Natalia Usmanova was among dozens of civilians evacuated from the Avostal plant in Mariupol, which has been under siege by Russian forces for weeks. (Video: Reuters)Today at 1:05 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 11:30 a.m. EDT
Today at 1:05 a.m. EDT|Updated today at 11:30 a.m. EDT
Placeholder while article actions load
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — This Ukrainian-held city is awaiting the expected arrival of about 100 evacuees from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, setting up a reception center for those who faced a fraught journey to reach a safer location. The United Nations-backed “safe passage” was organized after weeks of cease-fire negotiations. Despite the deal, the chief of the Donetsk regional patrol police said Russia is still shelling the plant, even though civilians remain inside. One family from Mariupol told The Washington Post they passed through more than 20 Russian checkpoints over four days.
Following a surprise visit to Kyiv, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, offering “America’s deep gratitude to the Polish government and Polish people” for its aid to Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s “brutal and unprovoked war.” Later this week, first lady Jill Biden will travel to Romania and Slovakia, where she will meet with displaced Ukrainian families; Kristina Kvien, the U.S. chargé d’affaires for Ukraine, announced Monday that U.S. diplomats will resume limited activities, at first making day trips to Lviv from Poland before establishing a presence in Kyiv.
In Brussels, European Union energy ministers are meeting to discuss the energy crisis and debate a ban on imports of Russian oil. Talks were making quick progress Monday, with holdout Germany no longer opposing an embargo and suggesting it does not depend on Russian crude anymore. However, Hungary and Slovakia — both more reliant on Russian oil — were holding up the deal with objections, according to officials.
Here’s what else to know
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows a large, bipartisan majority supporting increased sanctions against Russia and most also backing military and humanitarian support for Ukrainians, with almost three-quarters saying the United States is doing the right amount or too little to support Ukraine.In Belgorod, a Russian city near Ukraine’s eastern border, the regional governor said he was awakened early Monday by two explosions, the latest in a series of unexplained fires and blasts at strategic locations in Russia.Moscow appears to have instituted an Internet and cellular-service blackout in the occupied city of Kherson in an attempt to consolidate political control. The Russian-installed government there said Sunday that Kherson will start using the Russian ruble, which Western military analysts say signals Moscow’s intention to keep its hold on the city permanently.The Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel.German interior minister asks people to stock up in case of power outagesReturn to menu
BERLIN — Germany’s interior minister said Monday that it “makes sense” for people to keep emergency stockpiles of food and medicine at home, as the war in Ukraine threatens energy supplies and increases the risk of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
“If the power goes out for a longer period of time or daily life is restricted in some other way, then it definitely makes sense to have an emergency supply at home,” Nancy Faeser said in an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper.
“We have to get up to speed here in order to be able to cope with the various crises — pandemics, the consequences of climate change, the dangers of war,” the interior minister added.
Faeser said her ministry is also making an inventory of the 599 bomb shelters in the country. “It makes sense if we reactivate some of them,” she said.
Danish foreign minister makes Ukraine trip, visits devastated Irpin Return to menu
Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, toured the ruined Kyiv suburb of Irpin on Monday during a visit to the Ukrainian capital to reopen the Danish Embassy.
Most homes in Irpin were destroyed in March during the early weeks of Russia’s invasion as its forces attacked the suburb and shelled it with heavy artillery. In nearby Bucha, scenes of massacred civilians have sparked calls from Ukraine and its allies to investigate Russia for war crimes.
On his tour, Kofod met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. They planned to discuss Denmark’s continued humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine, as well as “long-term reconstruction plans, and the investigation and prosecution of war crimes during the Russian invasion,” the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kofod said in a statement that reopening the Danish Embassy in Kyiv was a way to signal Denmark’s support for Ukraine.
“Our diplomatic staff has been working tirelessly on strengthening Danish-Ukrainian relations and helping both Danes and Ukrainians in the highly challenging situation following Russia’s invasion,” he said. “Today, I am happy to announce that we are back in the heart of the Kyiv.”
Zelensky discusses assassination attempts, threats to his family Return to menu
President Volodymyr Zelensky opened up about Russian threats to his life and his family in an interview with “60 Minutes Australia” that aired Sunday.
When asked by journalist Tom Steinfort about reports of at least 10 foiled attempts to kill him, Zelensky replied: “Ten assassination attempts means that there’s only 10 people willing to have me killed. That’s not bad.”
Zelensky also said his personal situation could not be compared to the fate suffered by Ukrainians in towns such as Bucha, where mass graves were discovered and civilian bodies lay in the streets after Russian troops retreated in April. Ukraine accused the Russian military of committing atrocities, killing hundreds of civilians in the area.
“When people are being tortured, when the bodies of people are found in the wells, I think, considering all of that, my situation is not that horrible,” Zelensky said.
Last week, Ukraine said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces twice attempted to storm Zelensky’s family compound at the beginning of the invasion. According to Time magazine, Zelensky was told by advisers that a Russian squad had been sent to abduct him.
Olena Zelenska, Zelensky’s wife, has since fled Kyiv with their 17-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, while the president has remained in the capital, meeting with world leaders and heading to devastated towns to survey the damage.
U.S. diplomats to resume limited activities in UkraineReturn to menu
U.S. diplomats will resume limited activities in Ukraine, based out of the western city of Lviv, with the goal of returning to Kyiv within a month, Kristina Kvien, the U.S. chargé d’affaires for Ukraine, announced Monday.
Kvien said she and U.S. Embassy personnel will continue making day trips from neighboring Poland to Lviv for the next week or two and, depending on security conditions, plan to extend those trips to Kyiv, the capital. The goal, she said, is to eventually reestablish a “long-term permanent presence” in Kyiv, where several foreign diplomatic missions already have reopened.
“When they tell us we can go back, we go back,” Kvien said of security updates, speaking in front of the sandbagged walls of the city hall in Lviv.
Lviv will serve as a base for U.S. personnel to meet with Ukrainian officials, civil society groups and humanitarian agencies, as well as to perform basic consular work to assist U.S. citizens. For now, that work is not expected to include visa processing related to the Biden administration’s pledge to admit up to 100,000 people fleeing Ukraine.
In mid-February, just before the Russian invasion, the State Department temporarily moved operations to Lviv, with U.S. personnel commuting from Poland. Although Lviv has come under sporadic attack, its relative calm has made it a hub for United Nations staff, aid groups and Western diplomats who deemed the capital too risky.
At the time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the move as “a big mistake,” saying it sent the wrong message to Russia about Western support for Kyiv.
Israel wants apology after Russia’s Lavrov compares Zelensky to Hitler Return to menu
JERUSALEM — Israeli officials reacted with fury Monday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of supporting Nazism and asserted that “Hitler also had Jewish blood.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Russia’s ambassador to Israel would be formally summoned to explain the comments, which Lapid called “both unforgivable and outrageous.” He said Israel would demand an apology from the Russian government for employing a discredited antisemitic trope: that Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis’ Third Reich and perpetrator of the Holocaust, was of Jewish ancestry.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Lavrov’s “words are untrue and their intentions are wrong.”
“The goal of such lies is to accuse the Jews themselves of the most awful crimes in history, which were perpetrated against them, and thereby absolve Israel’s enemies of responsibility,” he said. “The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political tool must cease immediately.”
Lavrov made the comments in an interview Sunday on Italian television as he sought to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he was compelled to launch a “special military operation” in February in part because, he claimed, Ukraine is dominated and ruled by neo-Nazis. Pressed on reconciling these “denazification” claims with Zelensky’s Jewish identity, Lavrov waved off its relevance.
“So what if Zelensky is Jewish,” Lavrov said, according to a translation of his remarks, which he made in Russian. “The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood.”
“Some of the worst antisemites are Jews,” Lavrov said.
Over a quarter of Russian units rendered ‘combat ineffective,’ U.K. saysReturn to menu
More than a quarter of Russian units sent into Ukraine during the Kremlin’s invasion are now likely to be “combat ineffective,” the British Defense Ministry said Monday in its latest intelligence update, which estimated the scale of Russian losses.
At least 120 Russian battalion tactical groups, making up about 65 percent of the country’s entire ground combat force, were deployed to Ukraine but have since been weakened.
“Some of Russia’s most elite units, including the VDV Airborne Forces, have suffered the highest levels of attrition,” the ministry said, adding that it would probably “take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces.”
Jill Biden to meet with displaced Ukrainians on Mother’s Day in SlovakiaReturn to menu
Jill Biden will travel to Romania and Slovakia this week to meet with Ukrainian families displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The first lady will depart the United States on Thursday evening, arriving at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania on Friday — a base for troops of NATO’s response force — where she will meet with U.S. service members, the White House said in a statement.
The tour from Thursday through May 9 also includes meetings with government officials, U.S. Embassy staffers and humanitarian aid workers helping to teach displaced Ukrainian children and support them and their families during the crisis.
On Mother’s Day, the first lady will meet in Kosice and Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia, with Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to flee their homes.
Big majority of Americans back sanctions on Russia, aid to Ukraine, poll findsReturn to menu
Two months after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Americans are stalwart in their support for the embattled country, with a large, bipartisan majority favoring increased sanctions against Russia and most also backing military and humanitarian support for Ukrainians, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
In all, 73 percent say the United States is doing either the right amount or too little to support Ukraine.
At the same time, 72 percent oppose direct U.S. military action against Russian forces, while 21 percent support the idea. Even among those who say the United States is doing too little to support Ukraine, 57 percent oppose direct military action. President Biden has said that direct U.S. military involvement in Ukraine is off the table, repeatedly warning that such a move could lead to “World War III.”
E.U. close on plan to phase out Russian oil, but Hungary, Slovakia objectReturn to menu
BRUSSELS — The European Union is close to a deal on phasing out Russian oil imports in response to the war in Ukraine — but objections from Hungary and Slovakia are holding up an oil agreement, according to two E.U. diplomats and an E.U. official.
To seal the deal, the E.U. may grant the two countries exemptions or carve-outs, the officials said under the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, noting that the details are still being hammered out.
Talks gained momentum last week after a major holdout, Germany, softened its opposition and signaled support for a ban in phases. Over the weekend, officials and diplomats in Brussels discussed the idea of a phaseout by the end of 2022, but Hungary and Slovakia pushed back, according to the diplomats and the official.
Top U.S. lawmakers say Ukraine aid package should pass quickly Return to menu
Here’s what top lawmakers in Congress from both parties are saying about the urgent push to approve President Biden’s proposal for $33 billion in additional aid to Ukraine:
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said the Senate will take up the package on Monday. “I think we need to push it very, very quickly,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The aid, he added, despite billions of dollars in previous packages, is “necessary to help Ukraine win and beat Russia’s illegal invasion of their country.”Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the highest-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on ABC’s “This Week” that he expects Congress to pass the package quickly. He echoed Kaine’s sense of urgency, saying that “the next two to three weeks are going to be very pivotal and very decisive in this war. I don’t think we have a lot of time to waste in Congress.” McCaul continued: “Every day we don’t send [Ukraine] more weapons is a day where more people will be killed and a day where they could lose this war. I think they can win it, but we have to give them the tools to do it.”Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether there was a financial limit to U.S. support for Ukraine. “I think we will do what it takes to see Ukraine win,” he said, “because it’s not just about Ukraine. It’s about the international order.” Menendez said that stopping Russia from reaching the point at which it attacks a NATO-member country “is critically of interest to us, as well as the world, so that we don’t have to send our sons and daughters into battle.” He said heading off such an eventuality was “priceless.”Ukraine, for its part, is eager for action: Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, said on “This Week” that “we look forward to Congress approving it, because this is everything that we need on the ground very much, and we count on the U.S. in this.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with Polish president Return to menu
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with Polish President Andrzej Duda on May 2 at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. (Video: Reuters)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday, calling Poland “a valued partner in supporting the people of Ukraine in the face of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal and unprovoked war.”
In a statement following the meeting, Pelosi said officials from both countries affirmed their commitment to Ukraine, as Congress prepares to draft legislation on President Biden’s request for $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The meeting also focused on “strengthening the U.S.-Polish partnership and the NATO alliance, both of which are vital to ensuring the triumph of our common democratic values and countering Putin’s dangerous aggression,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi and a small delegation of Democratic lawmakers had just made a surprise visit to Kyiv, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Pelosi said the United States would continue to support Ukraine “until the fight is done.”
At the presidential palace in Warsaw on Monday, Pelosi and members of her delegation shook hands with Duda before sitting across from one another at a large table.
“I’m very grateful that we can meet here and talk about our relations … and especially about the situation in Ukraine — how to help them, what kind of support they need,” Duda said, calling it a “crucial moment in politics for us.”
After the meeting, Pelosi said in a statement that the delegation was “deeply moved” by its time in Poland and “will return to Washington ready to continue our work until victory is won, and Ukraine has defended Democracy for their nation and the world.”
Our distinguished Congressional delegation came to Poland to send an unmistakable message to the world: that America stands firmly with our NATO allies in our support for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/lT43kce5UL
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 2, 2022
Russia continues striking Mariupol steel plant, Ukraine says Return to menu
MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — The steel plant in Mariupol where civilians have been sheltering was bombarded by Russian shells Monday, even as evacuations were being organized under a U.N.-negotiated “safe passage” with Russia, Ukrainian officials said.
“It’s not clear what the state of the negotiations are, but there are still civilians on the factory territory,” Mykhailo Vershynin, chief of the Donetsk regional patrol police, told The Washington Post. He said shelling continues.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said in an interview with the Belarusian channel Belsat that Russian forces are still shelling Mariupol and the steel plant.
Without referencing the attacks, the Mariupol City Council wrote in a Telegram post Monday that the evacuations will continue and that residents have gathered near a shopping mall, where they are waiting for buses to take them to the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia.
Over the weekend, about 100 civilians were evacuated from the plant under the safe-passage agreement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday. On Monday, Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the Mariupol mayor, said in a Telegram post that buses have set off for Zaporizhzhia and will pick up Mariupol residents who had previously fled the city but got stuck in other villages along the way.
Ukrainian officials said Sunday that hundreds more, including children, were waiting to be rescued at the steel plant, one of the last redoubts for Ukrainian troops and civilians, as Russian forces have all but taken control of Mariupol, a strategic prize in the months-long assault on Ukraine.
Despite the shelling, Vershynin said, “our aim is to evacuate all the people, so that the people are safe.”
Mark reported from Washington. Annabelle Chapman in Warsaw contributed to this report.
Germany says it ‘can bear’ Russian oil embargo, wean off imports by late summerReturn to menu
Germany can wean itself from Russian oil within months and “bear an oil embargo,” its economy minister said Monday, adding momentum to a European Union effort to reduce reliance on Russian oil.
An end to Germany’s dependence on Russian crude imports by late summer is “realistic,” according to a government energy-security report released Sunday. The details of a potential embargo are likely to be clearer following an emergency meeting of E.U. energy ministers in Brussels on Monday, but Germany’s assessment, announced in Berlin, is significant.
“We have created a situation in which Germany can bear an oil embargo,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s economic affairs and climate protection minister, said at a news conference Monday. “ ‘Can bear’ doesn’t mean that it will pass by without an impact.”
Officials had previously said that cutting dependence would be possible only by year’s end.
Habeck said the fact that other E.U. members have not yet reached the same stage of diversification “must be respected.” Notably, Hungary relies on Russian oil for 65 percent of its supply.
Habeck noted that a swifter embargo by Germany would mean price spikes and supply disruptions, but he said the country would no longer “slip into an oil crisis.”
For Germany, there is still the issue of about 12 percent of its oil supply that arrives through the Schwedt refinery, operated by the Russian state-owned energy giant Rosneft. Habeck has been in discussions with Poland about finding alternative supplies, but “no solution has yet been found,” he said Monday.
Russia’s shift to ruble in Kherson signals wide ambitions, analysts sayReturn to menu
The imposition of the ruble in Russian-occupied Kherson is an indication of Moscow’s aims to retain control in the southern Ukrainian city and others like it, and sheds light on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions beyond the eastern Donbas region, according to Western military analysts.
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War, a D.C.-based think tank that releases regular assessments on the war in Ukraine, said it appeared that “Russian forces are setting conditions to establish permanent control over areas of southern Ukraine they currently occupy, either as nominally independent ‘People’s Republics’ or by annexing them to Russia.”
The transition to using Russian currency in Kherson, which was one of the first major Ukrainian cities to come under Russian control, is “not necessary or normal in military occupation administrations.” The ISW assessment said the measure hints that Putin “likely intends to retain control over these areas and that his ambitions are not confined to Donbas.”
Kherson is one of the largest cities near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
