US fears Russia could develop ‘concentration camps’; Ukraine school sheltering 400 residents is bombed: Live updates
bombed a theater in Mariupol where civilians took shelter. Mariupol, a strategic port on the Azov Sea, has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks, cut off from energy, food and water supplies and facing a relentless bombardment.
►President Biden’s planned trip to Europe does not include a stop in Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted Sunday. The trip will include a stop at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday; other details will be announced later Sunday, she said.
►Russian forces kidnapped the deputy mayor of Enerhodar, Ivan Samoydiuk, the city council reported. The southeastern city of 50,000 people is near the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. Locals have been protesting and blocking roads since the Russian military took control of the plant.
►Researchers tracking Russian equipment losses that were photographed or recorded on video say Russia has lost more than 1,500 tanks, trucks, mounted equipment and other heavy gear. Two out of three of those were captured or abandoned.
used a hypersonic missile Friday to strike a western Ukraine target, the Interfax news agency reported. Hypersonic missiles can move at up to five times the speed of sound. The Russian military said these missiles are capable of hitting targets from 1,200 miles, or roughly the distance from New York City to Kansas City.
Zelenskyy: Siege of Mariupol will be remembered for centuries
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the siege of Mariupol would go down in history for what he described as war crimes committed by Russian troops and raised the specter of a “third world war” if negotiations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin fail.
“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to his nation Sunday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia is killing citizens in Ukraine because its invasion has stalled, describing the tactic as “disgusting.”
“We’ve seen deliberate targeting of cities and towns and civilians throughout the last several weeks,” Austin said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.”
The United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry assessment released Sunday mirrored Austin’s concerns. The ministry said Russia has increased its indiscriminate shelling of urban areas, resulting in widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties.
“Over the past week Russian forces have made limited progress in capturing these cities,” the ministry tweeted Sunday. “It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower to support assaults on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses – at the cost of further civilian casualties.”
Zelenskyy appealed to Putin to hold talks with him directly and said ongoing negotiations with Russia were “not simple or pleasant” but are necessary.
“I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, possibility of talking to Putin,” Zelenskyy told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
“But,” he added, “if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.
– David Jackson
Rep. Liz Cheney: US must stop telling Russia ‘what we won’t do’
The United States and NATO must stop publicizing their unwillingness to get too involved in the Ukraine war, Rep. Liz Cheney said Sunday. The West must make it clear that all options are being considered – and that use of chemical weapons could alter our calculation. She said “telling the Russians what we won’t do” is not helpful, adding that it’s very important that Russian President Vladimir Putin not “reap any rewards” for his aggression.
“Putin’s actions so far have demonstrated first of all, that the Russian military is nowhere near as capable as the world perhaps thought it was,” Cheney said. “Probably not as capable as Putin thought it was.”
Pope denounces ‘cruel and sacrilegious inhumanity’ of war
Pope Francis denounced Russia’s “repugnant war” against Ukraine as “cruel and sacrilegious inhumanity.” In some of his strongest words yet since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, Francis on Sunday told thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square that every day brings more atrocities in what is a “senseless massacre.”
“There is no justification for this,” Francis said, in an apparent reference to Russia, which sought to justify its invasion as vital for its own defense. But Francis again stopped short of naming Russia as the aggressor. Pontiffs typically have decried wars and their devastating toll on civilians without citing warmongers by name.
Francis also called on “all actors in the international community” to work toward ending the war. “Again this week, missiles, bombs, rained down on the elderly, children and pregnant mothers,” the pope said. His thoughts, he said, went to the millions who flee. “And I feel great pain for those who don’t even have the chance to escape,’’ Francis added.
Russia regrouping, Ukraine military says
Russian forces focused on sorting out logistics and regrouping on Saturday rather than undertaking offensive operations, Ukraine military officials reported in a Sunday morning update. The military maneuvers, or lack thereof, have experts around the world increasingly concerned that a stalemate could be on the horizon, with “enormous casualties” possible as troops focus on civilian targets.
A report from the Institute for the Study of War concluded that Ukrainian forces have defeated the initial Russian campaign of the war, but the report also highlighted activity of Russian forces, which have shown signs of “digging in around the periphery of Kyiv and elsewhere.”
“Stalemate is not armistice or cease-fire. It is a condition in war in which each side conducts offensive operations that do not fundamentally alter the situation. Those operations can be very damaging and cause enormous casualties,” Frederick W. Kagan, George Barros and Kateryna Stepanenko wrote in an assessment published Saturday.
experts told USA TODAY last week. A “quagmire is the realistic ‘goal,’” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Russia’s number of dead and wounded in Ukraine is nearing the 10% benchmark of diminished combat effectiveness, said Dmitry Gorenburg, a researcher on Russia’s security at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. The reported battlefield deaths of four Russian generals – out of an estimated 20 in the fight – signal impaired command, he said.
Ukrainian refugees in Moldova include Kristina Paleshev, whose five kids have been waking up at night startled by any loud noises, frightened that they are again under attack.
“We want to go back. I love my country and my town,” Paleshev, 38, said, as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m crying because our people are being killed.”
– Trevor Hughes
introduction of the martial law that envisages a ban on parties associated with Russia.Millions of refugees are fleeing Ukraine. Where are they going?
Chinese President Xi Jinping in talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday urged the parties in Ukraine to “keep the dialogue and negotiation going. The U.S. and NATO should also have dialogue with Russia to address the crux of the Ukraine crisis and ease the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
More coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
- US-China relations:Biden warns Xi of supporting Russia as US-China relations face ‘crossroads’ over Ukraine invasion
- A ‘cold-blooded’ alliance?:China could be a pivotal force in Russia’s war against Ukraine
- Graham calls for Putin assassination:Even discussing it brings danger to US, experts say.
- ‘Please help us’:Weary voices call from Mariupol, where bodies line streets
- American sacrifices:We rationed gas during WWII and the 1970s oil shocks. Will that happen in ‘Putin’s war’?