The Washington Post

2022-04-20 11:35:26 West sends Ukraine fighter jets, heavy weapons as fighting intensifies in Donbas

Ukraine’s outgunned and outmanned military has held out against Russia for almost two months, and as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine’s east and south, Western governments are dispatching heavier weaponry and war planes to support resistance efforts.

President Biden approved a new $800 million aid package last week that dramatically expanded the scope of weapons Washington has supplied to Kyiv. The package included 155mm howitzers — a serious upgrade in long-range artillery to match Russian systems — 40,000 artillery rounds and 11 Soviet-designed Mi-17 helicopters.

The latter fit well with Ukraine’s existing arsenal because those use a similar operating system as the Mi-8 helicopters that Kyiv has used for decades, said Alexey Muraviev, a national security expert at Australia’s Curtin University.

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2022-04-20 08:23:10 Here’s the latest from Ukraine.

- The Kremlin has issued a new ultimatum for Ukrainian fighters holed up in Mariupol: Surrender by 2 p.m. local time Wednesday or face a bitter end. Kyiv’s forces, holding out in a steel plant, let a Tuesday deadline pass, and analysts say Russian officials and media are gathering nearby in hope of declaring victory soon.

- Washington is hosting a meeting for the Group of 20 finance ministers on Wednesday that could offer a rare opportunity for Ukrainian officials to confront their Russian counterparts directly.

- Russia is pounding eastern Ukraine with artillery and airstrikes. Western strategists said Ukrainians seemed to be launching local “spoiling attacks” in hope of disrupting assaults. The Pentagon said Ukraine is receiving fighter aircraft from other nations to help fight off attacks.

- The British Defense Ministry said Russia continues to be beset by ongoing environmental, logistical and technical challenges, and by Ukrainian resistance.

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2022-04-20 07:44:10 Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine.

Luhansk region: This area is one of the primary targets of Russia’s eastern offensive. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared Tuesday that the Kremlin would pursue “the complete liberation” of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Mariupol: Russia has given Ukrainian forces holding out at a steel plant a fresh deadline of 2 p.m. local time Wednesday for their surrender, after the fighters let a Tuesday deadline expire. As many as 1,000 civilians are taking cover in the metallurgical plant. Russian officials and media are gathering in and near the city, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said, likely preparing to declare victory in the coming days even if fighting continues.

Kharkiv region: Ukrainian forces have launched several successful counterattacks around here, while Russia is building up its forces near Izyum, raising concerns this gateway city to the Donbas region will suffer a similar fate to Bucha.

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2022-04-20 02:02:39 Surrounded by Russians, commander describes life inside Mariupol plant

MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — The commander of Ukrainian forces’ last stronghold in the southern port city of Mariupol, surrounded by Russians and subjected to a constant barrage of fire, said Tuesday that his soldiers will not surrender.

In his most extensive comments to Western media, Major Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, whose forces have been holding out in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works against a Russian force that vastly outnumbers them, told The Washington Post that his soldiers would continue “to conduct combat operations and to complete our military tasks as long as we receive them.”

“We will not lay down our weapons,” Volyna said.

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2022-04-19 22:54:28 Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- The State Department called deadly Russian airstrikes that hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday part of Moscow’s “campaign of terror.” Ukrainian officials said seven people were killed and 11 injured.

- Pentagon warned that Russia appears to be learning from its failure to take Kyiv, attempting to improve its command and control as well as logistics.

- U.S. immigration officials detained more than 5,000 migrants from Ukraine at the nation’s land, sea and air borders in March, with a significant increase in those seeking refuge at the U.S.-Mexico boundary.

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2022-04-19 21:45:06 Sinking of Russian warship raises tense questions about fate of crew

RIGA, Latvia — The sinking of the Russian warship Moskva is causing tension back home, where some families are reporting sailors dead or missing despite a Defense Ministry claim that the whole crew had been evacuated.

The flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet sank last week after being hit by two Ukrainian missiles, delivering a significant blow to the Russian naval capacity, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said.

Russia confirmed that the ship sank but said only that it had been damaged by “heavy storms” and a fire that caused ammunition on board to detonate. On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry said all crew members were evacuated. The authorities have not confirmed any dead or wounded.

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2022-04-19 20:51:09 How a Mariupol steel plant became a holdout for the city’s resistance

Long before Mariupol’s Azovstal Iron and Steel Works became a key battleground in Ukraine, it played a dominant role in the port city’s economy. As one of the largest metallurgical factories in Europe, it pumped out more than 4 million tons of crude steel annually and provided livelihoods to tens of thousands of people.

But now, amid a devastating war and a weeks-long siege by Russian forces, the sprawling industrial park is no longer producing steel. Instead, the plant and its network of underground tunnels are serving as a shelter and final holdout for thousands of Ukrainian fighters, including many from the Azov Battalion, one of Ukraine’s most skilled — and controversial — military units.

As many as 1,000 civilians are also hiding in the subterranean network, Mariupol’s city council said in a Telegram message Monday.

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2022-04-19 18:12:20 #BuyMeAFighterJet: A viral Ukrainian crowdsourcing campaign asks the ultra-rich to buy military planes

A Ukrainian campaign is asking the world’s wealthiest people for help defending the country from invading Russian troops — and it’s doing so with a five-word slogan: “Buy me a fighter jet.”

Those behind the initiative say that governments around the world are “afraid of escalation and the conflict spreading beyond Ukraine” and therefore will not send jets or impose a no-fly zone — both of which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly sought from NATO and the United States since the war began in late February.

In the campaign video, which has been widely shared online, an unidentified man who appears to be a pilot calls on people from all backgrounds — including singers, actors and business owners — to help defenders of Ukraine who cannot compete with the air power of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops.

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2022-04-19 16:41:43 As the war moves east, Russia and Ukraine still facing off in Kherson

The Black Sea port city of Kherson, just north of the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, was the first major city the Russians occupied in this war. In the nearly two months since, Ukrainian forces have launched several counterattacks and reclaimed some villages in the region.

But even as the fighting enters a new phase — Russia has said its “special military operation” will focus on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region — the city of Kherson remains a key area in the country’s south under Russian control.

With both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries appearing to be in defensive positions, it is unlikely Moscow will relinquish its grip any time soon.

Russian forces have raised their flag over the Kherson regional administration building. Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman wrote on Facebook that Moscow plans a referendum to attempt to legitimize for its domestic audience that people want to break away from Ukraine.

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2022-04-19 15:05:53 Russia learns from failure to take Kyiv as new offensive begins, U.S. says

Russian forces are learning from their frustrated assault on Kyiv as they shift to the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, and are trying to avoid a repeat of earlier mistakes, the Pentagon and defense strategists say.

Moscow has been amassing troops and supplies for weeks in preparation for a renewed ground offensive in eastern Ukraine, after Kremlin forces failed to capture the capital during the first phase of the war. Nearly two months later, Moscow is taking heed of at least some of the errors that derailed its northern campaign.

“They are moving in heavy artillery, they are moving in command-and-control enablers, they are moving in aviation — particularly rotary aviation support,” a senior defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It appears they are trying to learn from the lessons of the north, where they didn’t have proper sustainment capabilities.”

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