US Fears Russian Disinformation About Ukraine Bioweapons Gaining Traction

Praise for the way U.S. agencies secured and shared intelligence on Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine are being tempered by growing concern that one of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaigns is starting to take hold in the United States and the West.

For days, officials at the White House, State Department and Pentagon have been pushing back against Moscow’s claims — increasingly repeated by far-right and far-left social media channels, as well as by some mainstream media in the United States — that Russian forces have found, and in some cases destroyed, Ukrainian biological weapons labs funded by the U.S.

“I’m fearful that this could be the new direction of a Russian false flag operation,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, told top U.S. intelligence officials at a hearing Thursday.

The committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Marco Rubio, said the Russian accusation, combined with recent comments by some U.S. officials, have “got some people fired up.”

U.S. intelligence officials echoed their concerns, noting that while there are more than a dozen so-called biolabs in Ukraine, their work is focused on understanding and preventing pandemics and the spread of infectious disease, and nothing more.

“Let me be clear. We do not assess that Ukraine is pursuing either biological weapons or nuclear weapons … the propaganda that Russia is putting out,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the lawmakers.

Haines said that while Washington has in the past provided some assistance, it has been in the context of biosafety, and mirrors U.S. outreach to other countries that have similar medical research facilities.

“This influence campaign is completely consistent with long-standing Russian efforts to accuse the United States of sponsoring bioweapons work in the former Soviet Union,” Haines added.

The U.S. spy chief was equally blunt.

“Unlike Russia, which does have chemical weapons and has used them and has done biological research and has for years, Ukraine has neither,” Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns told the Senate panel.

The threat from biological research facilities, like the ones in Ukraine, “is in no way akin to the kind of threats that would be posed by weapons research and development,” Burns said.

Instead, Burns raised concern that Russia might be telegraphing one of its next moves in its now two-week-old invasion of Ukraine.

“This is something … that’s very much a part of Russia’s playbook,” he said. “They’ve used those weapons against their own citizens. They’ve at least encouraged the use in Syria and elsewhere, so it’s something that we take very seriously.”

Rumors about supposed U.S.-backed Ukrainian bioweapons facilities first began popping up months ago but appear to have started to gain traction among some U.S. and Western audiences in late February.

“You’re asking me about bioweapons sites in labs in Ukraine, and by my count there are more than 20,” Joe Oltmann, the co-host the Conservative Daily Podcast, told VOA this past Monday, after having debated the charge on his show the previous week.

“I promise you that the U.S. Department of Defense did not give somebody money for drywall to renovate it or couches,” he said.

Talk about such facilities seemed to gain additional momentum on Tuesday, after Rubio asked about the labs during a hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of,” replied Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland.

“We are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,” she added.

Russian accounts and Russian-affiliated media seized on the comments, taking to social media to reinforce the narrative.

“The information received from various sources confirms the leading role of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency in financing and conducting military biological research on the territory of Ukraine,” Russia’s Ministry of Defense posted on its English-language Telegram channel Thursday.

“It is highly likely that one of the objectives of the U.S. and its allies is to create bioagents capable of selectively targeting different ethnic populations,” the Russian ministry added.

The Pentagon on Wednesday rejected the allegations by Russia and others, calling them “absurd.”

“In the words of my Irish Catholic grandfather, it’s a bunch of malarkey,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters. “We are not, not developing biological or chemical weapons inside Ukraine.”

U.S. intelligence officials Thursday told lawmakers that contrary to the Kremlin’s accusations, the real danger from the labs comes if or when Russian troops capture the facilities.

The medical research labs “all have equipment or pathogens or other things that you have to have restrictions around because you want to make sure that they’re being treated and handled appropriately,” Haines said. “We have to be concerned the same way we have to be concerned about a nuclear power plant.”

Twitter Offers Darkweb Site to Restore Access for Russian Users

Twitter says it has created a version of its microblogging service that can be used by Russians despite the regular version of the service being restricted in the country.

The service will be available via a special “onion” URL on the darkweb that is accessible only when using a Tor browser.

Onion URLs and Tor have long been used by those seeking to work around censorship as well as those who are involved in illegal activities on the darkweb.

The announcement of the new site was made by a software engineer who does work for Twitter.

“This is possibly the most important and long-awaited tweet that I’ve ever composed.

“On behalf of @Twitter, I am delighted to announce their new @TorProject onion service,” wrote Alec Muffett.

New York City Volunteers Mobilize to Help War-Ravaged Ukraine

The United Nations estimates that with Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, more than 12 million Ukrainians inside their country and about 4 million refugees will need assistance in the coming months. Some New Yorkers are stepping in to help. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Natalia Latukhina.

Some Russians in the U.S. Suffer Blowback from Putin’s War in Ukraine.

Acts of vandalism. Cancel culture. Financial hits. Putin’s war on Ukraine is causing problems for some Russians living in the United States. As VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, many oppose Moscow’s aggression and are speaking out for peace. Ihar Tsikhanenka contributed to this report.

Ukraine Dominates Two-day EU Summit Outside Paris

Ukraine is dominating a two-day European Union summit outside Paris, where leaders are discussing ways to cut their energy ties with Russia, shore up their defense, and consider Kyiv’s membership application.

The European Union is not following the United States in immediately banning imports of Russian oil and gas. But EU leaders, meeting at Versailles outside Paris, are looking to phase out the bloc’s energy reliance on Moscow as quickly as possible as part of a broader autonomy drive, including in European defense. 

Ahead of the summit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte discussed the challenges.

“I would not plead to cut off our supplies of oil and gas today from Russia. It’s not possible, because we need the supply and that’s the uncomfortable truth. But we can do more to get the green agenda going, to decarbonize our economies, also making use of all the reforms in the European green package as we have agreed earlier,” Rutte said.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has outlined a mix of measures in this direction that include cutting gas imports from Russia by two-thirds this year. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the move in necessary as Moscow is using energy as a way to further its own goals.

“As you’ve seen Russia has instrumentalized energy over the past month, if not to say years, to put pressure — not only on Ukraine but also on the European Union. And we are now really determined to get out of the dependency of Russian gas,” von der Leyen said.

Sebastien Maillard of the Jacques Delors Institute, a Paris-based research group, says it’s also about European principles. 

“We are every day purchasing Russian gas and Russian coal and purchasing (funding) the war against Ukraine,” he said. 

The EU’s autonomy push could be a boon for renewable energy. But some fear the opposite, at least in the short term — that Europe could delay meeting ambitious climate goals by relying more on polluting energies like coal. That could be the case of Germany or Poland, for example, which are highly dependent on Russian oil and gas. 

Cushioning the fallout of sanctions against Russia will also be key. European consumers and businesses will be paying higher heating and other energy costs — something French President Emmanuel Macron warned his nation about last week. 

Analyst Martin Quencez of the German Marshall Fund says Europe must take robust measures to reduce the fallout. 

“If the EU response is not strong enough, this will affect our ability to vote [on] new sanctions in the coming weeks and months.” 

EU leaders will also examine applications by Ukraine as well as Georgia and Moldova to join the 27-member bloc — a process that, even if fast-tracked, could take years. 

Turkey, Israel Reset Ties But Pursue Rival Mediations in Russia-Ukraine War

As Turkey and Israel take their biggest step in years toward reviving strained relations, some analysts say the two regional powers prefer going it alone in another diplomatic effort — trying to mediate a peaceful resolution of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog in Ankara on Wednesday, calling it a “historic visit that will be a turning point in relations” that have been strained for more than a decade. Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, is the most senior Israeli official to visit Turkey since the last visit by an Israeli prime minister in 2008.

Speaking alongside Herzog, Erdogan told reporters he and the Israeli president “exchanged views about events in Ukraine” and expressed hope that their meeting will create new opportunities for bilateral and regional cooperation. He did not elaborate.

Herzog expressed appreciation to Erdogan for inviting the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers to meet jointly with Turkey’s top diplomat in Antalya on Thursday. The planned meeting will be the highest-level dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24.

“The war in Ukraine is a humanitarian disaster, which is shocking the whole world,” Herzog said. “We cannot remain indifferent to such human suffering, and I welcome any endeavor that will lead to the end of the bloodshed.”

Herzog said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the government also are “doing their utmost on this matter.” Regarding Turkey’s mediation effort, he said “I pray for positive results.”

Bennett flew to Moscow on March 5 for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the only foreign leader known to have made the journey after Russia began its invasion, which has isolated Putin from the West.

The Israeli prime minister’s mediation effort also has involved regular contact with Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz through phone calls and WhatsApp messages, U.S. news site Axios reported on Wednesday.

There are no indications that Bennett and Erdogan have coordinated those diplomatic efforts, according to several international security analysts contacted by VOA. They also said Turkey and Israel have a variety of motivations to pursue their mediation bids separately.

Erdogan has been offering to support dialogue to resolve Russia-Ukraine tensions since at least April 2021, when he hosted Zelenskyy for talks in Istanbul as Kyiv raised alarm over Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border. The Turkish president later traveled to the Russian city of Sochi in September for talks with Putin.

Oxford University international relations scholar Samuel Ramani said Turkey began its mediation efforts last year as more of a messenger between Putin and Zelenksyy, but has now transitioned to more of a formal mediation role.

“Israel seems confined at this stage to being a messenger. So, Turkey is much further ahead in this regard, and that’s probably why Erdogan is not cooperating with Israel,” Ramani said.

Hanna Notte, a Berlin-based analyst for the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, said Erdogan also sees an opportunity as a Russia-Ukraine mediator to repair recent damage to Turkey’s relations with its Arab and Western partners and allies.

She said Turkey developed a reputation in some Arab states as a meddler in their affairs in recent years, while also incurring U.S. anger and sanctions for buying a Russian air defense system that Washington sees as undermining the NATO alliance of which Ankara is a member.

“If the Turks play a constructive role as a mediator and improve their international standing, I don’t see how that would be augmented by coordinating with the Israelis directly,” Notte said. “If anything, the Turks want to have the limelight for themselves rather than sharing it with another regional player,” she added.

Israel’s motivations for pursuing a solo mediation bid are different from Turkey’s, said Yaakov Amidror, an Israel-based analyst for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

One of the motives is idealistic, he said. “In Israel, we see this war as a big tragedy that should be stopped.”

Unlike Turkey, Israel also has relatively few conflicting security interests with Russia and sees that as an advantage in being trusted as a messenger between Russia and Ukraine, Amidror added.

Another factor inhibiting coordination of Israeli and Turkish mediation efforts is that the political leaders of the two sides have only just started rebuilding trust after years of tensions, said analyst Gallia Lindenstrauss of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. The two nations withdrew ambassadors from their respective embassies in 2018 and have not said when they will return.

Notte said she believes Israel and Turkey would only see a benefit to cooperation as mediators if they calculate that it would heighten the chance of a positive outcome.

“But I’m not very hopeful for any kind of international mediation because I don’t believe Russia has made a strategic decision to back away from its maximalist demands,” Notte said. “It’s not so much to do with the abilities of Turkey and Israel as mediators, as it is with the calculus right now in the Russian government.” 

Fearing West’s Wrath, Russia’s Rich Look to Stash Wealth in Dubai

Rich Russians are trying to shift some of their wealth from Europe to Dubai to shield assets from a tightening wave of Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, financial and legal sources said.

Dubai, the Gulf’s freewheeling financial and business hub, has long been a magnet for the globe’s ultra-rich and the United Arab Emirates’ refusal to take sides between Western allies and Moscow has signaled to Russians that their money is safe there.

The UAE, which over the years has deepened its ties with Russia, has not matched sanctions imposed by Western nations and its central bank has so far not issued guidance regarding Western sanctions.

In many cases, wealthy Russians are seeking to shift funds to Dubai that are now in Switzerland or London — which have both sanctioned Russian individuals and organizations, a senior banker at a large Swiss private bank and a lawyer familiar with the matter said.

The lawyer, who is based in Dubai, said his firm had received inquiries from Russian entities on how quickly they could move “very significant funds” worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Gulf Arab state.

“The UAE is a nice medium — a few hours away by flight and doesn’t have a regulator completely in cahoots with Western regulators,” an investment management professional said.

The Dubai Media Office, UAE foreign ministry and central bank did not immediately respond to a query about the scale of Russian funds flowing into Dubai.

The senior private banker said in some cases, Russian clients with accounts at private banks were opening accounts with that same bank’s UAE branch. Others were opening accounts with local banks, the banker added.

Russians, facing a crumbling economy at home, are also looking to put their money in investments including real estate and buying into funds which do not disclose ownership information, another financial source said.

Dubai, a global tourism destination, has long been popular with Russians, who were among the top visitors to the emirate and purchasers of real estate even before the war and ensuing sanctions threw its economy into turmoil and its currency tumbled to record lows.

The UAE in 2018 introduced a “golden” visa program — which grants 10-year residency — to investors and other professionals.

Banks cautious

The UAE’s decision to abstain in a United Nations Security Council vote condemning the invasion, coupled with Gulf sovereign wealth funds maintaining their exposure to Russia, was taken as reassurance to wealthy Russians, the sources said.

There is no indication that the Russian wealth flowing to Dubai is subject to Western sanctions. However, bankers said there was a risk of reputational harm to institutions receiving Russian funds as multinationals around the world cut ties with Moscow.

Some major UAE banks are taking a cautious approach. Banks operating in the Gulf state have in the past been penalized for non-compliance with sanctions on countries including Iran and Sudan.

And global financial crime watchdog The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) last week put the UAE on a “grey list” of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring.

“Being on the grey list, they (UAE) probably have to be more careful than normal. Now, the last thing they want is for Europe to use this as a further reason to keep them on this list,” the lawyer said.

The Dubai Media Office, UAE foreign ministry and central bank did not immediately respond to questions regarding guidance to banks and businesses on how to comply with sanctions on Russia, or on what protocols are in place should other countries request the seizure of any sanctioned assets, should they be in the UAE.

Two sources familiar with the matter said businesses in the UAE would spend more time looking into the origins of their funds through a so-called Know-Your-Customer process.

Wealth management

A source at a Dubai bank said that funds from Russians are not being accepted for wealth management, though they could set up deposit accounts.

“In principle, they can do it,” but the bank has high compliance hurdles to clear internally to accept Russian money, including evidence of where it came from, the source said.

The UAE’s nascent private wealth industry has not yet reached the scale or sophistication to fully absorb wealth stored in Switzerland and other traditional money shelters, sources said.

“They might take some, but I find it hard to imagine that they would take it all,” the investment management professional said. “It’s not just the servicing element, but the investment management which most of these banks lack.”

Experts Forecast Big Boost in Oil Revenue for Some African Economies

While soaring oil prices hit consumers worldwide, their misfortune means a fortune for others.

There will certainly be a “significant boost in government revenue” for some oil-producing African countries as oil prices hit their highest levels since 2008 after the U.S bans imports of Russian oil, the African Energy Chamber tells VOA.

“Nigeria, Angola, Libya, South Sudan, Gabon, the Congo and Ghana are going to see a significant boost in government revenue,” said Verner Ayukegba, senior vice president at Johannesburg-based African Energy Chamber.

However, he said, despite the economic breather for these African economies, most of the countries on the continent are heavily dependent on imports of refined products and will see their expenditures balloon.

“Countries like South Africa who are not producers but major economies who import crude oil to be able to refine for their industries, countries are going to see an increase in their import bills,” he said.

Skyrocketing crude oil prices and the rising cost of living on the continent also threaten to increase inflation, says Bala Zakka, a petroleum engineer based in Lagos, Nigeria.

“In Nigeria today, diesel has been deregulated. A liter of diesel goes for 450 Nigerian Naira ($1.08), and this is where you will appreciate the pains that Nigerians are going through,” Zakka said.

The oil analyst was unhappy that Africa’s most populous nation of 200 million people relies on imported refined products despite having the capacity to locally refine oil for domestic use like gas, diesel and kerosene.

Nigeria is the main oil producer in Africa and the largest crude oil exporter on the continent.

According to data from Statista, in 2020, Nigeria led the exports of crude oil from Africa. Overall, those exports amounted to about 5.4 million barrels per day in that year.

Meanwhile, the African Energy Chamber’s Ayukegba said that because of the uptick in oil prices globally, most African nations are likely to see more exploration for new oil and gas sources.

“Exploration spend is going to lead to much more oil and gas activities off the coast of Africa. The Gulf of Guinea for instance, and also in onshore locations,” he told VOA.

”There’s drilling going on in places like Namibia at the moment, where Total and Shell have come up with significant discoveries,” he added.

Ukraine War Galvanizes EU Military Drive

Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a European Union summit later this week aims to assert the bloc’s energy independence from Russia — and strengthen its collective defense. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.

Camera: Lisa Bryant Produced by: Rob Raffaele

France Jails 3 Linked to 2016 Jihadi Killing of Priest

A French court on Wednesday sentenced to jail terms of up to 13 years three men charged with connections to the brutal 2016 jihadi killing of an 85-year-old priest. 

Father Jacques Hamel was found with his throat slit at the foot of the altar on July 26, 2016, at his small church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class suburb of Rouen in northwest France. 

Two 19-year-old assailants, Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean, also seriously wounded a worshipper after bursting in during Mass and taking hostages before being killed by police as they tried to leave the church. 

They claimed in a video to be members of the Islamic State group, which later called them its soldiers retaliating for France’s fight against jihadis in Syria and Iraq. 

With the assailants dead, the three suspects on trial — Jean-Philippe Jean Louis, Farid Khelil and Yassine Sebaihia — were charged with “association in a terrorist act.”  

They had all been in contact with the assailants, and Jean Louis traveled with Petitjean to Turkey just weeks before the attack in an attempt to reach Syria. 

The Paris court sentenced Sebaihia to eight years in prison, Khelil to 10 years and Jean Louis to 13 years. 

The court ruled that even if they did not know the details of the plot, they were “perfectly aware that Adel Kermiche and Abdel-Malik Petitjean belonged to an association of criminals and were preparing a violent action.” 

The fourth defendant, Rachid Kassim, presumed dead in Iraq, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for complicity in the killing.  

Defendants are tried in France even if they are presumed, but not confirmed, to be dead. 

Jean Louis, 25, was found to have run a Telegram channel in the area, which played a central role in spreading jihadi ideas among youth. 

Khelil, 36, was told he had consistently reinforced the determination of Petitjean, his cousin, to carry out an act of terror. 

Sebaihia, 27, meanwhile, had visited Kermiche two days before the killing and was found to have been aware of the killers’ intentions. 

The trial was marked by scenes of reconciliation between the accused and relatives of the victim, which have been almost unheard of in the legal processes over the spate of jihadi killings in France since 2015. 

Khelil had earlier on Wednesday asked for forgiveness from the family, a move that the priest’s sister Roseline Hamel said “had done a lot of good.” 

Ahead of the verdict, Roseline Hamel had also reached out to the four sisters of Jean Louis to comfort them and had given a photo of her brother to each of the three accused.

Hamel’s murder came as the country was on high alert over a series of jihadist attacks that began with a massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 and that have claimed more than 250 lives. 

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Accuses Russia of Destroying Mariupol Maternity Hospital

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that a Russian airstrike had destroyed a maternity hospital in the southeastern port city of Mariupol and that children were among those “under the wreckage.”

Russia has not commented on the allegation. It has denied targeting civilians in its invasion of Ukraine.

A senior Ukrainian official, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said authorities were trying to determine the number of people who might have been killed or wounded.

The hospital attack led Zelenskyy to again call on NATO to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine, declaring, “You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.”

A senior U.S. defense official told reporters Wednesday that the United States was in talks with Ukraine and other “allies and partners” to provide Kyiv with defensive weapons that do not involve more air defense capabilities.

The U.S., however, has deployed two Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries in Poland, according to Marine Captain Adam Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command. Miller said in a statement Wednesday the missile batteries, normally stationed in Germany, had been repositioned at Poland’s “invitation.”

“This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory,” Miller said.

Discussions about jets

One day after the U.S. rejected Poland’s offer to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany as a way of helping Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters from Washington along with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, was asked whether it was possible for Ukraine to get the Russian fighter jets.

“We are consulting very closely with Poland and other allies to address the considerable logistical challenges,” Blinken said.

Russia criticized Poland’s offer to send the jets to Germany, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday calling it a “potentially dangerous scenario.”

Poland said Tuesday that its air force was “ready to deploy — immediately and free of charge — all” of its MiG-29 jets to Ramstein, placing them “at the disposal of the government of the United States of America.”

In exchange, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked that the U.S. send Poland aircraft with similar operational capabilities.

Earlier Wednesday, Russia announced plans for new cease-fires to allow civilians to leave several parts of Ukraine besieged by Russian forces, despite Ukrainian officials’ accusations that Moscow had shelled another evacuation route in the southern part of the country.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russia had confirmed evacuation routes would lead out of Sumy, Mariupol, Enerhodar, Volnovakha, Izyum and several towns near the capital, Kyiv.  Vereshchuk said 5,000 people were able to evacuate Sumy on Tuesday. 

‘Apocalyptic’ situation

But in Mariupol, where a Russian siege has left the southeastern port city with dwindling supplies of electricity, heat, food and water, efforts to get people out Tuesday failed, with Vereshchuk saying Russian forces had fired on a humanitarian cargo convoy.

“The situation in Mariupol is apocalyptic,” Red Cross spokesperson Ewan Watson said.

Blinken also said Wednesday that Russia’s proposals to create humanitarian corridors from Ukraine to Russia were “absurd” as he called for Moscow to allow civilians in Ukraine to leave safely.

“It’s offensive to suggest the Ukrainian people should seek refuge from the very government that has demonstrated such disregard for their lives,” Blinken said.

In other developments Wednesday, the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe nearly 36 years ago, lost power after its power grid source was damaged, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Kuleba tweeted that the plant was relying on reserve diesel generators with the capacity to power it for 48 hours, after which the cooling of spent nuclear fuel would halt, raising the possibility of “imminent” radiation leaks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “barbaric war puts entire Europe in danger. He must stop it immediately,” tweeted Kuleba, who also called on the global community to demand that Russia impose a cease-fire to allow for repairs.

‘Economic war’

Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters Wednesday that the United States was waging an “economic war on Russia.” His comments came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports. 

The United Nations’ refugee agency said Wednesday that more than 2.2 million people had fled Ukraine. More than half have gone to Poland.

Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are scheduled to meet Thursday in Turkey to discuss the situation. Kuleba said he would propose a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin.

Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb and National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.  Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

Calls Mount for West to Impose No-Fly Zone, Give Jets to Kyiv

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Poland’s capital, Warsaw, Wednesday as the Biden administration and its NATO allies debated the best ways to fortify Ukraine while avoiding being drawn directly into the fighting, which would risk a wider European war.

U.S. officials say Harris will be carrying a message to Poland that the United States stands “firmly and resolutely” with NATO allies and will continue to provide aid to Ukraine.

Her visit, however, coincides with diplomatic turbulence over a Polish offer, which caught Washington by surprise, to donate its Soviet-era MiG-29 warplanes to the U.S. for the fighter jets to be transferred to Ukraine. In turn, Warsaw wants Washington to replenish its air force with American-made planes.

The Polish government didn’t get the green light from the Biden administration before going public with the plan, and the Pentagon Tuesday rejected the idea as not “a tenable one.” Victoria Nuland, the third most senior U.S. State Department official, only learned the scheme had been made public by the Poles as she was giving testimony before a Capitol Hill committee and was questioned about it by senators.

Polish officials say they were only taking up a suggestion made by the Biden administration. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was considering providing planes to Poland, if Warsaw decided to donate the MiG-29s.

And they emphasize no final decision has been made, saying the final responsibility for the move would need the backing of the entire NATO alliance. In his statement Tuesday about the scheme, Poland’s foreign minister said the Polish government is “ready to deploy — immediately and free of charge — all their MIG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of America.”

They say international press coverage suggesting the U.S. dismissal of the plan is an indication of a fracture in NATO’s common front against Russia is an overstatement.

“There might have been some miscommunication between us and Washington,” a senior Polish official told VOA on the condition of anonymity. “But all alliance partners are trying to plot a way forward to assist Ukraine while at the same time reducing the risk of a wider war. The transfer of the planes would have to be part of a NATO initiative.”

Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said a decision about providing to Ukraine 28 MiG-29s, planes which are familiar to Ukrainian pilots, needed to be a joint decision made by all NATO members. “We did not agree to supply planes by ourselves because it must be the decision of the whole of NATO,” he said during a press conference in Warsaw.

News about a possible transfer of MiG-29s had been greeted in Kyiv with jubilation. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his aides have lobbied NATO for additional jets to help it battle Russia in the skies over Ukraine. They have also been urging NATO to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect the country from Russian airstrikes.  

Zelenskyy, who has accused the West of failing to fulfill “promises,” said Wednesday the international community would be responsible for a mass “humanitarian catastrophe” if it did not impose a no-fly zone to protect his country. “When will there be a decision? Look, we’re at war!” Zelenskyy said in a video posted on his Telegram channel. “We ask you again to decide as soon as possible. Send us planes.”

But the U.S. is not the only NATO partner wary of being sucked into the war. A senior U.K. minister, Grant Shapps, told British broadcasters Wednesday NATO allies must be sure they are “not inadvertently doing something which escalates this war” with their actions in Ukraine and risk sparking a wider European conflict. All NATO partners “work together” in their efforts to help Ukraine defend itself but as part of “a defensive organization.”

While some NATO partners are more bullish, like the Poles, others, including Italy, fear a transfer of warplanes or an imposition of a no-fly zone would be viewed by Moscow as a casus belli (provocation of war). Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that any move by the West to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be akin to “participating in the armed conflict” against Moscow.

The Russian leader has previously threatened NATO with consequences if it involves itself in the war and has put his nuclear forces on standby.

Nonetheless, as Russian forces bombard Ukrainian towns and shell-fleeing civilians, political pressure is mounting on Western leaders to consider imposing the no-fly zone, prohibiting Russian planes from flying over Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO officials say there would be logistical problems, especially with moving in sufficient anti-missile batteries to intercept Russian missiles and air defense systems to protect patrolling NATO warplanes. And there would be a high likelihood of coming into direct conflict with the Russian military.

Still, some former NATO generals have broken with the current consensus against imposing a no-fly zone. Retired British General Chris Deverell said this week NATO faces a stark choice between fighting Putin now or facing war later. Deverell told British reporters he had changed his mind about a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Deverell, who was in charge of military intelligence, cyber and special forces and retired in 2019, said, “I have been against the imposition of a no-fly zone by NATO in Ukraine, believing that it would surely escalate the conflict. But Putin seems hell-bent on escalation. So, the question is becoming: does NATO fight him now or fight him later?”

And a former U.S. NATO supreme commander in Europe is also calling for a no-fly zone. General Philip Breedlove said the move could be carried out without the “bellicose rules of engagement” that could spark a wider conflict with Russia. “How many casualties does it take before we take a different approach to this war?” he asked.

More than two dozen U.S. foreign policy experts, several former diplomats and White House advisers, have issued an open letter to President Biden urging that a “limited” no-fly zone be established over Ukraine to deter Russia’s aerial attacks. Notable co-signers include Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration and George W. Bush-era ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst.

Some current serving generals disagree. Admiral Tony Radakin, Britain’s chief of the defense staff, said this week a no-fly zone wouldn’t help as most of the destruction and civilian deaths are being caused by artillery bombardments. “It’s not coming from Russian aircraft,” he argued.

“NATO has been very careful to keep itself out of a direct conflict with Russia,” former U.K. representative to NATO Nicholas Williams said this week. He said in London that NATO is focused on bolstering the defenses of its members. “And so, I don’t think NATO will change its view.”

But, he says, as in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, public pressure and outrage may well force NATO to act.

Judgement Day: European Nations Start Probing Alleged Russian War Crimes in Ukraine

In an impassioned video speech earlier this week, Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the Russian shelling of fleeing civilians from a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, saying there can be no forgiveness for the shooting of unarmed people.

“Instead of forgiveness, there will be a day of judgment,” he intoned.

Germany and Britain are among European countries that want to ensure there is judgment and are in the process of setting up war crimes units to gather evidence to be used later for war crime prosecutions.

Lists of incidents are already being drawn up amid rising international outrage over attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, say European officials. As of Monday, the United Nations had recorded 474 civilian deaths and 861 civilians injured as a direct result of the conflict triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

But U.N. and Ukrainian officials say the death toll could be much higher.

Germany’s justice minister, Marco Buschmann, told a German newspaper Tuesday that the country’s federal prosecutor has started to collect evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is “a serious violation of international law that cannot be justified by anything,” Buschmann said. “Possible violations of international criminal law must be consistently prosecuted,” he added.

Spain’s public prosecutor’s office has also opened a probe into possible “serious violations of international humanitarian law by Russia in Ukraine.” The aim is to “determine the criminal nature” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the office said in a statement.

And Britain is in the process of assembling a war crimes unit based in Poland, U.K. officials say. It will also collaborate with investigators from the Metropolitan Police in London who are gathering evidence of alleged war crimes stretching back to 2014 as part of a broader investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police have appealed for anyone who may have been a victim of a war crime in Ukraine, or witnessed one, to contact them. The ICC probe could include the slaughter by snipers of 53 protesters in Kyiv’s Maidan square on February 20, 2014, during the final days of the uprising which toppled then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced last week that he was going ahead with an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion. The announcement came after 39 countries requested a probe.

Separately, Ukraine Monday urged the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, to order Russia to stop its devastating invasion, saying Moscow is already committing widespread war crimes and “resorting to tactics reminiscent of medieval siege warfare.” The ICJ is the U.N.’s top court and has the authority to settle disputes between states in accordance with international law. It can give advisory opinions on international legal issues.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, the decision to launch a German probe was spurred by mounting reports of the Russian use of cluster bombs, air-dropped or ground-launched explosives that release smaller submunitions. German investigators say the use of cluster bombs will figure prominently in the initial stages of the inquiry.

They are also investigating reports that Russia has drawn up lists of Ukrainian politicians and activists marked for execution by Russian forces. They also will examine whether any war crimes were committed in the Russian shelling of a nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia. World leaders accused Russia of endangering the safety of an entire continent with the shelling. Ukraine’s president dubbed it “nuclear terror.”

The German investigation will begin as a structural probe which will focus on specific alleged war crimes and seek to identify the chain of command behind them before pinpointing individual suspects, say German prosecutors.

One German official told VOA the probe will almost certainly cover Russia’s use of a 500-kilogram bomb on a residential area in the Sumy area, in what the Ukrainian parliament dubbed a “crime against humanity.”

In a statement, the parliament said, “Russian planes dropped bombs on Sumy, Ukraine. There are civilian casualties. The bombs hit residential areas of the city. Houses of civilians were demolished and damaged. This is a targeted attack on civilians. The Russian occupants saw what they were attacking.” At least 21 people, including two children, were killed in the airstrike on the northeastern city, according to regional authorities.

Prosecutors from Germany and other European nations are also likely to focus on the shelling and shooting of civilians Sunday in Irpin, a satellite town on the outskirts of Kyiv, when Russian troops opened fire on them as they made their way to a fleet of yellow buses local authorities had arranged for an evacuation. A total of eight people died, including a family with two children, who were killed by mortar fire.

The scene was captured on video by independent news organizations, including by reporters of The New York Times, with the footage showing civilians throwing aside suitcases and plastic bags and diving for any cover they could find as mortars landed.

Ukrainian officials have accused the Russians of purposefully shelling the civilians. Kyiv says Russian commanders knew the victims were non-combatants trying to escape as Russian drones had been flying over the area just moments before the thump and crump of mortars turned a road leading from a buckled bridge into a killing zone.

“They are shelling us without mercy,” a shell-shocked Marina Starodubtseva told reporters on the scene as she dragged her young daughter into a bus while Ukrainian territorial defense force volunteers assisted the elderly and infirm over a nearby guardrail.

Russia’s Defense Ministry denies the accusation of deliberately targeting Irpin’s civilians.

Other possible war crimes likely to figure in the probes include attacks on health care facilities, leading to the deaths of at least nine people, according to the World Health Organization.

The agency has documented 16 attacks on such facilities since the launch of the Russian invasion. There has been a significant increase in attacks on these facilities as well as ambulances. On Saturday, the agency recorded half a dozen attacks. Catherine Smallwood, a WHO manager for Europe, said during a press briefing Tuesday the attacks have been “increasing quite rapidly over the past few days.”

Hans Henri Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said the agency “strongly condemns” the attacks, adding, “Health workers, hospitals and other medical facilities must never be a target at any time, including during crisis and conflicts.” The agency has called for safe passage for medical supplies.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says it managed earlier this week to intercept a Russian cruise missile as it was bearing down on the country’s most important children’s medical center, the Okhmatdyt Hospital in Kyiv.

The ICC likely will face daunting challenges to filing prosecutions for alleged Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine, say legal analysts. “It is extremely difficult to prove intent to commit war crimes. So difficult, that only six people have been convicted by the ICC and served sentences,” according to Catherine Gegout, an analyst at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (the Institute for Advanced Study) in Bremen, Germany.

The greater and more immediate legal threat may come from the German courts, which are less constricted by bureaucracy and procedure.

Germany observes the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against international law that take place outside the country, regardless of whether the victims or perpetrators are German nationals. Germany has recently used the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by members of the Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq. In January, a German court handed a former Syrian colonel a lifetime prison sentence for his role in overseeing the murder of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others 10 years ago.

 EU Agrees to Broaden Sanctions on Russian Officials, Oligarchs

The European Union has agreed to expand its third round of sanctions being imposed on Russia to target a larger number of oligarchs and officials close to President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The French Presidency of the European Council said in a series of tweets on March 9 that the new sanctions added would apply to “Russian leaders and oligarchs and their family members implicated in the Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

The third round of sanctions being imposed on Russia, the largest EU package agreed since the invasion began on February 24, includes a freeze on the Russian central bank’s assets in the bloc and a ban on Kremlin media in the European Union.

The French Presidency said the new sanctions approved on March 9 also include targeting the maritime sector and measures aim at excluding three Belarusian banks from the SWIFT financial payment messaging system, while also clarifying the issue of cryptocurrencies and giving a complete list of technologies and goods that cannot be sold between Russia and the bloc.

It did not detail which banks in Belarus, which has assisted Moscow in the invasion, are affected or which technologies and goods are included in the sanctions.

“These sanctions will be formally adopted by the Council by written procedure with a view to their rapid publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,” it said.

The EU has now sanctioned 680 people and 53 entities since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, recognized the independence of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, and invaded the country in February.

Harris’s Trip to Poland, Romania will Focus on Next Steps Against Russia

WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will collaborate with Poland and Romania on next steps to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reassure them of Washington’s support during her meetings with leaders of both countries starting Thursday. 

The countries have been increasingly anxious about Russia’s aggression in the region and are NATO’s easternmost members. They share a border with Ukraine, where thousands of refugees are flooding in.

Harris will focus on ways NATO members can implement the economic sanctions put in place and how they can stay aligned and move forward together, senior administration officials said. 

She will also engage with Ukrainian refugees in Poland, discuss continuing humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine and the region, they said. The number of refugees created by the invasion has surpassed 2 million.

The vice president will discuss the issues in Warsaw with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is also visiting the region, they said. 

“A lot of our discussions in these two capitals will be about establishing next steps… and how we move the ball forward,” said one of the officials. 

The Eastern Europe visit comes on the heels of Harris’ trip to Germany for a security conference, where she met U.S. allies and partners including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy in an effort to keep European allies unified as the Russian invasion of Ukraine became imminent. 

The trip is a sign of President Joe Biden’s increasing faith in Harris’s skills to carry out high-stakes diplomacy. It is also an effort by the administration to manage nervous allies, continue its campaign to isolate Moscow internationally even as the U.S. tries to avoid direct conflict with Russia. 

On Tuesday, the United States rejected a surprise offer by Poland to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. base in Germany as a way to replenish Ukraine’s air force in its defense against invading Russian forces.

The U.S. administration officials said a dialog on how best to provide security assistance to Ukraine will continue but did not offer details on how the vice president plans to address the situation with Poland.

Harris will use the trip to reiterate the message that “Putin has made a mistake that will result in resounding strategic defeat for Russia,” one of the administration officials said.

The Kremlin describes its actions as a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and unseat leaders it calls neo-Nazis. 

Explainer: What Does a US Ban on Russian Oil Accomplish?

With Russia intensifying its war on Ukraine, killing civilians and triggering a mass refugee crisis, President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a U.S. ban on imported Russian oil. Critics of Russia have said that sanctioning its energy exports would be the best — perhaps only — way to force Moscow to pull back.

A full embargo would be most effective if it included European allies, which are also desperate to stop the violence in Ukraine and the danger Moscow poses to the continent. Yet it’s far from clear that all of Europe would take part in an embargo, though Britain announced Tuesday that it would phase out Russian oil imports by year’s end.

Unlike the United States, Europe is deeply reliant on energy it imports from Russia, the world’s second-largest crude oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia. While the U.S. could replace the relatively small amount of fuel it receives from Moscow, Europe could not, at least not anytime soon.

What’s more, any curbs on Russian oil exports could send already skyrocketing oil and gasoline prices ever higher on both continents and further squeeze consumers, businesses, financial markets and the global economy.

Here is a deeper look:

What will happen with a U.S. ban on Russian oil?

Amid rising gasoline prices in the U.S. — the average price reached a record $4.17 a gallon on Tuesday — the Biden administration has faced growing pressure to impose further sanctions on Russia, including a ban on oil imports.

For now, a broad U.S.-European ban appears elusive. On Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made clear that his country, Europe’s single-largest consumer of Russian energy, has no plans to join in any ban. In response, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hinted that the U.S. could act alone or with a smaller group of allies.

“Not every country has done exactly the same thing,” Sherman said, “but we have all reached a threshold that is necessary to impose the severe costs that we have all agreed to.”

Even with a ban on Russian oil, the Biden administration and Congress “remain laser-focused on bringing down the higher energy costs for American families and our partners stemming from Putin’s invasion,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Pelosi, who has expressed support for a U.S. ban on Russian oil, nevertheless also cited Biden’s action in leading U.S. allies to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves, including 30 million barrels from U.S. reserves, to try to stabilize global markets.

Would a U.S.-only ban on Russian oil hurt Moscow?

The impact on Russia would likely be minimal. The United States imports a small share of Russia’s oil exports and doesn’t buy any of its natural gas.

Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Together, the imports totaled the equivalent of 245 million barrels in 2021, which was roughly 672,000 barrels of oil and petroleum products a day. But imports of Russian oil have been declining rapidly as buyers shunned the fuel.

Because the amount of oil the U.S. imports from Russia is modest, Russia could potentially sell that oil elsewhere, perhaps in China or India. Still, it would probably have to sell it at a steep discount, because fewer and fewer buyers are accepting Russian oil.

If Russia were eventually shut off from the global market, rogue countries such as Iran and Venezuela might be “welcomed back” as sources of oil, said Claudio Galimberti, senior vice president of analysis at Rystad Energy. Such additional sources could, in turn, potentially stabilize prices.

A team of Biden administration officials were in Venezuela over the weekend to discuss energy and other issues, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. She said officials discussed a range of issues, including energy security.

“By eliminating some of the demand, we’re forcing the price of Russian oil down, and that does reduce revenue to Russia,” said Kevin Book, managing director at Clearview Energy Partners. “In theory, it is a way of reducing how much Russia earns on every barrel it sells, maybe not by a lot, but by some. The most important question is whether there’s going to be more pressure on the other side of the Atlantic.”

How could a Russian oil ban affect prices?

The news of the looming U.S. oil ban sent gasoline prices to their highest level ever recorded, with a gallon of regular selling for an average of $4.17 Tuesday.

A month ago, oil was selling for about $90 a barrel. Now, prices are surging around $130 a barrel as buyers shun Russian crude. Refiners had already feared being left with oil they couldn’t resell if sanctions were imposed.

Shell said Tuesday that it would stop buying Russian oil and natural gas and shut down its service stations, aviation fuels and other operations there, days after Ukraine’s foreign minister criticized the energy giant for continuing to buy Russian oil.

Energy analysts warn that prices could go as high to $160 or even $200 a barrel if buyers continue shunning Russian crude. That trend could send U.S. gasoline prices past $5 a gallon, a scenario that Biden and other political figures are desperate to avoid.

Are Russian imports already falling?

The U.S. oil industry has said it shares the goal of reducing reliance on foreign energy sources and is committed to working with the Biden administration and Congress. Even without sanctions, some U.S. refiners have severed contracts with Russian companies. Imports of Russian crude oil and products have tumbled.

“Our industry has taken significant and meaningful steps to unwind relationships” with Russia and voluntarily limit Russian imports, said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s largest lobbying group.

Preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Department shows imports of Russian crude dropped to zero in the last week in February.

The petroleum institute hasn’t taken a formal stance on legislation to ban Russian oil imports. But it says it would comply with any restrictions imposed.

Will Europe go along?

A ban on Russian oil and natural gas would be painful for Europe. Russia provides about 40% of Europe’s natural gas for home heating, electricity and industry uses and about a quarter of Europe’s oil. European officials are looking for ways to reduce their dependence, but it’s going to take time.

Britain’s business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said his country will use the rest of the year to phase out its imports of oil and petroleum products to “give the market, businesses and supply chains more than enough time to replace Russian imports,” which account for 8% of U.K. demand.

Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, on Tuesday defended the European decision so far to exempt Russian energy from sanctions.

“The sanctions have been chosen deliberately so that they impact the Russian economy and the Putin regime seriously, but they also have been chosen deliberately so that we as an economy and a nation can keep them up for a long time,” Habeck said. “Ill-considered behavior could lead to exactly the opposite.”

“We have maneuvered ourselves into an ever-greater dependency on fossil energy imports from Russia in the last 20 years,” Habeck said. “That is not a good state of affairs.”

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak underlined that urgency, saying Russia would have “every right” to halt natural gas shipments to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in retaliation for Germany halting the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was not yet operating. He added that “we have not taken this decision” and that “no one would benefit from this.” It was a change from earlier Russian assurances that they had no intention of cutting off gas to Europe.

Oil is easier to replace than natural gas. Other countries could increase production of oil and ship it to Europe. But much oil would have to be replaced, and this would drive up prices even more because the oil would likely have to travel farther.

Replacing the natural gas that Russia provides to Europe is likely impossible in the short term. Most of the natural gas Russia provides to Europe travels through pipelines. To replace it, Europe would mostly import liquefied natural gas, known as LNG. The continent doesn’t have enough pipelines to distribute gas from coastal import facilities to farther reaches of the continent.

In January, two-thirds of American LNG exports went to Europe. Some ships filled with LNG had been heading to Asia but turned around to go to Europe because buyers there offered to pay higher prices, according to S&P Global Platts.

While U.S. oil and gas producers could drill for more natural gas, its export facilities are already operating at capacity. Expanding those facilities would take years and billions of dollars.

Russia Appeals FIFA, UEFA Ban From Football Competition

The Russian Football Union (RFU) has appealed FIFA and UEFA bans on its football teams.

The football governing bodies suspended Russia from competition on February 28 following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The RFU will demand the restoration of all men’s and women’s national teams of Russia in all types of football in the tournaments in which they took part (including in the qualifying round of the World Cup in Qatar), as well as compensation for damage,” the RFU said last week.

“In order to ensure the possibility of the participation of Russian teams in the next scheduled matches, the RFU will insist on an expedited procedure for considering the case.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said a decision on the appeal could come in the next few days.

Russia’s men’s national team had a scheduled World Cup qualifying match against Poland on March 24. Poland has refused to play.

The winner of the match would play either Sweden or the Czech Republic, both of which have refused to play Russia.

Polish, Swedish and Czech soccer federations and federations from other nations will participate in the appeal process.

A wide range of sporting bodies have taken steps to ban or limit the participation of Russian athletes.

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.

Situation in Parts of Ukraine ‘Apocalyptic’ as People Run Out of Essential Supplies

U.N. and international aid agencies are calling for an end to hostilities in Ukraine as the number of civilian casualties grows and more people flee in terror to safety in neighboring countries.  The latest U.N. figures put the number of civilian casualties at 1,335, including 474 people killed and 861 injured.

The U.N. office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which compiles the figures, believes the true number of casualties is much higher than what is recorded. That has led U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet to reiterate her call for a quick and peaceful end to the conflict, which she says has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Her spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, says it is not possible to verify cases of civilian deaths and injuries in many parts of Ukraine because of ongoing hostilities. 

She says most of the casualties are from airstrikes and explosive weapons used by Russian forces. She says heavy artillery and multiple rocket systems used in many cities have damaged and destroyed hundreds of residential buildings.

“We are alarmed by numerous reports of threats and actual harm against journalists…We are also concerned by reports of arbitrary detention of perceived pro-Ukrainian people in areas that have recently come under the control of armed groups in the east, and by reports of violence against those considered to be pro-Russian in Ukrainian government-controlled territories,” Throssell said.  

The U.N. refugee agency says more than two million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and other European countries.  However, Ewan Watson, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, says hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the port city of Mariupol are unable to escape.

“We stand ready to act in terms of our neutral intermediary role to facilitate the safe passage of civilians out of the city. But the bottom line today is that this situation is really apocalyptic for people. It is getting worse. They are running out of essential supplies.  And so, our call today is for life-saving aid to reach these people, Watson said.”

A Russian proposal to create “humanitarian corridors” to allow people to safely leave Mariupol failed after a cease-fire agreement was not honored. 

Aid agencies say priority needs include emergency shelter, health care, food, water and sanitation, and psychosocial support to help people deal with what aid groups call an epidemic of trauma and grief.

‘Some Kind of Terrible Dream’ for Ukrainian Women Refugees

It’s a global day to celebrate women, but many fleeing Ukraine feel only the stress of finding a new life for their children as husbands, brothers and fathers stay behind to defend their country from Russia’s invasion.

The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine reached 2 million on Tuesday, according to the United Nations, the fastest exodus Europe has seen since World War II. One million of them are children, UNICEF spokesman James Elder tweeted, calling it “a dark historical first.”

Polina Shulga tried to ease the journey for her 3-year-old daughter by hiding the truth.

“Of course it’s hard to travel with a child, but I explained to her that we’re going on vacation and that we’ll definitely come home one day when the war is over,” Shulga said.

She didn’t know what would come next after arriving in Hungary from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, but believed the experience would make her stronger. “I feel like I’m responsible for my child, so it was easier for me to take this step and leave,” she said, as her little girl tugged at the hem of her coat.

Nataliya Levchenko, from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, felt much the same.

“I’m generally in some kind of a terrible dream which keeps going on,” the retired teacher said. “I would be in some kind of abstraction if it wasn’t for my daughter. I wouldn’t be able to come to my senses.”

A decree by Ukraine’s government that prohibits men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country means that most of those fleeing Ukraine are women and children. The policy is meant to encourage men to sign up to fight against Russia’s invasion or to keep them available for military conscription.

That has led to heartbreaking scenes of separation, and growing worry as some encircled, battered parts of Ukraine slip out of reach.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of International Women’s Day in a video address: “Ukrainians, we usually celebrate this holiday, the holiday of spring. We congratulate our women, our daughters, wives, mothers. Usually. But not today. Today I cannot say the traditional words. I just can’t congratulate you. I can’t, when there are so many deaths. When there is so much grief, when there is so much suffering. When the war continues.”

Women normally receive flowers and chocolates and kisses and speeches. But this time, sugary messages were tinged with sorrow or pleas for peace.

In a refugee camp in Moldova, Elena Shapoval apologized for her tears. She doesn’t hide them from her two children, one 4 and one 8, while recalling their journey from Odesa. The younger one doesn’t understand what’s happening, Shapoval said. The older one tries to calm her, saying, ‘Mom, everything will be all right.'”

She cannot collapse as she thinks about the life they left behind. “I realize that we’ll have to work a lot now,” she said. “I need to get myself together because I have two children and I need to ball up my will like a fist.”

In Romania, Alina Rudakova began to cry as the realized she had forgotten about the holiday. Last year, the 19-year-old from Melitopol received a bouquet of flowers from her father and gifts from other relatives.

“This year, I didn’t even think about this day,” she said. “This day was really awful.”

In a theater at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in the Polish city of Przemysl near the border, women filled makeshift beds. Some checked their phones yet again for news.

“It was difficult to prepare myself for traveling,” said one refugee from near Kyiv who gave only her first name, Natalia. “My sister said that I am very brave, but in my opinion I am a coward. I want to go home.”

And at the Medyka border crossing in Poland, Yelena Makarova said her hurried flight from Kremenchuk with her mother and teenage daughter marked the end of her life as she knew it. Her father, husband and brother all stayed behind.

“I wish that (the war) it would finish as soon as possible, because do you know, for every mother, what can be worse?” she said. “I can’t understand why our children are dying. I don’t know.”