Russia-Ukraine live updates: As Russia pulls back from Kyiv, grim scenes emerge

Ellen Francis, Jon Gerberg, Hannah Knowles and Frances Stead Sellers contributed to this report.

At least 17 colleges and universities across five states say they will give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky honorary degrees in the wake of his leadership during Russia’s invasion of his nation, one of the schools says.

Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, Adrian College in Michigan and Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina are among those who have publicly committed to honoring Zelensky with degrees from their institutions in absentia.

The idea came from Alfred University president Mark Zupan who wrote Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States requesting Zelensky to speak to the 2022 graduating class, according to a university news release.

“Given how effectively President Zelenskyy was communicating with so many different audiences around the world, I thought that perhaps he might be interested in speaking to our graduating students,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian leader has been effective in communicating with audiences around the world since the war started.

Zelensky has emerged as an international leader unafraid to speak up for is country via Telegram.

His handling of the war has given about 72 percent of Americans a lot or some confidence in him — higher than any other world leader, according to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center.

The admiration for Zelensky’s leadership, despite a “graciously declined” response from the Ukrainian Embassy inspired Zupan to contact other colleges with his idea that has since spread across the country.

“It has been beyond heartening to see how readily and positively colleagues at other higher education institutions have responded to the idea,” Zupan said. “Given the role colleges and universities play in promoting the rights of individuals and a liberal society, adding our voice in recognition of and support for the Ukrainian cause is a meaningful way that we can put our shoulders to the wheel.”

Four people were “injured and severely burned” after Russian forces fired mortars at protesters in a city near Zaporizhzhia, the site of a nuclear plant that Russia captured last month, according to Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman.

Residents of Energodar, a satellite town of Zaporizhzhia, which has been occupied by Russian forces for nearly four weeks, held a rally in support of Ukraine on Saturday. Russian soldiers used light and noise grenades to disrupt the protest and fired on residents with mortars, the ombudswoman, Lyudmyla Denisova, said in a statement posted to Telegram.

“Such treatment of civilians is a crime against humanity and a war crime as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” Denisova said.

The Washington Post verified two videos recorded by witnesses and posted to Telegram. The images were filmed at the same time from separate angles and show at least nine flashes followed by large booms. Gunfire is audible as people run away from the site of the protest.

A photo verified by The Post and posted to Telegram on Saturday appears to show the protest earlier in the day. A large group of protesters stood peacefully on the steps of a community center, holding Ukrainian flags.

Nearly a dozen people in military fatigues appear to monitor the protesters from a little more than 100 feet away. They stand next to two vehicles marked with the letter “Z,” suggesting the vehicles belong to Russian forces.

Denisova called on the United Nations commission investigating human rights violations in Ukraine and an expert mission established by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to look into alleged rights violations and war crimes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the protesters in Energodar, saying he appreciates people who were not afraid to protest in occupied cities.

“The more people protest, the harder it is for the occupiers to destroy us, to destroy our freedom,” Zelensky said in a video released Saturday night.

“There will be an answer for every wounded person,” he said.

The list of Ukrainian refugees waiting to enter the United States is kept in a yellow legal pad on a folding table inside a blue camping tent, a few feet away from the multilane highway that connects Mexico to the United States.

It is written in English and Cyrillic by volunteers, many refugees themselves, waiting for their own numbers to be called.

“They said it could be two or three days,” said Valentina Shymanservska, No. 884, a sunflower farmer from Kharkhiv.

“My turn is any minute,” said Svyastoslav Urusky, No. 319, a university student from Lviv.

“I can’t believe we’re still waiting,” said Maxim Polosov, No. 363, who renovated homes in Slavansk.

By Saturday morning, the list had more than 1,200 names on it. Dozens more Ukrainians were arriving every hour. A van was shuttling them between the Tijuana airport and the tent where the yellow legal pad was kept.

Video posted to social media on Saturday and verified by The Washington Post showed at least nine people, including one child, lying in the street of a residential area in the town of Bucha, north of Kyiv, after Russian forces retreated. They appear to be dead.

One, still atop a bicycle, lies at the corner of an intersection. He is tilted as though he was about to make a right-hand turn. Others are huddled together on the side of the road.

Additional video posted to social media Saturday shows two men driving through the city. They pass abandoned cars, some of which appear to have been stripped for parts. Debris, tires and old antitank blockades crowd the roads. At one point, as they round a corner, two severely damaged black cars are visible. “STOP” is painted on both in English.

Russian forces withdrew from Bucha, a town of 37,000 people northwest of Kyiv, and other suburbs of the capital in recent days, leaving a trail of destruction. Russian troops fought for control of Bucha starting Feb. 27 — three days after the invasion began — and “relentless shelling” trapped residents in homes and shelters without electricity or gas, according to Human Rights Watch. The fighting took out the city’s water tower a week later.

In the latest sign that Ukrainian personnel have regained control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the nation’s state-owned atomic energy firm Energoatom reported Saturday that the country’s flag has been raised again over the site.

A post shared on the agency’s Telegram account showed the distinctive blue-and-yellow standard fluttering against cloudy skies over a dark gray building.

“The Ukrainian flag has been raised above the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” the post read. “The Ukrainian national anthem was also played over speakers around the station.”

Ukraine’s State Agency on Exclusion Zone Management announced Friday in a Facebook post that no Russian troops were near the site. “At the present moment there are no outsiders at the Chernobylka NPP site,” the agency wrote.

The scene of a major 1986 nuclear accident, the Chernobyl plant was among the first strategic facilities seized by Russian troops in the early days of the invasion, prompting fears around the world of another disaster that could spread radiation to surrounding countries.

What's at risk at Chernobyl

The power plant’s last reactor shut down in 2000, and few people live in the surrounding zone, but the site still needs to be managed. The nuclear waste cleanup is expected to be complete more than 40 years from now.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of