Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia takes Kherson government building in siege on Ukraine’s port cities

The mayor of Ukraine’s Mariupol said Thursday a Russian siege and hours of shelling that battered rail links and bridges had cut off water, power and food supplies to the southern coastal city.

“They impede the supply of food, create a blockade for us,” Vadym Boychenko, said in a Telegram post from the city council. He said people could not leave because of the damage to trains and bridges.

Local officials in Mariupol in southeast Ukraine accused Russian forces earlier of hitting an apartment building and a hostel for migrants as a barrage on key cities intensified.

A port city on the Azov Sea near Russia’s border, Mariupol was still under Ukrainian control but Russian troops had encircled it, the deputy mayor, Sergei Orlov, said in a television interview. “The situation is quite critical,” he said, adding that it was difficult to estimate how many people had been killed in hours of shelling and air raids because they could not collect all the bodies.

The mayor, Boychenko, added Thursday morning that his team was trying to secure a safe corridor to bring in supplies or help evacuate residents. “We again have no light, water and heat,” he said. “We are doing everything to restore the critical infrastructure of the city as soon as possible.”

“We are being destroyed as a nation,” he wrote.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday announced a new round of sanctions in response to the Russian invasion, including freezing assets held by Russian oligarchs.

Japan also will freeze the assets of seven Russian banks and seven top Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko and Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, Kishida said.

In the past week, Japan has taken dramatic steps to ramp up pressure on Russia for its assault on Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Kishida announced that Japan plans to accept refugees fleeing the invasion — an unusual move from a government with strict immigration measures. The government estimates it also would host family members and acquaintances of about 1,900 Ukrainian residents in Japan.

The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun said at least 70 Japanese men — including 50 former members of the Self-Defense Forces — applied to be volunteer fighters in Ukraine. But it is unclear whether the Japanese Foreign Ministry has asked them not to travel there or how many would be able to go.

The European Union is expecting membership applications from Moldova and Georgia “imminently,” a senior E.U. official said Wednesday.

The news comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made desperate appeals for his country to be admitted under a special procedure because of the Russian invasion.

The requests will renew a fraught debate about E.U. enlargement at a particularly delicate moment, with Russia strenuously opposing Ukraine’s desire to join NATO and citing its alleged “militarization” to justify attacks.

The European Parliament and some members this week expressed support for the idea of admitting Ukraine. But E.U. leaders have been noncommittal, signaling that there are divisions within the bloc.

Georgia’s ruling party on Wednesday made clear its plans to submit paperwork as soon as possible. The decision was based on “the new reality,” Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream, told reporters Wednesday.

Kobakhidze reportedly urged the E.U. “to review our application in an urgent manner and to make the decision to grant Georgia the status of an E.U. membership candidate.”

It remains to be seen if bids from Georgia, or Moldova, another former Soviet Republic, will be given different consideration now that Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The European Union has not accepted a new member state since Croatia in 2013.

Asked about the question of Ukraine’s membership while visiting Romania Thursday morning, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that “there is no doubt that these brave people who defend our values with their lives belong in the European family.”

But she was once again noncommittal on whether or how Ukraine or other countries might be considered under a special, or fast-track, procedure. “Right now,” she said, “our focus is on ending this horrible war.”

The Biden administration is asking Congress to approve $32.5 billion to bolster Ukraine against Russian aggression and shore up the United States in the battle against the coronavirus.

The official request arrives as Democrats and Republicans continue to tussle over a broader aid package that many lawmakers hope to append to a still-forming deal to fund the government. Absent imminent action, critical federal agencies and programs are set to run out of money after March 11, imperiling Washington’s ability to respond to both crises in full.

To aid Ukraine, the Biden administration is calling on lawmakers to approve $10 billion, hoping to address the emerging humanitarian crisis in the country in the face of a worsening Russian onslaught. The figure also includes assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defenses, protect its electrical grid from disruption, and further assist other European allies, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the plans.

The European Union will coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees through a new “civil protection hub” in neighboring Romania, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday from Bucharest.

The hub will serve as a “central command,” allowing European officials on the ground to “direct assistance that we receive from all over Europe here in Romania to the specific border crossing points,” von der Leyen said at a news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

She said the hub will be set up “for the long haul.” Iohannis said, “We believe that, unfortunately, the situation in Ukraine will worsen and the country will need additional support.”

More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, according to the United Nations. Romania, which borders Ukraine to the southwest, has taken in nearly 150,000, in what von der Leyen called a “shining example of European solidarity.”

The European Union will decide Thursday whether to adopt a directive granting temporary rights to Ukrainian refugees. Under the directive, a first in E.U. history, “Ukrainian nationals and people who have made Ukraine their home as well as their family members displaced by the conflict” will be allowed to live, study and work in E.U. member states for a period of at least one year.

From ordinary citizens to executives of big-name corporations and Hollywood stars, people around the world are pledging millions of dollars to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s invasion, alongside much-needed medical supplies, military equipment and even pet food.

Apart from these donations, international agencies and individual governments have already rolled out aid plans. The World Health Organization has $3.5 million in emergency funding; the U.S. government is hoping to deploy $6.4 billion in emergency aid to the region; and the European Commission signed off on a $100 million aid package.

Netflix co-founder and co-chief executive Reed Hastings on Wednesday announced a $1 million donation to Razom, a Ukrainian nonprofit that has sought to strengthen democracy in its country. It is now focused on procuring disposable resuscitators, tourniquets and other emergency supplies needed to treat war injuries, according to its website.

The Guggenheim Museum in New York said Wednesday that Vladimir Potanin, a Russian billionaire, has resigned from his position as one of its trustees, joining the cohort of Russian oligarchs who have faced global resistance and increased isolation following the invasion of Ukraine.

“Vladimir Potanin has advised the Board of Trustees of his decision to step down as Trustee effective immediately,” a spokesperson for the Guggenheim said in a statement.

“The Guggenheim accepts this decision and thanks Mr. Potanin for his service to the Museum and his support of exhibition, conservation and educational programs,” it said.

Although the statement did not provide the reason for Potanin’s resignation, it said that “the Guggenheim strongly condemns the Russian invasion and unprovoked war against the government and people of Ukraine.”