Russia-Ukraine live updates: Biden holds emergency NATO talks in Europe as Ukraine war hits one month

Almost a month after closing its stock exchange when its invasion of Ukraine triggered market turmoil, Russia partially reopened the exchange Thursday, with limited trading and foreign shareholders prohibited from selling their shares.

Short selling is banned and heavy restrictions on trading are in place to prevent massive share sell-offs. Trading is permitted in only 33 of the 50 companies that are part of the country’s benchmark MOEX index, according to the country’s central bank — among them Russian national airline Aeroflot, state-owned gas producer Gazprom and oil company Rosneft.

Russian shares plunged almost 33 percent the day after the country’s leadership decided to invade Ukraine, making record losses. Since then, Russia’s economy has been bruised by sweeping economic sanctions and damaged by the withdrawal of hundreds of global companies.

The reopening was dismissed Thursday by Daleep Singh, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for international economics.

“What we’re seeing is a charade: a Potemkin market opening,” Singh said in a statement. He accused Russia’s government of pouring resources into “artificially propping up the shares of companies” that trade.

“This is not a real market and not a sustainable model — which only underscores Russia’s isolation from the global financial system,” Singh said. “The United States and our allies and partners will continue taking action to further isolate Russia from the international economic order as long it continues its brutal war against Ukraine.”

On Wednesday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin retaliated against Western sanctions, announcing that “unfriendly countries” — including all European Union members and the United States — would have to pay for their natural gas supplies in rubles. The ruble has plummeted against major international currencies since the start of the invasion.

Tyler Pager contributed to this report.

Even as Western sanctions start to hit the Russian economy, the nation’s oil and gas exports are softening the blow, helping blunt the ruble’s fall and giving the Kremlin continued resources to wage its war in Ukraine.

The ruble lost half of its value against the dollar right after sanctions hit but has since partly rebounded, thanks to energy export revenue and currency controls adopted by Russia’s central bank.

The ruble is still down 30 percent from its prewar levels, and the economy is suffering in other ways. Russian banks are blocked from carrying out many transactions, global shipping companies have stopped delivering many goods to Russian ports, and a spate of Western corporate departures has threatened thousands of jobs. Some economists estimate Russia’s GDP will contract by 15% this year.

But Russia’s energy exports are clearly blunting some of the pain, sparking new calls for a full Western embargo of Russian oil and gas. President Biden, who has already announced that the United States will stop buying Russian energy, is set to discuss oil and gas with European allies in Brussels on Thursday.

BRUSSELS — President Biden is expected to announce a major initiative with Europe to direct shipments of liquefied natural gas to Europe during his visit to Brussels this week, part of a broader effort to help reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the plan.

The announcement, a dramatic effort to deprive Russia of leverage as it continues to batter Ukraine, would mark an unusual move to reorder the world’s energy flow — a shift that could have an impact long after the war is over. It comes as European officials have asked the United States to do more to help them cut their reliance on Russia for oil and natural gas.

Biden is also expected to use his stop in Brussels on Thursday and Friday — where he is meeting with NATO, the Group of Seven and the European Council — to announce additional sanctions against Moscow, including some targeting Russian lawmakers, as well as a crackdown on evasions of the current sanctions.

On Friday morning, President Biden will host European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a bilateral meeting at the U.S. Mission in Brussels, Belgium.

A Russian resolution addressing the humanitarian situation in Ukraine failed to pass the U.N. ​Security Council on Wednesday, with Russia and China voting in favor and the remainder of the council’s 15 members abstaining. The draft called for protection of noncombatants and for access to be given to humanitarian workers.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, criticized the abstentions and said the absence of a Security Council resolution related to conditions for civilians in Ukraine “significantly complicates” aid activities on the ground. He also repeated Russian accusations that Kyiv has positioned weapons near hospitals and schools. He did not provide evidence to support his claim.

China’s representative, Zhang Jun, called for restraint in Ukraine and for a “balanced, effective and sustainable global and regional security architecture.”

British U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said London abstained because the resolution did not acknowledge Russia’s role in starting the conflict.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned Russia’s resolution. “Once again, Russia is attempting to use this council to provide cover for its brutal actions,” she said. “It really is unconscionable that Russia would have the audacity to put forward a resolution asking the international community to solve a humanitarian crisis that Russia alone created.”

Ashish Pradhan, senior U.N. analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Russia was attempting to distract from its actions in Ukraine. “It fits into their approach of flooding the zone at the U.N. with a lot of noise,” he said.

A parallel Ukrainian-led resolution — which pins blame on Russia — and another sponsored by South Africa are being debated in the U.N. General Assembly.

As Russia’s invasion of his country reached the one-month mark, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the world from outside a government building, a soldier keeping watch in the background.

Zelensky, who has become a venerated figure inside Ukraine and out, called for a global protest on Thursday, urging people everywhere to take to the streets and denounce Russian aggression.

“Make yourself visible and heard,” he said in English during the multilingual video address. “Say that people matter, freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters.”

Russian officials claimed Wednesday to have fired long-range naval cruise missiles into Ukraine. If confirmed, that would add to the roster of weapons Russia has used in its invasion — some new or cutting-edge — that have drawn the attention and concern of analysts.

Some Western experts worry that Moscow, amid pressure to escalate in the face of mounting losses, could go even further, using chemical weapons or even tactical nuclear weapons.

But Ukraine has weapons, too, many of which its Western allies have supplied. Antitank weapons, including the Javelin missile sent by the United States, have become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Not only have drones made by Turkey hit Russian targets but footage of the strikes has become a win on the social media battlefield.

Here are some of the weapons that are in use, or that experts fear could have a role in the conflict.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has accused Russian troops occupying his southern Ukrainian city of committing atrocities, including turning a neighborhood into a military site for launching missiles against other parts of Ukraine.

Fedorov, in a video posted to his social media accounts Wednesday, said Kremlin forces are using civilians as “hostages and a living shield in the war times,” as attacks launched from Melitopol could be met with counterstrikes. He added that teachers have been forced to incorporate Russian-language materials into the curriculum and that residents are routinely intimidated by Russian soldiers. The Washington Post could not independently verify these claims.

The city is also “on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Fedorov, who was briefly detained by Russian soldiers before being released in a prisoner swap.

Melitopol, one of the first Ukrainian cities to fall in the war, has been under Russian control for nearly four weeks. The presence of Moscow’s troops and their attempts to take over local governance have sparked opposition and outrage among its 150,000 or so residents.

Zina Pozen contributed to this report.

Experts are closely divided on whether Ukrainian civilians are justified in launching offensive hacks against Russian invaders.

About 47 percent of experts polled by say such hacks are justified under the extraordinary circumstances of the invasion. About 53 percent say they’re not.

The poll of our Network experts group comes as thousands of Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians have banded together in an “IT Army” claiming to conduct cyber operations that blocked access to Russian government and media websites — operations known as “denial of service attacks,” which are illegal nearly everywhere.