Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia is bombing cities beyond recognition, Zelensky says as ground invasion stalls

The Dutch royal family said Monday that King Willem-Alexander has offered to house Ukrainian refugees at one of his castles. Starting in mid-April, six to eight families, or 20 to 30 people, will be accommodated at the Slot’t Oude Loo, the royal house said in a statement. The castle is located in Apeldoorn, about 50 miles east of Amsterdam.

The Belgian royal family reportedly made a similar offer this month. More than 10 million people have been displaced by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, according to the United Nations, and almost 3.5 million of them have fled abroad. The Netherlands expects to receive about 50,000 Ukrainian refugees, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles said.

A delegation of lawmakers from Lithuania’s national Parliament, the Seimas, visited Kyiv on Monday and met with the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, to demonstrate the Baltic nation’s support for Ukraine. The group, led by leaders of the Seimas including its deputy speaker Paulius Saudargas and chair of its national security and defense committee Laurynas Kasciunas, marks the first time that parliamentary representatives from a NATO country stepped foot in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion nearly a month ago.

Posting in his official Telegram channel, Klitschko thanked the Lithuanian lawmakers for standing in solidarity with his beleaguered country and urged politicians from other European Union nations to visit. In recent days, despite the lack of ground advances from Russian forces, Kremlin troops have kept up heavy shelling of the city.

Lithuanian lawmaker Kasciunas wrote on Twitter on Monday evening that Russia “will never take this brave city and country,” in a tweet that also featured a picture of him and three members of the Lithuanian delegation with Klitschko. Lithuania has been one of the most vocal members within NATO pushing for more aggressive steps to be taken in the face of Russia’s invasion. The Seimas unanimously adopted a resolution last week calling on the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a move that the United States has already ruled out.

Earlier this month, the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic — all NATO countries — crossed into Ukraine by train and met with Zelensky. The head of Ukrainian railways described that visit as “important” but “naive” because some of the leaders publicized their journey while still en route.

Biden will travel to Belgium and Poland this week, seeking to hold together a Western alliance that is beginning to show potential cracks and making a symbolic appearance in a country whose leaders fear it could be a future target of Russian aggression.

Biden will land in Brussels on Wednesday night, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-month mark with no sign of letting up. As the war grinds on and Ukrainian leaders plead for additional assistance, divisions are emerging between allies who want to supply offensive weapons such as fighter jets and others who are wary of escalating the confrontation with Moscow.

The president’s decision to visit Poland reflects that country’s position at the epicenter of an intensifying refugee crisis, as about 300,000 Ukrainian refugees have sought safety in Warsaw since the conflict began. Biden, who may visit a refugee camp while he is in Poland, is expected to promise significant U.S. help with the crisis.

Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia’s largest, has furloughed 20 percent of its staff, it said, as passenger numbers fall amid economic sanctions and the closure of most international airspace to Russian aircraft.

In an update posted Monday on Telegram, the airport said that from March 16 some staff members have been furloughed for reasons “beyond the control of the employer and employees.” During this period, those employees would be paid two-thirds of their salary, it added.

“Sheremetyevo International Airport, in the face of large-scale declines in international air transportation, has optimized staff work schedules,” the airport authority said. “We inform you that the share of personnel who are transferred to furlough is 20 percent.”

Earlier this month, the airport closed a passenger terminal “in the face of forced restrictions in the field of international air transportation,” the airport said.

In February, the European Union closed the entire 27-nation bloc’s airspace to Russian-owned, -registered or -controlled aircraft, “including the private jets of oligarchs.” The closure of E.U. skies was one of numerous strict measures taken in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This prompted retaliation from Moscow, as it closed Russian airspace to most European airlines.

The United States swiftly followed suit, with the Biden administration prohibiting Russian airlines from entering American airspace, in a bid to weaken Russia’s aviation system and further isolate the country.

Annabelle Chapman contributed to this report.

For nearly three weeks, Russian forces have besieged and shelled the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov, with devastating results.

Local officials say that thousands have been killed, while reports suggest Russian troops are now engaged in street-to-street fighting in the seaside hub. On Monday, Ukrainian forces rejected an ultimatum from Moscow to surrender and evacuate the city, whose prewar population numbered about 430,000.

The battle there is taking place largely under a communications blackout, with only sporadic electricity, Internet and phone service. The last international journalists reporting from Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka of the Associated Press, left the city last week after Ukrainian forces told them they were being targeted by the Russians.

Accounts from residents who have left the city suggest enormous destruction.

Four Ukrainian journalists in Melitopol, the southern Ukrainian city under Russian occupation, were abducted by unknown gunmen on Monday, a journalists’ union said. They were released after “preventive talks” and told to cooperate with Russia, according to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

Mykhailo Kumko, Yevhenia Boryan, Yulia Olkhovska and Lyubov Chaika had their cellphones confiscated, according to the union. The Washington Post could not independently verify the reports, but Ukrainian officials said Russian forces occupying Melitopol previously abducted the city’s mayor, who was later released in exchange for Russian prisoners.

TOKYO — Russia said Monday it would halt negotiations with Japan regarding a post-World War II peace treaty amid Tokyo’s escalating sanctions pressuring Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the latest sign of deteriorating bilateral relations.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the country has no intention of continuing peace talks, which had been stalled since 2020. It blamed Japan’s “anti-Russian policy” and said it would terminate visa-free trips by Japanese citizens to a chain of islands between Japan and Russia and would withdraw from joint economic projects on the islands.

Japan has imposed wide-reaching economic sanctions on Russia since last month, in a dramatic turn away from its years of rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Japan and Russia never signed a formal peace treaty ending World War II hostilities because of a long-running territorial dispute over the islands off Hokkaido, in northern Japan. The two countries signed a joint declaration in 1956 ending the state of war but have not signed an actual peace treaty.

President Biden heads to Europe this week on what could be one of his most consequential overseas trips, showcasing unity with NATO and European Union partners and setting the stage for the next phase of the West’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Biden will attend an emergency meeting of NATO, then a previously scheduled European Council meeting, followed by a gathering of the Group of Seven rich countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

On Friday, he’ll travel to Warsaw, to discuss efforts to help countries that have taken in the lion’s share of nearly 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees.