cities have warned that they can longer cope with the waves of refugees from Ukraine.
More than 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the U.N. refugee agency says, with at least 1.5 million arriving in Poland alone.
The mayor of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city, said Friday that his government would begin sending refugees to accommodations in the surrounding province.
“In the past several days we have already received about 100,000 war refugees,” Krakow Mayor Jacek Majchrowski said on Facebook. “Krakow is slowly losing its ability to accommodate further waves of refugees.”
“We have been helping Ukraine since the first days of the war, but as a local government, we are first responsible for the citizens,” he said. “We cannot lead to destabilization in the functioning of the city.”
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said Friday that his city, the Polish capital, “remains the main destination for Ukrainian refugees” and that roughly 300,000 had arrived.
The situation “is getting more and more difficult every day,” he said on Twitter. Trzaskowski urged the United Nations and European Union to intervene and support Polish cities, local media reported.
Dozens of corporations are still in Russia. It’s getting harder for them to leave.
Return to menuHundreds of multinational corporations have cut ties with Russia as its military assault on Ukraine intensifies, bolstering the effects of Western economic sanctions and redirecting their operations to serve desperate Ukrainian refugees.
But for the dozens of companies that remain in Russia, it’s getting increasingly difficult to leave, experts say.
Consumers watching the horrific humanitarian toll of the invasion have registered their disapproval of the businesses that remain in Russia, vowing boycotts on social media. But companies that leave now, experts say, could be seen as pandering, or worse: prioritizing profits and shareholders above protesting human suffering.
The corporate quandary is testing the mettle of some of the world’s most powerful brands, and the long-held business credo that countries that trade together don’t wage wars with one another.
Russia again impedes rescue efforts, says Ukrainian deputy prime minister
Return to menuDespite a cease-fire agreement between Kyiv and Moscow, Russian troops have continued to attack and impede evacuation efforts, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
Vereshchuk said Russian troops did not adhere to a cease-fire when evacuation efforts were underway from Izyum, near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Evacuation efforts were slated to be routed through six other cities, she said.
“We failed to send buses,” she said in a video address Friday. “They were forced to turn around and go back to the city of Lozova, because Russian troops did not adhere to the [cease-fire agreement], and sadly at the moment it is impossible to evacuate local residents and deliver humanitarian cargo.”
Russian troops at a roadblock near Bilohorodka ordered 12 buses to turn around Friday, according to Vereshchuk, because the troops said they did not have an order to allow evacuation convoys to pass. That assertion, Vereshchuk said, was false.
“The Red Cross prepared a response, which showed that the Russians confirmed their readiness to open humanitarian corridors in this direction,” she said. “The [cease-fire agreed to by] the Russian armed forces on this route was violated.”
Ukrainian authorities have said for days that Russian forces have prevented civilians from evacuating despite the cease-fire agreement.
Russian forces on Friday also let fires burn, including in the city of Mariupol, where Vereshchuk said there will be efforts to try to evacuate residents Saturday.
She encouraged politicians and the news media to watch evacuations Saturday to see how they are taking place.
“Everything is impossible to do at once,” she said. “Russia, which systematically violates its commitments, is also the most important factor that does not allow to do what I and our team and the president and the prime minister and all of us very much want.”
Biden administration considers pausing gas tax, Yellen says
Return to menuDENVER — Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said Friday that the Biden administration is studying a pause of the gas tax to relieve Americans from the financial costs of higher fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Yellen said a pause of the federal gas tax remains one of many “possible interventions” to address high gas prices, but she added that such a measure could mostly help corporations. On Friday, gas prices hit an average of $4.33 per gallon, according to AAA, up from $3.80 per gallon last week and $3.50 last month.
The White House expressed openness in February to a gas-tax pause but ran into resistance from lawmakers in Congress. But gas prices were lower then, and the U.S. move this week to cut off Russian energy imports could drive prices higher.
“There’s a concern in cutting the gas tax that much of the benefit of it — especially when supplies are very tight — could go to oil companies rather than consumers,” Yellen said, addressing reporters after delivering remarks commemorating the anniversary of the American Rescue Plan. “And so that’s a concern.”
Yellen spoke next to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, one of several Democratic governors who this week urged the federal government to pause the gas tax. Yellen also suggested that despite the highest inflation in about four decades, Americans are willing to stomach higher costs given the stakes of defending Ukraine from Russian aggression.
“I think the American people understand the importance of suffering some toll themselves in order to uphold the values that we hold dear that are fundamental to a peaceful world order,” Yellen said.
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.”
New satellite images show Russian artillery firing as residential area burns
Return to menuNewly released satellite photos of the Kyiv region show Russia’s increasing barrage of residential areas and the maneuvering of Moscow’s troops closer to the Ukrainian capital as a long line of civilians attempts to flee the city.
The images, collected by the American firm Maxar Technologies on Friday morning, offer a rare and dramatic bird’s-eye view of the Kremlin’s assault. They show a Russian artillery battalion, stationed northwest of Kyiv, firing southeast, a bright red flash visible around the muzzle of one gun and smoke pluming around five others, indicating they have been fired recently.
The targets of the battalion were not clear, and Maxar captured another set of images around the same time that shows homes and buildings ablaze in the town of Moschun, about four miles from the Russian forces in the direction of their artillery fire. Broad swaths of the town appeared to be leveled and pockmarked with impact craters.
Fires also continued to burn at the nearby Antonov Airport, the photos show. The facility, northwest of Kyiv, has been the site of frequent clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
During this escalating chaos, Kyiv residents continue to attempt an escape from the capital. Another Maxar image shows hundreds of cars lining the highway out of the city.
Family of Trevor Reed, Marine Corps veteran jailed in Russia, pushes for release as health declines
Return to menuAs news of WNBA star Brittney Griner being detained in Russia spread this week amid the invasion of Ukraine, her story has shed light on other Americans jailed in Russia. Among them is Marine Corps veteran Trevor Reed, whose detainment started with a drunken night of vodka that he says he does not remember — one that resulted in a nine-year prison sentence.
Reed, who traveled from North Texas to Moscow to visit his girlfriend in summer 2019, was jailed after a night of drinking that ended with him allegedly attacking two police officers. Reed pleaded not guilty to a charge of using violence to endanger the life or health of a government official performing his duties. He was convicted in July 2020 and sentenced to prison by a Moscow court in a case that Reed told reporters was “clearly political.” The sentence was denounced by U.S. lawmakers and diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, who described the evidence used to convict Reed as “ridiculous.”
Now, as the invasion of Ukraine enters its third week, Reed’s family and U.S. lawmakers are calling for his release at a time when his parents say his health is deteriorating.
Iran nuclear talks are halted after new Russian demands related to Ukraine
Return to menuNegotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal were called off indefinitely this week after a last-minute demand by Russia upended what diplomats had hoped was the final stretch of the talks.
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell announced the decision to “pause” the talks in a tweet, citing “external factors” for the break. Negotiators for the seven countries involved have spent most of the past year trying to find ways to revive the 2015 nuclear deal after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement in 2018.
A pause in #ViennaTalks is needed, due to external factors.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 11, 2022
A final text is essentially ready and on the table.
As coordinator, I will, with my team, continue to be in touch with all #JCPOA participants and the U.S. to overcome the current situation and to close the agreement.
Diplomats said Borrell was referring to Russia’s demand, first raised Saturday, for U.S. sanctions relief to be applied to its future commercial dealings with Iran as a condition for participating in a revived deal.
A final text for a new agreement is “essentially ready and on the table,” Borrell said, adding that he and his team would remain in contact with all the participants to overcome the remaining obstacles and finalize an agreement.
How The Post verifies video from Ukraine
Return to menuFirsthand footage of the war in Ukraine has flooded social media since Russia’s invasion started two weeks ago. How do journalists separate legitimate videos from a constant stream of misinformation?
Graphics reporter Atthar Mirza explains how The Washington Post’s visual forensics team verifies the videos you see on your social feeds.
Russia is turning to China to survive sanctions, but it won’t be easy
Return to menuChina and Russia have in recent years worked to reduce their reliance on Western financial systems, technology and markets, motivated by their leaders’ mutual desire to insulate themselves against the West’s economic coercion.
This shared mistrust of the United States and its allies has deepened economic links, making China by far Russia’s largest single trading partner. Now, the Chinese could be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lifeline in isolation: blunting the force of Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine.
China, despite claiming neutrality, has maintained a pro-Kremlin lean and is opposed to sanctions, stating that it will continue to trade with Russia as usual. But questions remain on how far China’s systems are able to cushion the blow of Western sanctions and how far Beijing is willing to go to help its economic partner.