Russia-Ukraine live updates: Biden expresses support for expelling Russia from G-20; U.S. to accept 100,000 refugees

Twelve Russian special police officers within the country’s national guard, or Rosgvardia, refused an order from their superiors to go fight in Ukraine and were dismissed from service, according to human rights lawyers now representing them in court.

In early February, officers in the force’s Krasnodar region were sent to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to take part in what their commanders told them was a military exercise. Later, they received orders to go to Ukraine, which they deemed illegal.

“None of them had a foreign passport with them, nor any intention to leave Russia as their direct official duties are limited to Russian territory,” Pavel Chikov, chair of Agora International Human Rights Group, said in a statement published on his Telegram channel Thursday.

Crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border without a document would have been illegal under Russian law. Doing that as part of an armed group would violate Ukrainian laws, Chikov clarified.

“None of the plaintiffs were informed about a business trip to Ukraine to participate in a special military operation or its tasks and conditions,” he added. “As a result, they did not give consent to it.”

Russia’s national guard is an internal military force generally tasked with protecting public order and guarding critical state facilities. Since the invasion, some of its units have been operating in Ukraine and were seen holding ground around nuclear power plants Russian forces have overtaken.

After their refusal to participate in the invasion, the officers were taken back to Krasnodar, subjected to a disciplinary probe and then fired. They are now suing their unit for wrongful termination.

“They decided not to go to Ukraine independently and on their own,” their lawyer Mikhail Benyash said. “There are quite a lot of such ‘refuseniks’ throughout Russia, but only these have gathered enough courage to sue. The rest gave up without a fight, which says a lot about them as fighters.”

According to Benyash, the group consisted of 11 officers and one platoon commander from the “Plastun” unit. Chikov identified the platoon leader as Capt. Farid Chitav.

“Personally to me, it seems that taking part in such events where people shoot and could be killed should be made exclusively on a voluntary basis,” Benyash said. “As long as the Russian authorities think otherwise, we will have to argue with them.”

At his news conference in Brussels on Thursday, Biden said NATO’s response if Russia used chemical weapons in its invasion of Ukraine “would depend on the nature of the use.”

“We would respond. We would respond,” Biden said. “If [Putin] uses it, the nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use.”

Biden’s remarks came shortly after Group of Seven leaders issued a warning Thursday to Putin against the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

“We recall Russia’s obligations under the international treaties to which it is a signatory, and which protect us all,” the G-7 leaders stated.

Later, Biden did not go into detail about whether NATO would respond militarily if Putin deployed chemical weapons in Ukraine.

“It would trigger a response in kind,” Biden said. “Whether or not you’re asking whether NATO would cross … we’d make that decision at the time.”

President Biden on Thursday voiced support for removing Russia from the Group of 20, an assembly of the world’s largest economies, as a consequence of its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“My answer is yes,” Biden said at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Belgium in response to a question about whether Russia should be excluded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the G-20 summit that is being hosted by Indonesia in October, Russia’s ambassador to the Southeast Asian country said Wednesday.

Biden said the decision would ultimately be up to the nations of the G-20.

He said that, during emergency talks with NATO leaders Thursday, he raised the possibility of inviting Ukraine to the G-20 meeting if Indonesia or other nations object to excluding Russia. The result, Biden said, would be “basically Ukraine being able to attend the G-20 meeting to observe.”

Jakarta has long had close relations with Moscow, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently told the Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia that he supported a cease-fire but viewed economic sanctions as a poor tool.

President Biden told reporters at his news conference Thursday at the NATO summit in Brussels that he believes it’s up to Ukraine to decide whether it should give up territory to Russia to halt the invasion.

“That is a total judgment based on Ukraine,” Biden said. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. I don’t believe that they’re going to have to do that.”

Biden added that there are “discussions” underway that have included the Ukrainians but not himself.

“And it is their judgment to make,” he said.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned of a “serious” food crisis as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has disrupted grain exports from both countries.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven, European Union and NATO meetings in Brussels, Macron said “we are entering an unprecedented food crisis” and proposed an emergency action plan to address the problem.

Macron said that several countries in the Middle East and Africa “are currently having difficulty obtaining supplies of wheat and, more generally speaking, of grains.”

Earlier this week, the British charity Oxfam noted that countries “in East Africa import up to 90 percent of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia” and similarly warned that the crisis could have severe impacts there.

In his remarks Thursday, Macron also addressed recent European arms deliveries to Ukraine, which he said would continue.

But Macron warned against delivering “planes or tanks” — a proposal that had been discussed in some E.U. member states — saying that the bloc and NATO needed to refrain from action that could draw them into a direct military conflict with Russia.

Leaders from the Group of Seven concluded an emergency meeting in Brussels by vowing to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for the invasion in Ukraine and warning him against using chemical or nuclear weapons.

“We will spare no efforts to hold President Putin and the architects and supporters of this aggression, including the Lukashenko regime in Belarus, accountable for their actions,” the nations said in a statement after gathering Thursday.

G-7 leaders, including President Biden, said in a 19-point document that they would “step up” support for Ukraine and neighboring countries; ensure full implementation of sanctions against Russia; and take steps to reduce reliance on Russian energy.

The nations also called on Russia to suspend military campaigns in Ukraine, comply with international obligations at nuclear sites and stop threatening to use nuclear weapons. As the Russian military has stalled in its efforts to take control of Ukraine, U.S. and international officials have raised concerns that Moscow may escalate its aggression by using chemical warfare.

“I think it’s a real threat,” Biden said Wednesday before leaving the White House for Europe.

G-7 leaders said they were “appalled” by attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, and would welcome international criminal investigations.

“We will work together to support the gathering of evidence of war crimes,” the statement said. “The siege of Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities, and the denial of humanitarian access by Russian military forces, are unacceptable.”

MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Ukraine and Russia carried out their first “full-fledged” military prisoner exchange Thursday in a trade of 10 for 10, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on her Telegram channel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the exchange, she said, but she did not provide further details.

Vereshchuk also said that Ukraine and Russia exchanged civilian sailors that the two sides had captured. Eleven Russians, who were saved from a destroyed ship near the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa, were exchanged for 19 Ukrainians from the rescue ship Sapphire.

“In exchange for ten captured occupiers, we extracted ten of our servicemen,” Vereshchuk said.

Russian forces seized the Sapphire during their operation to capture a Ukrainian military base on Snake Island in the Black Sea, Vereshchuk said. As part of the agreement reached with Moscow, she said, the ship also would be returned, with delivery to a Turkish port.

Tatiana Moskalkova, Russia’s commissioner for human rights, confirmed the exchange Thursday, according to wire service reports.

BRUSSELS — President Biden in Brussels Thursday is expected to announce plans for the United States to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, as well as others fleeing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, according to three senior administration officials briefed on the plan.

The United States is still working out the details of how the Ukrainians will be admitted, and one of the officials said the number of refugees the United States plans to accept could change before the announcement but that the goal is to welcome up to 100,000.

They would be brought into the United States through a variety of legal pathways, including the conventional U.S. refugee program as well as more agile mechanisms such as “humanitarian parole,” which the Biden administration used for tens of thousands of Afghans last year during Operation Allies Welcome, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the plans.