McConnell leads GOP visit to Kyiv; Mariupol rescue talks ‘difficult’

Key updates

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, center, poses for a picture in Kyiv with, from left, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.). (Ukrainian Presidential Press Ser/Via Reuters)

By Julian Duplain

and

Updated May 14, 2022 at 10:44 p.m. EDT|Published May 14, 2022 at 12:35 a.m. EDT

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed a delegation of Republican senators led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to Kyiv on Saturday, praising the visit as “a strong signal of bipartisan support for Ukraine.”

The other GOP senators visible in a video, which shows Zelensky greeting them on a Kyiv street, were John Barrasso (Wyo.), Susan Collins (Maine) and John Cornyn (Tex.). Though the Senate has been delayed in approving nearly $40 billion in additional funding for Ukraine, Zelensky said he was looking forward to “the United States’ support for further sanctions.”

Russia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, characterized Western support for Ukraine as a “total hybrid war” against Moscow. The wide-ranging sanctions directed against Russia would have long-lasting consequences, Sergei Lavrov said in a speech.

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Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra has won the Eurovision Song Contest, giving Ukraine the right to host the massively popular spectacle in 2023.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told Vladimir Putin on Saturday that Russia’s “massive invasion of Ukraine” and its demands late last year that NATO deny membership to former Soviet states “have altered the security environment of Finland.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Berlin to join a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting attended by Sweden and Finland after both countries’ leaders indicated they wanted to join the military alliance.

Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said 32 billion hryvnias, or more than $1 billion, was needed to help rebuild the hospitals damaged or destroyed by Russia during the invasion.

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10:44 p.m. EDT

Calls grow for Russia to free up Ukrainian ports for grain exports

By Claire Parker

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations appealed to Russia to free up sea export routes for Ukrainian grain and agricultural products critical to feeding the world, as food prices rise and the World Food Program warns of “catastrophic” consequences if Ukrainian ports remain blocked.

“We must not be naive. Russia has now expanded the war against Ukraine to many states as a war of grain,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a news conference Saturday after the G-7 meetings. “It is not collateral damage, it is an instrument in a hybrid war that is intended to weaken cohesion against Russia’s war.”

This is an excerpt from a full story.

9:22 p.m. EDT

Key update

9:22 p.m. EDT

McConnell leads Senate GOP delegation to Kyiv, meets Zelensky

By David L. Stern

and

William Branigin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with a U.S. Senate delegation led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday in Kyiv, calling the visit “a powerful signal of bipartisan support for Ukraine from the U.S. Congress and the American people,” his presidential office said.

In a video posted by Politico journalist Christopher Miller, McConnell and fellow Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), John Barrasso (Wyo.) and John Cornyn (Tex.) were greeted by Zelensky on a Kyiv street.

“Russia is committing genocide against the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said in a news release announcing the senators’ visit. “Europe has not seen such crimes since World War II.”

This is an excerpt from a full story.

9:05 p.m. EDT

World leaders react to Ukraine’s Eurovision win

By Rachel Pannett

World leaders were quick to respond to the victory by the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra at the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, a win that gives Ukraine the right to host the hugely popular spectacle in 2023.

Ukraine’s government tweeted on its official account: “you have melted our hearts, friends” adding that the win “matters the world to us during this time.”

Here’s how the world has responded:

European Council President Charles Michel congratulated the Ukrainian band on Twitter and expressed hope that next year’s contest can be hosted by Kyiv in a “free and united Ukraine.”

7:15 p.m. EDT

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7:15 p.m. EDT

Ukraine wins Eurovision song contest

By Ellen Francis

and

Meryl Kornfield

At the end of their performance in Europe’s most popular song contest, the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra, hands to their hearts, made a passionate plea.

“I ask for all of you,” frontman Oleh Psiuk said, “please help Ukraine, Mariupol. Help Azovstal right now.”

Then the voters helped the band to victory.

Kalush Orchestra, which made it to Saturday’s grand final of this year’s Eurovision, a flamboyant performance watched by nearly 200 million people, won with their performance of the folk-rap mash-up “Stefania” after a massive audience vote propelled them to victory.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

3:54 p.m. EDT

Ukraine bans pro-Russian political parties

By Meryl Kornfield

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law Saturday banning pro-Russian political parties amid the Russian invasion.

The legislation is the latest effort by the Ukrainian government to limit the involvement of politicians favoring the invaders. In March, Zelensky announced a ban on 11 political parties with ties to Russia, including the Opposition Platform-For Life, led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a businessman with personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The law expands the grounds for banning a political party to include calling the invasion of Ukraine a civil conflict and glorifying Russian aggression against Ukraine.

3:33 p.m. EDT

Russia denies that the war is contributing to global food crisis

By Timothy Bella

After German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock blamed Russia for contributing to the international hunger crisis, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded on Saturday by blaming the historic sanctions on Russia for rising food prices.

In a Telegram post, Zakharova claimed without evidence that the food crisis stems from the collapse of statehood of Ukraine, one of the world’s most important grain producers. The collapse is also something the Kremlin official said the West was responsible for.

2:27 p.m. EDT

More than $1B needed to rebuild hospitals, Ukrainian official says

By Timothy Bella

Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said Saturday that 32 billion hryvnias, or more than $1 billion, was needed to help rebuild the hospitals damaged or destroyed by Russia during the invasion.

More than 600 medical institutions in Ukraine have been damaged by Russian forces since late February, Lyashko said at a telethon, including 101 facilities that were destroyed. He added that 375 pharmacies in the country had been destroyed, according to Interfax.

“Therefore, according to preliminary estimates, 32 billion hryvnias are needed to restore these hospitals,” he said.

1:58 p.m. EDT

Turkey proposes evacuation plan for wounded fighters at Azovstal plant

By Timothy Bella

Turkey has proposed carrying out evacuations of hundreds of wounded fighters trapped in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday.

Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s top foreign policy adviser, told Reuters that an evacuation plan he recently discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “on the table.” As part of the plan, which he said Russia has not agreed to, evacuees from the steel plant would be transported to the port of Berdyansk and then picked up by a Turkish vessel that would take them to Istanbul.

1:28 p.m. EDT

How to watch Eurovision Song Contest and the Ukrainian band favored to win

By Timothy Bella

As Europe prepares for the final of its most popular song contest on Saturday, a Ukrainian folk-rap group may give Ukraine a reason to celebrate amid the Russian invasion.

When Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra takes the stage in Turin, Italy, its members will have more eyeballs than ever on them at a time when the war back home has reached 80 days. Oddsmakers have placed the group as the favorite to come out on top.

Ukrainian song favored to win Eurovision as war rages

For fans in the United States hoping to catch up on the excitement, the grand final starts at 3 p.m. Eastern time Saturday on the streaming service Peacock. Johnny Weir, one of NBC’s lead figure skating analysts and a media darling during the Winter Olympics, will be providing commentary.

1:00 p.m. EDT

The West has declared ‘total hybrid war’ on Russia, Lavrov claims

By Timothy Bella

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Saturday that the West has declared a “total hybrid war” against Russia during its invasion of Ukraine.

In a speech on the 80th day of the invasion, Lavrov said the support given to Ukraine by Western powers, and the historic, wide-ranging sanctions leveled against Russia, would have a lasting impact on the world.

“The collective West has declared total hybrid war on us, and it is hard to predict how long all this will last, but it is clear the consequences will be felt by everyone, without exception,” he said. “We have done everything we can to avoid a direct clash, but the challenge has been thrown to us, so we accepted it. We have always been under sanctions, so we are used to them.”

12:38 p.m. EDT

Another batch of civilians evacuated from Mariupol

By Marisa Iati

and

David Stern

Hundreds of cars filled with evacuees have left Mariupol, bound for another city about 140 miles northwest after days of disruption, an official in the embattled port city said.

“A huge convoy of cars with Mariupol residents (from 500 to 1,000 cars), who had been waiting for more than three days, was finally allowed to head to Zaporizhzhia,” wrote Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor.

The evacuation of civilians has been fraught, with Ukrainian officials frequently accusing Russian forces of interfering with the humanitarian corridors the evacuees are meant to use to reach safety. A steelworks plant serving as Ukrainians’ last holdout in the city continues to face bombardment, according to the Azov Regiment defending the complex.

12:19 p.m. EDT

India bans wheat exports as war in Ukraine sends global prices soaring

By Gerry Shih

and

Niha Masih

NEW DELHI — After Russia invaded Ukraine — two countries that together accounted for nearly a third of the world’s wheat supply — this year and sent food prices to record highs, India was supposed to step in to fill the void. Not anymore.

The world’s second-largest wheat producer on Friday banned exports of the grain amid its own food security concerns, potentially exacerbating the steep rise in global food prices that is affecting billions of people and threatening food security around the world.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

11:52 a.m. EDT

Turkey ‘not closing the door’ to Sweden, Finland in NATO, official says

By Marisa Iati

Turkey does not firmly oppose granting NATO membership to Sweden and Finland but wants the suppression of what it characterizes as terrorist activities in the Nordic nations, the Turkish president’s spokesman told Reuters.

“We are not closing the door. But we are basically raising this issue as a matter of national security for Turkey,” Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the news agency.

Erdogan has expressed concern about Sweden’s willingness to host members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has fought an insurrection against Turkey for decades. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.

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Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict

War in Ukraine: What you need to know

The latest: Russia claimed to have seized control of Soledar, a heavily contested salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine where fighting has raged recently, but a Ukrainian military official maintained that the battle was not yet over. The U.S. and Germany are sending tanks to Ukraine.

Russia’s Gamble: The Post examined the road to war in Ukraine, and Western efforts to unite to thwart the Kremlin’s plans, through extensive interviews with more than three dozen senior U.S., Ukrainian, European and NATO officials.

Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the beginning of the war — here’s some of their most powerful work.

How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. can support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating.

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Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict

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