Ukraine abandons defense of besieged steel plant

More than a month after Russia shifted its focus from an assault on Ukraine’s capital to a push to carve off pieces of the country’s east, the invading forces have made little progress — and Ukraine is launching counterattacks. The war is at “a bit of a stalemate,” according to Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, a top U.S. defense official.

While Russia solidified its control this week over the southern port city of Mariupol after a brutal 12-week assault, the invasion across much of the east has proceeded at a crawl.

With no end in sight, these maps explain how terrain, geography and logistics are shaping the battle for key cities, where the war’s outcome could be decided.

Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsk, raised the Israeli flag near Jerusalem’s embassy building in Kyiv on Tuesday, the latest country to reopen an embassy and dispatch envoys back to the capital.

Israel’s reaction to the Russian invasion was initially mixed, but it appeared to harden this month after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov baselessly accused Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of supporting Nazism and claimed that “Hitler also had Jewish blood.” Russia’s ambassador to Israel was formally summoned to explain the comments, evidence of which he had not shared.

In the early stages of the invasion, Jerusalem had denounced the fighting but moderated its direct criticism of Russia out of concerns over its wider security relationship with Moscow. Israel depends on Russian forces to let it carry out unacknowledged airstrikes on Iranian-backed militants inside Syria, according to Israeli military analysts.

Israel has become increasingly vocal in denouncing Russia. In April, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid accused Russia of war crimes after revelations of atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

A number of countries have reopened their embassies in Kyiv over the past month as Russian forces withdrew from the area to focus on fighting in eastern parts of the country. Britain, France and many other European countries have resumed diplomatic operations in the capital. The top American diplomat to Ukraine, Kristina Kvien, visited Kyiv this month, the first step toward resuming a full U.S. diplomatic presence.

Members of the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra received a celebratory welcome upon their return home after winning the Eurovision Song Contest.

The band’s victory, which gives Ukraine the right to host the hugely popular spectacle in 2023, was secured by audience votes and cheered by world leaders, in a sign of support for Ukraine as its war with Russia approaches the three-month mark.

The Canadian government will tighten its sanctions on Russia’s top leaders, officials announced Tuesday, to prevent them from entering the country and further restrict their international travel in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Canada will join Britain, the European Union, the United States and others in withholding visas from Russians already targeted by economic sanctions. Canada’s list runs more than 1,000 names long and includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The new step allows Canada’s border and immigration agencies to deny access and visa applications to affected people.

“We will continue to exhaust all options to uphold freedom and democracy, punish Russia, and support Ukraine,” Marco Mendicino, Canada’s minister of public safety, said in a statement announcing the move.

Amanda Coletta and Paulina Firozi contributed to this report.

Russian investigators will interrogate the Ukrainian soldiers who were moved out of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol after Ukrainian forces agreed to a negotiated surrender that effectively ended the weeks-long battle for the besieged site.

Russia’s top investigative body said Tuesday that the Ukrainian soldiers will be questioned as “part of the investigation into criminal cases concerning crimes committed by the Ukrainian regime against the civilian population of Donbas,” according to a statement.

Moscow has claimed, without providing evidence, that Ukrainian troops had used civilians trapped inside the plant as human shields.

At least 264 Ukrainian fighters, many seriously injured, put down their weapons Monday and were taken to Russian-controlled territory while others remained at the plant Tuesday as delicate negotiations continued.

Ukrainian officials have said they plan to exchange Russian prisoners of war for the Ukrainian soldiers.

Russian investigators will identify the fighters and “verify their involvement in crimes committed against civilians, and the information obtained during the interrogations will be compared with other data available in the criminal case files,” the statement said, suggesting that Russia may try to prosecute the fighters.

With the potential end of the bloody battle, Russia has secured a crucial land bridge from its border to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula it annexed in 2014.

Chinese technology exports to Russia plummeted in March after U.S.-led sanctions took effect, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Tuesday, a sign that Beijing at least initially was complying with aspects of the trade prohibitions.

Chinese shipments of laptops to Russia fell by 40 percent in March compared with February, while exports of smartphones were off by two-thirds, Raimondo told reporters, citing the most recently available China trade data. Exports of telecommunications network equipment fell by 98 percent, she said.

Whether China is helping Russia withstand sanctions has been an open question for Western policymakers. The new figures suggest Beijing is reluctant to do so, perhaps out of fear of U.S. retaliation on Chinese exporters.

The sanctions require companies worldwide to abide by the ban if they use U.S. manufacturing equipment or software to produce computer chips. Most chip factories around the world, including those in China, use software or equipment designed in the United States, analysts say.

“I’m often asked, you know, are these export controls working? And I think the answer is an unmitigated, unqualified yes,” Raimondo said.

Last week, Raimondo told a Senate committee that Ukrainian officials had reported finding computer chips intended for household appliances in Russian military equipment.

Switzerland, which maintains a deep-rooted tradition of neutrality during wars between other countries, is considering options to bolster its security amid the war in Ukraine that could bring the country closer to NATO, the Western military alliance.

The Swiss Defense Ministry is drawing up a report on security policy options that include joint military exercises with NATO countries and holding regular meetings between Swiss and NATO commanders, said Paelvi Pulli, head of security policy at the Defense Ministry, according to Reuters.

These rapprochements to NATO would represent a shift in the country’s long-maintained official policy of nonalignment and neutrality, and the role it has often played in international conflicts as an intermediary.

Still, in an interview with Reuters last week, Pulli said, there “could be changes in the way neutrality is interpreted,” but she added that although the idea of NATO membership has been discussed, the report was “unlikely to recommend” that Switzerland take that step.

Defense Minister Viola Amherd has also said that Switzerland can and should work more closely with NATO.

“We still have some room for maneuver, even within the framework of neutral law, which allows us to cooperate more closely with NATO and also with our European partners,” Amherd said in a news conference during a trip to Washington last week.

Her remarks came as Russia’s invasion brings the biggest disruption in the security environment in Europe since the end of World War II, prompting neighbors Sweden and Finland to reconsider their own historic stance of nonalignment and announce bids to join NATO.