Vladimir Putin Russia Ukraine war

The Russian president is choosing instead to seal off the vast Azovstal steel plant, where several thousand Ukrainian troops and civilians are encamped.

"Resuming exports of Ukrainian agricultural products and blocking Russia's ability to blackmail Europe with energy resources are top priorities for everyone on the continent," he added. The plan is to restrict key sectors in Russia — including energy and banking, as well as export-import operations, transport, he said. Russian forces are now advancing toward Kramatorsk, the capital of the Donbas region, which continues to suffer from rocket attacks, the ministry said. "Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation," Kadyrov said in an audio message posted online early Thursday, Reuters reported. Another negotiator, David Arakhamia, said in an post online: "Today, in a conversation with the city defenders, a proposal was put forward to hold direct negotiations, on site, on the evacuation of our military garrison," he said. Chechen leader and staunch Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov said that Russia will capture the city of Mariupol today. Putin also urged the Ukrainian fighters left in the massive steel plant complex to lay down their arms, claiming that Russia would treat them with respect. He cited preserving the lives of Russian soldiers in his reasoning. The U.S. has authorized $2.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia's war. There are no signs Russia is willing to relent anytime soon, despite being hit with a raft of international sanctions targeting vital sectors of its economy, from oil and gas to its financial system. Around 100,000 civilians are left in the southern port city, down from a pre-invasion population of almost 500,000. Biden is set to speak from the Roosevelt Room of the White House at 9:45 a.m. E.T. before traveling to Portland and Seattle to discuss his administration's infrastructure policy plans.

Putin orders forces not to storm last stronghold in Mariupol as west warns of Russian cyber-attacks.

Oleg Synegubov, the head of the regional state administration, said Russian forces shelled areas of Kharkiv with multiple systems. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, said his government supports talks to resolve international disputes but reiterated China’s opposition to unilateral sanctions. The mayor of Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, has said it is under intense bombardment.

Vladimir Putin said it was “impractical” to attack the Mariupol factory where Ukrainian forces were holding out, seeking to claim a victory and avoid more ...

The only bridge to Chernihiv had been destroyed by bombing, so they drove the vans to the banks of the Dnipro River, transferred the cargo to a boat and unloaded it on the other side. “Flights continue to arrive into the region from the presidential drawdown authorities that we are executing,” the official said. It is hardly surprising that Mr. Putin has not backed down in the face of economic sanctions and measures to cut off his country from technology needed for new weapons and now some consumer goods. While Russian casualties have been high and Mr. Putin’s ambitions have narrowed in Ukraine, American intelligence assessments have concluded that the Russian president believes that the West’s efforts to punish him and contain Russia’s power will crack over time. He said that his younger brother, who trained as an auto mechanic in a vocational school, had been reluctant to go into the military and had not supported the war. President Emmanuel Macron of France and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen had a heated exchange over Ukraine during a televised presidential debate, after Le Pen expressed her solidarity with the Ukrainian people in an apparent attempt to distance herself from Putin. “You are, in fact, in Russia’s grip,” Macron shot back. It released a video on Saturday that purported to show Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, the commander of the Russian Navy, meeting with men described as the crew of the Moskva lined up in formation and wearing uniforms. On the second call, he said that there had been no rescue involved, but that Leonid had been caught at the site of an explosion. Mr. Putin has blocked access to Facebook and many foreign news outlets, and enacted a law to imprison anyone spreading “false information” about the war. Modifying Theodore Roosevelt’s famous line, he said the U.S. would “speak softly and carry a large Javelin,” a reference to the anti-tank weapon that has been effective against Russian armor. Mr. Putin, in the tightly choreographed meeting, responded by calling the storming of the plant “impractical.” It also allowed Mr. Putin to present himself as a leader mindful of the lives of his own forces at a time when some Russian families are clamoring for information about apparently missing servicemen and women.

To keep up with major developments from our reporters across the globe, sign up for WSJ's free daily newsletter. Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin ...

Once the program launches, the U.S. will cease processing Ukrainian refugees who have flown to Mexico to seek refuge at legal border crossings. In addition to having an approved sponsor, the refugees must have several vaccinations including for Covid-19 and undergo basic security vetting. Unlike the Afghans, they won’t be eligible for public benefits unless Congress passes a new law as it did for the Afghan refugees. If approved, Ukrainians will be allowed into the country on temporary humanitarian grounds under a program known as Humanitarian Parole for up to two years. Since the war broke out, more than five million Ukrainians have fled into neighboring Eastern European countries, triggering an enormous refugee emergency, according to the United Nations refugee agency. WASHINGTON—The Biden administration will ask U.S. citizens, businesses and nonprofit groups to sponsor Ukrainian refugees for temporary humanitarian protections in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.

Mr Shoigu estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters remained inside the plant. Mr Putin called on them to lay down their weapons and surrender, saying Russia would ...

Ukraine said Russian forces had failed so far to completely capture Rubizhne, a Donbas town that has been a focus of their advance. Ukraine estimates tens of thousands of civilians have died in Mariupol. It says some have been buried in mass graves, others removed from the streets by Russian forces using mobile cremation trucks to incinerate bodies. Kyiv says some were deported by force, in what would be a war crime. Two of those who surrendered are British. Mr Shoigu estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters remained inside the plant. “Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces not to storm the last holdout of Ukrainian fighters at a steel plant in Mariupol, calling the military ...

The latest: Kyiv is moving with increased urgency to save 1,000 civilians who are holed up in a steel plant in Mariupol with the last Ukrainian fighters in the port city. More than 50 people were killed and nearly 100 injured two weeks ago when a Russian missile struck a train station packed with Ukrainians trying to flee the region. However, Putin added that no one at the besieged plant would be allowed to escape. … The boys [Ukrainian fighters] want only one thing: for there to be a cease-fire,” Mayor Vadym Boychenko said in a video. Putin said plans to storm the plant where fighters have refused Russia’s demands to surrender for days were “canceled.” The yearly holiday is steeped in military pageantry and celebrates the victory over Nazism — a theme that is relevant to today’s war in Ukraine because Russia claims it invaded the country to “demilitarise and denazify” it. French President Emmanuel Macron has said he would visit Kyiv only when he could “bring something useful,” rather than to merely show support. She said she met with the head of the ICRC in Ukraine on Wednesday, after sending them “120 letters.” He accused Russians of “blocking” the process of trying to establish humanitarian corridors. Left to their own devices, approximately 15,000 Ukrainians have arrived mostly at the U.S.-Mexico border over the last three months, senior administration officials said in a conference call with reporters Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the new program. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier ordered his forces not to storm the last holdout of Ukrainian fighters at a steel plant in Mariupol, calling the military offensive to control the southern port city a success. Biden also announced $500 million in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory Thursday in the battle for Mariupol despite an estimated 2000 Ukrainian fighters still ...

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of launching attacks to block civilian evacuations from the city. Over 20,000 people have been killed in the siege, according to Ukrainian authorities. Rockets struck a neighborhood of Kharkiv on Thursday, and at least two civilians were burned to death in their car. “The city was, is and remains Ukrainian,” he declared. For weeks now, Russian officials have said capturing the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas is the war’s main objective. Putin’s comments came as satellite images showed more than 200 new graves in a town where Ukrainian officials say the Russians have been burying Mariupol residents killed in the fighting.

The Ukrainian soldiers previously rejected several Russian calls to surrender. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said around 120,000 civilians remain ...

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US says Ukrainian forces still hold ground in Mariupol, despite Vladimir Putin saying Russia 'liberated' besieged city.

“It is only sensible that they get requisite training to make best use of it,” the spokesperson said. Maxar Technologies said a review of images from mid-March through mid-April indicates the expansion began between March 23 and 26. “This is aimed to falsely the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show.” Ukraine is also a major corn supplier and the biggest exporter of sunflower oil. The World Bank has estimated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused $60bn in damage to buildings and infrastructure across Ukraine so far. “This is not to help you,” he said. “They are accumulating forces, driving new battalion tactical groups to our land. Ukraine suggests Russia may be preparing for a referendum in Kherson, similar to its Crimean referendum in 2014, to allege the Russian speaking population is in favour of leaving Ukraine to be a part of Russia. “The goal is to bring together stakeholders from all around the world for a series of meetings on the latest [Ukrainian] defence needs and … ensuring that Ukraine’s enduring security and sovereignty over the long-term is respected and developed,” Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby said. “It’s important to understand that the lives that are still there, they are in the hands of just one person – Vladimir Putin. And all the deaths that will happen after now will be on his hands too,” Boychenko said. As the human and financial cost of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine mounts, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said looking to Russia for the funds needed to rebuild the country “is something we ought to be pursuing,” the Associated Press reports They are even trying to start the so-called mobilisation in the occupied regions of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime address.

Russian President Vladimir Putin orders blockade of Mariupol steel plant "so a fly cannot get through" as Ukrainian forces continue to resist.

On the Russian side, everything is very complicated, chaotic, slow and, of course, dishonest,” she said in a post on Telegram messaging app. At the end of the day I am Russian, and I was born in Russia and I’ve lived all my life in Russia, and I just want to show that we are good people.” The incumbent legal machinery is not capable of bringing to justice Putin and these criminals. So it is important to realize that we need urgently to facilitate a real legal mechanism," he said, adding that sending a message to Moscow is not enough. He also said Russian forces have already “deported” at least 500,000 Ukrainians from the territory they have occupied. And it will show that the England government is standing for the peace and they really want to help.” These have consisted of murders, enforced disappearances, deportations, imprisonment, torture, rape, and desecration of corpses,” the statement said. If someone wants a new annexation, it can only lead to new powerful sanctions strikes on Russia. You will make your country as poor as Russia hasn’t been since the 1917 civil war. This village, on the outskirts of Popasna in Luhansk, has been hit hard by artillery over the past days. “At the end of the day we want to compete,” Rublev said. Rublev is ranked No. 8 in the world in men’s singles. He later added, “The things that happen now is complete discrimination.”