Russia-Ukraine live updates: NATO will deploy more battle groups to eastern flank; Biden en route to Europe

Anatoly Chubais, one of the few Russian reformers of the 1990s who survived through Vladimir Putin’s presidency, quit his post as sustainable development envoy, the Kremlin confirmed Wednesday, becoming the highest official to sever ties with the Kremlin after the invasion of Ukraine.

Amid reports Chubais left the country because of his opposition to the war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Chubais had resigned but did not confirm he had left the country.

“Yes. Chubais resigned of his own free will. But whether he left or did not leave, that’s his business,” Peskov told Interfax.

Ruslan Edelgeriev, Putin’s representative on climate issues, earlier confirmed Chubais’s resignation in comments to RIA Novosti, while Kommersant newspaper reported he had been spotted in Istanbul.

Bloomberg News, which first reported the story, said Chubais left because of his opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Forbes’ Russian office managed to reach him by phone, but reported that he cut the call when asked whether he left the country.

Last week, Chubais hinted at his opposition to the war in a Facebook post commemorating the death of Yegor Gaidar, an economist and politician who led Russia’s “shock therapy” program aimed at liberalizing Russia’s economy in the early 1990s. Gaidar died suddenly in 2009, at age 53.

“In our discussions about the future of Russia, I did not always agree with him. But it seems that Gaidar understood strategic risks better than I did, and I was wrong,” Chubais wrote.

Chubais’s spouse, Avdotya Smirnova, signed an open letter from philanthropists opposing the war last month.

The architect of Russia’s privatization program in the 1990s, Chubais reportedly gave Putin his first Kremlin job in 1997 and supported his rise to power.

Chubais is a controversial figure amid ordinary Russians, many of whom see the privatization program as having stripped Russia of its prize assets and enriched a small group of oligarchs.

PARIS — In an address to the French parliament Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged all remaining French companies to pull out of Russia, calling them “sponsors” of the invasion of his country.

“Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin and others need to stop being sponsors of Russia’s war machinery,” Zelensky told French lawmakers in a special session of parliament. “They must stop financing the murders of children and women.”

A number of French companies have appeared more resistant to pressure to cease operations in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine than some of their American and European competitors.

On Monday, Reuters reported that production at French carmaker Renault’s Moscow plant had resumed.

Scrutiny has centered on several entities owned by the French Mulliez family, however, which operates Russian department stores under the “Auchan” brand, sells sporting goods through its Russian “Decathlon” stores and runs “Leroy Merlin” DIY home improvement stores.

After one of Leroy Merlin’s Ukrainian stores in the capital, Kyiv, was bombed over the weekend, resulting in several casualties, the company’s Ukrainian employees appealed to their owners to cease operations in Russia, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a tweet that the incident had made Leroy Merlin “the first company in the world to finance the bombing of its own stores.” The ministry condemned what it characterized as “inhumane, harrowing greed.”

A Ukrainian effort to acquire the powerful Pegasus spyware system was blocked by Israeli defense officials, according to people familiar with the decision.

The effort had the support of the United States, Israel’s closest ally, but Israeli officials were concerned that providing the spyware would anger Russia at a time when Russian forces were in Syria.

Israeli concerns about Russia’s reaction also affected dealings between NSO Group, the creator of Pegasus, and Estonia, a member of NATO, people familiar with those actions say.

Although NSO is a private company, Israeli officials have sought for years to align its distribution of Pegasus with national diplomatic priorities.

Biden is on his way to Brussels — the first stop on a European trip meant to bolster the Western alliance as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues.

Asked as he left the White House about his message to world leaders, the president said he will “say it when I get there.” He was also asked about the possibility of Russia engaging in chemical warfare in Ukraine, and said, “I think it’s a real threat.”

Biden’s trip, his third overseas journey since taking office, will begin in Brussels, where he will attend a NATO summit, a Group of Seven meeting and a session with heads of state from the European Union. He will then travel to Poland, a visit that will include a meeting with President Andrzej Duda on Saturday.

During his trip, Biden is set to pledge more aid to address human suffering amid a growing refugee crisis. Biden is also expected to announce a new package of sanctions on Russia, as well as new efforts to crack down on those looking to evade current sanctions.

“For the past few months, the West has been united,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday. “The president is traveling to Europe to ensure that we stay united, to cement our collective resolve, to send a powerful message that we are prepared and committed to this for as long as it takes.”

MAKARIV, Ukraine — Top Ukrainian government officials said Tuesday that this strategic town west of the capital, Kyiv, had been liberated from Russian forces.

Media all around the world reported the news, the latest indication that the Ukrainians were waging counterattacks and defeating the Russians in key locations, preventing them from encircling and seizing the capital.

But a visit by a team of Washington Post journalists to Makariv on Wednesday found the town still contested. Russian forces were still in control of roughly 15 percent of the town, an area they have held for nearly three weeks with little shifting of the front lines, according to the town’s mayor.

There were no signs that any of the roughly 15,000 residents who fled were returning to the town.

As the Post journalists entered the town, Ukrainian soldiers ordered them to leave, warning them of incoming Russian Grad rockets. Minutes later, the sound of shells falling was heard, with black plumes of smoke rising over the town. Soon more blasts followed.

BRUSSELS — NATO leaders are expected to deploy new battle groups to the alliance’s eastern flank, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Wednesday, as he urged Russia to stop its “nuclear saber rattling.”

In a news briefing ahead of an emergency summit Thursday that will be attended by President Biden, Stoltenberg said four battle groups will be sent to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The move is part of an “immediate” response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said, but leaders will also discuss longer-term plans.

“I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains, with major increases in the eastern part of the alliance on land, in the air and at sea,” he told reporters at a briefing in Brussels.

NATO will also provide more support to Ukraine to deal with possible attacks involving chemical and biological weapons, he said, declining to offer specifics.

Stoltenberg also called on Russia to stop its “nuclear saber rattling,” saying the use of nuclear weapons would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that Russia would use its nuclear arsenal only in the case of an existential threat.

“We have a concept of domestic security, and, well, it’s public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used,” he said. “So, if it is an existential threat for our country, then [the nuclear option] can be used in accordance with our concept.”

Biden will attend Thursday’s NATO summit, as well as a meeting with European leaders Thursday night. On Friday, he is scheduled to travel to Poland.

Stoltenberg said China’s role in the conflict will also be on the summit agenda.

“China has provided Russia with political support, including by spreading blatant lies and disinformation,” he said. “Allies are concerned that China could provide material support for the Russian invasion.”

Russian shelling and siege tactics have devastated Mariupol’s residential neighborhoods, drone video published Wednesday by Ukraine’s far-right Azov Battalion revealed. The video was verified by The Washington Post.

The majority of the structures visible sustained some amount of damage, from blown-out windows to entire multistory buildings burned ashen-gray. Smoke rose from at least four areas in the minute-long clip.

How The Post verifies video from Ukraine

Amid a communication blackout, the Azov Battalion has been one of the few sources of videos and information coming out of the city that has served as its primary base for years. The paramilitary group with ties to extremists across Europe has been fighting for Ukraine since 2014, when it was absorbed into Ukraine’s national guard. Its presence has been used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to falsely claim that the Ukrainian government is run by neo-Nazis.

Apartments, grocery markets and a public school were among the buildings in the city’s Livoberezhnyi district that were hit, according to Google Maps. The overview showed an approximately two-mile stretch along the coastal line.

Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, has been under siege from Russian forces for nearly three weeks. Thousands of people have been killed by the fighting, according to local authorities. A week ago, the Mariupol Drama Theater, where hundreds of families with young children were sheltered, was hit by a Russian airstrike.

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — Sergey was at the morgue to pick up the body of his baby brother. Then he walked into a room with corpses organized in rows on the floor. Most were dressed in military fatigues and mangled. Some were missing limbs. He wondered if he knew some of them, he said, but it’s hard to keep track of who is alive and who is dead these days.

“There must have been 200 in there,” said Sergey, a Ukrainian soldier. Like others in this report, The Washington Post is identifying him only by his first name for security reasons and in keeping with military rules.

Ukraine’s southern front-line city of Mykolaiv is considered a success story for how its military has defended against Russia’s invasion. This is where Ukrainian forces have held their ground, delaying any Russian offensive on the strategically critical Black Sea port of Odessa. This is where they have even launched counterattacks to push back Russian troops. And this is where bodies continue to pile up.

While Ukrainian forces have inflicted punishing losses on the Russians, interviews this week at Mykolaiv’s front lines and in funeral homes, morgues, cemeteries and residential neighborhoods illustrated the terrible price that Ukraine has paid in lives lost.

Ukraine’s military has not released any casualty figures. But in Mykolaiv just this past week, Russian missiles struck a Ukrainian barracks, killing dozens. Blue-and-yellow flags around the city were lowered to half-staff. At the morgue, one van after another arrived with a “200” sign in the front windshield — an old Soviet marker for a vehicle transporting a corpse. Some bodies were delivered wrapped in checkered picnic blankets.