The Washington Post

2022-04-21 17:05:34 Putin claims ‘success’ in Mariupol, as Russia’s annual Victory Day nears

Russian President Vladimir Putin is claiming victory in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol — even as his advisers acknowledge that thousands of Ukrainian fighters remain in a steel plant. Putin said plans to storm the plant where fighters have refused Russia’s demands to surrender for days were “canceled.”

“The work of the armed forces to liberate Mariupol has been a success. Congratulations,” Putin said, addressing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a televised meeting.

The move to claim victory — while Shoigu estimated “around 2,000″ Ukrainian troops remain in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works — appears to sidestep the difficulty and danger of seizing the complex, which occupies four square miles and has a sprawling subterranean network.

Ukraine for days has rebuffed Russia’s demands to surrender, with a commander at the steel plant telling The Post they would fight until the bitter end.

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2022-04-21 13:26:11 Putin tells troops not to storm Mariupol steel plant but ensure no one escapes

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces not to storm the last holdout of Ukrainian fighters at Mariupol's steel plant, calling the military offensive to control the port city a success. He insisted that no one at the besieged plant would be allowed to escape, and told troops to “block the industrial zone so that even a fly couldn’t get through."

Ukrainian fighters there have rejected several of Moscow’s deadlines to surrender, even as the commander at the plant warned they were down to their last “few days and even hours.” Mariupol’s mayor accused Russian forces of “war crimes," calling for a cease-fire Thursday to allow people to leave.

While Kyiv has offered to exchange Russian prisoners and send senior officials to Mariupol to negotiate the evacuation of nearly 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers, Moscow has “so far” rebuffed the effort, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

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2022-04-21 10:41:50 Here’s the latest from Ukraine.

- Kyiv is moving with increased urgency to save 1,000 civilians who are holed up in a steel plant in Mariupol. Ukraine has offered to exchange Russian prisoners for the evacuation of the civilians — and to send senior officials to Mariupol to negotiate — but President Zelensky said Moscow has “so far” rebuffed the bid.

- Ukraine’s air force now has at least 20 more fighter jets available, according to the Pentagon.

- Russian forces this week made “minor advances” in eastern Ukraine. The regional governor said about 80 percent of Luhansk is under Russian control and wrote on Facebook that Ukrainian fighters in the region were “doing everything to make sure the orcs go home in bags.”

- Russia said it successfully conducted the first test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile that “is capable of overcoming all missile defense systems."

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2022-04-21 08:42:15 Here’s the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine.

Donbas region: As Ukrainian forces repel the escalating Russian offensive in the east, President Zelensky said Wednesday the situation in the region remains “as severe as possible." About 80 percent of Luhansk and the city of Kreminna is under Russian control, according to a regional governor.

Mariupol: Maj. Serhiy Volyna, the commander of Ukrainian forces’ last stronghold here, said that his troops were outnumbered and running out of supplies, and are probably facing their final days, if not hours. They’re taking cover, along with as many as 1,000 civilians, in a steel plant. Volyna said Wednesday they were being bombed and torn up by artillery, and “dying underground.”

Kyiv region: Zelensky said Wednesday that the biggest threat to liberated communities is unexploded land mines and trip wires left in departing Russian forces’ wake. Coroners are documenting the death toll from the failed assault on the capital.

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2022-04-20 22:59:59 Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin will end Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

- The Treasury Department said Wednesday it will target Russian companies involved in digital currency operations in a new round of sanctions.

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to exchange Russian military prisoners for Ukrainian civilians.

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2022-04-20 21:30:13 Ukrainian, U.S., E.U. officials walk out of G-20 when Russia speaks

Multiple world leaders, including officials with the U.S. and Ukrainian governments, walked out of a Group of 20 meeting in Washington on Wednesday when Russian officials began to speak, three people familiar with the matter said.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell were among the global economic leaders who left when Russian officials began talking, the people said. Among the others exiting the meeting were Chrystia Freeland, deputy prime minister of Canada, and Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, the people said.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting that was ongoing.

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2022-04-20 20:09:13 U.N.: More than 5 million people have now fled Ukraine

Over 5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, according to the latest data published by the U.N. refugee agency. The United Nations and aid groups describe it as the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

The greatest exodus came during March, when an estimated 3.3 million Ukrainians — including those with dual citizenship — fled the conflict. Many more have remained in the country but have had to move to other areas because of heavy fighting.

“We’ve seen about a quarter of Ukraine’s population, more than 12 million people in total, have been forced to flee their homes,” Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told the Associated Press. “This is a staggering amount of people.”

More than 2.8 million refugees fled to Poland, according to the data, while many have sought safety in other neighboring countries such as Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.

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2022-04-20 18:54:30 Mariupol fighters ‘dying underground’ at steel plant, commander says

MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — The commander of Ukrainian forces making a last stand in the southern port city of Mariupol said Wednesday his fighters holed up in the Azovstal steel plant were “dying underground.”

In audio messages sent to The Washington Post, Maj. Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, holding out against an advancing and much larger Russian force, appealed for other countries to help them secure a way out.

“While the world is asleep, in Mariupol, the guys are dying,” Volyna said. “They’re suffering losses. They’re being bombed with heavy bombs … torn up by artillery, and they’re dying underground — the wounded and the living there.”

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2022-04-20 17:31:37 European Council President Michel visits Ukraine: ‘History will not forget’

European Council President Charles Michel arrived in Kyiv to show support for Ukraine nearly two months into Russia’s invasion, calling it the “heart of a free and democratic Europe.”

Michel, who is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day, also visited Borodyanka, a town 30 miles northwest of Kyiv.

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“History will not forget the war crimes that have been committed here,” he tweeted as he compared the devastated area to that of Bucha. In that Kyiv suburb, the discovery of mass graves and bound corpses angered the world and sparked calls for a global investigation into war crimes there and in other towns attacked by Russian forces.

Zelensky said earlier this month that the situation in Borodyanka appeared “significantly more dreadful” than in nearby Bucha.

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2022-04-20 15:48:02 One body at a time, a Kyiv coroner documents Ukraine’s death toll

KYIV, Ukraine — One body has been haunting the coroner. She was shot through the face with a high-caliber bullet through a car windshield. Then a Russian armored vehicle ran over the car, crushing her rib cage like a soda can and tearing off what was left of her head.

Volunteers peeled her body out, zipped her into a black plastic bag and laid her in the trailer of a refrigerated 18-wheeler. She rode an hour through capital-city suburbs before being removed carefully from the bag and laid on coroner Vlad Perovskyi’s metal autopsy table.

The gunshot that killed her disturbs him less than the way her body was treated later.

“I’m used to seeing horrible things done to bodies,” Perovskyi says. “But I was very shocked to see such horrible treatment of the deceased by the Russians. How can someone shoot a person and then run over the body? Or throw them into ditches. How can someone put a bullet into a dead man’s head?”

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