Russia-Ukraine live updates: Temporary Mariupol cease-fire agreed to ahead of Red Cross evacuation

BRUSSELS — Russia’s attack on Ukraine has forced the European Union to rethink how it works with authoritarian regimes. Outraged by the war, the bloc feels deceived by Moscow’s doublespeak and deeply remorseful it did not break ties sooner.

That skepticism is expected to carry over into an E.U.-China summit Friday — the first in nearly two years — as the E.U. recalibrates its relationship with one of its top trade partners.

Before the war, the E.U. was slowly and somewhat reluctantly adopting a tougher stance toward China. The events of the past month — and Beijing’s tacit backing of Moscow — have accelerated that shift, aligning the E.U. more closely with the U.S. position on China as a strategic adversary.

E.U. leaders plan to use the virtual summit to warn Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang against offering material support to Russia, whether with weapons or assistance in evading sanctions.

Washington does not understand the Kremlin or Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday after U.S. officials claimed that the Russian leader’s advisers misled him about the invasion of Ukraine.

Top U.S. officials said Putin’s advisers were shielding him from how the Russian military was performing out of fear of delivering bad news to the president. White House spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield told reporters Wednesday that this “resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” while Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it could undermine negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.

But Peskov told a news conference the U.S. claims showed that “neither the State Department nor the Pentagon has any real information about what is going on in the Kremlin.”

“They don’t understand President Putin,” he said. “They don’t understand the decision-making mechanism, and they don’t understand our style of work.” Russia’s Tass news agency also quoted Peskov as saying the Kremlin was concerned, “because such utter misunderstanding results in wrong decisions, in careless decisions that have very bad consequences.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed doubt Thursday about Russia’s claim that it is withdrawing from the area around Kyiv, saying Moscow has lied about its intentions before and appears to be repositioning troops for fresh attacks.

“Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions. We can only judge Russia on its actions, not its words,” he said at a news conference in Brussels.

“According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon said some Russian forces were being moved from Kyiv. It warned, however, that this should not be seen as a de-escalation but more likely points to an intention to refit and resupply troops for possible deployment elsewhere.

Stoltenberg’s warning came as he unveiled NATO’s 2021 annual report and prepared for another meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels next week.

Stoltenberg said NATO had stepped up support to Ukraine in 2021 and that Ukrainian forces “are now putting training to use on the front lines with courage that has inspired the world.”

The report outlines NATO’s activities last year and explores how Russia’s aggression has created the “most complex security environment since the end of the Cold War.”

“We have entered a new era in global security, where authoritarian powers, like Russia and China, are openly contesting core principles for our security, and seeking to re-write the entire international order on which our peace and prosperity depend,” the report says.

It notes that in 2021, eight NATO allies met the guideline of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense, up from just three in 2014. The United States accounted for 51 percent of the alliance’s combined GDP and 69 percent of combined defense expenditure.

At the news conference, Stoltenberg said he expects allies to increase their contributions this years.

Russia’s ruble and banking system are showing continued signs of recovery from the initial punch of sanctions, as Moscow relies on energy exports and currency controls to partly protect the nation’s economy.

After initially plummeting, the ruble has rebounded and is edging closer to the value it held before the war began, according to the official exchange rate. And the banking system is gradually stabilizing as panicked customer withdrawals subside, economists say.

Stepan, Ukraine’s most famous cat, who fled war and heavy shelling amid Russia’s violent invasion, has raised more than $10,000 for charity since finding safety in his new home of France.

The funds will be donated to organizations seeking to improve the lives of homeless animals, including those that have fled the war in Ukraine, according to a recent Instagram post on Stepan’s account, which has more than 1.2 million followers.

“My dear friends, I’m heartedly grateful for your responsiveness and support,” the post read in English.

Stepan’s owner, known as Anna, used Instagram to keep followers posted on their exit from Kharkiv, a city they left behind to reach Poland on foot. Their silence, sparked by electricity outages during the conflict, sparked mass panic among fans concerned for Stepan and his family.

With his green eyes and striped coat, the 13-year-old cat is often found posing alongside the finer things in life, be it popcorn, pizza, wine or beer. Many fans consider Stepan relatable, perhaps because sometimes he is tired and needs a nap. Other days, however, he wants to bask underneath the glow of disco lights and take selfies.

“I give everyone a good mood,” Stepan’s Instagram bio reads.

President Biden is expected to announce a massive release of the nation’s strategic oil reserves on Thursday, as the administration tries to combat high prices at the pump, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The White House’s plan is expected to call for the release of 1 million barrels per day from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve on an ongoing basis for several months, the people said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter not yet made public. The SPR currently holds roughly 570 million barrels of crude oil.

The White House has scrambled in recent days to respond to elevated gas prices, which rose markedly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia is the world’s third-largest producer of oil, and fears of a disruption of its supply to global markets have sent energy prices skyward. As of Wednesday, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $4.24, according to AAA, up dramatically from $3.60 per gallon last month and $2.90 per gallon last year.

Russia has declared a temporary humanitarian cease-fire in the besieged port city of Mariupol for Thursday, its defense officials said.

The cease-fire would begin at 10 a.m. local time and allow people to evacuate to the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol, which has so far borne the brunt of Russia’s invasion.

The cease-fire is “purely for humane purposes,” Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center, told a briefing Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported. He said the humanitarian corridor would allow civilians and foreign nationals to leave the city — once home to about 446,000 people.

Russia said the cease-fire would begin once Ukraine had given Russia, along with the United Nations’ refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross, written confirmation by 6 a.m. local time on Thursday that it would comply. It was unclear if Ukraine had done so. However, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed in a daily video update on Thursday that cease-fire and evacuation efforts were underway.

“Our soldiers have fully confirmed and guarantee a full cease-fire regime,” she said, confirming her awareness of the route form Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, with a transit in the city of Berdyansk, about 50 miles southwest of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.

She said that Ukraine was sending 45 buses into Mariupol.

“We will do everything possible so that the buses arrive in Mariupol today and evacuate people who still haven’t managed to leave the city,” Vereshchuk said.

She added that two other humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Thursday to evacuate people from the cities of Melitopol and Enerhodar, both to Zaporizhzhia.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Kirill Timoshenko confirmed the cease-fire and evacuation routes in a Telegram post on Thursday. He said the humanitarian corridors would allow for the evacuation of people and the delivery of aid.

Russia said it had proposed that the humanitarian operation be carried out with the UNHCR and ICRC.

“Our teams are traveling right now with pre-positioned relief items and medical supplies to be ready to facilitate the safe passage of civilians out of Mariupol,” Ewan Watson, a spokesman for the ICRC, told The Washington Post.

He added that for logistical and security reasons, the ICRC would be ready to lead the “safe passage operation” starting Friday. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has specified when the temporary cease-fire and humanitarian corridor would end.

“It’s desperately important that this operation takes place. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it,” Watson said.

A UNHCR spokesperson, Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, told The Post on Thursday that the agency learned of the cease-fire from Russian Defense Ministry press statements and is “currently discussing it with U.N. partners.”

“UNHCR does not manage humanitarian safe passage operations,” Ghedini-Williams said. “Any such operation would be a joint U.N. undertaking and would be led by the U.N. crisis coordinator for Ukraine.”

Mariupol’s City Council said later Thursday that an evacuation convoy of 17 buses had left Berdyansk for Mariupol, accompanied by Ukrainian police and emergency service personnel. The boarding of buses and evacuation of Mariupol residents will begin Friday, it said in an update on Telegram.

“Every day is a fight for the Mariupol residents who still remain in the besieged city”" said Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko. “I appeal to all international partners to help and through joint actions, save every Mariupol resident.”

Annabelle Chapman and Amar Nadhir contributed to this report.