Category Archives: Russia

When Russia invaded Ukraine, I couldnt eat. And I definitely couldnt cook for the first month and a half. It was the feeling of guilt. I just felt, How can I even cook anything when theres such horror happening everywhere else in Ukraine? Then, at the first event I did for #CookForUkraine, this woman Id never met before came up to me and said, Ive brought you some broth. I heated it up at home and had it out of a cup and it was just so life-giving. Then she started sending me a broth every week, and shes been doing it for two months now. And thats what Ive been sustaining myself on.

When I was writing Mamushka, people would say, Oh, youre writing a Ukrainian cookbook? Is that about dumplings and potatoes? I understand it: stereotypes are stereotypes, but hopefully Ive been able to break some of them. Even when I spoke of Ukraine back then, it was like, Is that Russia? No, its not fucking Russia! Our culture has for years and years and years been suppressed. Language, food, everything.

I only really realised the scope of my mum and my dads skills after I trained to be a chef. Watching Mum make filo pastry, stretching it out with her hands, then spinning it around in the air like a pizzaiolo its like shes spinning webs. I know loads of professional chefs who would not be able to do that.

Mamushka came out of a big jumble of things that were happening to me in 2014. I lost my job, I was a single mum, my son Sasha was nearly two years old. I was alone in the UK with no job and no prospects. Parallel to that, the Maidan [uprising] happens and the war starts in the Crimea. So it began, actually, as me writing down names of recipes in my notebook as a way of just doing something, and not sitting around and plunging myself into depression. Then I ended up getting this book deal, miraculously, everything came together. I never looked for an agent or to publish, it was just for me.

When I was giving birth to my son, Sasha, my first child, the midwives were like, Are you OK? And I was like, Im a chef! Ive done 18-hour shifts at Ottolenghi, I can do this! And I did. It was a really fast, efficient birth. Working in a busy restaurant kitchen definitely gives you insane stamina, for sure. You learn and your body learns it as well.

The only food I really dont like is avocado. I dont get it. I mean, its OK in guacamole, when theres loads of lime juice and flavourings. But avocado on toast? Id rather eat a shoe.

Coming to the UK to go to university was a shock, to be honest. There had been some attempts at cajoling me into cooking when I was at school by my dad and my mum. But I burned everything. My heart wasnt in it. Then, because I studied Italian, I did an Erasmus exchange in Italy, and everybody in my halls of residence, especially the boys, weirdly, were incredible cooks. Even if it was very simple, like aglio olio e peperoncino or something, there was just this flair and energy. So I fell in love with the idea of cooking and I just became obsessed.

Im slowly, slowly getting back into cooking now. I finally convinced my parents to leave the south of Ukraine, which is occupied by Russia. They drove through Europe and eventually ended up in Italy, where my cousin has just recently bought a little house. When they arrived, I made them borscht and handmade Ukrainian-style pasta and a sauce. That was the first time throughout this whole period that I actually enjoyed and was excited about cooking. Yeah, it made me feel good.

FoodMy death-row, apocalypse dish would be my mums Ukrainian dumplings called varenyky, which are filled with her homemade cheese that we call syr. It just wires some really crazy things in my brain and makes me release all of the endorphins.

DrinkThe first word that springs to my head is wiiiiine! I really miss Ukrainian wine: natural, low-intervention wine of a kind that is very fashionable now. It would be a dream if I could drink that all summer.

Place to eatFor sure Towpath on the canal in London, also 40 Maltby Street and Rochelle Canteen. You get the gist: restaurants that use really good ingredients and you can feel the skill in cooking, but its not fussy.

Dish to makeWorking with really soft, leavened dough is my favourite thing. I find the whole process extremely therapeutic and rewarding, and I love the smell.

Olia Herculess new book, Home Food, is published on 7 July (Bloomsbury, 26). #CookForUkraine is at justgiving.com

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Olia Hercules: When Russia invaded Ukraine, I couldnt cook for the first month - The Guardian

Soviet anti-fascism, in other words, was a politics of us and them. That is no answer to fascism. After all, fascist politics begins, as the Nazi thinker Carl Schmitt said, from the definition of an enemy. Because Soviet anti-fascism just meant defining an enemy, it offered fascism a backdoor through which to return to Russia.

In the Russia of the 21st century, anti-fascism simply became the right of a Russian leader to define national enemies. Actual Russian fascists, such as Aleksandr Dugin and Aleksandr Prokhanov, were given time in mass media. And Mr. Putin himself has drawn on the work of the interwar Russian fascist Ivan Ilyin. For the president, a fascist or a Nazi is simply someone who opposes him or his plan to destroy Ukraine. Ukrainians are Nazis because they do not accept that they are Russians and resist.

A time traveler from the 1930s would have no difficulty identifying the Putin regime as fascist. The symbol Z, the rallies, the propaganda, the war as a cleansing act of violence and the death pits around Ukrainian towns make it all very plain. The war against Ukraine is not only a return to the traditional fascist battleground, but also a return to traditional fascist language and practice. Other people are there to be colonized. Russia is innocent because of its ancient past. The existence of Ukraine is an international conspiracy. War is the answer.

Because Mr. Putin speaks of fascists as the enemy, we might find it hard to grasp that he could in fact be fascist. But in Russias war on Ukraine, Nazi just means subhuman enemy someone Russians can kill. Hate speech directed at Ukrainians makes it easier to murder them, as we see in Bucha, Mariupol and every part of Ukraine that has been under Russian occupation. Mass graves are not some accident of war, but an expected consequence of a fascist war of destruction.

Fascists calling other people fascists is fascism taken to its illogical extreme as a cult of unreason. It is a final point where hate speech inverts reality and propaganda is pure insistence. It is the apogee of will over thought. Calling others fascists while being a fascist is the essential Putinist practice. Jason Stanley, an American philosopher, calls it undermining propaganda. I have called it schizofascism. The Ukrainians have the most elegant formulation. They call it ruscism.

We understand more about fascism than we did in the 1930s. We now know where it led. We should recognize fascism, because then we know what we are dealing with. But to recognize it is not to undo it. Fascism is not a debating position, but a cult of will that emanates fiction. It is about the mystique of a man who heals the world with violence, and it will be sustained by propaganda right to the end. It can be undone only by demonstrations of the leaders weakness. The fascist leader has to be defeated, which means that those who oppose fascism have to do what is necessary to defeat him. Only then do the myths come crashing down.

As in the 1930s, democracy is in retreat around the world and fascists have moved to make war on their neighbors. If Russia wins in Ukraine, it wont be just the destruction of a democracy by force, though that is bad enough. It will be a demoralization for democracies everywhere. Even before the war, Russias friends Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orban, Tucker Carlson were the enemies of democracy. Fascist battlefield victories would confirm that might makes right, that reason is for the losers, that democracies must fail.

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Opinion | Russias War on Ukraine Shows That It Is Fascist - The New York Times

They reveal the same cross-section of local geology familiar from the winter war; but now, the fertile black topsoil is baked dry, and the ochre clay beneath it is rock hard.

In theory, this is the moment Russia's offensive has been waiting for.

Tanks and other vehicles that were confined to tarmac roads should now be able to roam free, making the most of their mobility and the range of their cannons on the undulating, open fields of the Donbas. Infantry can walk and run without their boots becoming stuck in a sucking quagmire.

But as the seasons have turned, so has the tide of the war.

While Russia's grand offensive in Donbas has made painfully slow progress, Ukraine has made significant advances with its own counter-offensive around Kharkiv.

As Ukrainian confidence grows, there is an unspoken expectation - perhaps premature and too optimistic - that it could be Ukrainian tanks, not Russian ones, raising dust as they sweep across the plains this summer.

But there are a number of factors preventing the Russians from exploiting the good weather that could prove equally challenging for the Ukrainians.

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The mud of the Donbas has dried, but both Russia and Ukraine may still be stuck - The Telegraph

BUCHA, Ukraine -- Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities accused the departing forces on Sunday of committing war crimes and leaving behind a scene from a horror movie.

As images of the bodies emerged from Bucha, European leaders condemned the atrocities and called for tougher sanctions against Moscow. In a sign of how the horrific reports shook many leaders, Germany's defense minister even suggested that the European Union consider banning Russian gas imports.

Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces.

Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various spots around Bucha, northwest of the capital. One group of nine, all in civilian clothes, were scattered around a site that residents said Russian troops used as a base. They appeared to have been killed at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs, one was shot in the head, and another's legs were bound.

Ukrainian officials laid the blame for the killings squarely at the feet of Russian troops, with the president calling them evidence of genocide. But Russias Defense Ministry rejected the accusations as provocation.

The discoveries followed the Russian retreat from the area after Moscow said it was focusing its offensive on the countrys east. Russian troops had rolled into Bucha in the early days of the invasion and stayed up until March 30.

One resident, who refused to give his name out of fear for his safety, said that Russian troops went building to building and took people out of the basements where they were hiding, checking their phones for any evidence of anti-Russian activity before taking them away or shooting them.

Hanna Herega, another resident, said Russian troops started shooting at a neighbor who had gone out to gather wood for heating.

They hit him a bit above the heel, crushing the bone, and he fell down, Herega said. Then they shot off his left leg completely, with the boot. Then they shot him all over.

The AP also saw two bodies, that of a man and a woman, wrapped in plastic that residents said they had covered and placed in a shaft until a proper funeral could be arranged.

He put his hands up, and they shot him, said the resident who refused to be identified.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described bodies lying in suburban streets as a scene from a horror movie. He claimed some of the women had been raped before being killed and the Russians then burned the bodies.

In a video address, Zelenskyy said Russian soldiers who killed and tortured civilians were responsible for concentrated evil."

It is time to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth, he said in remarks translated by his office.

He directed some of his remarks at the mothers of Russian soldiers involved.

Even if you raised looters, how did they also become butchers? he said. You couldnt overlook that they are deprived of everything human. No soul. No heart. They killed deliberately and with pleasure.

Zelenskyy said his government would take steps to create a special justice mechanism to investigate every crime committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also appeared in a pre-recorded video message at Sunday's Grammy Awards, contrasting the lives of those attending the award ceremony in Las Vegas with the lives of musicians in his battered homeland.

Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who cant hear them, he said in English. But the music will break through anyway.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that photos and videos of dead bodies have been stage managed by the Kyiv regime for the Western media.

The ministry said not a single civilian" in Bucha had faced any violent military action and the mayor did not mention any abuses a day after Russian troops left.

Russia asked for a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council to discuss events in the city. The U.S. and Britain have recently accused Russia of using Security Council meetings to spread disinformation.

In Motyzhyn, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Kyiv, residents told AP that Russian troops killed the towns mayor, her husband and her son and threw their bodies into a pit in a pine forest behind houses where Russian forces had slept.

Inside the pit, AP journalists saw four bodies of people who appeared to have been shot at close range. The mayors husband had his hands behind his back, with a piece of rope nearby, and a piece of plastic wrapped around his eyes like a blindfold.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that the mayor was killed while being held by Russian forces.

Some European leaders said the killings in the Kyiv area amounted to war crimes. The U.S. has previously said that it believes Russia has committed war crimes, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called images of what happened near Kyiv a punch to the gut on CNNs State of the Union.

It is a brutality against civilians we havent seen in Europe for decades, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on the same show.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko called on nations to immediately end Russian gas imports, saying they were funding the killings.

In a turnaround, Germanys defense minister said that the EU should consider doing just that. Ministers would have to talk about halting gas supplies from Russia, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on German public broadcaster ARD. Such crimes must not go unanswered.

Russia provides 40% of Europes gas and 25% of its oil, and until now many EU nations have resisted calls to scale back or fully end reliance on Russian fossil fuels. Giving them up would mean even higher prices at the pump and higher utility bills, potentially creating an energy crisis and a recession.

The U.S. has previously announced a ban on Russian oil, but it imports only a small share of Russias oil exports and doesnt buy any of its natural gas.

As Russian forces retreated from the area around the capital, they also withdrew from the Sumy region, in Ukraines northeast, local administrator Dmitry Zhivitsky said in a video message carried by Ukrainian news agencies. The troops had occupied the area for nearly a month.

They pressed their sieges in other parts of the country. Russia has said it is directing troops to the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.

In that region, Mariupol, a port on the Sea of Azov that has seen some of the war's greatest suffering, remained cut off. About 100,000 civilians less than a quarter of the prewar population of 430,000 are believed to be trapped there with little or no food, water, fuel and medicine.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that a team sent Saturday to help evacuate residents had yet to reach the city.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia agreed days ago to allow safe passage from the city, but similar agreements have broken down repeatedly under continued shelling.

The mayor of Chernihiv, which has also been cut off from shipments of food and other supplies for weeks, said that relentless Russian shelling has destroyed 70% of the northern city.

The Ukrainian military said early Monday that its forces had retaken some towns in the Chernihiv region and that humanitarian aid was being delivered. The road between Chernihiv and the capital, Kyiv, was to reopen to some traffic later in the morning, according to the news agency RBK Ukraina.

The regional governor in Kharkiv said that Russian artillery and tanks launched over 20 strikes on Ukraines second-largest city and its outskirts in the country's northeast over the past day.

The head of Ukraines delegation in talks with Russia said Moscows negotiators informally agreed to most of a draft proposal discussed during face-to-face talks in Istanbul this week, but no written confirmation has been provided.

The Russian invasion has left left thousands dead and forced more than 4 million Ukrainians to flee their country.

Qena reported from Motyzhyn, Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, city strewn with ...

Internally displaced people arrive at a center in Zaporizhzhia, northwest of Mariupol, on Wednesday. Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Internally displaced people arrive at a center in Zaporizhzhia, northwest of Mariupol, on Wednesday.

As Wednesday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:

All Russian ground forces have left the areas near Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, according to the U.S. military. Ukrainian forces have been moving in and clearing mines left behind by the Russian troops, a senior U.S. defense official said. The Russian units are regrouping in Russia or Belarus, north of Ukraine. The Pentagon believes they will likely be sent back to Ukraine, into the eastern part of the country, where Russia is now focused.

More than 500 people were evacuated from the besieged city of Mariupol, after days of failed attempts. The International Committee of the Red Cross was able to escort a convoy of buses and private cars to Zaporizhzhia. Thousands of civilians are still believed to be in the city.

The U.S., European Union and Group of Seven nations are enacting new sanctions on Russia. The sanctions target top Russian officials and family members, including Putin's adult children, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's wife and daughter, former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The U.S. is also imposing full blocking sanctions on Sberbank and Alfa Bank, two of Russia's top banks.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Brussels to meet with G-7 and NATO foreign ministers. They are expected to discuss Ukraine's need of more weapons and potential additional punitive actions against Russia. Blinken announced another $100 million of military aid for Ukraine, bringing the U.S. total to $1.7 billion since Russia invaded in February.

The Justice Department is helping investigate possible war crimes by Russia in Ukraine, meeting with Europol, Eurojust and a French prosecutor. The Justice Department has also charged a Russian oligarch with violation of sanctions, in the first such indictment since the invasion began.

In Bucha, death, devastation and a graveyard of mines.

Ukrainian officials survey damage to Kyiv's suburbs after Russian forces exit. See the photos.

Krakow, Poland's second-largest city, strains to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, with the city's population increasing 20%.

More than 300 dogs die of hunger and thirst in a Ukraine shelter.

A Mexican American comic book superhero saves Ukrainian civilians in a special online issue.

You can read more news from Wednesday here, as well as more in-depth reporting and daily recaps here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR's State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.

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Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (April 6) - NPR

Russias war on Ukraine has been criticised by protesters who took to the streets, Russian priests, academics, and cultural figures.

Thousands have been arrested for participating in anti-war rallies, and many have fled the country amid a growing crackdown and worsening economy as Western sanctions pile up.

But how representative these critics are of Russia as a whole is uncertain.

A recent survey by the independent pollster Levada showed that more than 80 percent support Russian militarys actions in Ukraine. As some observers noted, opinion polls might be skewed by the political climate. Prison terms for spreading disinformation, for instance, may have left respondents less-than-honest.

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to dismiss these numbers entirely.

Back in 2014, after Russias annexation of Crimea, President Vladimir Putins popularity surged to a record 89 percent although that was a relatively bloodless and less messy campaign.

The black-and-orange St Georges ribbon, a symbol of the victory in World War II and more generally, Russian military glory, became a ubiquitous sight.

This kind of boost is what political scientists call the rally round the flag effect, when a crisis supports an otherwise unpopular leader.

The [current] rise in Putins popularity was expected because of the dynamics of collective identity and its salience during any foreign confrontation, and war is the ultimate means of bringing the national identity to the centre of Russians worldview, political scientist Gulnaz Sharafutdinova told Al Jazeera.

While the early days of the war [in Ukraine] saw some confusion, the consolidation in society grew with each day. Sanctions and how they were perceived and conveyed also played into hardening of a defensive stance vis--vis the West.

Sharafutdinova argued that Russians are frustrated with new sanctions and feel resentful towards Western nations, which may have strengthened a sense of group identity.

Putin has in the past enjoyed popularity for bringing stability and relative prosperity to Russians after the chaotic, crime-ridden 1990s.

At the same time, many Russians have been increasingly dismayed by Western nations. In their view, their country, once a superpower that had sent the first man into space, has been increasingly disregarded on the international stage.

They have accused their Cold War rivals, which have crept up to their borders, of meddling in the 1996 presidential election when Boris Yeltsin defeated Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov, and of breaking international law two years later to bomb its ally Serbia into submission.

And Putin is seen as challenging the USs self-appointed role as the worlds policeman.

According to 68-year-old Valentina, an academic from St Petersburg, Ukraine is just another one of the United Statess projects.

After the coup dtat in Ukraine in 2014, which took place with the participation of the United States, the country came under external control, she told Al Jazeera, referring to the Maidan revolution that led to the removal of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, which critics like Valentina have dismissed as a Washington-orchestrated coup.

Over the years since the coup, Ukraine has become the poorest country in Europe and is flooded with all sorts of weapons, including biological. For Russia, this is a dangerous and aggressive neighbour. I believe that Russia was forced to take this step.

Russia has repeatedly accused the US of developing biological weapons in Ukraine. US officials have acknowledged bankrolling laboratories in Ukraine for the study of deadly pathogens, for the purpose of disease control.

US officials openly supported the 2013-14 revolution, and leaked conversations revealed then-Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland picking her favourites for Ukraines new government, including hardline anti-Russian politician Arseniy Yatsenyuk. A few weeks after that leak, Yatsenyuk was appointed prime minister.

Valentina considered the current Ukrainian government to be entirely a puppet of the United States and believed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could not compromise with Russia, even if he wanted to.

The White House, she believed, is willing to sacrifice Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia.

Even if he had made such an attempt, he would probably have been able to claim the Nobel Peace Prize, but obviously he would not live to see it as he would be eliminated immediately, she said of Zelenskyy. The United States will wage war in Ukraine to the last drop of Ukrainian blood.

Russians who back their countrys so-called special military operation also believe the Ukrainian government has been captured by neo-Nazi elements, which ties into a long history of Ukrainian nationalism being seen as hostile to Russia.

But despite Ukrainian nationalists constantly asserting themselves against Russia, even collaborating with Nazi forces during World War II, many agree with Putin and see the two nations as one of the same.

Every Russian has relatives in Ukraine, and also every Ukrainian has relatives in Russia it is impossible to distinguish them. They are physically one people speaking the same language, said Sergey Kalenik, a 36-year-old PR professional in Moscow whose comic series Superputin casts the Russian president as a hero.

Ukraine is an integral part of Russia, just like Wales is for the UK, and anyone who thinks otherwise is not a Russian person.

Back to 2014, Ukrainian ultra-nationalists took an active part in street fighting with the Berkut riot police during the Maidan revolution.

The following year, dozens of pro-Russian activists were burned alive in a trade union building in Odesa, and the notorious paramilitary group Azov, which attracted neo-Nazis, was formed to combat pro-Russian separatists in Ukraines east.

The narrative that Ukraine is a country overrun by Neo-Nazis has often been touted by Putin, whose stated war goals include denazifying the country.

Kalenik considered the special operation, as the invasion is officially called, a calculated, precise, preemptive strike to knock out an opponent and force them into an agreement.

Conflict, it seems, was inevitable.

The turning point in attitudes towards Ukraine was on May 2, 2014, when in Odesa nationalists herded unarmed Russians into a building and burned them alive, Kalenik told Al Jazeera.

The people who did this were not punished, the act was not condemned and instead, Nazis with swastikas like the Azov Battalion remained in power. So, the whole system needs to be changed.

Ukrainians are held hostage by nationalists after all, what did Ukrainians vote for in the last elections? Zelenskyy promised to end the war [in Donbas], restore democracy and free entrepreneurship.

He accused Zelenskyy of destroying Ukraines economy, banning opposition parties and cracking down on independent media which hold some truth. Leading up to the invasion, Zelenskyy shut down several TV stations seen as pro-Russian and had opposition oligarchs arrested, raising concerns about freedom of speech.

Most importantly, [he] began to gather atomic weapons and Nazi battalions, said Kalenik. Does this look like the will of the people? No, its a totalitarian dictatorship.

In Russia, the state has regularly been accused of pressuring independent media and since the war began, all non-state media outlets have either been forced to shut or suspend their operations.

Kalenik was not too worried about them, calling such newspapers and websites disgusting fascist establishments peddling naked propaganda.

But he still managed to access a variety of news sources despite the crackdown, and is particularly disappointed with Western media coverage and its emphasis on alleged Russian war crimes.

Unfortunately, almost everyone has fallen for primitive military propaganda, he said.

They cannot even make fakes. The Mariupol maternity hospital, a drama theatre with children, looting by Russian soldiers, Zelenskyy stood in front of a green screen these cheap productions do not stand up to criticism, he added, agreeing with the Kremlins claims that war crimes have been staged by the Ukrainians.

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Who are the everyday Russians rallying behind Putins war? - Al Jazeera English

Here's why is Russia being accused of war crimes in Ukraine

Russia has been accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine. Here's what we know now.

Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

The mayor of the encircled Ukrainian city of Mariupol saidmore than 5,000 civilians, including 210 children,have been killed during the monthlong Russian siege.

Vadym Boichenko said Wednesday that Russian forces bombed hospitals, including one where 50 people burned to death, and have destroyedmore than 90% of the southern port citys infrastructure.

"The world has not seen the scale of the tragedy in Mariupol since the existence of the Nazi concentration camps. Russia-occupation forces turned our entire city into a death camp,"Boichenko said, according to the Ukrainian news agency Interfax."This is the new Auschwitz and Majdanek."

Boichenko's estimates of the fatalities in Mariupol comeon the same day the U.S. imposed sweeping new sanctions on Russia that include targeting Vladimir Putins two adult daughters in response to atrocities in Ukraine that the White House has called war crimes.

Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, two daughters of theRussian leader and hisex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva Putina, face full blocking sanctions that will cut them off from the U.S. financial system and freeze any assets theymay hold in the U.S.The administration believes many of Putins assets are hidden with family members.

Sanctions also target Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's wife and daughter. The new wave of sanctions on Russian elites add to the 140 other oligarchs and Kremlin officials already hit with sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

"Were going to keep raising the economic costs and ratchet up the pain for Putin,'' President Joe Biden said.

USA TODAY ON TELEGRAM: Join our new Russia-Ukraine war channel to receive updates straight to your phone.

Latest developments

Ukrainian authorities say nearly 5,000 people were evacuated from combat areas in the south or eastern part of the country.Over 10 million people, about a quarter of Ukraines population, have been displaced by the war, and more than 4 million of them have fled the nation.

A North Dakota farmer jailed in Ukraine since November has been moved from Kyiv to Lviv, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said.Kurt Groszhan, 50, is charged with plotting to assassinate Ukraines then-agriculture minister, Roman Leschenko. The two had gone into business together after Groszhan moved to Ukraine in 2017.

Ukraine's military said it has retaken the settlements of Dobryanka, Novovoznesenskeand Trudolyubivka in the Kherson region just north of Crimea.

$100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles will be sent to Ukraine to meet an urgent need, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement. The "transfer" comes amid a shift of fighting to eastern Ukraine.

Greece is expelling 12 Russian diplomats. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Western countries have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats.

President Joe Biden said new economic sanctions imposed Wednesday against Russia, including two adultdaughters of President Vladimir Putin, ratchet up the pain'' furtheron Russia following the discovery of atrocities committed by its troops.

"There's nothing less happening than major war crimes," Biden said, describing scenes of bodies left in the streets of the Ukrainian town of Bucha including civiliansexecuted with their hands tied behind their backs.

Responsible nations have to come together to hold these preparators accountable.And together with our allies and our partners, were going to keep raising the economic costs and ratchet up the pain for Putin, and further increase Russias economic isolation."

The Biden administration announced sanctions on 21 Kremlin officials and Russian elites in addition to two adult Putin daughters, Maria Vorontsovaand Katerina Tikhonova, and the wife and daughter ofRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Other measures include full blocking sanctions on Russias largest financial institution, Sberbank, and Russias largest private bank, Alfa Bank, as well as a ban on U.S. investment in Russia. European allies took similar actions.

"Think about the incredible amounts of money these oligarchs have stolen," Biden said, adding that they won't be able to keep their "$100 million yachts" and luxury homes "while children in Ukraine are being killed, displaced from their homes every single day."

Joey Garrison

As much of the world recoils upon seeing images of the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, Moscow is turning to a well-rehearsed, long-standing strategy:Deny culpability, blame the victim, crank up the propaganda machine.

In detailed broadcasts to millions of viewers, correspondents and hosts of Russian state TV channels said Tuesday that some photo and video evidence of the ghastly killings in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha were fake while others showed that Ukrainians were responsible for the horrors.

Some reports claimed to have video showing fake Ukrainian corpsesmoving, supposed evidence the deaths were staged. Accounts from eyewitnesses and foreign journalists in Ukraine, along with satellite images, belie that notion. But the disinformation can be effective in sowing confusion among the audiences, especially those in Russia whose access to independent sources of information is limited.

This is simply what Russia does every time it recognizes that it has suffered a PR setback through committing atrocities, said Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow with the Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think tank. So the system works almost on autopilot.

As they put up a fierce resistance to the assaults from amuch larger enemy, Ukrainian forces are far from defenseless. The additional $100 million President Joe Biden authorized this week for military aid brings up to $1.7 billion the amount of security assistance the U.S. has contributed to Ukraine since the Russian invasion Feb. 24.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that along with the U.S. allies and partners, "for every Russian tank in Ukraine, we have provided or will soon provide 10 anti-tank systems. ... They have the tools that they need, they're gonna keep getting them, and we're gonna keep sustaining that.''

Blinkenshared those thoughts withNBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell during an interview in Brussels that aired Wednesday on MSNBC.Thekind of firepower Blinken referenced has helped the Ukrainians stave off attacks on the capital city of Kyiv, forcing the Russians to retreat and regroup.

But for all the pressure the U.S. and its allies are putting on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war-- byincreasing sanctions, supporting the Ukrainians and calling out Russian atrocities -- there's a harsh reality staring at those yearning for peace:

"As much as we want to see this come to an end as soon as possible, to stop the death and destruction that's being wrought by Russia in Ukraine, there is also a very likely scenario by which this goes on for some time,'' Blinken said.

How long? Blinken was responding to congressional testimony from Gen. Mark Milley,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said the length of the conflict will likely be "measured in years.''

The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Wednesday against Russian oligarch Konstantinos Malofeyev for alleged sanction violations, the first such criminal charges brought by the U.S. since Russia's invasion.The Treasury Department previously identified Malofeyev as one of the main sources of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimeaand for providing material support for the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic.Malofeyev attempted to evade the sanctions by using co-conspirators to acquire and run media outlets across Europe, Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a Justice briefing.

We are also announcing the seizure of millions of dollars from an account at a U.S. financial institution, which the indictment alleges constitutes proceeds traceable to Malofeyevs sanctions violations," Garlandsaid.

Garland alsoacknowledged for the first time that the Justice Department isassisting in the effort to examine possible war crimes in Ukraine. He said U.S. authorities recently met with counterparts in Europe to develop a plan to gather evidence.

"This department has a long history of helping to hold accountable those who perpetrate war crimes," Garland said.

"We have seen the mass graves. We have seen the bombed hospital, theater, and residential apartment buildings,'' he said. "The world sees what is happening in Ukraine. The Justice Department sees what is happening in Ukraine."

Kevin Johnson

Russian forces have completely retreated from Kyiv and Chernihiv, moving into neighboring Belarus and Russia after facing fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces, a senior Defense official said Wednesday.The Ukrainians hit Russian forces as they retreated from Kyiv, the official said.

Kyiv remains under threat, although it has not been hit by airstrikes in the last 24 hours, the official said. The threat of a ground invasion to Kyiv has dissipated for now, the official said.

The Russian forces up to 40,000 troops, or almost one-third of the force Russian President Vladimir Putin sent to invade Ukraine are being resupplied, according to intelligence assessments the official described on condition of anonymity. It's unclear when the withdrawal of Russian troops from those cities was completed. The Russians appear to have seeded some of the ground left behind with mines.

The Pentagon believes the troops will be sent back into fighting in eastern Ukraine, the Donbas region, whereRussian-backed separatists have clashed with Ukrainian troops since 2014.

Days afterRussian forces retreated from the Kyiv area, investigators and volunteers are beginningthe long, grim work of chronicling what U.S. officials have described as a "troubling campaign" of brutalityagainst civilians. Ukrainian officialssay the bodies of more than400civilians were found in towns around Kyivafter Russian forces withdrew. United Nations Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet said preserving, exhuming and identifying bodies would be critical for an independent investigation into possible war crimes. Read more here.

"Everything was like in fog a lot of crying, a lot of happiness to see Ukrainian people, a lot of fear in eyes, a lot of anger," Kyiv resident Vladimir Basovskyi, 35, told USA TODAY. "Next what I remember, I am sitting at home and crying like a child."

Grace Hauck and Chris Kenning

Dutch customs officials placed 14 yachts at five shipyards under "special supervision" on Wednesday because they are being built or repaired for wealthy Russians.Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said 12 yachts are under constructionand two are undergoing maintenance. The boats will not be allowed to leave the country because of the export ban and sanctionsimposed on hundreds of wealthy supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.The Netherlands has been criticized for its slow start to enforcing sanctions.

Russian owners made up 9% of all superyacht owners in 2021, making Russia the second largest ownership country behind the United States, according to Superyacht Times.The U.S. government on Monday seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to Putin. Other countries also have seized the luxury boats.

The reports and images of civilian deaths in Bucha are "deeply disturbing" and should be thoroughly investigated, China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Junsaid Wednesday. But Zhang placed no blame on Russia and urged all sides to "exercise restraint and avoid unfounded accusations" until more details are known.

China has been walking a diplomatic tightrope, declining to condemn Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and suggesting sanctions will only accelerate the crisis and create global economic problems. China has chastised the U.S. and NATO, saying they provokedthe war with NATO's expansion andfueledit by arming Ukraine.

The United Nations will vote Friday on whether Russia should be removed from the Human Rights Council. TheUnited States and United Kingdomcalled for Russia's removal from the council in recent days as evidence of atrocities by the Russian military emerged.To remove Russia from the council, at least two-thirds of the UN General Assembly would need to vote for the ouster.

"Given the growing mountain of evidence, Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose purpose is to promote respect for human rights," U.S. Ambassador to the United NationsLinda Thomas-Greenfieldsaid at a Security Council meeting Tuesday."Not only is it the height of hypocrisy it isdangerous."

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia denied that Russian troops were committing war crimes, blaming Ukrainians for the deaths and defending the invasion by claiming the "Nazi malignant tumor that is devouring Ukraine would have eventually begun to devour Russia."

Ella Lee

Pope Francis kissed the Ukrainian flag and renewed his appeal Wednesday for an end to Russias war in Ukraine. During his weekly audience in the Vatican's auditorium, several Ukrainian children now refugees in Italy joined him on the stage. The pope furled the faded, stained flag and held it up, saying the flag came from war, from that martyred city of Bucha. He condemned "the massacre" in that city outside Kyiv.

Ever more horrendous cruelties, even against civilians, women and helpless children," the pope said. "They are victims whose innocent blood cries out to heaven and implores.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Read the rest here:

Mariupol mayor calls Russian siege 'the new Auschwitz,' says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed: Live Ukraine updates - USA TODAY

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

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

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