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Online peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv took place Friday, in the aftermath of a fuel depot fire in a Russian border city that the Kremlin blamed on a Ukrainian strike. Moscow called the alleged attack an “escalation” that might harm negotiations; Kyiv would not confirm or deny its role, though some military experts said it was probably responsible. The damage is likely to further stress Moscow’s already-strained supply lines, Britain said, with the Russian attack on the nearby Ukrainian city of Kharkiv “particularly affected.”
The Pentagon on Friday announced a new $300 million security assistance package for Ukraine that will include drones, counter-drone systems and armored vehicles. “Aggression should be met by global effort — even as it launches global repercussions,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a separate speech that cast the Kremlin’s invasion as a threat to the rules-based international system.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video posted early Saturday, threatened to punish Ukrainians who collaborated with Russian occupying forces. He also urged Russian families to keep their sons away from Moscow’s latest conscription draft. “We don’t need more dead people here. Save your children so that they do not become villains,” Zelensky said.
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Photos: Scenes from a destroyed bridge in Irpin
Return to menuPhotographer Heidi Levine, working on assignment for The Post, witnessed people seeking safety in Irpin, recently retaken by Ukrainian troops.
Now that Irpin has been retaken, people have been heading there to get away from the fighting, including Svetlana Khanaev, 58, and her 62-year-old husband, Victor, who waited for help along with other people with disabilities.
Despite Russian assurances, aid still blocked for hard-hit Mariupol
Return to menuDNIPRO, Ukraine — Treacherous ground conditions tempered hopes of humanitarian relief on Friday for the bomb-ravaged southern city of Mariupol, where tens of thousands of Ukrainians remained trapped under Russian siege as aid workers tried desperately to reach them.
About 6,200 civilians, many of whom apparently had fled Mariupol on their own in recent days and weeks, were transported Friday from Russian-held territory outside the city into the relative safety of a Ukrainian-controlled area. But the International Committee of the Red Cross said its nine-person team was unable to enter Mariupol itself, despite earlier assurances from Moscow of a cease-fire and safe passage for civilians. The team would try again Saturday, the Red Cross said.
Ukrainian officials said the proposed humanitarian corridor was “essentially not operational” and accused Russia of breaking its promise to allow aid into the sealed-off port city, where witnesses have described families starving and buried in rubble.
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