The Washington Post

2022-05-22 23:57:42 Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Ukraine is planning to grant more rights to Polish citizens in the country in response to a similar decision from Warsaw, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

- Ivanka Trump recently traveled to Poland to meet with Ukrainian refugees, embracing mothers and children and serving food to families in photos she shared on social media Sunday.

- Pentagon and State Department officials have discussed potential plans to send Special Forces to Kyiv to protect the U.S. diplomats at the embassy there now that operations have resumed, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday.

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2022-05-22 21:30:18 As the defense of Mariupol ends, fighting in eastern Ukraine rages on

A leader of the far-right Azov Regiment said Friday that the group had been ordered to cease its last-ditch defense of Mariupol, which has been gutted by the Russian military, and that the effort will now focus on saving lives and removing the dead.

“Glory to Ukraine! 86 days of the defense of Mariupol,” the commander of the regiment, Denys Prokopenko, said in a video posted to Telegram. “The senior military leadership has issued an order on saving the life and health of the garrison’s servicemen and termination of the defense of the city.”

Hours later, Russia’s Ministry of Defense declared on Telegram that the Azovstal steel plant’s underground tunnels “have come under full control of the Russian Armed Forces," saying “the last group of 531 militants surrendered.”

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2022-05-22 20:15:29 Ukraine’s first lady details war’s toll on the Zelensky family

In a rare joint television interview, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and first lady Olena Zelenska said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “torn apart” their family as it has for millions of other households across the country.

Zelenska, who has two children with Ukraine’s wartime president, admitted that she had barely seen Zelensky since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. She said she and her husband have been mainly communicating by phone since then.

“Our family was torn apart, as every other Ukrainian family,” Zelenska said. “He lives at his job. We didn’t see him at all for 2 ½ months.”

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2022-05-22 17:38:12 Russia bans 963 Americans, including Biden and Harris — but not Trump

Russia permanently banned nearly 1,000 Americans, including President Biden and Vice President Harris, from entering the country in response to the United States’ support of Ukraine and the historic sanctions facing Moscow.

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published an updated list of 963 Americans barred from entering Russia — a largely symbolic move featuring a wide-ranging collection of Biden administration members, Republicans, tech executives, journalists, lawmakers who have died, regular U.S. citizens and even actor Morgan Freeman.

“In the context of response to the constantly imposed anti-Russian sanctions by the U.S. and in connection with incoming requests about the personal composition of our national ‘stop list,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry publishes a list of American citizens who are permanently banned from entering the Russian Federation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a news release.

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2022-05-22 14:22:17 In southeast Ukraine, a stalemate in ghost villages on the front line

There was an air of levity on the firing range as Ukrainian Territorial Defense soldiers took their first breather from the war in weeks. One by one, they took a knee to test their rocket-propelled grenades as watching comrades cracked jokes. Others turned their faces to the sun and enjoyed a moment of calm between explosions.

“You guys don’t have long before you get back out there,” a commander reminded the group. “Rest while you can.”

Almost three months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s forces are stalled in eastern regions that President Vladimir Putin promised to “liberate.” In Donbas, which Russia no longer recognizes as part of Ukraine, Moscow’s gains have been limited. To the west near Kharkiv, it has lost territory. Here in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, the front lines have almost completely frozen.

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2022-05-22 10:44:49 Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the only way out of the war will be through diplomacy — in addition to a Kyiv win on the battlefield. “Victory will be bloody,” Zelensky said, and “the end will certainly be in diplomacy.”

- Zelensky said the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is facing an “extremely difficult” situation as Russian forces concentrate on the east. Two cities are under severe assault, Zelensky said: Slovyansk, near Kramatorsk, and Severodonetsk, the easternmost city still in Ukrainian hands.

- A delegation of U.S. diplomats is set to travel to The Hague on Sunday for talks with allies “regarding our responses to atrocities committed in Ukraine,” the State Department said in a news release. Ukrainian authorities have put three captured Russian soldiers on trial for war crimes, and the Biden administration is supporting steps by the Ukrainian prosecutor general to investigate Russia’s actions in the war.

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2022-05-22 09:31:16 Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine:

Severodonetsk: Officials in this key city are bracing for a major, drawn-out battle as experts anticipate a Russian bid to take control. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said that “the Russians are destroying Severodonetsk, like Mariupol.”

Kharkiv region: At least seven people were wounded, including an 11-year-old, in a Russian missile strike in Lozova. At least 1,000 apartments, 11 educational institutions and a cultural center were damaged in the attack, according to the city’s mayor.

Donetsk region: Russian forces aiming to encircle Ukrainian troops and capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions have moved toward the city of Slovyansk. Moscow’s forces killed seven civilians and injured 10 others in the region Saturday, according to the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration.

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2022-05-21 22:45:56 Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- President Biden on Saturday signed a $40 billion package of new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The package includes $20 billion in additional military aid to finance the transfer of advanced weapons systems.

- Russia is continuing intense shelling of the easternmost city under Ukraine’s control, Severodonetsk, which looks set to be the war’s next major battlefield. Six civilians were killed Friday during Russian bombardments, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said.

- Finland’s gas transmission network operator said Saturday that Russia had stopped shipping natural gas to it. The suspension is widely viewed as retaliation after Helsinki formally applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

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2022-05-21 20:25:11 Russia tries to rebound in Ukraine as prospects for victory fade

The Russian military, mired in a war with no end in sight, is attempting to resuscitate its sputtering offensive in Ukraine, firing commanders, splitting combat units into smaller formations, and redoubling its reliance on artillery and other long-range weapons.

The shift comes nearly three months after Russian and Western officials alike predicted a quick and decisive victory for Moscow. After the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers and an avalanche of failures since the invasion began Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin has narrowed his objectives in a campaign viewed as unsustainable, unrealistic — and likely unwinnable.

That assessment is shared by an array of observers, including Western intelligence officials and independent analysts. Mikk Marran, director general of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service, says Russia is losing in Ukraine militarily, politically and morally.

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2022-05-21 12:22:02 Russia’s use of cluster munitions causing ‘intense’ harm in Ukraine

Russian forces have used at least six types of cluster munitions inside Ukraine in attacks that caused hundreds of civilian casualties and violated international prohibitions on indiscriminate weapons, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.

The exact number of Russian cluster munition attacks is not known, the rights group said, but hundreds have been reported or documented since the start of the war.

Most incidents have taken place in Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions, including in populated areas. Ukrainian forces have also used cluster munitions “at least once” during the conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

“Russian forces’ repeated use of cluster munitions in populated neighborhoods in Ukraine causes immediate and long-term civilian harm and suffering and needs to stop,” said Mary Wareham, author of the report. “Ukraine should also stop using these brutal weapons before more civilians are harmed.”

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