Over a million people have streamed out of Ukraine into neighboring nations, the UN refugee agency said Sunday, making it the worst such crisis since World War II. The Polish prime minister’s office said 922,400 people had crossed its border with Ukraine since fighting began 11 days ago.
That update came as a second attempt in as many days was made to allow residents to leave the embattled port city of Mariupol, where people have been living without gas and water for several days.
Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian officials warned that Russian forces could be moving to seize the dam of a hydroelectric power station north of Kyiv, the New York Times reported.
The threat to the power plant is part of what Ukrainian officials believe is an effort by Russian forces to control infrastructure. The most notable example came late last week, when a fire broke out at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after Russian forces shelled the area.
Defense officials in the United Kingdom said they believe Russia is targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol in an effort to break Ukrainian morale, according to a statement released early Sunday.
“Russia has previously used similar tactics in Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016, employing both air and ground-based munitions,” the statement said. It also credited the scale and strength of the Ukrainian resistance for targeting Russian supply lines and slowing the advance of ground forces.
“There is a realistic possibility that Russia is now attempting to conceal fuel trucks as regular support trucks to minimise losses,” the statement read.
Latest developments:
►Ukraine and Russia will engage in talks aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and safe passage for civilian evacuations on Monday, a Ukraine official said, after the first evacuation of the southeastern city of Mariupol was halted in violation of a cease-fire.
► The State Department urged Americans on Saturday to leave Russia immediately, citing the “unprovoked and unjustified attack” against Ukraine and the potential for harassment of U.S. citizens by Russian government security forces.
►A gallon of regular gas in the U.S. will likely average $4 before the end of the weekend, analysts projected. The cost of gasoline has risen in recent weeks as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine applies pressure on global oil markets.
► In its cold open sketch, “Saturday Night Live” skewered Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham and former President Donald Trump for their pre-war comments on Ukraine and Russia with the “Fox News Ukrainian Invasion Celebration Spectacular,” a fundraising telethon for Russian oligarchs held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
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WNBA star Brittany Griner detained in Russia
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was taken into custody in Moscow and faces drug smuggling charges after being found with vape cartridges in her carry-on luggage.
Russian Federal Customs Service said it detained a “professional basketball player, a member of the US National Basketball Association, a two-time Olympic basketball champion in the US team,” identified as Griner by the Russian news agency TASS.
“Brittney Griner has the WNBA’s full support and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports on Saturday.
– Scooby Axson
Moody’s slashes Russia’s credit rating
Moody’s on Sunday again slashed Russia’s credit rating and listed its future outlook as “negative.”
The financial services company downgraded Russia’s rating based on expectations that the Central Bank will further restrict payments across borders, including debt service on government bonds.
The rating – Ca – is now closer to junk status, “driven by severe concerns around Russia’s willingness and ability to pay its debt obligations,” Moody’s said in a statement issued early Sunday.
“Concerns around the government’s willingness to pay and the unpredictability of government actions could result in larger than historical average losses for investors,” the statement said.
– Katie Wadington
Zelenskyy calls for no-fly zone
Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy is pushing his call for foreign countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Establishing a no-fly zone would risk escalating the conflict by involving foreign militaries directly. Although the United States and many Western countries have backed Ukraine with weapons shipments, they have sent no troops.
Zelenskyy said in a video address on Sunday that “the world is strong enough to close our skies.”
NATO countries have ruled out policing a no-fly zone, which would bar all unauthorized aircraft from flying over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participation in the armed conflict.
– Associated Press
Refugee crisis escalates
The war in Ukraine has now sent 1.5 million refugees out of the country, the UN reported Sunday.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, called the situation “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II” in a tweet.
Cease-fire could allow evacuations from Mariupol Sunday: reports
Another attempt to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol was set to begin Sunday morning after a temporary ceasefire was announced, CNN and the BBC reported, citing local officials.
The evacuation attempt will come about 24 hours after a previous attempt was thwarted when Russian troops continued to shell the area in violation of a cease-fire.
Ukraine and Russia were previously scheduled to engage in talks Monday aimed at negotiating a cease-fire and safe passage for civilian evacuations.
Blinken pledges American support in Moldova
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Moldova pledging America’s support to the small Western-leaning former Soviet republic that is coping with an influx of refugees from Ukraine and warily watching Russia’s intensifying war with its neighbor.
Blinken was meeting on Sunday with senior Moldovan officials who are appealing for international assistance in dealing with more than 120,000 refugees from Ukraine that it is now hosting while also seeking security reassurances against potential Russian aggression. More than 230,000 people have fled into Moldova from Ukraine since the war began 11 days ago.
Blinken said Moldova’s welcoming of refugees is an inspiration to the world.
“We admire the generosity of hospitality, the willingness to be such good friends to people who are in distress, and, indeed, I want to do everything we can to help you deal with the burden that this has imposed,” he said.
Russia already has troops in the country of 2.6 million that are stationed in the disputed territory of Transnistria and are being closely watched as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses ahead with the invasion of Ukraine. Although it has no plans to try to become a member of NATO, Moldova formally applied to join the European Union just three days ago in a fast-track bid to bolster its ties with the West.
Radio Free Europe suspends operations in Russia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is suspending operations in Russia due to government pressures since the start of the war in Ukraine.
RFE/RL, which describes itself as an editorially independent media company supported by a grant from Congress and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, issued a statement late Saturday saying it had stopped operating in Russia “after local tax authorities initiated bankruptcy proceedings against RFE/RL’s Russian entity on March 4 and police intensified pressure on its journalists.”
The media entity also referenced a law signed Friday by Russian President Vladimir Putin that could subject journalists to prison sentences if they deviate from Kremlin-approved descriptions of the war. It said RFE/RL journalists would “continue to tell the truth about Russia’s catastrophic invasion of its neighbor,” reporting on developments from outside of Russia.
“This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth,” President and CEO Jamie Fly said.
Russia’s federal communications agency announced Friday that it would block the websites of RFE/RL, the BBC, Voice of America and other foreign outlets for spreading what it termed “fake” information.
RFE/RL, which has maintained a physical presence in Russia since 1991, said nine of its Russian language websites have been blocked in the last week after it refused to comply with demands to delete information about the invasion of Ukraine.
– Bill Keveney
Israel PM returns from surprise trip to Russia
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s prime minister has returned Sunday morning from a surprise trip to Russia where he met President Vladimir Putin and discussed the war in Ukraine.
Naftali Bennett flew to Moscow on Saturday, where he met the Russian leader for three hours. The trip was made “in coordination and with the blessing” of the Biden administration, according to Bennett’s office.
Bennett spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his meeting with Putin. He then flew to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Bennett landed in Israel on Sunday morning and is expected to convene his Cabinet for its weekly meeting later in the day.
Bennett’s trip was the latest attempt at diplomacy in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Israel is one of the few countries that has good working relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Israel has delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but also maintains ties with Moscow to make sure that Israeli and Russian warplanes do not come into conflict in neighboring Syria.
– The Associated Press
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