Residential areas in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, were being pounded by Russian shells while a massive 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and vehicles rolled toward the capital of Kyiv on Tuesday as the war entered its sixth day.
At least 11 people were killed and 35 wounded in the rocket strikes on Kharkiv, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said. He said the rubble was still being cleared and the death toll was expected to rise.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on the city’s main square “frank, undisguised terror. Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget. This attack on Kharkiv is a war crime.”
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Tuesday that his government remained under 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.
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Terekhov said a government building and the opera and ballet theater were among building shelled. Transformer stations were also struck by artillery, cutting off power to much of the city, he said. The shelling had 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.”
Latest updates:
►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.”
►Zelenskyy said in a video address that he believes Russian shelling of civilian areas is an attempt by Russia to put pressure on Ukraine to make a deal. He did not offer details of the talks with Russia, but he said Kyiv was not prepared to make concessions “when one side is hitting another with rocket artillery.”
►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.
►Russia closed its airspace to carriers from 36 nations, including European countries and Canada, after those nations closed their airspaces to all Russian aircraft.
►Russia finds itself increasingly isolated as a result of international condemnation and potentially backbreaking economic sanctions. The Russian currency plunged about 30% against the U.S. dollar, making the ruble worth less than a penny.
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
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 organs 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 which 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 Russian 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 that 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
Artillery kills over 70 Ukrainian soldiers at military base, official says
More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the head of the region wrote on Telegram. Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching rubble. In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
– Celina Tebor
Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. halt the release of films in Russia
The Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. are joining the list of businesses retaliating against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Disney is pausing the release of theatrical films in Russia, including the upcoming “Turning Red” from Pixar, in response to the attack, the company said in a statement Monday. The company said it is working with nongovernmental organizations to provide aid and other humanitarian assistance to refugees.
WarnerMedia is putting the release of The Batman on hold in Russia. The film starring Robert Pattinson had been set to open in Russia on Thursday. “We will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves,” Warner Bros. said in a statement. “We hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to this tragedy.”
Sony Pictures is also pausing planned theatrical releases in Russia, including the upcoming release of Morbius which is due out in early April,
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been impacted and hope this crisis will be resolved quickly,” Sony Pictures told USA TODAY in a statement.
– Michael Collins
Mastercard blocks financial institutions over sanctions on Russia
Mastercard announced Monday that it was blocking “multiple financial institutions from the Mastercard payment network” as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S.-based financial services company said in a statement it will continue to work with regulators to stay in compliance and is actively monitoring and preparing to respond to cyberattacks. The financial corporation also said it would donate $2 million in humanitarian relief.
The U.S. and EU have sanctioned top Kremin officials and Russian elites as well as taken steps to remove Russian banks from the SWIFT network, which allows for payments between financial institutions, and to restrict Russia’s use of its massive foreign currency reserves.
– Celina Tebor
Contributing: The Associated Press
