Russian military forces escalated attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine’s largest cities Tuesday, even as its massive convoy of tanks and vehicles appeared to bog down.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an attack Tuesday on the main square of the country’s second-largest city “frank, undisguised terror. Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget. This attack on Kharkiv is a war crime.”
At least 11 people were killed and 35 wounded in the rocket strike, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said, adding that the death toll is expected to rise. Closed-circuit television footage showed a fireball engulfing a street in front of one building, and a few cars rolled out of the billowing smoke.
Russian strikes on Kyiv’s TV tower also killed five people.
The Russian military advance drew to within 15 miles of Kyiv’s center amid signs that troops are running out of gas and food, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday. Russia has committed about 80% of the combat force President Vladimir Putin deployed to invade Ukraine, the official said.
Ukrainian resistance is continuing, and it has helped stymie the advance, according to the official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence findings. It is also possible the Russians are pausing to regroup and reassess their attack, the official said.
Zelenskyy said he spoke with President Joe Biden on Tuesday concerning Russian sanctions and defense assistance to Ukraine. The White House confirmed that they spoke for more than 30 minutes.
“We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “Thank you for your support!”
Biden gave his first State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night amid the war abroad, condemning Russia for its “unprovoked” invasion of Ukraine and confirming the closing of U.S. airspace to Russian planes.
Biden said the U.S. and western allies are enforcing “powerful economic sanctions,” including cutting off Russia’s largest banks from international financial systems, preventing Russia’s central bank from shoring up the Russian ruble and “making Putin’s $260 billion war fund worthless.”
“Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been,” he said.
Hospital workers transferred a Kharkiv maternity ward to a bomb shelter. Amid mattresses piled up against the walls, pregnant women paced the crowded space to the cries of dozens of newborns.
Zelenskyy said he believes Russian shelling of civilian areas is an attempt by Russia to put pressure on Ukraine to make concessions. No peace deal can be reached “when one side is hitting another with rocket artillery,” he said.
In Geneva, dozens of diplomats from the U.S., the U.K. and other European countries walked out in protest when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was addressing the UN Human Rights Council and Conference on Disarmament.
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Latest updates:
►Apple said it would stop selling its products in Russia. The company doesn’t have physical stores in Russia but ships devices through its online stores and sells its products through retail stores there.
►ExxonMobil said it would discontinue operations of the Sakhalin-1 project and leave the venture, which involves Russia among other countries, and that it would not invest in new developments in Russia.
►At least two international humanitarian groups accused Russia of using cluster bombs, which open in the air and rain down multiple explosives over a wide area with little accuracy. Moscow denied the allegation.
►At least 677,000 refugees have already fled from Ukraine into neighboring countries, most to Poland, said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees.
►Zelenskyy, in an address to the European parliament Tuesday, said his country is fighting “to be equal members of Europe. We have proven that, as a minimum, we are the same as you.”
►The State Department has closed the U.S. Embassy in Belarus, a Russian neighbor and supporter, and is allowing non-essential staff at the U.S. Embassy in Russia to leave the country.
TRACK THE INVASION:Satellite images, surveillance footage, social media posts show the latest on the war in Ukraine
USA TODAY FACT CHECK ROUNDUP:What’s true and what’s false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine
United States to ban Russian planes from American airspace
President Joe Biden announced State of the Union address Tuesday night that the U.S. is closing its airspace to Russian planes in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, .
The U.S. joins a growing list of countries that have announced plans to close their airspace to Russian aircraft in response to the invasion. The European Union took that step Sunday after several European countries, including France, Italy and Denmark, announced the move. Canada also joined the international move to cut off Russian aircraft.
– Michael Collins and Courtney Subramanian
Biden says ‘no more’ to Russian oligarchs; sanctions strangling Putin
Biden said at the State of the Union Tuesday night that the U.S. and western allies are enforcing “powerful economic sanctions,” including cutting off Russia’s largest banks from international financial systems, preventing Russia’s central bank from shoring up the Russian ruble and “making Putin’s $260 billion war fund worthless.”
The president, who praised Ukraine’s resolve on the battlefield, also said the Justice Department is assembling a dedicated task force to go after the crimes of Russia’s wealthiest people. He pledged that the U.S., along with European allies, will look seize Russian yachts, luxury apartments and private jets.
“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said.
The president also said coordinated sanctions are “choking off Russia’s access to technology” that will weaken its military and undermine its economic strength.
– Courtney Subramanian and Phillip M. Bailey
US to release 30 million barrels from Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Biden said at the State of the Union the U.S. is working with 30 countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around world to ease the impact of the war in Ukraine on energy markets.
The U.S. is leading the effort by releasing 30 million barrels from its own Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he said.
“These steps will help blunt gas prices here at home,” he said.
– Michael Collins
Ukraine: Attack on TV tower kills 5, damages Babi Yar Holocaust Center
Russian strikes on Kyiv’s TV tower killed five people, wounded others and damaged the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office tweeted that a “powerful barrage” was underway and that a missile hit the center.
The Nazis shot tens of thousands of people at Babi Yar, including almost the entire Jewish population of Kyiv.
“To the world: what is the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?” Zerenskyy tweeted. “At least 5 killed. History repeating…”
US official: Russian force may be regrouping
The 40-mile convoy approaching Kyiv has made little progress because of resistance and a lack of gas and food, according to a senior U.S. Defense Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence findings.
The official said the Russians also are likely protecting the convoy, explaining why it does not appear to have been attacked. The airspace over Ukraine continues to be contested by Ukrainian and Russian forces, the official said.
There are also signs that there are morale problems among Russian troops, many of whom have been drafted into service, the official said, declining to say how the Pentagon has made that assessment. Many of the soldiers are young men who have not been thoroughly trained or even aware why they were sent to Ukraine.
The Russians, however, have a potent force in and around Ukraine, the official said.
The Russians have systems capable of launching thermobaric weapons in Ukraine, the official said. Those fuel-air weapons are used primarily to kill people on the ground or in bunkers.
– Tom Vanden Brook
Ukraine refugees find open doors through online sites
At a time when desperate Ukrainians are fleeing their country by the hundreds of thousands, online connections are helping them find refuge in other countries.
Facebook groups such as Host A Sister and Accommodation, Help & Shelter for Ukraine are among the sites serving as a link between those escaping the war in Ukraine and hosts willing to open their doors to them.
Iryna Yarmolenko, who served as a council member for the Ukrainian city of Bucha, fled with her mother and 5-year-old son last week and found a safe place with a couple in Lublin, Poland, after posting a request for help on the Host A Sister page.
“Even if it was just with their words: ‘Iryna, we are here. Tell me what you need,’ … I felt myself not so alone.” she said. “I was totally broken because I left all my stuff, all my dreams, all my house, all my career, all my everything.”
– Bailey Schulz and Eve Chen
Ice skating, skiing and basketball join growing list of sports entities barring Russians
In addition to the economic sanctions piling up against Russia for invading Ukraine, the sports bans continue to mount.
On Tuesday, Russia was barred from competing in international ice skating, skiing, basketball, track and some tennis events, a day after being kicked out of soccer competitions and hockey – President Vladimir Putin’s favorite team sport. The decisions follow the IOC’s request to international sports federations to keep Russian athletes out of events they organize.
The International Skating Union, which runs the sport around the world, said it won’t allow any competitors from Russia to participate in its events, which would exclude Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova and 15-year-old star Kamila Valieva from the world figure skating championships in France later this month. Athletes from Belarus, which has supported Russia’s attack, will also be barred.
Court will look into whether Russia has committed war crimes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of committing war crimes during the invasion, and the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said he would investigate.
But what exactly are war crimes? Are they attacks on civilian populations? Launching rockets into residential areas? Other forms of cruelty in what’s an inherently brutal endeavor like war?
The definition of a war crime has evolved over time, but Dustin Lewis, research director for the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, said it encompasses two criteria.
“First, the conduct must be committed with a sufficient connection to an armed conflict,” he said. “Second, the conduct must constitute a serious violation of the laws and customs of international humanitarian law that has been criminalized by international treaty or customary law.”
– Ryan W. Miller
Mayor describes Kharkiv’s situation as ‘pretty grave’
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Tuesday that his government remained in control but said the city is surrounded by Russian troops.
“Military equipment and armored vehicles are coming from different directions,” he told The Washington Post in a phone interview.
Terekhov said a government building and the opera and ballet theater were among buildings shelled. Transformer stations were also struck by artillery, cutting off power to much of the city, he said. The shelling stalled efforts to supply the city with food and medical supplies, he said.
“There are casualties, and by now, there are certainly a lot more of them, after the night and morning shelling,” he told the Post. “The situation is pretty grave.”
Diplomats in Geneva walk out on Lavrov speech
More than 100 diplomats from dozens of nations walked out on a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday in protest of the invasion. Lavrov spoke remotely from Russia because he said his flight path to Geneva was blocked by governments that closed their airspace to Russian planes. He accused the West of “Russophobic frenzy.”
Ambassador Michèle Taylor, the U.S. representative to the council, said the diplomats were working to ensure Russia’s leaders were held accountable for the “illegal war” against Ukraine.
“As widespread human rights abuses continue + civilian casualties mount, we #StandwithUkraine in rejecting Lavrov’s lies,” Taylor tweeted. “Russia is isolated.”
Actor Sean Penn flees Ukraine on foot
Filmmaker and actor Sean Penn confirmed he has evacuated to Poland after spending time in Ukraine working on a documentary about the conflict. The actor shared a photo of himself Monday carrying a suitcase while walking along the side of a backed-up highway as many others attempted to flee Ukraine.
“Myself & two colleagues walked miles to the Polish border after abandoning our car on the side of the road,” Penn wrote. “Almost all the cars in this photo carry women & children only, most without any sign of luggage, and a car their only possession of value.”
Penn said Putin has made a “most horrible mistake for all of humankind” and that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people “have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams.”
Penn’s visit drew accolades from Zelenskyy.
“Sean Penn demonstrates the courage that many others, especially western politicians lack,” the president’s office wrote on Facebook. “The director specially came to Kyiv to record all the events that are currently happening in Ukraine and to tell the world the truth about Russia’s invasion of our country.”
– Elise Brisco
Cities under siege: A look at Kyiv and Kharkiv by the numbers
The war has thrown a global spotlight on Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv. Kyiv’s (KEE-ev) population of 2.7 million people would make it the third largest in the U.S. slightly ahead of Chicago. The city covers 330 square miles – bigger than Chicago or New York, about the size of San Diego. Kyiv is in north central Ukraine, not far from the borders with Russia and Belarus. Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken in the city, among the oldest in Eastern Europe.
Kharkiv (kar-KEEV), 300 miles east of Kyiv and near the Russian border, has a population of about 1.4 million spread over about 135 square miles – about the size of Philadelphia, which has a population of about 1.5 million.
Ukraine has a population of about 44 million people, 4 million more than California, and is about 233,000 square miles – a bit smaller than Texas.
NATO chief says nuclear alert level unchanged
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday visited troops in Poland with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Poland shares a border with Ukraine, and the air base in the central Poland city of Lask is home to NATO’s Polish and U.S. F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
“We are increasing our presence in the east to defend & protect our people,” Stoltenberg said in a social media post. “Allies are stepping up support for #Ukraine & imposing costs on #Russia. The world stands with Ukraine in calling for peace.”
Despite Russia’s threats about nuclear weapons, the alliance sees no need to change its nuclear weapons alert level, Stoltenberg said. And while Ukraine is not a member of NATO, it is the alliance’s responsibility to “ensure that we don’t see a development where a conflict in Ukraine spiraled out of control and becomes a full-fledged confrontation between NATO and Russia in Europe.”
Google, other big tech firms grapple with Russian state media, propaganda
Big tech platforms have begun restricting Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation. Google announced Tuesday that it’s blocking the YouTube channels of those outlets in Europe effective immediately but said it could take some time to get all of them removed. Other U.S.-owned tech companies have also taken steps, including labeling more content so people know it originated with the Russian government and cutting Russian state organizations off from ad revenue.
The changes are intended to slow the Kremlin from pumping propaganda into social media feeds without persuading Russian officials to block their citizens from access to platforms during a crucial time of war, said Katie Harbath, a former public policy director for Facebook. Read more here.
“They’re trying to walk this very fine line; they’re doing this dance,” she said.
War threatens Russian space partnerships with US, Europe
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns about the country’s relationship with the United States in space, a union that has remained intact despite geopolitical rifts between the two countries.
Four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one European Space Agency astronaut are stationed aboard the International Space Station, their home traveling 17,500 mph some 200 mile above Earth – where Russia has drawn international rebuke for its invasion of Ukraine. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is scheduled to return March 30 aboard a Russian spacecraft.
President Joe Biden has promised sanctions will target the Russian aerospace industry, a warning that led to a tweet from Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin asking “who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe.”
The European Space Agency also works with Russia. A planned launch of a European-Russian mission to Mars this year is “very unlikely,” the space agency said Monday.
– Emre Kelly, Florida Today
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
