Daily Archives: April 6, 2022

By ROBERT BURNS

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-battle-for-kyiv-dc559574ce9f6683668fa221af2d5340

WASHINGTON (AP) Kyiv was a Russian defeat for the ages. The fight started poorly for the invaders and went downhill from there.

When President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Feb. 24 after months of buildup on Ukraines borders, he sent hundreds of helicopter-borne commandos the best of the best of Russias spetsnaz special forces soldiers to assault and seize a lightly defended airfield on Kyivs doorstep.

Other Russian forces struck elsewhere across Ukraine, including toward the eastern city of Kharkiv as well as in the contested Donbas region and along the Black Sea coast. But as the seat of national power, Kyiv was the main prize. Thus the thrust by elite airborne forces in the wars opening hours.

But Putin failed to achieve his goal of quickly crushing Ukraines outgunned and outnumbered army. The Russians were ill-prepared for Ukrainian resistance, proved incapable of adjusting to setbacks, failed to effectively combine air and land operations, misjudged Ukraines ability to defend its skies, and bungled basic military functions like planning and executing the movement of supplies.

Thats a really bad combination if you want to conquer a country, said Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and professor of military history at Ohio State University.

For now at least, Putins forces have shifted away from Kyiv, to eastern Ukraine. Ultimately, the Russian leader may achieve some of his objectives. Yet his failure to seize Kyiv will be long remembered for how it defied prewar expectations and exposed surprising weaknesses in a military thought to be one of the strongest in the world.

Its stunning, said military historian Frederick Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War, who says he knows of no parallel to a major military power like Russia invading a country at the time of its choosing and failing so utterly.

On the first morning of the war, Russian Mi-8 assault helicopters soared south toward Kyiv on a mission to attack Hostomel airfield on the northwest outskirts of the capital. By capturing the airfield, also known as Antonov airport, the Russians planned to establish a base from which to fly in more troops and light armored vehicles within striking distance of the heart of the nations largest city.

It didnt work that way. Several Russian helicopters were reported to be hit by missiles even before they got to Hostomel, and once settled in at the airfield they suffered heavy losses from artillery fire.

An effort to take control of a military airbase in Vasylkiv south of Kyiv also met stiff resistance and reportedly saw several Russian Il-76 heavy-lift transport planes carrying paratroopers downed by Ukrainian defenses.

Although the Russians eventually managed to control Hostomel airfield, the Ukrainians fierce resistance in the capital region forced a rethinking of an invasion plan that was based on an expectation the Ukrainians would quickly fold, the West would dither, and Russian forces would have an easy fight.

Air assault missions behind enemy lines, like the one executed at Hostomel, are risky and difficult, as the U.S. Army showed on March 24, 2003, when it sent more than 30 Apache attack helicopters into Iraq from Kuwait to strike an Iraqi Republican Guard division. On their way, the Apaches encountered small arms and anti-aircraft fire that downed one of the helos, damaged others and forced the mission to be aborted. Even so, the U.S. military recovered from that setback and soon captured Baghdad.

The fact that the Hostomel assault by the Russian 45th Guards Special Purpose Airborne Brigade faltered might not stand out in retrospect if the broader Russian effort had improved from that point. But it did not.

The Russians did make small and unsuccessful probes into the heart of Kyiv, and later they tried at great cost to encircle the capital by arcing farther west. Against enormous odds, the Ukrainians held their ground and fought back, stalling the Russians, and put to effective use a wide array of Western arms, including Javelin portable anti-tank weapons, shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and much more.

Last week the Russians abandoned Hostomel airfield as part of a wholesale retreat into Belarus and Russia.

A sidelight of the battle for Kyiv was the widely reported saga of a Russian resupply convoy that stretched dozens of miles along a main roadway toward the capital. It initially seemed to be a worrisome sign for the Ukrainians, but they managed to attack elements of the convoy, which had limited off-road capability and thus eventually dispersed or otherwise became a non-factor in the fight.

They never really provided a resupply of any value to Russian forces that were assembling around Kyiv, never really came to their aid, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. The Ukrainians put a stop to that convoy pretty quickly by being very nimble, knocking out bridges, hitting lead vehicles and stopping their movement.

Mansoor says the Russians underestimated the number of troops they would need and showed an astonishing inability to perform basic military functions. They vastly misjudged what it would take to win the battle for Kyiv, he says.

This was going to be hard even if the Russian army had proven itself to be competent, he said. Its proven itself to be wholly incapable of conducting modern armored warfare.

Putin was not the only one surprised by his armys initial failures. U.S. and other Western officials had figured that if the invasion happened, Russias seemingly superior forces would slice through Ukraines army like a hot knife through butter. They might seize Kyiv in a few days and the whole country in a few weeks, although some analysts did question whether Putin appreciated how much Ukraines forces had gained from Western training that intensified after Putins 2014 seizure of Crimea and incursion into the Donbas.

On March 25, barely a month after the invasion began, the Russians declared they had achieved their goals in the Kyiv region and would shift focus to the separatist Donbas area in eastern Ukraine. Some suspected a Putin ploy to buy time without giving up his maximalist aims, but within days the Kyiv retreat was in full view.

Putin may yet manage to refocus his war effort on a narrower goal of expanding Russian control in the Donbas and perhaps securing a land corridor from the Donbas to the Crimean Peninsula. But his failure in Kyiv revealed weaknesses that suggest Russia is unlikely to try again soon to take down the national capital.

I think they learned their lesson, said Mansoor.

Excerpt from:

Russia's failure to take down Kyiv was a defeat for the ages - The Associated Press - en Espaol

WASHINGTON As Russian troops retreat from northern Ukraine and focus operations on the countrys east and south, the Kremlin is struggling to scrape together enough combat-ready reinforcements to conduct a new phase of the war, according to American and other Western military and intelligence officials.

Moscow initially sent 75 percent of its main ground combat forces into the war in February, Pentagon officials said. But much of that army of more than 150,000 troops is now a spent force, after suffering logistics problems, flagging morale and devastating casualties inflicted by stiffer-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, military and intelligence officials say.

There are relatively few fresh Russian troops to fill the breach. Russia has withdrawn the forces as many as 40,000 soldiers it had arrayed around Kyiv and Chernihiv, two cities in the north, to rearm and resupply in Russia and neighboring Belarus before most likely repositioning them in eastern Ukraine in the next few weeks, U.S. officials say.

The Kremlin is also rushing to the east a mix of Russian mercenaries, Syrian fighters, new conscripts and regular Russian army troops from Georgia and easternmost Russia.

Whether this weakened but still very lethal Russian force can overcome its blunders of the first six weeks of combat and accomplish a narrower set of war aims in a smaller swath of the country remains an open question, senior U.S. officials and analysts said.

Russia still has forces available to outnumber Ukraines, and Russia is now concentrating its military power on fewer lines of attack, but this does not mean that Russia will succeed in the east, Jake Sullivan, President Bidens national security adviser, said on Monday.

The next stage of this conflict may very well be protracted, Mr. Sullivan said. He added that Russia would probably send tens of thousands of soldiers to the front line in Ukraines east, and continue to rain rockets, missiles and mortars on Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv and other cities.

U.S. officials have based their assessments on satellite imagery, electronic intercepts, Ukrainian battlefield reports and other information, and those intelligence estimates have been backed up by independent analysts examining commercially available information.

Earlier U.S. intelligence assessments of the Russian governments intent to attack Ukraine proved accurate, although some lawmakers said spy agencies overestimated the Russian militarys ability to advance quickly.

As the invasion faltered, U.S. and European officials have highlighted the Russian militarys errors and logistical problems, though they have cautioned that Moscows ability to regroup should not be underestimated.

The Ukrainian military has managed to reclaim territory around Kyiv and Chernihiv, attacking the Russians as they retreat; thwarted a ground attack against Odesa in the south and held on in Mariupol, the battered and besieged city on the Black Sea. Ukraine is now receiving T-72 battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons in addition to Javelin antitank and Stinger antiaircraft missiles from the West.

Anticipating this next major phase of the war in the east, the Pentagon announced late Tuesday that it was sending $100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles roughly several hundred missiles from Pentagon stocks to Ukraine, where the weapon has been very effective in destroying Russian tanks and other armored vehicles.

American and European officials believe that the Russian militarys shift in focus is aimed at correcting some of the mistakes that have led to its failure to overcome a Ukrainian army that is far stronger and savvier than Moscow initially assessed.

But the officials said it remained to be seen how effective Russia would be in building up its forces to renew its attack. And there are early signs that pulling Russian troops and mercenaries from Georgia, Syria and Libya could complicate the Kremlins priorities in those countries.

Some officials say Russia will try to go in with more heavy artillery. By focusing its forces in smaller geographic area, and moving them closer to supply routes into Russia, Western intelligence officials said, Russia hopes to avoid the logistics problems its troops suffered in their failed attack on Kyiv.

Other European intelligence officials predicted it would take Russian forces one to two weeks to regroup and refocus before they could press an attack in eastern Ukraine. Western officials said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was desperate for some kind of win by May 9, when Russia traditionally celebrates the end of World War II with a big Victory Day parade in Red Square.

What we are seeing now is that the Kremlin is trying to achieve some kind of success on the ground to pretend there is a victory for its domestic audience by the 9th of May, said Mikk Marran, the director general of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service.

Mr. Putin would like to consolidate control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine, and establish a land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula by early May, a senior Western intelligence official said.

Russia has already moved air assets to the east in preparation for the renewed attack on the heart of the Ukrainian military, and has increased aerial bombardment in that area in recent days, a European diplomat and other officials said.

Its a particularly dangerous scenario for the Ukrainians now, at least on paper, said Alexander S. Vindman, an expert on Ukraine who became the chief witness in President Donald J. Trumps first impeachment trial. In reality, the Russians havent performed superbly well. Whether they could actually bring to bear their armor, their infantry, their artillery and air power in a concerted way to destroy larger Ukrainian formations is yet to be seen.

Russian troops have been fighting in groups of a few hundred soldiers, rather than in the bigger and more effective formations of thousands of soldiers used in the past.

We havent seen any indication that they have the ability to adapt, said Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official and retired C.I.A. officer.

The number of Russian losses in the war so far remains unknown, though Western intelligence agencies estimate 7,000 to 10,000 killed and 20,000 to 30,000 wounded. Thousands more have been captured or are missing in action.

The Russian military, the Western and European officials said, has learned at least one major lesson from its failures: the need to concentrate forces, rather than spread them out.

But Moscow is trying to find additional forces, according to intelligence officials.

Russias best forces, its two airborne divisions and the First Guards Tank army, have suffered significant casualties and an erosion of combat power, and the military has scoured its army looking for reinforcements.

The British Defense Ministry and the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank that analyzes the Ukraine war, both reported on Tuesday that the Russian troops withdrawing from Kyiv and Chernihiv would not be fit for redeployment soon.

Pushing for more sanctions. E.U. leaders are weighing a ban on buying Russian coal and a ban on Russian vessels in European ports. If approved, the measures would be the harshest the bloc has enforced so far. The United States is also expected to impose broad sanctions on two Russian banks.

On the ground. Russia has nearly completed its withdrawal from around Kyiv and is preparing for intensified assaults against eastern and southern Ukraine, according to military analysts. Russian forces continued to bombard the southern city of Mariupol,

The Russians have no ability to rebuild their destroyed vehicles and weapon systems because of foreign components, which they can no longer get, said Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass, a former commander of U.S. Special Operations forces in Europe who has been involved with Ukrainian defense matters since 2016.

Russian forces arriving from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two secessionist statelets that broke away from Georgia during the 1990s and then expanded in 2008, have been conducting peacekeeping duties and are not combat ready, General Repass said.

Russias problems finding additional troops is in large measure why it has invited Syrian fighters, Chechens and Russian mercenaries to serve as reinforcements. But these additional forces number in the hundreds, not thousands, European intelligence officials said.

The Chechen force, one of the European intelligence officials said, is clearly used to sow fear. The Chechen units are not better fighters and have suffered high losses. But they have been used in urban combat situations and for the dirtiest kind of work, the official said.

Russian mercenaries with combat experience in Syria and Libya are gearing up to assume an increasingly active role in a phase of the war that Moscow now says is its top priority: fighting in the countrys east.

The number of mercenaries deployed to Ukraine from the Wagner Group, a private military force with ties to Mr. Putin, is expected to more than triple to at least 1,000 from the early days of the invasion, a senior American official said.

Wagner is also relocating artillery, air defenses and radar that it had used in Libya to Ukraine, the official said.

Moving mercenaries will backfire because these are units that cant be incorporated into the regular army, and we know that they are brutal violators of human rights which will only turn Ukrainian and world opinion further against Russia, said Evelyn N. Farkas, the top Pentagon official for Russia and Ukraine during the Obama administration.

Hundreds of Syrian fighters could also be heading to Ukraine, in what would effectively return a favor to Moscow for its helping President Bashar al-Assad crush rebels in an 11-year civil war.

A contingent of at least 300 Syrian soldiers has already arrived in Russia for regular training, but it was unclear if or when they would be sent to Ukraine, officials said.

They are bringing in fighters known for brutality in the hopes of breaking the Ukrainian will to fight, said Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. But, she added, any military gains there for Russia will depend on the willingness of the foreign fighters to fight.

One of the difficult things about putting together a coalition of disparate interests is that it can be hard to make them an effective fighting force, she said.

Finally, Mr. Putin recently signed a decree calling up 134,000 conscripts. It will take months to train the recruits, though Moscow could opt to rush them straight to the front lines with little or no instruction, officials said.

Russia is short on troops and is looking to get manpower where they can, said Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at C.N.A., a research institute in Arlington, Va. They are not well placed for a prolonged war against Ukraine.

More:

Russia Is Sending Mercenaries and Syrians to Ukraine, Western Officials Say - The New York Times

Boris Johnson tells Russians: I cannot believe Putin is acting in your name

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the media during a press conference following a NATO summit on Russia's invasion of Ukraine on March 24, 2022.

Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on Russians to "find the truth" and "share it."

"Your president stands accused of committing war crimes. But I cannot believe he's acting in your name," Johnson said in a video directly addressing the Russian people.

Speaking in both Russian and English, he said: "The atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere in Ukraine have horrified the world."

He went on to outline the alleged atrocities of Russian troops: civilians massacred, women raped, bodies burned and "dumped in mass graves, or just left lying in the street."

Ukrainian officials say that more than 300 civilians were tortured and killed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv, discoveries made only after Moscow pulled out of those areas.

Graphic media images also revealed corpses of civilians in the streets some with their hands and legs tied up while satellite imagescaptured mass graves.

Russia has been waging information warfare alongside its military operations.

The Russian people have been "fed a steady diet of propaganda" by Russian-state media, according to NBC News' Ken Dilanian. The Kremlin has labeled the unprovoked and unwarranted war in Ukraine a "special military operation."

"The reports are so shocking, so sickening, it's no wonder your government is seeking to hide them from you," Johnson said.

"But don't just take my word for it," he added, calling on them to access independent information via VPN connection. "And when you find the truth, share it."

Charmaine Jacob, Joanna Tan

Intel said April 5, 2022 that it has suspended all business operations in Russia.

Paco Freire/Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Intel has suspended all business operations in Russia, the U.S. chipmaker announced.

"Intel continues to join the global community in condemning Russia's war against Ukraine and calling for a swift return to peace. Effective immediately, we have suspended all business operations in Russia," the company said in a statement.

This follows the company's move a month ago to suspend all shipments to Russia and Belarus.

"We are working to support all of our employees through this difficult situation, including our 1,200 employees in Russia," it said.

Intel joins a list of growing software companies that have stopped operations or shipments to Russia, including Oracle, SAP, and IBM.

Chelsea Ong

More Russian atrocities like those seen in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha may emerge, says Jeffrey Edmonds, a senior research scientist at CNA, a research organization.

"When you look at such things in history, they have happened at various times, when units are really depleted and leadership has demonized the people they're fighting," Edmonds told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian troops of killing and torturing more than 300 people in the city of Bucha, as Western leaders condemned images of slain Ukrainian civilians in a town previously occupied by Russian forces.

Russia has denied those allegations, but journalists and Ukrainians living in the city have confirmed the civilian killings. Satellite images from space companyMaxar Technologies captured also mass graves.

"Unfortunately, given how beat they are and the fact that Putin has created the conditions under which this would happen, I think we might see more," he added.

Chelsea Ong

A serviceman of Ukrainian military forces holds a FGM-148 Javelin, an American-made portable anti-tank missile, at a checkpoint, where they hold a position near Kharkiv on March 23, 2022.

Sergey Bobok | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden authorized the immediate release Tuesday of an additional $100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles and training for Ukraine, according to statements from the Pentagon and the State Department.

The announcements late Tuesday night were the first concrete evidence that the United States plans to respond to the growing evidence of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine in part by increasing the lethality of Kyiv's fighting force.

"The world has been shocked and appalled by the atrocities committed by Russia's forcesin Bucha and across Ukraine," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on the last-minute additional funding.

The formerly occupied Ukrainian village of Bucha was the scene of dozens of alleged war crimes by Russian troops, which were only discovered after the Kremlin ordered its soldiers to retreat.

The Javelin is a shoulder-fired, target-locking missile system that can destroy a tank on the move from a distance of more than a mile. As outnumbered Ukrainian forces fight to halt the progress of advancing infantry in Russian tanks, no weapon so far has been as effective or deadly as the U.S.-made Javelins.

Christina Wilkie

Tue, Apr 5 20228:26 PM EDT

Photos show total destruction in the small city of Borodyanka, located northwest of Kyiv, which was the scene of heavy clashes for weeks while the Russian military were there until about four days ago. Ukrainian forces have regained the control of the town.

Destroyed houses are seen in Borodyanka, amid Russia's invasion in the Kyiv region, April 5, 2022.

Gleb Garanich | Reuters

Local residents ride bikes near destroyed houses in Borodyanka in the Kyiv region, April 5, 2022.

Gleb Garanich | Reuters

Destroyed houses are seen in Borodyanka in the Kyiv region, April 5, 2022.

Gleb Garanich | Reuters

A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodyanka in the Kyiv region, April 5, 2022.

Zohra Bensemra | Reuters

A damaged statue is seen in the city of Borodyanka on March 5, 2022. Borodyanka was the scene of heavy clashes for weeks while the Russian military were located there until about four days ago.

Metin Atkas | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Ukrainian kids are seen playing among the ruins in the city of Borodyanka on April 5, 2022. Borodyanka was the scene of heavy clashes for weeks while the Russian military were located there until about four days ago.

Metin Atkas | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Tue, Apr 5 20225:17 PM EDT

People wait in queue to take free food as part of humanitarian aid, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, outside the Drama Theatre, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine March 23, 2022.

Stringer | Reuters

The United Nation's said an eight-truck convoy of humanitarian supplies reached Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region, where sustained fighting is "taking an enormous toll on civilians."

"The UN and humanitarian partners delivered ready-to-eat meals, canned goods, flour and essential relief items such as blankets, mattresses, solar-powered lamps, and other household items," UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator Markus said in a statement.

The supplies also included plastic sheeting and blankets for some 17,000 people, as well as electric generators for the local hospital. The UN estimates that 11.3 million Ukrainians have been uprootedby the war.

Dawn Kopecki

Tue, Apr 5 20223:44 PM EDT

Editor's Note: Graphic content. The following post contains an image of dead bodies.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / City workers carry body bags with six partially burnt bodies found in the town of Bucha on April 5, 2022, as Ukrainian officials say over 400 civilian bodies have been recovered from the wider Kyiv region, many of which were buried in mass graves.

Genya Savilov | AFP | Getty Images

Since the Kremlin's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations has confirmed 1,480 deaths and 2,195 injuries.

The international body adds that the death tolls in Ukraine are likely to be higher citing delayed reporting due to the armed conflict.

The UN says the war has createdmore than 4.2 million Ukrainianrefugees, mostly the elderly, women and children.

Amanda Macias

Tue, Apr 5 20222:31 PM EDT

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley testifies alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, and Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, before the House Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan at the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S. September 29, 2021.

Olivier Douliery | Reuters

The highest U.S. military officer told lawmakers that the war in Ukraine could last for years, a revelation that comes as U.S. officials warn that Russia will intensify its campaign in Ukraine.

"I do think this is a very protracted conflict and I think it's at least measured in years, I don't know about a decade but at least years for sure," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley told the House Armed Services Committee.

"This is a very extended conflict that Russia has initiated and I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time," he added.

Milley, who has served in the U.S. Army for four decades, described the war in Ukraine as the "greatest threat to the peace and security of Europeand perhaps the world."

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to undermine the global peace and stability that my parents and generations of Americans fought so hard to defend," Milley added.

Amanda Macias

Tue, Apr 5 20222:22 PM EDT

Russia's President Vladimir Putin looks on during the U.S.-Russia summit with U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The U.S. and its European allies are preparing to deliver another slew of sanctions on Russia following mounting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, three people familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

The additional sanctions are expected to ban all new investments in Russia and state-owned enterprises.

The fresh sanctions package, taken in lockstep with European Union allies and Group of 7 members, will also designate Kremlin officials and their family members.

The sweeping measures come on the heels of global outrage over mounting evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Amanda Macias

Tue, Apr 5 20221:59 PM EDT

In what appears to mark a major policy shift, Germany has called for EU talks on whether to impose an import ban on Russian gas deliveries.

Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Russian energy giant Gazprom said it has recalled its representatives from the management of Gazprom Germania and companies under its control.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday that Gazprom Germania, an energy trading, storage and transmission business ditched by Gazprom on Friday, would be transferred to Germany's regulator to ensure energy security.

Gazprom also said that Gazprom Germania as well as Gazprom Marketing & Trading should stop using Gazprom's trademarks.

Reuters

Tue, Apr 5 202211:43 AM EDT

A local resident walks near an apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 3, 2022.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

The United Nations official who oversees the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine said that the coastal city of Mariupol has become "the center of hell."

"For more than five weeks, the people of Mariupol have been caught up in the fighting and it is well documented that really Mariupol is the center of hell," UN humanitarian aid chief Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council.

People gather near a damaged store of wholesaler Metro during the distribution of humanitarian aid in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 5, 2022. Picture taken with a drone.

Stringer | Reuters

UN officials have warned that people living in Mariupol, a strategic city on the Sea of Azov, have lacked electricity, water, food and heat since nearly the start of the war.

More than a quarter of Ukraine's population has fled since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Griffiths said.

"The current figures on displacement tell us that more than 11.3 million people have now been forced to flee their homes and of that 4.2 million are now refugees," he said.

Local residents are seen outside an apartment building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022.

Read more:

Boris Johnson calls on Russians to 'find the truth;' Zelenskyy says Russia must be brought to justice - CNBC

With evidence mounting of atrocities in the Kyiv suburbs, and Russian forces preparing for a new offensive farther east, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine delivered a scathing speech to the United Nations on Tuesday, accusing Russia of a litany of horrors and questioning whether a world body that takes no action to stop a war serves any purpose.

Speaking via video link to the U.N. Security Council, he compared Russian forces to the Islamic State, called for a Nuremberg-like war crimes tribunal and vented his bitter frustration, knowing that the council where Russia is one of five permanent members with veto power would do nothing but talk.

Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee? Mr. Zelensky said, raising the question of whether Russia deserved to keep its seat on the council. Are you ready to close the U.N.? Do you think that the time of international law is gone? If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately.

The chamber fell silent as a short video provided by Mr. Zelenskys government played, showing some of the hundreds of corpses found strewn around the city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, after Russian forces retreated last week bloated, charred bodies of civilians, including children. Some victims, their hands bound, had been shot in the head.

Mr. Zelensky said that in Bucha, they killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies. Civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, he added, asserting that women were raped and killed in front of their children; their tongues were pulled out.

China refrained from criticizing Russia in Tuesdays session, saying that the Security Council should wait until investigations establish the facts in Ukraine. A rising global power, China has drawn closer to Russia in recent years, united by a shared antipathy to the United States. The divisions on the war appeared essentially unchanged since Feb. 26, when 11 of 15 Security Council members voted for a resolution condemning Russias invasion, Russia vetoed the measure, and three others abstained China, India and the United Arab Emirates.

Russias U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, reiterated his governments claims rebutted by ample evidence that atrocities in Bucha had been faked, or had not occurred when Russians held the city. He made a number of other unsupported claims, including stating falsely that in Ukraine where the freely elected president is a Jew who lost family members in the Holocaust Nazis are running the show.

After President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia launched the war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, his military became bogged down on several fronts in the face of logistical failures and unexpectedly fierce Ukrainian resistance. Russian forces spent weeks shelling and occupying cities and towns in northern Ukraine, where they took heavy losses as they failed to capture Kyiv, the capital. Last week they pulled back from that part of the country, preparing for what Russian officials and foreign analysts said would be a shift in focus toward eastern Ukraine.

The next pivotal battle of the war is likely to be for the eastern city of Sloviansk, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Institute for the Study of War, based in Washington.

Revulsion over the apparent executions discovered in Bucha deepened Russias economic isolation, despite its denials of responsibility.

The United States has started blocking Russia from making debt payments using dollars held in American banks, a move designed to deplete its international currency reserves and potentially push Russia toward its first foreign currency debt default in a century.

And as early as Wednesday, the Biden administration is expected to announce additional sanctions against Russia for the killings of Ukrainian citizens, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to detail them publicly. The administration will expand existing sanctions against Sberbank, the largest financial institution in Russia, and implement sanctions against Alfa Bank, one of the countrys largest private lenders. The administration also plans to announce sanctions against adult children of Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president.

The Biden administration has also authorized an additional shipment of up to $100 million in military supplies that will be taken from existing Defense Department stockpiles, the Pentagon announced in an email sent to reporters Tuesday night. This comes days after an additional $300 million in defense aid was announced April 1.

And the European Union took a significant step toward overcoming resistance to curbing fuel imports from Russia, on which its member nations rely heavily. The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, proposed cutting off imports of Russian coal oil and natural gas remain hotly debated and barring Russian vessels from E.U. ports as part of a new round of sanctions.

The measures, which require unanimous approval, are expected to go to a vote of E.U. ambassadors on Wednesday. Diplomats said the sanctions package would target, among others, two daughters of Mr. Putin. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the chief E.U. diplomat, Josep Borrell Fontelles, announced plans to visit Kyiv this week and meet with Mr. Zelensky.

The Ukrainian prosecutor generals office said that it, along with the Kyiv police, had discovered what it called a Bucha torture chamber, where Russian forces had left behind the bodies of five men, their hands tied, who had been tortured and killed.

Mr. Zelensky reinforced a point that U.N. officials have made repeatedly: The true extent of Ukraines destruction and casualties is unknown but far greater than what has been documented, because outside observers have been unable to reach some of the most devastated areas. Now the world can see what Russia did in Bucha, but the world has yet to see what it has done in other parts of our country, Mr. Zelensky said.

New York Times journalists on Tuesday were able for the first time to reach the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, battered by Russian rockets and airstrikes, where the mayor estimated 200 dead lay beneath the rubble. In the besieged port of Mariupol, local officials have put the death toll in the thousands.

Fierce fighting continues along Ukraines southern coast, where Mariupol, largely reduced to ruins by Russian bombardment, is the center of hell, said Martin Griffiths, the U.N. chief of humanitarian relief.

More than 250 miles west of Mariupol, explosions shuddered through the port of Mykolaiv, a day after the mayor said Russian strikes had killed 10 people and wounded 46. He said that Russians had hit residential buildings, schools, a hospital and an orphanage in his city since the war began, and had used cluster munitions. Soldiers defending the city said that increasingly, Russian forces were hitting civilian targets.

After four consecutive days of trying and failing to send an aid convoy into Mariupol, where people are desperately short of food, water, power, heat and medicines, the International Committee of the Red Cross decided against another attempt on Tuesday.

Ukrainian officials say the Russians have prevented crucial supplies from reaching the city. Mr. Nebenzya, the Russian U.N. ambassador, said the Ukrainians had blocked the convoy, and he claimed that Russian forces had evacuated 123,500 people from Mariupol.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that in fact, tens of thousands of Ukrainians, including from Mariupol, had been taken to filtration camps in Russia, where family members were separated and people were stripped of passports and cellphones. I do not need to spell out what these so-called filtration camps are reminiscent of, she said. Its chilling, and we cannot look away.

Rosemary A. DiCarlo, a U.N. under secretary general, said there was credible evidence that Russia had used cluster munitions shells that burst open to spew many smaller bomblets over a wide area at least 24 times in populated areas of Ukraine. Most countries have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions as indiscriminate weapons with a high risk of civilian casualties, but Russia, like the United States, has not.

More than 11 million Ukrainians about one in four have fled their homes because of the war, including more than 4 million who have left the country, according to the United Nations, creating Europes largest and fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.

Russian forces recently captured the eastern city of Izyum, and Western analysts say they are preparing for a drive to the south and southeast, to bolster efforts to seize more of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting for eight years. Many of Ukraines best-equipped and most experienced military units have been concentrated in that area, known as Donbas.

Russian forces continue to make little to no progress in frontal assaults on the portions of Donbas still held by Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War reported.

Whether the Russians aim simply to reinforce their units in Donbas, or are planning a more ambitious effort to encircle the Ukrainian forces, capturing Sloviansk is crucial, the institute said.

In the Luhansk region on Tuesday, an attack that Ukrainians blamed on Russian forces hit a storage tank containing nitric acid, releasing a toxic cloud and prompting the regional administrator to urge people to stay inside and close their windows.

The Russian units that withdrew from the region around Kyiv, having suffered heavy casualties, extensive equipment losses and poor morale, the institute said, are highly unlikely to be effectively deployed elsewhere in Ukraine and are likely a spent force.

An intelligence assessment released by the British defense ministry was less definitive, but said that any Russian forces redeploying from the north would first need considerable time to repair and replace equipment, and to make up for casualties.

Reporting was contributed by Carlotta Gall in Borodyanka, Ukraine; Andrew E. Kramer in Kyiv, Ukraine; Rick Gladstone, Michael Schwirtz and Farnaz Fassihi in New York; Dan Bilefsky in Montreal; Steven Erlanger and Matina Stevis-Gridneff in Brussels; Megan Specia and Cora Engelbrecht in Krakow, Poland; Anton Troianovski in Istanbul; and Lara Jakes, John Ismay and Katie Rogers in Washington.

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What Happened on Day 41 of the War in Ukraine - The New York Times

Tue, Apr 5 20221:54 AM EDT

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on a phone call state media said was made at Ukraine's request.

This is the first reported high-level conversation between the countries since March 1, when Kuleba asked Beijing to use its ties with Moscow to stop Russia's invasion, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said at the time.

Wang repeated China's message that peace and stability should be achieved through negotiation, according to state media.

Kuleba tweeted: "Grateful to my Chinese counterpart for solidarity with civilian victims."

"We both share the conviction that ending the war against Ukraine serves common interests of peace, global food security, and international trade," he added.

Chelsea Ong

Mon, Apr 4 20228:26 PM EDT

A man stands next to graves with bodies of civilians, who according to local residents were killed by Russian soldiers, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 4, 2022.

Vladyslav Musiienko | Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the UN Security Council on Tuesday after visiting Bucha, according to a tweet from the UK UN.

"The UK Presidency of the Council will ensure the truth is heard about Russia's war crimes. We will expose Putin's war for what it really is," the account tweeted.

Zelenskyy has accused Russian forces of committing genocide, and said Ukrainians were being "destroyed and exterminated." His comments came in the wake of the reported devastation in Bucha, a town 23 miles northwest of Kyiv that has been liberated by Ukrainian forces.

Riya Bhattacharjee

Mon, Apr 4 20226:34 PM EDT

A worker walks past oil barrels at a filling station in Chennai on February 24, 2022.

Arun Sankar | AFP | Getty Images

Oil prices jumped over 3% with investors worried about tighter supply as mounting civilian deaths in Ukraine increased pressure on European countries to impose sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

Global benchmark Brent crude jumped $3.14, or 3%, to settle at $107.53 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $4.01, or 4%, to settle at $103.28 a barrel. Trading was volatile with both contracts rising after being down more than $1.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters would "feel the consequences" of events in Bucha, outside the capital Kyiv, where a mass grave and tied bodies shot at close range were found.

Western allies would agree on further sanctions against Moscow in coming days, he said, though the timing and reach of the new package was not clear. France's President Emmanuel Macron suggested sanctions on oil and coal, adding there were very "clear clues pointing to war crimes" by Russian forces.

Reuters

Mon, Apr 4 20225:32 PM EDT

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to a local resident, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Bucha, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine April 4, 2022.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | Reuters

Editor's Note: Graphic content. The following post contains images of dead bodies found in the suburban Kyiv town of Bucha.

The Kremlin faced renewed global outrage and accusations of war crimes on the heels of a grisly discovery of civilians tortured and shot at close range in the streets of Bucha, Ukraine.

SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB A body with hands bound by white cloth, who according to residents was shot by Russian soldiers, lies in the street, amid Russia's invasion on Ukraine, in Bucha, Ukraine April 3, 2022.

Zohra Bensemra | Reuters

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content: Dead bodies lie on a street in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, on April 2, 2022, as Ukraine says Russian forces are making a "rapid retreat" from northern areas around Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv.

Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled from Kyiv to the nearby town of Bucha to see the aftermath of a Russian troop pullout which he later described as a "genocide." Bodies of civilians lay scattered across the streets, some with their hands tied and gunshot wounds to the back of the head.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content: Communal workers carry a civilian in a body bag after he was killed during Russian army shelling in the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Image depicts death) The body of a man lays inside a car ran over by a Russian tank in Bucha district on the outskirts of Kyiv, after the Ukrainian army secured the area following the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Kyiv region on previous days, Bucha, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. (Photo by Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Narciso Contreras | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

U.S. National security advisor Jake Sullivan called the images from Bucha "tragic" and "shocking."

"Unfortunately, they're not surprising. We released information even before Russia's invasion showing that Russia would engage in acts of brutality against civilians," Sullivan told reporters at the White House. Biden's top security advisor said the U.S. was working on additional sanctions measures alongside European allies.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content A dead body lies on the ground in a street in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, as Ukraine says Russian forces are making a "rapid retreat" from northern areas around Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv, on April 2, 2022.

Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content A man walks on a street with several dead bodies on the ground a street in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, as Ukraine says Russian forces are making a "rapid retreat" from northern areas around Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv, on April 2, 2022.

Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

Earlier on Monday, President Joe Biden called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" whoshould be put on trialfor ordering violence in Ukraine.

"This guy is brutal, and what's happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone's seen it," Biden told reporters gathered at Fort McNair, adding, "I think it is a war crime ... He should be held accountable."

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Image depicts death) Civilians' bodies, which were found dead in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, were gathered to be buried on Monday, on April 4, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine.

Metkin Atkis| Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Bodies of civilians are seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, after the Ukrainian army secured the area following the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Kyiv region on previous days, Bucha, Ukraine on April 03, 2022.

Narciso Contreras | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Since the Kremlin's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations has confirmed 1,430 civilian deaths and 2,097 injuries. The war has also displacedmore than 4.2 million Ukrainians, mostly the elderly, women and children.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic Content: A communal worker standing inside a van loaded with body bags, waits for another body to be wrapped and collected by a colleague following Russian shelling of the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

Volunteers unload from a van bags containing bodies of civilians, who according to residents were killed by Russian army soldiers, after they collected them from the streets to gather them at a cemetery before they take them to the morgue, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 4, 2022.

Zohra Bensemra | Reuters

Amanda Macias and Adam Jeffery

Mon, Apr 4 20224:33 PM EDT

A man walks in the rubble of a destroyed building in the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv on april 2, 2022, as Ukraine said today Russian forces were making a "rapid retreat" from northern areas around the capital Kyiv and the city of Chernihiv.

Fadel Senna | AFP | Getty Images

National security advisor Jake Sullivan warned that Russian forces are currently gearing up for a more aggressive fight in Ukraine after nearly six weeks of war.

"At this juncture, we believe that Russia is revising its war aims. Russia is repositioning its forces to concentrate its offensive operations in eastern and parts of southern Ukraine, rather than target most of the territory," Sullivan told reporters, citing failed Russian attempts to capture Kyiv.

"All indications are that Russia will seek to surround and overwhelm Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. We anticipate that Russian commanders are now executing the redeployment from northern Ukraine to the region around the Donbas," Sullivan added.

He added that Russia's renewed ground offensive in eastern Ukraine will likely also "include air and missile strikes across the rest of the country to cause military and economic damage, and frankly, to cause terror."

Amanda Macias

Mon, Apr 4 20223:45 PM EDT

A national flags of Ukraine an EU flags outside the Town Hall in Lille, France, on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

France and Germany said they were expelling several Russian personnel serving under the cover of diplomatic status, citing security concerns.

"France decided this evening to expel many Russian personnel with diplomatic status assigned to France whose activities are contrary to our security interests," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"This action is part of a European approach. Our first responsibility is always to ensure the safety of French and Europeans," the statement added.

Berlin also barred several Russian personnel from continuing their work within Germany.

"Their work is a threat to those who seek shelter with us. We will no longer tolerate this," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement.

Last week, in a coordinated move, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic expelled a total of 43 Russian diplomats suspected of spying. The action followed similar steps taken by Poland.

Amanda Macias

Mon, Apr 4 20228:40 PM EDT

U.S. officials accused Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg of bank fraud and money laundering as his yacht was seized in Spain.

The seizure of the $90 million mega yacht followed a move by the U.S. and its allies to sanction Vekselberg in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

An FBI search warrant alleged Vekselberg conspired to commit bank fraud and money laundering to obscure his ownership of the yacht.

A spokesperson for Vekselberg did not respond to a request to comment.

Brian Schwartz

Mon, Apr 4 202212:56 PM EDT

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at a G7 meeting in the Museum of Liverpool.

Christopher Furlong | Getty Images

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called for tougher sanctions against Russia during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Warsaw.

Since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the UK has delivered its strongest sanctions ever levied on a country.

"The reality is that money is still flowing from the West into Putin's war machine and that has to stop," Truss said, adding that she would raise this issue with G-7 and NATO allies this week.

Truss also joined the U.S. in calling for Russia's suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Her demand came on the heels of alarming reports of attacks on civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha outside Kyiv.

"After these appalling crimes, Russia has no place on the Human Rights Council," she said, adding that the UK is currently gathering evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.

Amanda Macias

Mon, Apr 4 202212:28 PM EDT

Editor's Note: Graphic content. The following post contains a photo of dead bodies found in the suburban Kyiv town of Bucha.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Image depicts death) A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, after the Ukrainian army secured the area following the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Kyiv region on previous days, Bucha, Ukraine on April 03, 2022.

Narciso Contreras | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The U.S. military could not independently confirm reports of mounting evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

A senior U.S. Defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the Pentagon's thinking, described the reports of atrocities in Bucha, a town in the suburbs of Kyiv, as "clearly deeply troubling."

The official, who was aware of the accounts out of Bucha, described the imagery as "disgusting" and "sickening." The official added that the U.S. had no evidence that Russian troops were given specific orders to kill civilians in Bucha.

Earlier on Monday, President Joe Biden called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" who should be put on trial for ordering violence in Ukraine.

"This guy is brutal, and what's happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone's seen it," Biden told reporters gathered at Fort McNair, adding, "I think it is a war crime ... He should be held accountable."

Amanda Macias

Mon, Apr 4 202212:06 PM EDT

A Ukrainian policeman walks past the wreckage of a Russian armoured vehicle in Dmytrivka village, west of Kyiv, on April 2, 2022 as Ukraine says Russian forces are making a "rapid retreat" from northern areas around Kyiv and the city of Chernigiv.

Genya Savilov | Afp | Getty Images

Originally posted here:

Biden says Putin should be tried for war crimes, slapped with more sanctions; Russia accused of civilian massacre in Bucha - CNBC

A senior Biden administration official said, however, there will still be a carve-out for energy transactions, part of a continued effort to shield Europe from skyrocketing oil and gas prices. The Treasury Department is also sanctioning Alfa Bank, the largest private lender in Russia, as well as several key state-owned companies, on top of a broader move to cut off funding to the country.

We have seen an overwhelming move by companies to take actions on their own to pull out of Russia, Brian Deese, a top White House economic official, told reporters Wednesday morning at an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. Today, we will prohibit any new inbound investment.

The latest sanctions on Russias biggest banks aim to dramatically escalate the financial shock the country has faced in recent weeks, a senior administration official told reporters on a call, adding that more than two-thirds of the Russian banking industry is now fully blocked from transacting with U.S. financial firms.

The investment ban will make sure that the mass exodus from Russia that were seeing from the private sector which is now over 600 multinational companies and growing that it will endure, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss administration strategy. Without investment from our private sector, Putin will lose private sector know-how and skills that travel with investment, and the knock-on effects to the ongoing brain drain from Russia will be profound.

The measures were taken in concert with European allies. The U.K. on Wednesday imposed new asset freezes against Sberbank and Credit Bank of Moscow and announced a phase-out of Russian coal before the end of 2022, to go alongside a similar plan for Russian oil announced last month. It slapped new bans on exports, including oil-refining equipment as well as iron and steel products, and targeted sanctions at more oligarchs tied to the Russian fuel sector.

A new package of EU sanctions, which was to be put to member countries for a vote on Wednesday, would also phase out Russian coal deliveries from the blocs energy imports, ban Russian vessels and trucks from entering the EU and impose tougher sanctions on four key Russian banks. But the plan stops short of a full ban on Russian oil imports, amid resistance from countries led by Germany.

Our partners are outraged by the atrocities that are being committed in Russia, as we are, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday at a House Financial Services Committee hearing. And we are working very actively with them to impose new sanctions that will cause Russia significant pain.

Also targeted in Wednesdays actions: Putins adult children, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovs wife and daughter and members of Russias Security Council, including former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and current Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

The Treasury confirmed Monday that it is now banning Russia from using its frozen central bank reserves to make payments to bondholders. That means the Kremlin will have to find new sources of funding and new payment routes other than U.S. banks to avoid defaulting on its debt, the official said.

The official said the sanctions are having an impact on Russia, citing soaring inflation and interest rates that are now above 20 percent. Russias economy is expected to shrink by as much as 15 percent this year, more than twice the contraction it experienced following the 1998 currency crisis, when the country defaulted on its debt.

But unlike then, when Russia was in the process of getting integrated into the global economy, its now in the process of being isolated as a pariah state, the official said.

At this rate, Russia will go back to Soviet-style living standards from the 1980s. Russians will find it difficult to travel abroad, their debit cards may not work and store shelves may be empty, the official said.

The Biden administration already took some steps in February to cut off Sberbank from the U.S. financial system after Russias initial invasion, but it stopped short of the type of full blocking sanctions that it placed on VTB, Russias second-largest bank.

Although the administration has banned oil and gas imports from Russia into the U.S., the carve-out allows U.S. financial institutions to continue sending payments for Russian energy to Sberbank on behalf of European countries, which rely heavily on those imports.

Importantly, these measures are designed to reinforce each other to generate intensifying impact over time, the administration said in a fact sheet.

Read this article:

'Outraged by the atrocities': U.S. aims new sanctions at Russia - POLITICO

Smoke and fire are seen after shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022. Max Pshybyshevsky/AP hide caption

Smoke and fire are seen after shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022.

The Russian military says it has struck an oil processing plant and fuel depots around the strategic Black Sea port of Odesa.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russian ships and aircraft fired missiles on Sunday to strike the facilities, which he said were used to provide fuel to Ukrainian troops near Mykolaiv.

Konashenkov also said Russian strikes destroyed ammunition depots in Kostiantynivka and Khresyshche.

In an audio message posted by Italian news agency ANSA, Italian photographer Carlo Orlandi said Odessa woke to military sirens at 5:45 a.m. Sunday, followed immediately by the sounds of bombs falling on the port city from two aircraft.

He described a column of dark smoke rising from the targets, and flames from the buildings.

"What we can see is a dense screen of dark smoke, and one explosion after the other, Orlandi said.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the mayor of the capital of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has expressed shock at what he called "cruel war crimes" committed by Russian soldiers in the town of Bucha northwest of the capital.

Referring to reports of executed civilians, Klitschko told German daily Bild on Sunday that "what happened in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv can only be described as genocide."

An AP crew on Sunday saw the bodies of at least nine people who appear to have been executed. At least two of them had their hands tied behind their backs. They were all in civilian clothes and at least three were naked from the waist up. One appeared shot in the chest from close range.

Klitschko said Russian President Vladimir Putin was responsible for these "cruel war crimes," adding that civilians had been "shot with tied hands."

He called on the the whole world and especially Germany to immediately end gas imports from Russia.

He said that "especially for Germany, there can only be one consequence: Not a penny should go to Russia anymore, that's bloody money used to slaughter people. The gas and oil embargo must come immediately."

See the article here:

Russia hits an oil processing plant near the port city of Odesa - NPR

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to have spent much of his Tuesday phone conversationwith his Mexican counterpartdiscussing Ukraine.

According to the official Canadian readout, "the Prime Minister invited the President to participate in the 'Stand Up for Ukraine'campaign pledging event on April 9, which he is co-convening with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people."

There was no word on whether Mexican PresidentAndrs Manuel Lpez Obrador usually known as AMLO accepted the invitation. He has appeared to lack enthusiasm for supporting Ukraineand his MORENA party has had a number of pro-Putin eruptions since the Feb. 24 invasion.

On Tuesdayin what Mexican critics of Lpez Obrador's "Fourth Transformation" movement called a new low the newspaper that's often seen as the unofficial organ of the ruling party shocked many Mexicans with its front-page take on the murder of civiliansin Bucha and other newly liberated cities in the periphery of Kyiv.

"Russia demands the UN tackle staged massacre in Ukraine," reads the headline in La Jornada.

Subheadings repeated various Kremlin claims including one alleging the corpses in Bucha are living actors and that one of the victim'shands canbe seen moving in a video. (It can't.)

While much of the world was reacting with outrage to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a group of legislators from Mexico's governing MORENA party and the allied Labour Party decided it was a perfect time to set up a new "friendship group" with Russia.

RussianAmbassador to Mexico Viktor Koronelli celebrated the occasion on March 23 by meeting with about two dozen pro-government lawmakers while opposition members protested outside the chamber with signs saying "No to war."

"For us it's a sign of support, of friendship, of solidarity," said Koronelli, "in these complicated times for my country, facing not only a special military operation in Ukraine but also a tremendous media war."

"Russia didn't start this war. It is finishing it," he told his Mexican hosts.

Speaking on behalf of the governing party, Congressman Armando Contreras Castillo lavished praise on the Soviet Union, which he said had given Mexico "a new way of thinking about society and economy, a new way of understanding the world and life." Castillo said Mexico also wanted to draw closer to the modern Russia of Vladimir Putin.

"Our goal is today to strengthen Mexican-Russian relations," he said."We are ready to do everything to fortify the friendship between Mexico and Russia and establish new ties."

Mexico has a highly professional diplomatic corps and currently holds a seat at the UN Security Council. There, Mexico "has continuously condemned the acts of aggression perpetrated by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, while recognizing its sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity," said Oscar Mora of the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa.

And at the General Assembly, Mexico co-sponsored with France a motion that blamed Russia for the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine.

"Mexico has also expressed its support for the call from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to conduct an independent probe into the atrocities in Bucha, identifying those who are responsible to get justice," Mora told CBC News.

Mexico has sent flights to Romania with humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and is currently hosting about 400 Ukrainian refugees many of them are seeking status in the U.S.

"Rest assured that Mexico's condemnation will remain clear and loud, particularly as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, and we will continue to work with Canadaand other like-minded countries to restore peace in Ukraine as soon as possible," saidMora.

But Mexican journalist Jose Diaz Briseno, the Washington correspondent for Reforma, saidthat the Mexican government's position is best described as "ambivalent."

"There's one thing for the outside world, at the UN Security Council, and there's another position that the president himself and his allies present to the Mexican public," he said.

"Basically, the president is trying to cater to the most extreme elements within the MORENA coalition, which are very anti-U.S. and believe that any expression of support of Ukraine is 100 per centsupport of all U.S. actions in the world."

Following criticism of the new friendship group, Lpez Obrador said that "we are not going to participate either in favour or against" the war in Ukraine.

"Our posture is one of neutrality," he said.

"The president seems trapped," said Diaz Briseno, "between the official position that his diplomats are taking at the UNand the flirtations that some of the elements within his party have with Russia.

"There are elements of the MORENA Party and the Labour Party who have visited Russia, who've talked to Russian officials, and Russian propaganda in the Spanish language is very widespread in Mexico.

"Russian media are helping in many cases to spread some of the conspiracy theories about the U.S. being against AMLO."

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar was quick to respond to the friendship group with a public statement that said "we must be united with Ukraine."

In Washington, the response came even faster as Air Force Gen.Glen VanHerck, head of the U.S. military's Northern Command, went before a U.S. Senate committee and dropped a bombshell about the Russian presence in Mexico.

"I would like to point out that most of the GRU members in the world are in Mexico at the moment," he said."Those are Russian intelligence personnel."

GRU, or Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie, is the Russian military's foreign intelligence service.

VanHerck said officers of GRU's main directorate use cover positions at the Russian Embassy in Mexico City to spy on the U.S., among other tasks. (The U.S. already has expelled several Russian diplomats it accused of using their diplomatic postings in Washington as cover for espionage.)

Asked about those allegations at one of his regular news conferences, Lpez Obrador said his government had no informationand advised others to stay out of Mexico's affairs.

"We must send them telegrams warning them that Mexico is not a colony of any foreign country," he said.

The president has himself avoided praising Vladimir Putin publicly or justifying the attack on Ukraine. He has said that Mexico will notallow arms to be sent to Ukraine or participate in any sanctions against the Putin government.

But on Mexico's left, traditional anti-Americanism and tolerance for autocratic regimes has blended with a conspiratorial mindset to drive support for Russia and suspicion of pro-Ukrainian narratives and some members of Lpez Obrador's party have been more openly supportive.

One example was its youth wing in Mexico's biggest state, which published a paean to the Russian dictator following the Feb. 24 invasion:

"We reaffirm our moral and political support for the difficult decision that forced the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin to engage in the legitimate defence of his people and, seeking to avoid a larger military conflict and preserve world peace, militarily intervene in Ukrainian territory to weaken the neo-Nazi, coup-lead forces," wrote the Morena Youth of Mexico State.

The statement blamed the U.S., EU and NATO for causing the conflict by tempting Ukraine to unite with the West "with the sole excuse of spreading democracy."

And just hours before Canada closed its airspace to Russian aircraft, Lpez Obrador's Transport Minister Miguel Torruco put out a string of tweets celebrating Russia's state airline.

"Warm greetings to our friends at the prestigious airline @aeroflot, hoping for prompt connectivity between nations and of course to Mexico City. I remind you that tourism is a synonym of peace, friendship and understanding between people," he wrote in one of them.

The pro-Putin musings of MORENA members have provoked anger in the U.S. and from Ukrainians.

Ukraine's ambassador to Mexico, Oksana Dramaretska,called Lpez Obrador out on Twitterand described the Friendship Group as "a disgrace,"prompting calls from some AMLO supporters for her expulsion.

And on Monday, a Democratic congressman from Texas called on the Biden administration to cancel the U.S. visas of all politicians who joined the group.

Rep. Vicente Gonzlez wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas that the Friendship Group's members "took this opportunity to shun the free world and stand with Putin."

Mexican journalist Diaz Briseno says Monday's coverage in La Jornada was a sad development.

"On a personal note, it's very sad to see this on the front page of a major outlet in Mexico," he said. "This is not something you see in other countries, and it speaks to how some elements of the ruling coalition in Mexico have sympathy to Russian claims."

Russian Ambassador Viktor Koronelli, on the other hand, has welcomed Mexican support.

"In Russia, we say that it's in hard times that you learn who your friends are," he said.

See the original post here:

Russia's war with Ukraine made it a global pariah but it still has friends in Mexico - CBC News

MOSCOW, Russia: The Russian central bank has implemented a range of capital controls in a bid to support domestic assets and the ruble currency, as international sanctions squeeze the economy following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

KIRILL Kudryavtsev | AFP | Getty Images

The Russian economy is set to shrink sharply this year while inflation skyrockets, as punitive international sanctions in response to its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine begin to bite.

Russian manufacturing activity in March contracted at its sharpest rate since May 2020, in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, as material shortages and delivery delays weighed heavily on factories.

The S&P Global purchasing managers' index (PMI) for Russia, published on Friday, dropped from 48.6 in February to 44.1 in March, with anything below 50 representing contraction. Goldman Sachs economists noted on Friday that the fall was "broad-based, with sharp drops in the output, new orders, and (especially) the new exports orders components."

In a note Wednesday, economists at Capital Economics projected that Western sanctions are likely to push Russian gross domestic product into a 12% contraction in 2022, while inflation is expected to exceed 23% year-on-year.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has projected a 10% shrinkage in the Russian economy, which would still constitute the country's deepest recession for almost 30 years, with GDP then flatlining in 2023 and entering a prolonged period of negligible growth.

Goldman Sachs has also forecast a 10% contraction, while the Institute for International Finance think tank has projected a more damaging 15% plunge in Russian GDP in 2022 and a further 3% in 2023.

Fears of a Russian sovereign debt default have not materialized, however, with the Kremlin managing to service a recent closely-watched bond payment despite the shackles of sanctions by Western powers that have frozen huge portions of the central bank's $640 billion stockpile of foreign currency reserves.

Russian stocks have also edged higher since reopening on Mar. 24 after a month-long shutdown of Moscow exchanges, along with the ruble, though capital control measures taken by the Central Bank of Russia and the fading risk of debt default are partially responsible.

"A more sustained recovery will probably require a peace deal which still looks far away. Meanwhile, spillovers from the war will be felt acutely in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)," Capital Economics Chief Emerging Markets Economist William Jackson said in the report.

"Industry will be hit by supply disruptions and higher inflation will weigh on households' real incomes and dampen consumer spending. We expect the war to shave 1.0-1.5%-pts off growth in CEE this year."

The outlook for Russia may yet darken further following the emergence over the weekend of allegations of civilian massacres by Russian forces in Bucha and other Ukrainian towns. The alleged atrocities will push back expectations for peace talks and increase the threat of more punitive international sanctions.

Ukraine's top prosecutor said on Sunday that 410 bodies had been found in towns recaptured from retreating Russian forces around Kyiv as part of an investigation into possible war crimes, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of genocide. Russia has denied allegations that its forces killed civilians in Bucha, 23 miles northwest of Kyiv.

The European Union plans to introduce fresh sanctions against Moscow in the wake of the new reported atrocities, with European Council President Charles Michel announcing on Twitter that "further EU sanctions & support are on their way."

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will travel to Poland on Monday to meet with Ukrainian and Polish counterparts ahead of talks with G-7 and NATO allies later this week, and is expected to call for tougher sanctions against Russia.

Despite the sharp declines in Russia's March PMIs, Goldman Sachs noted on Friday that activity across some CEEMEA economies was surprisingly robust, with gains in Hungary and South Africa offset by declines in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Hungary's PMI has been relatively volatile in recent months, so we would downplay the significance of its gain (not least because our analysis suggests that it is relatively exposed to the Russia-Ukraine conflict)," Goldman economists wrote.

"For South Africa, its direct trade with Russia and Ukraine is limited, while it is benefiting from higher commodity prices."

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Russia's economy is beginning to crack as economists forecast sharp contractions - CNBC

A radio transmission between several Russian soldiers in Ukraine in early March, captured from an unencrypted channel, reveals panicked and confused comrades retreating after coming under artillery fire.

Vostok, I am Sneg 02. On the highway we have to turn left, fuck, one of the soldiers says in Russian using code names meaning East and Snow 02.

Got it. No need to move further. Switch to defense. Over, another responds.

Later, a third soldier tries to make contact with another codenamed South 95: Yug 95, do you have contact with a senior? Warn him on the highway artillery fire. On the highway artillery fire. Dont go by column. Move carefully.

The third Russian soldier continues, becoming increasingly agitated: Get on the radio. Tell me your situation and the artillery location, approximately what weapon they are firing. Later, the third soldier speaks again: Name your square. Yug 95, answer my questions. Name the name of your square!

As the soldiers spoke, an AI was listening. Their words were automatically captured, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using several artificial intelligence algorithms developed by Primer, a US company that provides AI services for intelligence analysts. While it isnt clear whether Ukrainian troops also intercepted the communication, the use of AI systems to surveil Russias army at scale shows the growing importance of sophisticated open source intelligence in military conflicts.

A number of unsecured Russian transmissions have been posted online, translated, and analyzed on social media. Other sources of data, including smartphone video clips and social media posts, have similarly been scrutinized. But its the use of natural language processing technology to analyze Russian military communications that is especially novel. For the Ukrainian army, making sense of intercepted communications still typically involves human analysts working away in a room somewhere, translating messages and interpreting commands.

The tool developed by Primer also shows how valuable machine learning could become for parsing intelligence information. The past decade has seen significant advances in AIs capabilities around image recognition, speech transcription, translation, and language processing thanks to large neural network algorithms that learn from vast tranches of training data. Off-the-shelf code and APIs that use AI can now transcribe speech, identify faces, and perform other tasks, often with high accuracy. In the face of Russias numerical and artillery advantages, intercepting communications may well be making a difference for Ukrainian troops on the ground.

Primer already sells AI algorithms trained to transcribe and translate phone calls, as well as ones that can pull out key terms or phrases. Sean Gourley, Primers CEO, says the companys engineers modified these tools to carry out four new tasks: To gather audio captured from web feeds that broadcast communications captured using software that emulates radio receiver hardware; to remove noise, including background chatter and music; to transcribe and translate Russian speech; and to highlight key statements relevant to the battlefield situation. In some cases this involved retraining machine learning models to recognize colloquial terms for military vehicles or weapons.

The ability to train and retrain AI models on the fly will become a critical advantage in future wars, says Gourley. He says the company made the tool available to outside parties but refuses to say who. We wont say whos using it or for what theyre using it for, Gourley says. Several other American companies have made technologies, information, and expertise available to Ukraine as it fights against Russian invaders.

The fact that some Russian troops are using unsecured radio channels has surprised military analysts. It seems to point to an under-resourced and under-prepared operation, says Peter W. Singer, a senior fellow at the think tank New America who specializes in modern warfare. Russia used intercepts of open communications to target its foes in past conflicts like Chechnya, so they, of all forces, should have known the risks, Singer says. He adds that these signals could undoubtedly have helped the Ukrainians, although analysis was most likely done manually. It is indicative of comms equipment failures, some arrogance, and possibly, the level of desperation at the higher levels of the Russian military, adds Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general and author.

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As Russia Plots Its Next Move, an AI Listens to the Chatter - WIRED