Russia-Ukraine latest: Biden calls Putin a ‘war criminal’ over Ukraine invasion
Now that he's called Putin a war criminal, let's see if he backs his words with the Hague . . . Don't hold your breath . . .
March 16, 2022 3:31pm Updated
And in the end to sum it up.
President Zelensky addresses U.S. Congress
Follow the latest news updates of the war in Ukraine with the New York Post’s live coverage.
What you need to know:
Zelensky plays Congress a heartbreaking video of the horrors of Russia’s war
Ukraine claims ‘serious blow’ to Russia with ‘liquidation’ of another top general
Drone footage appears to show Russian soldiers shooting civilian with his hands up
Biden calls Vladimir Putin a 'war criminal' over Ukraine invasion
By mmoorenyp
President Biden on Wednesday called Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” because of the Russian leader’s invasion of Ukraine.
“He is a war criminal,” Biden told reporters as he was walking out of an event at the White House.
A reporter raised the question with Biden, asking “Mr. President, after everything we’ve seen, are you ready to call Putin a war criminal.”
At first, Biden said, “No.”
The reporter from Fox News then asked if Biden will travel to Poland where more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees have fled since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.
“Did you ask me whether I should call?” Biden said. “Oh, I think he is a war criminal.”
Ukrainian nurses use makeshift clinic to look after 21 surrogate babies who can't be collected by parents
By Lee Brown
Ukrainian nurses have set up a makeshift clinic in the basement of a Kyiv apartment building to care for 21 babies — all surrogates whose parents cannot collect them because of the war.
One of the carers, Oksana Martynenko, is committed to the helpless newborns even as she is unable to reach her own children, who are with their grandmother 200 miles away in Sumy.
“But we cannot leave these babies … It is not their fault that it happened,” Martynenko told Reuters of the surrogates.
REUTERS
REUTERS
REUTERS
“It is not their fault that parents cannot come to take them. So we stay here, we are coping and helping them with what we can.”
With Post wires
Russian forces have released mayor of the city of Melitopol, Zelensky's office says
By Reuters
Russian forces have released the mayor of the city of Melitopol who they detained last week, a senior official in the office of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.
“The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, has been released from Russian captivity,” Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said in an online post. Ukraine had said Fedorov was kidnapped last Friday by Russian forces.
UN's World Court orders Russia to 'immediately suspend' war
By Lee Brown
The United Nations’ top court on Wednesday ordered Russia to “immediately suspend the special military operations” against Ukraine.
The ruling by the International Court of Justice came after Ukraine accused the Kremlin of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by falsely accusing Ukraine of genocide to justify its invasion.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
Although the rulings are binding, the ICJ — also known as the World Court — has no direct means of enforcing them, and countries previously ignored them.
Still, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky celebrated the “complete victory.”
“Russia must comply immediately. Ignoring the order will isolate Russia even further,” he tweeted.
Zelensky: WWIII 'may have already started'
By Ben Kesslen
World War III “may have already started” when Russia invaded Ukraine, said President Zelensky in a new interview on Wednesday.
“Nobody knows whether it may have already started,” he said of a global battle in an interview with NBC News. “And what is the possibility of this war if Ukraine will fall, in case Ukraine will? It’s very hard to say.”
Reuters
He continued: “And we’ve seen this 80 years ago, when the second world war had started … nobody would be able to predict when the full-scale war would start.”
Footage in occupied Black Sea city shows Russians firing at Ukrainian protests
By Ben Kesslen
Harrowing footage out of the occupied Black Sea port city of Skadovsk on Wednesday appears to show the Russian military firing at Ukrainian protesters.
The video, obtained by Barcroft Studios, shows protesters screaming and running away from Russian troops amid what seems to be gunfire and the deployment of tear gas.
Massive blasts can be heard in the background of the video taken in the small city in the heavily embattled Kherson Oblast, just north of Crimea.
Mariupol theater bombed while sheltering civilians, authorities say
City officials in the besieged city of Mariupol said Wednesday that Russian bombing had hit a theater that was being used to shelter civilians.
The officials said they did not know if there were any casualties in the strike, but said hundreds of civilians had been taking refuge in the building.
Mariupol, a southern port city on the Sea of Azov, has been under siege and bombardment from Russian forces for more than two weeks.
With Post wires
Biden addresses US aid to Ukraine after Zelensky’s appeal to Congress
Hours after Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky brought members of Congress to their feet twice with an emotional speech asking for more help fending off the Russian invasion, President Biden showed up more than an hour late to announce additional military aid to the Kyiv government.
Biden, facing bipartisan pressure to grant Zelensky’s request to facilitate the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland, was expected instead to announce $800 million in new US military aid.
Reuters
Putin vows to stop the West's plot to gain 'geopolitical' dominance
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Wednesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be successful and defiantly vowed to triumph over what he called a Western plot to achieve “geopolitical” dominance over his country.
In a televised speech to government ministers, Putin insisted that the invasion he ordered on Feb. 24 was “going to plan” and that Western nations wanted to turn Russia into a “weak dependent country; violate its territorial integrity; to dismember Russia in a way that suits them.”
“Behind the hypocritical talk and today’s actions of the so-called collective West are hostile geopolitical goals,” he said.
Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
“They just don’t want a strong and sovereign Russia.”
But Putin said that if the Western leaders think Russia will back down, “they don’t know our history or our people.”
Putin also made his bluntest admission to date that sanctions had devastated the Russian economy, saying that inflation and unemployment would continue to rise.
“The West doesn’t even bother to hide that their aim is to damage the entire Russian economy, every Russian,” he said.
Putin said recovery would require structural changes and pledged government aid to families with children.
With Post wires
Ukraine demands direct talks, ceasefire and Russian withdrawal
By czininyp
Ukrainian negotiator and presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Wednesday that any peace deal with Russia would be on Ukrainian terms.
“Our position at the negotiations is quite specific – legally verified security guarantees; ceasefire; withdrawal of Russian troops,” Podolyak said. “This is possible only with a direct dialogue between the heads of Ukraine and the Russian Federation,”
AP; Facebook
Podolyak said the Ukrainian government is rejecting Russian demands that they declare formal neutrality as a prerequisite for peace.
With Post wires
European human rights council expels Russia
The Council of Europe has expelled Russia, citing the increasingly isolated nation’s “unjustified and unprovoked aggression” against Ukraine.
The 47-nation human rights body voted late Tuesday to kick Moscow out of the organization. Photos showed officials removing Russia’s flag from outside the Council headquarters in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday.
AP
In a joint statement, the Council’s leadership rebuked Russia for its aggression, and for failing to provide democratic rights to its own citizens.
“We express solidarity with the Russian people who, we firmly believe, share democratic values and aspire to remain part of the European family where they belong,” they wrote.
With Post wires
Zelensky makes personal plea to Biden: 'Be the leader of peace'
By Mark Moore
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky made a personal plea to President Biden during his rare wartime address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
“President Biden you are the leader of your nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace,” he said.
Getty Images
Zelensky, whose country is under constant attack from Russian President Vladimir Putin, invoked Pearl Harbor and the terror attacks of Sept. 11 to rouse the US to provide more military assistance to Ukraine, including MiG fighters jets from Poland and the creation of a no-fly zone.
“Russia has turned the skies into a source of death for thousands of people,” he said.
Zelensky receives standing ovation as he addresses Congress
Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has received a standing ovation from US lawmakers as he kicked off an address to Congress in what is expected to be the most dramatic remarks by a foreign leader in years.
Ukraine says 10 people shot dead while standing in line for bread
By Lee Brown
Horrifying video shows a line of bodies on the street after Russian forces shot and killed at least 10 Ukrainian citizens standing in line for bread on Wednesday, according to local officials.
The video, shared on Ukraine’s parliament’s Telegram page, showed the blurred-out bodies in front of a building in Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of capital Kyiv.
“Today, Russian forces shot and killed 10 people standing in line for bread in Chernihiv,” the US Embassy in Kyiv also tweeted.
“Such horrific attacks must stop. We are considering all available options to ensure accountability for any atrocity crimes in Ukraine.”
Photos: Rescue crews respond to the devastation in Kharkiv
By Post Staff
REUTERS
Red Cross seeks greater access in Ukraine
GENEVA — The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross is in Kyiv to try to obtain greater access for humanitarian groups in Ukraine and better protection for civilians.
The ICRC said Wednesday that the planned five-day visit by its president, Peter Maurer, aims to view first-hand the challenges facing civilians, meet with members of Ukraine’s government and explore ways the ICRC can expand its work in the country.
Getty Images
The trip came a day after the Geneva-based organization helped shepherd out hundreds of people in an evacuation from the northern city of Sumy in some 80 buses.
The ICRC also announced the delivery of 200 tons of aid to Ukraine, including kits for the war-wounded, blankets, kitchen sets, water and more than 5,200 body bags.
The ICRC has been working in Ukraine since 2014 and has a team of more than 600 staffers there, it says.
Kremlin says neutral Ukraine, like Austria, is possible compromise
By Reuters
LONDON, March 16 – Russia said on Wednesday that a neutral Ukraine with its own army along the lines of Austria or Sweden was being looked at as a possible compromise in peace talks with Kyiv.
“This is a variant that is currently being discussed and which could really be seen a compromise,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.
Getty Images
He was speaking nearly three weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, in what it calls a special military operation.
Suspected strike on Russian-held airport
LVIV, Ukraine — Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show a suspected Ukrainian strike on the Russian-held Kherson International Airport and Air Base set several helicopters and vehicles ablaze.
The images Tuesday at the dual-use airfield show thick black smoke rising overhead from the blazes. At least three helicopters appeared to be on fire, as well as several vehicles. At a pad further away, other helicopters appeared damaged from an earlier strike.
The Ukrainian president’s office said that fighting had continued at Kherson airport on Tuesday, with “powerful blasts” rocking the area during the course of the day. They said they were assessing damage in the area, without elaborating.
Planet Labs PBC via AP
Kherson is about 275 miles southeast of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Meanwhile, satellite images Tuesday of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, showed no damage to the site’s six reactors after Russian forces engaged in a firefight to seize the facility. Zaporizhzhia is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and the fighting raised fears about safety there.
Zaporizhzhia is about the same distance and direction as Kherson from Kyiv. Residents in the region are building barricades and setting up firing positions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said some 4,000 vehicles left Mariupol in the first major evacuation from the besieged southern city, but most of the convoy spent the night on the road out toward Zaporizhzhia.
Dutch and others will continue to deliver weapons to Ukraine
By Reuters
AMSTERDAM – The Netherlands and other NATO countries will continue to deliver weapons to Ukraine even as these deliveries could become the target of Russian attacks, Dutch defense minister Kajsa Ollongren said on Wednesday.
Getty Images
“The Netherlands and other countries will continue to deliver weapons to Ukraine”, Ollongren said at her arrival for a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
“Ukraine has the right to defend itself, we will continue to support it.”
Two injured, 35 more rescued after Kyiv partial building collapse
By Alec Gearty
Russian shelling caused the partial collapse of a 12-story residential building in Kyiv on Wednesday morning.
Two people were injured in the collapse while 35 people were safely evacuated from the building, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.
The twelfth and technical floors collapsed during the shelling. Officials extinguished across multiple floors. A nearby 9-story building suffered partial damage.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter
State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Kyiv enters 35-hour curfew
By Alec Gearty
Following Russian shelling in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko imposed a curfew in Ukraine’s capital. The curfew, which began at 8 p.m. Tuesday, will span 35 hours.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Russia-Ukraine war: Key things to know about the conflict
Russian forces are pounding Ukrainian cities and edging closer to the capital, Kyiv, in a relentless bombardment that keeps deepening the humanitarian crisis in this war, now in its third week.
Still, a narrow diplomatic channel remains open, with a Ukrainian official saying Tuesday’s talks with the Russians were difficult, but that there was room for compromise.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told European leaders gathered in London on Tuesday that he realizes NATO has no intention of accepting Ukraine. Zelensky has this indicated before but this statement was more explicit. Russia has demanded that Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO, adopt a neutral status and demilitarize.
U.S. President Joe Biden will announce Wednesday the U.S. is delivering more military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-armor and air defense weapons. Zelensky is scheduled to speak to Congress Wednesday via video.
Aid Ukraine to halt Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping’s diabolical plans
From the outset of the Russian invasion, the words used to describe Ukraine’s chances covered a range of possibilities — with one glaring exception. Hardly anyone dared even talk about a Ukrainian victory.
Starting now, that must change. China’s apparent willingness to assist Vladimir Putin’s army in addition to helping him avoid economic sanctions dramatically raises the stakes. A Russian victory in Ukraine now would be a triumph for a New World Order led by brutal autocrats and a defeat for the West and democracy itself.
Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File
To prevent that disastrous outcome, the United States and Europe must sharply increase their help for beleaguered Ukraine when they meet next week in Brussels. Short of sending NATO troops or starting any direct military conflict with Russia, they must do everything possible to help Ukraine defeat Putin, or at least deny him the total victory he wants.
President Biden can make a down payment on the new approach before leaving Washington by finally approving the transfer of 28 fighter jets from Poland.
Office platform Slack cuts off Russian companies without notice: report
The office communications company Slack had cut off Russian businesses from its platform, according to Axios.
Several companies had reported being locked out of their accounts without notice amid international economic sanctions, the outlet reported.
“Slack is required to take action to comply with sanctions regulations in the US and other countries where we operate, including in some circumstances suspending accounts without prior notice, as mandated by law,” the company, which is owned by Salesforce, told Axios.
Slack was not deleting data, but companies would be unable to download their information until sanctions were lifted, the outlet reported.
Peace talks more 'realistic,' says Ukraine's Zelensky
By Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday peace talks were sounding more realistic but more time was needed, as Russian air strikes killed five people in the capital Kyiv and the refugee tally from Moscow’s invasion reached 3 million.
Moscow has not captured any of Ukraine’s 10 biggest cities following its incursion that began on Feb. 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945.
Ukrainian officials have raised hopes the war could end sooner than expected, possibly by May, saying Moscow may be coming to terms with its failure to impose a new government by force and running out of fresh troops.
“The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a video address on Wednesday, ahead of the next round of talks.
Trump 'surprised' at Putin's war in Ukraine: report
Former President Donald Trump said he’s “surprised” Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and cracked down on freedoms in Russia, in an interview with the Washington Examiner Tuesday.
“I’m surprised — I’m surprised. I thought he was negotiating when he sent his troops to the border. I thought he was negotiating,” the Republican reportedly said.
“I thought it was a tough way to negotiate but a smart way to negotiate.”
As the unprovoked invasion began, Trump called Putin a “genius,” but later said the war would not have happened if he had been re-elected.
Top US diplomat: Independent Ukraine will outlast Putin
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not mince words when predicting who would emerge from the war in Ukraine with longevity.
“One way or the other, Ukraine will be there and at some point Putin won’t,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s “The Situation Room” Tuesday.
His remarks came as the US tries to find a balance between aiding its ally and not further escalating the Russian invasion.
The US is “working as hard as we can to limit, to stop, to put an end to this war of choice that Russia is committing,” he reportedly said.
Ineptocracy
A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminng number of producers.
