President Biden is expected to give “a major address” in Warsaw on Saturday about the significance of the war, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Friday. Biden will also meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda as well as Ukrainian refugees and American humanitarian aid volunteers.
Here’s what to know
Video: As war in Ukraine enters second month, Europe plans to cut Russian fuels
Return to menuThe White House said March 25 that it will work with international partners to deliver additional liquefied natural gas for the European market in 2022 and beyond. Key moments in the war in Ukraine.
American teacher detained by Russian troops released after 10 days
Return to menuTyler Jacob, a 28-year-old English teacher, has been released from Russian custody and is safely reunited with his wife and daughter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said in a statement Friday.
A Minnesota native, Jacob was detained by Russian troops more than a week ago when they advanced toward Kherson, a southern Ukrainian city. He was onboard a bus evacuating from Kherson to Turkey when he was taken away by Russian soldiers at a checkpoint in Crimea, a region that Russia annexed in 2014, his parents told local news at the time.
According to Klobuchar, for the past 10 days her office worked with the State Department as well as the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to locate Jacob and secure his release.
“While this is good news, my heart remains with all those separated from their loved ones or in danger. As Vladimir Putin continues his senseless war, our commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine is steadfast,” Klobuchar said in her statement.
Inside the terror at Mariupol’s bombed theater
Return to menuZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — The theater in Mariupol was supposed to be a safe haven.
Its walls were thick and sturdy. People had packed into the basement, foyer and the dressing rooms backstage in the hope of escaping Russia’s bombardment of Mariupol, Ukraine’s coastal city that President Vladimir Putin appears set on seizing at any cost.
“We thought maybe they’d see there were kids there and not bomb it,” said Alexiy, 34, who left with his wife and 7-year-old son the day before an apparent Russian attack March 16 left parts of the building in ruin, leaving some people badly injured and officials struggling to determine a possible death toll.
“They even tied a white flag to the top of the building,” he said. Like many people interviewed by The Washington Post, he spoke on the condition that only one name be published because of security concerns.
Interpol deploys team to Moldova after reports of human trafficking
Return to menuThe International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as Interpol, has deployed a team to Moldova to respond to reports about human trafficking as people from Ukraine continue to flee toward safety, the organization announced Friday.
“Within the broader region, INTERPOL has already received reports of human traffickers and smugglers waiting at various border control checkpoints to prey on vulnerable populations arriving from Ukraine,” the organization said. “Children and unaccompanied minors are especially vulnerable to exploitation by smugglers and traffickers.”
The team intends to work with national authorities to find and prevent organized criminal groups from exploiting people affected by the crisis.
Last week, UNICEF called for tighter measures to protect children from being trafficked.
More than 500 unaccompanied children were identified crossing from Ukraine into Romania from Feb. 24 to March 17, according to the agency. The actual number is probably higher, increasing the likelihood for them to be victimize, the organization said.
Russia begins to mobilize military reinforcements for Ukraine, Pentagon says
Return to menuRussia has begun to mobilize military reinforcements to send into Ukraine as its combat losses in the month-old war continue to grow, the Pentagon said Friday, citing its latest intelligence assessments.
“We now have indications that they are drawing on forces from Georgia,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Biden administration. “Russian troops that are based in Georgia. We don’t have an exact number.”
Thousands of Russian troops are regularly stationed at military outposts from Georgia to Syria to Tajikistan, many of them in motorized rifle brigades that experts consider combat-capable and ready to deploy immediately.
Spotify says it will suspend service in Russia
Return to menuSpotify announced Friday that it is pulling the plug on its services in Russia, citing a restrictive new media law passed by the Kremlin.
Spotify, which also hosts podcasts, said in a statement that while it was “critically important” to stream independent news to Russians, the law “puts the safety of Spotify’s employees and possibly even our listeners at risk.” The company had closed its Russian offices indefinitely earlier this month.
Spotify’s announcement adds to a digital iron curtain building around Russia, as more tech companies have either left or been booted, an added hurdle for Russians seeking to get past Moscow’s propaganda bubble. Earlier this month, TikTok said it would suspend live-streaming and new content from Russia, while the country’s Internet censor said it would block access to Facebook.
France’s Macron says nation will help Mariupol residents seeking to leave
Return to menuFrench President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday that he’s working with Greece and Turkey to coordinate a humanitarian operation for people wanting to leave the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Macron told reporters after a European Union summit in Brussels that he has been in talks with Mariupol’s mayor and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that he intended to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the next 48 to 72 hours.
“We will then negotiate with the Russian side. I hope we will be able to have as many stakeholders as possible in this operation. So the sooner the better,” he said. “And for me, this is one of the most urgent and it is our duty, I believe.”
The southeastern Ukrainian city has been among the areas most devastated in Russia’s invasion of the nation. Mariupol officials announced Friday that at least 300 people died in an attack on a theater earlier this month.
Ukrainian mayors and other government officials have repeatedly spoken about Russian forces thwarting evacuation efforts to reach humanitarian corridors.
However, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a daily video update Friday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to two humanitarian corridors operating Friday, including one that would allow Mariupol residents to leave in private vehicles.
E.U. leaders back joint purchases as bloc weans off Russian gas
Return to menuEuropean Union leaders have endorsed a plan to make joint gas purchases as part of a broader push to secure supply and stabilize prices as Europe shifts away from Russian energy, officials and leaders said.
The plan was announced Friday evening in Brussels after hours of discussion about energy sanctions and prices. The decision paves the way for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, and willing member states, to start working together.
The news came the same day the European Commission and the United States announced a joint task force to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels. As part of E.U.-U.S. effort, the United States will work with other nations to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe by at least 15 billion cubic meters this year with the aim of providing larger shipments in the future.
E.U. officials did not provide much detail on how joint purchases might work. A statement published Friday calls on the bloc to “work together on voluntary common purchase of gas, LNG and hydrogen, making optimal use of the collective political and market weight of the European Union and its Member States to dampen prices in negotiations.”
“Instead of outbidding each other and driving prices up, we will pool our demand,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday in a news conference.
President Emmanuel Macron told reporters that joint purchases are “the best instrument for our gas price to decrease.”
Here’s the status of Ukrainian cities under Russian attack
Return to menu- Kyiv: While Ukrainian forces did not regain control of any territory on the northwestern outskirts of the capital, they managed to force their Russian counterparts into defensive positions, analysis from the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest battlefield assessment. On Friday, Russia’s defense ministry claimed that its forces destroyed a major fuel depot on Friday in the suburbs of the city that’s been used by Ukrainian armed forces since the invasion began, Reuters reported.
- Mariupol: City officials said in a Friday Telegram message that at least 300 people died as a result of a Russian airstrike that killed Ukrainians sheltering in a theater earlier this month. Russian forces have besieged the southern port city, making street fights commonplace and independent reporting difficult. For weeks, Russian forces have conducted heavy shelling, and local authorities have accused Russian forces entering the city of spreading misinformation on evacuation corridors to confuse and intimidate residents. In a Telegram message posted to the city council’s official channel, Russian soldiers broadcast messages that Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine will no longer accept refugees and that Odessa had already fallen, leaving Ukrainians with the sole option of heading to Russia for safety.
- Chernihiv: The northern Ukrainian city has been surrounded by Russian forces, who are attacking parts of the city where residents have had no electricity, heating or water, Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko announced Friday, Reuters reported. Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge connecting Chernihiv with Kyiv on Wednesday evening, according a video posted by local authorities and verified by The Washington Post.
- Berdyansk: The Ukrainian navy claimed on Thursday that it had destroyed a Russian landing ship, the Orsk, docked at this Russian-occupied port city. Berdyansk, which has been used by Russia to deliver military supplies to aid its assault on Ukraine, is about 50 miles southwest of Mariupol. According to video clips verified by The Washington Post, fires and heavy smoke columns could be seen rising from a vessel that matched the description of the Orsk.
- Kharkiv: Unrelenting Russian shelling has forced residents to seek shelter underground as houses and neighborhoods burn.
- Dnipro: A Ukrainian military unit on the outskirts of the central Ukrainian city was struck by two missiles late Thursday, demolishing buildings and sparking two fires, regional emergency services said, according to the Associated Press.
Joyce Lee contributed to this report.
Video shows Russian missile strike hitting civilians waiting in line
Return to menuA Russian strike hit civilians in Kharkiv waiting for humanitarian aid on Thursday, leaving six dead and another 15 injured, according to a statement from Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
New security video posted Friday, verified by The Washington Post, shows the moment when people lined up near the entrance to a post office were struck. The video shows the explosion and then footage edited to zoom in on the attack. Survivors are seen fleeing the area. The attack occurred along a major avenue, just outside a market, in northeastern Kharkiv.
In another video, remnants of the weapon are strewn across the pavement and people tend to others on the ground.
Loveday Morris contributed to this report.
They chose to flee Ukraine. The next question is where to go.
Return to menuPRZEMYSL, Poland — The stream of people keeps arriving, safe at last in Poland, and for many, the next stop is a shuttered shopping mall four miles from the border. That’s where they encounter a place that some volunteers call the “decision room.”
It’s less a room than a bank of chairs, crammed among a sea of cots, near what used to be the mall’s supermarket. Now, it’s a riot of activity: volunteers, European national flags, information booths for various countries and refugees trying to make sense of the staggering choices at hand.
“Free transport to Estonia,” one sign reads. “Free housing 90 days” in Denmark, reads another, posted in front of a whiteboard listing the buses departing daily: for Zurich, Dresden, Munich and so many other cities that are everywhere but Ukraine.
Ukraine claims that Russia is using white phosphorus bombs
Return to menuUkraine’s president has accused invading Russian forces of using white phosphorus, a controversial chemical substance that can cause severe and indiscriminate harm to civilians.
“This morning, by the way, there were phosphorus bombs. Phosphorus Russian bombs. Adults were killed again and children were killed again,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a virtual address to NATO leaders Thursday, as the military alliance held an emergency summit on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Washington Post has not been able to independently verify reports of white phosphorous being used in Ukraine. Although the chemical is infamous because of the extreme damage it can cause, other incendiary weapons and chemicals used by militaries for illumination have been mistaken for white phosphorous in the past.
Asked by reporters about Zelensky’s comments on, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia “has never violated international conventions.”
Pentagon: Russians lose full control of Kherson as Ukraine expands offensive
Return to menuRussian forces have lost full control of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Pentagon assessed Friday, as Ukraine expands offensive operations in the fifth week of the war.
The port city on the Black Sea had a population of about 280,000 before the war and is home to shipbuilding facilities. It was first occupied by Russian forces March 3 and became one of a handful of midsized Ukrainian cities seized by Russia.
“It doesn’t appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before,” a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon. “Ukrainians are trying to take Kherson back, and we would argue that Kherson is actually contested territory again.”
Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian advances in other parts of Ukraine as well. The Pentagon said Friday that Ukraine has made “incremental” progress against Russia outside the northern city of Chernihiv, and other offensives were underway in the western suburbs of Kyiv, the capital.
While Russia’s initial objective after invading appeared to be seizing Kyiv, the Kremlin is now emphasizing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. It is “difficult to say” whether that is a full change in strategy, the senior defense official said. He added that Russian troops, stalled outside Kyiv for weeks, have begun to establish defensive positions instead of prioritizing an advance.
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