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Ukrainian officials continued to accuse Russia of striking civilian targets. A health official in Mykolaiv said a cancer hospital had been struck — though no deaths were reported — while the Ukrainian foreign ministry said Saturday that a mosque sheltering 80 people in Mariupol had been shelled. Russia has regularly denied targeting civilians - something contradicted by aid groups and activist groups. The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it had "credible reports’ of cluster bombs being used by Russian forces in populated areas.
The fighting is intensifying as Western officials say they have intelligence that Russia may be preparing to use chemical weapons against Ukraine. They also cautioned that the Kremlin might attempt a “false-flag” operation to try to shift the blame for such an attack to Ukrainians, or even the West.
Here’s what to know
Ukrainian cancer hospital was damaged in shelling, doctor says
Return to menuOfficials in Ukraine have accused Russian forces of damaging a cancer hospital and residential buildings in Mykolaiv, a key port city in the south of the country.
The hospital’s head doctor, Maksim Beznosenko, posted images and videos on Facebook showing smashed windows and debris. The Washington Post could not independently verify the images. He said many patients were being treated in the hospital at the time it came under attack, but no one was killed.
“Only a freak can attack the weak,” Beznosenko wrote online. “It’s about our sick. Just now these nonhuman’s shot at the oncology hospital.”
He said the Mykolaiv center provides care for cancer patients from across the region, and that the shelling had created “great damage.” He added that some radiation treatment had been temporarily suspended but most surgeries and chemotherapy sessions were continuing on Saturday.
Earlier this month, pediatric cancer patients at a Kyiv children’s hospital were forced to take cover and continue their treatment in the basement.
“We cannot stop their treatment. They’re at war with cancer every day,” Lesia Lysytsia, an onco-ophthalmologist at the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital, told The Washington Post.
Oncology patients were still getting chemotherapy and radiation therapy, she said. Patients in more serious condition were transported to other cities, and those who could stay home were being urged to do so, she added.
The World Health Organization said this week it has verified at least 18 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine.
Zelensky compares Russia to ISIS and questions the point of diplomatic talks
Return to menuUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday compared Russia’s invasion to the Islamic State and suggested that diplomatic talks could not proceed if Moscow continued to bombard civilians and target government officials.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Russian troops had detained Ivan Federov, the mayor of the southern city of Melitopol, and Zelensky denounced the move.
“The capture of the mayor of Melitopol is a crime not only against a particular person, not only against a particular community, and not only against Ukraine — this is a crime against democracy,” he said in a video address shared late Friday.
Zelensky said such tactics “will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists.”
“If you are becoming an analogue of ISIS terrorists, then what is the point of talking to you about something at all?” he said, as if speaking directly to the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president said Russia had again disrupted the evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridors but that 7,144 residents were allowed to leave — fewer than in recent days.
“These are 7,144 reasons to try to organize evacuations for Ukrainians from the besieged cities tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” Zelensky said.
Photos: Kyiv region in focus as air-raid warnings sound and evacuations continue
Return to menuAs Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine passed its 16th day, residents in Kyiv emerged from bomb shelters Saturday morning after hours of bombardment, with similar attacks taking place in cities across the country.
Suburbs of the capital such as Irpin and Bucha have endured shelling for over a week, with many residents and families fleeing areas under Russian control.
More than 2.5 million Ukrainians have so far fled their country since the start of the Russian invasion, the United Nations’ refugee agency says, with more than half arriving in neighboring Poland. Officials in Poland’s two largest cities — Warsaw and Krakow — have warned this week they can no longer cope with the waves of refugees from Ukraine.
In the capital, home to almost 3 million people, air-raid sirens sounded at least three times overnight Saturday, amid reports of loud explosions.
A warehouse storing frozen products was set ablaze, reportedly after Russian shelling, in the area of Kvitneve, the country’s State emergency service said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday suggested diplomatic talks could not proceed if the Kremlin continued to bombard civilians and target government officials.
The Ukrainian president said Russia had again disrupted the evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridors, but that 7,144 residents were allowed to leave — fewer than in recent days.
Ukraine’s new postage stamp will honor Snake Island guards
Return to menuUkraine will introduce a postage stamp dedicated to the Snake Island border guards who reportedly stood up to Russian forces in the Black Sea in a viral recorded exchange last month, an official said Saturday.
It was not clear what happened to the guards after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed they had died and pledged to recognize them with state honors. The State Border Guard Service later said they may be alive after Russian media reported they were taken as prisoners.
The story drew attention when Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda published audio in which a voice warns the guards to surrender or be attacked. They responded with an expletive. The new stamp honoring the exchange “will soon be published by Ukraine’s state postal company," according to First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheppar.
Dozens of corporations are still in Russia. It’s getting harder for them to leave.
Return to menuHundreds of multinational corporations have cut ties with Russia as its military assault on Ukraine intensifies, bolstering the effects of Western economic sanctions and redirecting their operations to serve desperate Ukrainian refugees.
But for the dozens of companies that remain in Russia, it’s getting increasingly difficult to leave, experts say.
Consumers watching the horrific humanitarian toll of the invasion have registered their disapproval of the businesses that remain in Russia, vowing boycotts on social media. But companies that leave now, experts say, could be seen as pandering, or worse: prioritizing profits and shareholders above protesting human suffering.
The corporate quandary is testing the mettle of some of the world’s most powerful brands, and the long-held business credo that companies that trade together don’t wage wars with one another.
Ukraine says 14 evacuation routes will be open Saturday
Return to menuUkrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said more than a dozen humanitarian corridors would be open Saturday for civilians seeking to evacuate from areas under Russian attack. The corridors will also include routes leading out of towns near the capital, Kyiv, and the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Vereshchuk wrote on her Telegram channel that 14 routes would be open. She said she hoped Russia would honor its pledge to let civilians leave through the corridors, a day after she accused Russian forces of impeding evacuations, despite local cease-fire agreements between the governments in Kyiv and Moscow.
“I hope that the day will go well, all the planned routes will be open,” she said in a video address.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to set up humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave besieged areas last week, but Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of violating that deal. Some civilians were being hit as they attempted to flee, Washington has said.
More than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last month, according to the United Nations refugee agency. About 60 percent have made their way to Poland, where two cities have said they can no longer cope with the sheer number of the people arriving.
David L. Stern and Annabelle Chapman contributed to this report.
Family of Putin’s spokesman among Russians sanctioned by U.S.
Return to menuThree federal agencies unveiled new sanctions against Russian political and business elites Friday as Washington ramps up pressure on those in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
The wife and two adult children of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, along with Rossiya Bank chairman Dmitri Lebedev, were on the list, which also includes more than 20 of the Russia’s lawmakers, bankers and oligarchs. Peskov, who the Biden administration characterized as “a top purveyor of Putin’s propaganda,” was already sanctioned in early March.
The new penalties — announced by the State, Treasury and Commerce departments — will not only freeze the U.S.-based assets of those sanctioned but also ban the flow of luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, a close ally of Moscow.
The United States and its European allies say the measures serve as a rebuke to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has triggered a massive humanitarian crisis inside that country and beyond its borders.
Earlier this week, the European Commission said it added 160 people to its sanctions list in view of the situation in Ukraine, including prominent business and political leaders in Russia. On Thursday, the British authorities introduced new sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs, whose collective net worth totaled $19.8 billion. Bank Rossiya’s Lebedev and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich were among those targeted.
“We welcome the strong partnership and unity we have built with our allies and partners across the globe in the face of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Friday. “Together, we are supporting the people of Ukraine and imposing severe costs and consequences for the Kremlin’s war of choice.”
Italy seizes Russian oligarch’s $578 million yacht
Return to menuItaly’s government said Saturday morning that it had seized the megayacht believed to owned by oligarch Andrey Melnichenko, whom Forbes listed as Russia’s eighth-wealthiest person.
Video released by Italian financial police showed authorities boarding the $578 million vessel, named SY A, which has been docked in the port city of Trieste.
The move came several days after the European Union announced new sanctions against several Russians. The group included 14 oligarchs and businesspeople the E.U. says have ties to the Kremlin. In detailing the sanctions, the bloc said Melnichenko owns a major fertilizer producer and a coal company, and “belongs to the most influential circle of Russian businesspeople with close connections” to the Russian government.
The E.U. noted that Melnichenko was one of the businesspeople who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the invasion was beginning.
Forbes last year said that Melnichenko has an estimated net worth of $17.9 billion.
Ukraine says it has started repairing power lines for Chernobyl plant
Return to menuUkraine told the United Nations nuclear watchdog that its technicians have started repairing damaged power lines that serve the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and that additional fuel for diesel generators that power nuclear storage facilities have been delivered.
The development comes after Ukraine said power lines for the closed plant were disconnected by Russian forces that had targeted the facility in February, soon after invading Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly asked for a cease-fire so that technicians could restore power and resupply the plant, where a major nuclear disaster took place in 1986.
Electricity is needed to cool spent fuel, ventilation and fire-extinguishing systems. The plant has been relying on emergency diesel generators, according to Kyiv. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the Chernobyl plant’s disconnection from the power grid would not have a critical impact on safety functions.
“The volume of cooling water in the spent fuel facility is sufficient to maintain heat removal without a supply of electricity,” it said in a statement Friday.
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