Ukraine uncovers new grave near Bucha, site of alleged Russian atrocities
BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities exhumed a communal grave near the city of Bucha on Thursday, suggesting further killings by Russian forces in an area where evidence of alleged atrocities against civilians spurred global outrage.
The unmarked grave containing the remains of three men was identified near the town of Borodyanka, officials said, after a local man who had buried the bodies there almost a year ago returned to the area and informed local authorities about it.
The body of one of the slain men was recovered from a burned-out car shortly after Russian forces took control of the area just north of Kyiv and buried on March 8, 2022, officials said. The other two men appeared to have been shot around the same time.
Read the full story here.
BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities exhumed a communal grave near the city of Bucha on Thursday, suggesting further killings by Russian forces in an area where evidence of alleged atrocities against civilians spurred global outrage.
The unmarked grave containing the remains of three men was identified near the town of Borodyanka, officials said, after a local man who had buried the bodies there almost a year ago returned to the area and informed local authorities about it.
The body of one of the slain men was recovered from a burned-out car shortly after Russian forces took control of the area just north of Kyiv and buried on March 8, 2022, officials said. The other two men appeared to have been shot around the same time.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest in Ukraine:
- The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for an attack in two villages in the Bryansk region of western Russia, in which Putin said assailants had “opened fire on civilians” and the Bryansk governor said two people were killed and hostages were taken.
- Ukrainian authorities exhumed the remains of three men from a newly discovered communal grave near Bucha, the area near Kyiv where alleged atrocities last spring set off worldwide outrage and were condemned by world leaders as evidence of Russian war crimes.
- A document summarizing the G-20 meeting said: “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.”
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s encounter lasted less than 10 minutes, during which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms accord.
More live updates here.
- The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for an attack in two villages in the Bryansk region of western Russia, in which Putin said assailants had “opened fire on civilians” and the Bryansk governor said two people were killed and hostages were taken.
- Ukrainian authorities exhumed the remains of three men from a newly discovered communal grave near Bucha, the area near Kyiv where alleged atrocities last spring set off worldwide outrage and were condemned by world leaders as evidence of Russian war crimes.
- A document summarizing the G-20 meeting said: “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.”
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s encounter lasted less than 10 minutes, during which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms accord.
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine.
- President Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Washington for a working visit Friday. The two leaders may discuss China’s potential to supply lethal aid to Russian forces in Ukraine.
- In New Delhi, where the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 nations gathered this week, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said Friday that kicking Russia out of the club would be a mistake.
- The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side, claimed responsibility for an attack in the Bryansk region that Russian officials said had left two people dead.
- Pro-Russia forces have made gains in the areas near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian town at the center of heavy fighting in recent weeks, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
More live updates here.
- President Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Washington for a working visit Friday. The two leaders may discuss China’s potential to supply lethal aid to Russian forces in Ukraine.
- In New Delhi, where the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 nations gathered this week, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said Friday that kicking Russia out of the club would be a mistake.
- The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side, claimed responsibility for an attack in the Bryansk region that Russian officials said had left two people dead.
- Pro-Russia forces have made gains in the areas near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian town at the center of heavy fighting in recent weeks, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
More live updates here.
Pregnant Russians are streaming into Argentina. Officials are suspicious.
BUENOS AIRES — The young couple was determined to leave Russia.
Alex Slepenkov, 36, knew he could be forced to join the military and fight in a war he had tried to protest. He and his wife, Natasha Slepenkova, 30, feared the country would turn into North Korea, closing its borders to the world.
After they learned in September they were expecting their first child, they began looking up alternatives. The couple settled on a destination about as far from Moscow as possible, with a culture and language vastly different from their own.
Argentina, unlike many countries, still allowed Russians to enter. And it’s a country that grants citizenship to children born on its soil — allowing the baby’s parents to apply, too. For Russians, an Argentine passport is something of a golden ticket, granting visa-free access to more than 170 countries.
Read the full story here.
BUENOS AIRES — The young couple was determined to leave Russia.
Alex Slepenkov, 36, knew he could be forced to join the military and fight in a war he had tried to protest. He and his wife, Natasha Slepenkova, 30, feared the country would turn into North Korea, closing its borders to the world.
After they learned in September they were expecting their first child, they began looking up alternatives. The couple settled on a destination about as far from Moscow as possible, with a culture and language vastly different from their own.
Argentina, unlike many countries, still allowed Russians to enter. And it’s a country that grants citizenship to children born on its soil — allowing the baby’s parents to apply, too. For Russians, an Argentine passport is something of a golden ticket, granting visa-free access to more than 170 countries.
Read the full story here.
Russia’s Lavrov elicits cheers and groans at Indian political dialogue
NEW DELHI — A boisterous international audience of academics, diplomats and business executives both cheered and groaned as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented Russia’s view of the Ukraine war, reflecting global splits on the crisis.
To loud applause, Lavrov emphasized what he called a “double standard” in questions directed to him about the war in Ukraine, especially when contrasted with the United States’ own military interventions in past decades.
“Have you been interested in these years [in] what is going on in Iraq, what is going on in Afghanistan?” he asked his interviewer, pausing to a round of applause. “[You] believe that the United States has the right to declare a threat to its national interest … and you don’t ask them any questions?”
His assertion that Moscow was the victim, not the aggressor, elicited a collective eye roll from the audience.
Read the full story here.
NEW DELHI — A boisterous international audience of academics, diplomats and business executives both cheered and groaned as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented Russia’s view of the Ukraine war, reflecting global splits on the crisis.
To loud applause, Lavrov emphasized what he called a “double standard” in questions directed to him about the war in Ukraine, especially when contrasted with the United States’ own military interventions in past decades.
“Have you been interested in these years [in] what is going on in Iraq, what is going on in Afghanistan?” he asked his interviewer, pausing to a round of applause. “[You] believe that the United States has the right to declare a threat to its national interest … and you don’t ask them any questions?”
His assertion that Moscow was the victim, not the aggressor, elicited a collective eye roll from the audience.
Read the full story here.
Heavy fighting as Russians advance in Bakhmut but Ukrainian units hold on
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — The battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continued to rage on Friday, with Russian forces “constantly hitting the city randomly with artillery, grads and mortars,” a Ukrainian soldier Yuriy Syrotyuk, 46, who is stationed in the north of the city with Ukraine’s Fifth Independent Assault Brigade, said by phone.
But Ukrainian forces were still in control of some parts of Bakhmut, and have not been ordered to retreat, Syrotyuk said, despite new claims on Friday from Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, that Russian forces had “practically surrounded” the city.
Other Ukrainian solders said that further reinforcements were being deployed to Bakhmut, even as some specialized units were told to redeploy to long-planned fallback positions.
Read the full story here.
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — The battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continued to rage on Friday, with Russian forces “constantly hitting the city randomly with artillery, grads and mortars,” a Ukrainian soldier Yuriy Syrotyuk, 46, who is stationed in the north of the city with Ukraine’s Fifth Independent Assault Brigade, said by phone.
But Ukrainian forces were still in control of some parts of Bakhmut, and have not been ordered to retreat, Syrotyuk said, despite new claims on Friday from Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, that Russian forces had “practically surrounded” the city.
Other Ukrainian solders said that further reinforcements were being deployed to Bakhmut, even as some specialized units were told to redeploy to long-planned fallback positions.
Read the full story here.
Belarus sentences Nobel Peace laureate Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in jail
A Belarusian court on Friday sentenced one of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, to 10 years in prison — continuing a brutal crackdown on dissent that began in response to pro-democracy protests in 2020.
Bialiatski, 60, a veteran human rights defender, founded the Viasna Human Rights Centre in 1996. He shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize with Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which is working to document alleged war crimes by Russia, and the Russian human rights group Memorial, in a pointed rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.
In bestowing the award in October, the Nobel Committee specifically called on Belarus to free Bialiatski, who had been arrested on charges of financial crimes widely viewed as politically motivated.
Read the full story here.
A Belarusian court on Friday sentenced one of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, to 10 years in prison — continuing a brutal crackdown on dissent that began in response to pro-democracy protests in 2020.
Bialiatski, 60, a veteran human rights defender, founded the Viasna Human Rights Centre in 1996. He shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize with Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which is working to document alleged war crimes by Russia, and the Russian human rights group Memorial, in a pointed rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.
In bestowing the award in October, the Nobel Committee specifically called on Belarus to free Bialiatski, who had been arrested on charges of financial crimes widely viewed as politically motivated.
Read the full story here.
Why Russia and Ukraine are fighting over Bakhmut
If there’s one city that has come to symbolize the grinding war of attrition in Ukraine, it’s Bakhmut.
Russia has pummeled the city for more than seven months, reducing it to a charred and mutilated ghost town. Moscow has sent wave after wave of soldiers and Wagner Group mercenaries toward Ukrainian positions, sustaining heavy casualties. At several points, as Russian forces close in, the city has appeared on the verge of falling. But for months, Ukrainian fighters have stood their ground.
Before the war, Bakhmut was mostly known as a center of the salt industry. But the relentless, intensifying fight for control of the city — which analysts say holds little strategic importance — has made it a rallying cry and political battleground for both sides.
Here’s what to know about the battle for the city.
If there’s one city that has come to symbolize the grinding war of attrition in Ukraine, it’s Bakhmut.
Russia has pummeled the city for more than seven months, reducing it to a charred and mutilated ghost town. Moscow has sent wave after wave of soldiers and Wagner Group mercenaries toward Ukrainian positions, sustaining heavy casualties. At several points, as Russian forces close in, the city has appeared on the verge of falling. But for months, Ukrainian fighters have stood their ground.
Before the war, Bakhmut was mostly known as a center of the salt industry. But the relentless, intensifying fight for control of the city — which analysts say holds little strategic importance — has made it a rallying cry and political battleground for both sides.
Here’s what to know about the battle for the city.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- President Biden told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that his country’s support for Ukraine has been “profound” at the outset of a meeting Friday in the Oval Office of the White House.
- Wagner Group boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin said that “the pincers are closing” on Bakhmut, in a video posted Friday on Telegram in which he claimed to be speaking from a rooftop in the city.
- The United States announced an additional $400 million in military aid for Ukraine on Friday.
- A Russian anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s western Bryansk region, which Russian officials said killed two people.
- Kicking Russia out of the Group of 20 nations would be a mistake, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Friday as a high-level meeting of G-20 foreign ministers drew to a close in New Delhi.
More live updates here.
- President Biden told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that his country’s support for Ukraine has been “profound” at the outset of a meeting Friday in the Oval Office of the White House.
- Wagner Group boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin said that “the pincers are closing” on Bakhmut, in a video posted Friday on Telegram in which he claimed to be speaking from a rooftop in the city.
- The United States announced an additional $400 million in military aid for Ukraine on Friday.
- A Russian anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s western Bryansk region, which Russian officials said killed two people.
- Kicking Russia out of the Group of 20 nations would be a mistake, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Friday as a high-level meeting of G-20 foreign ministers drew to a close in New Delhi.
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
— Law enforcement officials from the United States, the European Union, Britain and other jurisdictions met Friday in Lviv, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who traveled to the Ukrainian city unannounced.
— In Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces appeared to be still in control of some parts of the city, despite claims by pro-Kremlin forces that they had encircled the town, The Washington Post reported.
— The United States signed an agreement designed to expand information-sharing regarding alleged Russian war crimes, involving Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania, Garland said.
Read more updates.
— Law enforcement officials from the United States, the European Union, Britain and other jurisdictions met Friday in Lviv, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who traveled to the Ukrainian city unannounced.
— In Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces appeared to be still in control of some parts of the city, despite claims by pro-Kremlin forces that they had encircled the town, The Washington Post reported.
— The United States signed an agreement designed to expand information-sharing regarding alleged Russian war crimes, involving Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania, Garland said.
Read more updates.
Alleged ‘terrorist’ attack in West Russia fuels hard-line pressure on Putin
RIGA, Latvia — More than 24 hours after a strange incursion near the Russian-Ukrainian border that President Vladimir Putin labeled a “terrorist attack,” there was no new clarity about the incident, in which the authorities said two people were killed.
But that did not prevent government officials and propagandists on Friday from seizing on the episode, in the Bryansk region of western Russia, to buttress their own positions, starting with Putin who, along with state television commentators, fanned Russians’ fears that the nation is under a constant threat of attack by terrorists.
Pro-war Russian hard-liners demanded revenge and a tougher approach, with mercenary chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group and a trenchant critic of Russia’s military, saying Russia’s “red line” — that it would not tolerate attacks on its own territory — had again been crossed.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — More than 24 hours after a strange incursion near the Russian-Ukrainian border that President Vladimir Putin labeled a “terrorist attack,” there was no new clarity about the incident, in which the authorities said two people were killed.
But that did not prevent government officials and propagandists on Friday from seizing on the episode, in the Bryansk region of western Russia, to buttress their own positions, starting with Putin who, along with state television commentators, fanned Russians’ fears that the nation is under a constant threat of attack by terrorists.
Pro-war Russian hard-liners demanded revenge and a tougher approach, with mercenary chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group and a trenchant critic of Russia’s military, saying Russia’s “red line” — that it would not tolerate attacks on its own territory — had again been crossed.
Read the full story here.
Analysis: An awkward tension lies beneath the West’s support for Ukraine
At the end of last week, the world marked the grim anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to American and European top officials, my colleagues stitched together a powerful oral history of Feb. 24, 2022 — a day that saw the start of the largest land war on the European continent since 1945, a sprawling series of battles along what’s now a 600-mile front line that has forever changed the West’s geopolitics.
“What I understood in that moment, when I was getting dressed, I thought about the rockets flying over my children, over all of our children,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Washington Post, referring to what he felt after being notified by an adviser of the start of Russia’s offensive. “This means that there will be a huge number of deaths. It was clear.”
Read the full analysis here.
At the end of last week, the world marked the grim anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to American and European top officials, my colleagues stitched together a powerful oral history of Feb. 24, 2022 — a day that saw the start of the largest land war on the European continent since 1945, a sprawling series of battles along what’s now a 600-mile front line that has forever changed the West’s geopolitics.
“What I understood in that moment, when I was getting dressed, I thought about the rockets flying over my children, over all of our children,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Washington Post, referring to what he felt after being notified by an adviser of the start of Russia’s offensive. “This means that there will be a huge number of deaths. It was clear.”
Read the full analysis here.
American veteran killed in Ukraine wanted to ‘make a difference,’ father says
On Tuesday, Andrew Peters’s parents received a call from his unit informing them that the 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran serving on the front lines with the International Legion of the Defense of Ukraine was missing in action.
“If someone is missing in action, that usually means one of two things: Either they are dead, or they were taken prisoner,” his father, John Peters, who also served in the U.S. Army, told The Washington Post in an interview.
That same day, the family in Marshfield, Wis., received a call from U.S. officials saying he had died. The veteran, who had also served as an infantryman in Afghanistan, was killed on Feb. 16 during combat. His body had been located. Citing security concerns, his unit and officials did not disclose the specific location where he died, John Peters told The Post. The unit told him that the family would eventually learn those details.
Read the full story here.
On Tuesday, Andrew Peters’s parents received a call from his unit informing them that the 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran serving on the front lines with the International Legion of the Defense of Ukraine was missing in action.
“If someone is missing in action, that usually means one of two things: Either they are dead, or they were taken prisoner,” his father, John Peters, who also served in the U.S. Army, told The Washington Post in an interview.
That same day, the family in Marshfield, Wis., received a call from U.S. officials saying he had died. The veteran, who had also served as an infantryman in Afghanistan, was killed on Feb. 16 during combat. His body had been located. Citing security concerns, his unit and officials did not disclose the specific location where he died, John Peters told The Post. The unit told him that the family would eventually learn those details.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest in Ukraine:
- Nearly 4,000 residents are believed to be living in shelters in Bakhmut without enough electricity or water, the city’s deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, told the BBC on Saturday.
- Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut are running short on key supplies such as ammunition, The Post reported, while Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that Ukraine’s defense of Bakhmut “is under increasingly severe pressure” in and around the embattled city.
- The United States signed an agreement designed to expand information-sharing regarding alleged Russian war crimes, involving Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania, Garland said Friday.
- President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated support for Ukraine and their determination to “impose costs” on Russia, the White House said after their meeting Friday.
More live updates here.
- Nearly 4,000 residents are believed to be living in shelters in Bakhmut without enough electricity or water, the city’s deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, told the BBC on Saturday.
- Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut are running short on key supplies such as ammunition, The Post reported, while Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that Ukraine’s defense of Bakhmut “is under increasingly severe pressure” in and around the embattled city.
- The United States signed an agreement designed to expand information-sharing regarding alleged Russian war crimes, involving Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania, Garland said Friday.
- President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated support for Ukraine and their determination to “impose costs” on Russia, the White House said after their meeting Friday.
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine:
— A grueling seven-month battle for the front-line city of Bakhmut is coming down to street-by-street fighting and skirmishes on rural roads and settlements on its outskirts, where Ukrainian forces are digging narrow trenches to fortify their positions. Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have not yet seized full control of the city.
— Kyiv is planning to use confiscated Russian assets to help fund the country’s rebuilding, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
—Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with deployed troops in a rare visit to the front lines in eastern Ukraine, according to statements and videos posted on Telegram by the Russian Defense Ministry.
More live updates.
— A grueling seven-month battle for the front-line city of Bakhmut is coming down to street-by-street fighting and skirmishes on rural roads and settlements on its outskirts, where Ukrainian forces are digging narrow trenches to fortify their positions. Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have not yet seized full control of the city.
— Kyiv is planning to use confiscated Russian assets to help fund the country’s rebuilding, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
—Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with deployed troops in a rare visit to the front lines in eastern Ukraine, according to statements and videos posted on Telegram by the Russian Defense Ministry.
More live updates.
Russian propagandists said to buy Twitter blue-check verifications
Accounts pushing Kremlin propaganda are using Twitter’s new paid verification system to appear more prominently on the global platform, another sign that Elon Musk’s takeover is accelerating the spread of politically charged misinformation, a nonprofit research group has found.
The accounts claim to be based outside of Russia, so they can pay for verification without running afoul of U.S. sanctions. But they pass along articles from state-run media, statements by Russian officials, and lies about Ukraine from Kremlin allies, according to the research group Reset, which shared its findings with The Washington Post.
One of the accounts describes itself in English as “No woke. No BLM. No gender pronouns … Just Anti-Imperialism.” Purporting to be based in San Francisco, its profile picture shows a blond woman wearing a fur hat with a hammer and sickle badge.
Read the full story here.
Accounts pushing Kremlin propaganda are using Twitter’s new paid verification system to appear more prominently on the global platform, another sign that Elon Musk’s takeover is accelerating the spread of politically charged misinformation, a nonprofit research group has found.
The accounts claim to be based outside of Russia, so they can pay for verification without running afoul of U.S. sanctions. But they pass along articles from state-run media, statements by Russian officials, and lies about Ukraine from Kremlin allies, according to the research group Reset, which shared its findings with The Washington Post.
One of the accounts describes itself in English as “No woke. No BLM. No gender pronouns … Just Anti-Imperialism.” Purporting to be based in San Francisco, its profile picture shows a blond woman wearing a fur hat with a hammer and sickle badge.
Read the full story here.
Opinion by Timothy Snyder: You can’t understand the war in Ukraine without knowing history
Teaching a lecture class on Ukrainian history last fall, I felt a touch of the surreal. The war in Ukraine had been going on for half a year when I began. A nuclear power had attacked a state that had given up its nuclear weapons. An empire was trying to halt European integration. A tyranny was attempting to crush a neighboring democracy. On occupied territories, Russia perpetrated genocidal atrocities with clear expressions of genocidal intent.
And yet, Ukraine was fighting back. Ukrainians resisted the nuclear blackmail, scorned the vaunted empire and took risks for their democracy. At Kyiv, Kharkiv and, later, Kherson, they beat back the Russians.
We were at a historical turning point. But where was the history? The television screens were full of Ukraine day in and day out, and the one thing any viewer could say with confidence was that the commentators had never studied Ukraine.
Read the full opinion here.
Teaching a lecture class on Ukrainian history last fall, I felt a touch of the surreal. The war in Ukraine had been going on for half a year when I began. A nuclear power had attacked a state that had given up its nuclear weapons. An empire was trying to halt European integration. A tyranny was attempting to crush a neighboring democracy. On occupied territories, Russia perpetrated genocidal atrocities with clear expressions of genocidal intent.
And yet, Ukraine was fighting back. Ukrainians resisted the nuclear blackmail, scorned the vaunted empire and took risks for their democracy. At Kyiv, Kharkiv and, later, Kherson, they beat back the Russians.
We were at a historical turning point. But where was the history? The television screens were full of Ukraine day in and day out, and the one thing any viewer could say with confidence was that the commentators had never studied Ukraine.
Read the full opinion here.