Russia-Ukraine live updates: Negotiators agree to temporary cease-fire in some areas for civilian evacuation

Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, on Thursday called for an end to the “tragic events in Ukraine” in a message on its website, both Bloomberg News and Reuters reported.

The company’s website appeared to be down hours after it reportedly posted a message that supported “the immediate cessation of the armed conflict and fully support its resolution through the negotiation process and through diplomatic means.”

The company did not immediately respond to questions from The Washington Post about the reported statement and issues with their site.

The online post came as the invasion entered its second week. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pressed ahead despite warnings from Western leaders of sanctions that would cripple Russia’s economy.

Economic penalties — ranging from a halted gas pipeline to cutting off Russia from the international financial system — have harmed the ruble’s value, and the Moscow stock exchange closed for days. Russia appears to be on the brink of its worst economic crisis in decades.

Russian business executives — one of whom saw his yacht seized — have already expressed concern over the economic fallout, but Lukoil’s statement appears to be the first from one of Russia’s major companies.

Oil prices in the West have skyrocketed since the invasion. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, reached $116 per barrel Thursday in premarket trading for the first time since 2008. Though the sanctions imposed do not directly target oil and gas sectors, continued fighting is expected to disrupt supply routes through Ukraine and the Black Sea.

Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, exporting more oil than any other country. The White House has stopped short of targeting Russia’s oil and gas exports, as sanctions could further elevate the price of crude and disrupt global markets.

Still, Russia’s actions in Ukraine have prompted international oil companies such as Shell and BP to pull out of their energy investments in the country.

In the days after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine, prompting outcry across the globe, Ike Gazaryan started receiving threatening phone calls, negative reviews and cancellations at his California restaurant.

Gazaryan, 38, owns Pushkin Russian Restaurant in San Diego, where cooks serve up classics such as beef stroganoff. Though he is Armenian — and a U.S. citizen — Gazaryan speaks Russian, enjoys that nation’s cuisine and named his seven-year-old restaurant after Russian author Alexander Pushkin.

But the ties to Russia end there. Many of his family, friends and employees are from Ukraine and he supports their fight against Russia’s invasion. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped strangers from calling, shouting and telling him that he is to blame for the vicious bloodshed Russian President Vladimir Putin has unleashed on Ukraine. One caller even asked why he hasn’t spoken to Putin about putting a stop to the war.

As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine intensifies, some Russian-themed businesses and Russian Americans in the United States are suddenly getting a frosty reception — and in a few cases, outright hostility. A Russian restaurant in Washington, D.C., called Russia House, was vandalized and the owner indicated that he thought anti-Russian sentiment may be to blame. Some Russian Americans say their children are being bullied at school.

MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson faces a “global catastrophe” if a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to be evacuated, and food and medicines to be delivered, is not opened in the nearest future, the secretary of the city council said.

“In Kherson, we are running out of food — literally, we can still last for maybe three, four days,” Galina Luhova said by telephone from Kherson. “We’re running out of medicines, we’re out of baby food, we are running out of diapers, and we are running out of first aid in hospitals.”

Kherson was among the first cities Russian troops attacked as they swept into Ukraine last week, and local eyewitnesses say that it is the first major city to fall to Kremlin forces. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has not confirmed that it is controlled by Moscow, however.

But according to Luhova, Russian equipment and soldiers are “absolutely everywhere,” and Ukrainian forces are “currently not in the city.” Ukrainian city officials continue to carry out their duties, however, and the Ukrainian flag still flies over city hall.

What’s more, she said, Moscow’s forces encircle Kherson, as the fighting continues to rage in southern Ukraine, making it impossible for the city of 320,000 people to receive needed supplies and let civilians escape to safer areas.

The fighting has left large portions of Kherson without electricity and running water. The number of people killed in the fighting is hard to determine, she said, but the figures could be “in the dozens, maybe hundreds,” and their corpses are in “the city’s streets, parks and squares.”

Now that the fighting has stopped, it’s become possible to open some stores and points of distribution. Queues stretched “hundreds of meters,” she said.

“People tried to take everything that there is — flour, sugar, eggs — and there’s a very tense situation with bread in those areas that were shelled,” she said.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators said Thursday that they had reached a tentative agreement to introduce temporary cease-fires in those areas that were facing a crisis, allowing humanitarian corridors to be opened.

This, Luhova says, is the “most important thing right now” that can avert a humanitarian disaster. “It will save the city from a global catastrophe,” she said.

“People are in a panic, people are tense, people are frightened just to the core of their souls,” she said. “Their eyes show insane fear at what is happening now.”

Two men arrested with firearms on Thursday near the Ukrainian Embassy in Georgetown told police they had driven from Indiana to volunteer to fight in the war in Ukraine, according two law enforcement officials familiar with the case.

One of the men was wearing military fatigues and police seized a long gun and two handguns during the arrest, the officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail an ongoing police investigation.

Uniformed members of the U.S. Secret Service arrested the men shortly after 9 a.m. at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street NW, according to a statement from the agency and D.C. police. That is a little more than two blocks from the embassy on M Street.

Early Thursday morning, Enerhodar Mayor Dmitry Orlov posted on his Telegram channel that the situation in the city was stable. By the afternoon, Orlov was publishing frantic messages that the Russians were firing on a checkpoint and advancing on the city, which is home to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Only a day ago, videos were posted of Enerhodar residents carrying Ukrainian flags and gathering in front of and around makeshift barricades, blocking Russian troops from entering the city, according to the local mayor.

By Wednesday evening, videos began to emerge showing smoke over the barricade and shelling in the southeastern city.

While sirens blared, one video captures a massive fire behind the trucks at the citizen barricade on the road to the city. Someone can be heard saying “set the car on fire.”

In a video recorded inside the city, an explosion can be seen and heard in the distance, in the direction of the barricade.

Another video also filmed in the city, captures the sound of an explosion, a siren and then a rocket flying over residential buildings and across the dusk sky.

In a Facebook post, the organizations that oversees the safety of nuclear activities in Ukraine wrote that the city was attacked at 4:30 p.m. local time.

Borodyanka, a town located about 30 miles northwest of Kyiv, sustained severe damage after being attacked by Russian troops, Reuters reported.

Drone footage showed extensive damage to residential areas, with some buildings still in flames while others were reduced to rubble. Burned-out hulks of destroyed Russian armor and military vehicles lined the streets.

Local people told the news agency they rallied against the Russian soldiers.

At one point, Russian soldiers in armored vehicles were shooting at a town park when “an old man ran outside like crazy, with big round eyes, and said ‘Give me a molotov cocktail! We’ll make a molotov cocktail and burn the tank!’ ” a witness told Reuters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of targeting civilians and praised Ukrainians for their fight against Russian forces.

The United Kingdom announced sanctions Thursday against two Russian oligarchs that officials say have “significant interests” in the country and close ties to the Kremlin.

Britain’s government placed a full asset freeze and travel bans on Igor Shuvalov and Alisher Usmanov. Both were also recently slapped with sanctions in the United States. Usmanov, the White House noted, owns one of the world’s largest yachts. The two oligarchs have combined assets worth $19 billion, U.K. officials said.

“We are absolutely determined to sanction Russian oligarchs,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Reuters on Thursday. “We have a further list we are working through.”

Some lawmakers in Britain have expressed impatience with the speed with which the country is instituting sanctions — but Truss told the agency that her office is pressing forward, including creating an oligarch task force to build cases against identified Russian elites.

“There is nowhere for any of [President Vladimir] Putin’s cronies to hide,” she said.