Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska detailed the war’s impact on her family, saying they were basically ripped apart like much of the nation, according to The Washington Post.

Zelenska and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat down for a joint television interview with ICTV, making it only the second time the couple has appeared together since the invasion began, the Post reported.

“Our family was torn apart, as every other Ukrainian family,” Zelenska said. “He lives at his job. We didn’t see him at all for 2 1/2 months.”

Zelenska has kept a low profile since the war began. She made a public appearance for the first time earlier this month when meeting with U.S. first lady Jill Biden in Ukraine. Zelenskyy warned in February that he was Russia’s “target No. 1” and his family was “target No. 2.”

Read the full report from The Washington Post here.

— Jessica Bursztynsky

Western sanctions on Russia have stymied logistical routes for trade across the country, Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said, according to state media outlet TASS.

“The sanctions that have been imposed on the Russian Federation today have practically broken all logistics (corridors) in our country. And we are forced to look for new logistics corridors together,” he said.

— Natasha Turak

Russia pressed its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region Sunday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the outcome of the grueling conflict would determine whether his country’s fate lies with the West or under Moscow’s domination.

After declaring its full control of a sprawling seaside steel plant that was the last defense holdout in the port city of Mariupol, the Russian military launched artillery and missile attacks in Ukraine’s industrial heartland, seeking to expand the territory Moscow-backed separatists have held since 2014.

In a Saturday night video address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation in the Donbas as “really hard” but “the fact that we are able to say this on the 87th day of a full-scale war against Russia is good news.”

“Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans of Russia, disrupting them, is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main day. The desired day that we are all looking forward to and fighting for: Victory Day,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy’s remarks came as Poland’s president prepared to meet with him to support Ukraine’s goal of becoming a candidate for European Union membership, an issue set to be decided at an EU summit in late June.

As the West rallies behind Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda made an unannounced visit to Kyiv and on Sunday became the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament since the start of the war.

— Associated Press

The destroyed city of Mariupol is on the verge of a major health crisis, its Mayor Vadim Boychenko said, brought on by the shallow burials of people left in mass graves by Russian forces, the warming weather, the breakdown of sewage systems and summer rains.

“In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe created by the (Russian) occupiers and collaborators, the city is on the verge of an outbreak of infectious diseases,” Boychenko wrote on the messaging app Telegram. He warned that water sources could become contaminated as well, and urged Russian forces to let residents safely leave the city.

Mariupol has seen some of the worst human suffering of any city in Ukraine, and has been completely blockaded by Russian forces since the start of March. Its strategic position as a southern port city makes it a key target for Russia as it would provide a land border between Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and Russian separatist-backed territories in the east.

Ukrainian officials say that the once-thriving city with a pre-war population of 500,000 has been “wiped off the map.”

— Natasha Turak

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has warned of a food crisis to follow the energy crisis as its ports, from which vital exports of agricultural produce are exported to the rest of the world, remain blocked by Russian forces and attacks.

“The world community must help Ukraine unblock seaports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis and many more countries will face it,” Zelenskyy said.

“Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food — our grain, barley, sunflower and more. A lot of things.”

“There will be a crisis in the world,” he warned. “The second crisis after the energy one, which was provoked by Russia. Now it will create a food crisis if we do not unblock the routes for Ukraine, do not help the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, which need these food products.”

Before the war, more than 95% of Ukraine’s total grain, wheat and corn exports was shipped out via the Black Sea, and half of those exports went to countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The region is already facing severe food inflation and shortages.

— Natasha Turak

Polish president Andrzej Duda is in Kyiv to make a speech to Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, making his the first foreign head of state to do so since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Duda arrived in the capital on Saturday and “will deliver the address as the first head of a foreign state since the outbreak of the war,” his office said in a statement. Poland has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the war began and has taken in nearly 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees, more than half of the total exodus from the country so far.

— Natasha Turak

The U.K.’s Ministry of Defence believes that Russia’s only operational company of BMP-T Terminator tank support vehicles has likely been deployed to Severodonetsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, where Russian forces are heavily concentrating strikes to gain territory.

The use of these vehicles suggests that a body called the Central Grouping of Forces (CGF) is part of the attack, the ministry said in a tweet, as it is the only formation that has them. “CGF previously suffered heavy losses while failing to break through to eastern Kyiv in the first phase of the invasion,” the ministry’s latest daily intelligence update read.

“The Severodonetsk area remains one of Russia’s immediate tactical priorities. However, with a maximum of ten Terminators deployed they are unlikely to have a significant impact on the campaign,” it added.

— Natasha Turak

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow as Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region and stopped providing gas to Finland.

After ending weeks of resistance by the last Ukrainian fighters in the strategic southeastern city of Mariupol, Russia is waging what appears to be a major offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas.

Russian-backed separatists already controlled swathes of territory in Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk province before the Feb. 24 invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the last remaining Ukrainian-held territory in Donbas.

“The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. The Russian army was trying to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk, but Ukrainian forces were holding off their advance, he said.

Earlier, Zelenskiy told local television that while the fighting would be bloody, the end would come only through diplomacy and that the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory would be temporary.

Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak ruled out agreeing to a ceasefire and said Kyiv would not accept any deal with Moscow that involved ceding territory. He said making concessions would backfire on Ukraine because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting.

“The war will not stop (after concessions). It will just be put on pause for some time,” Podolyak, Ukraine’s lead negotiator, told Reuters in an interview in the heavily guarded presidential office.

“They’ll start a new offensive, even more bloody and large-scale.”

— Reuters

President Joe Biden tweeted a video of himself signing legislation authorizing an additional $40 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Biden inked the aid boost, which was overwhelmingly approved by Congress this week, during his state visit to Seoul, South Korea.

“This law will allow us to continue sending security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine as they continue to defend their democracy and freedom,” the tweet from Biden’s official White House Twitter account said.

Biden also during his visit signed the Access to Baby Formula Act, which is designed to alleviate a nationwide shortage of formula in the United States.

Both bills were flown to South Korea by a U.S. government official on a commercial jet who was already planning to travel to Asia for work-related duties, a White House official told NBC News.

— Dan Mangan

Russia on Saturday released a list of nearly 1,000 Americans who are now permanently barred from entering the country, an action likely in response to sanctions imposed on the nation following its February invasion of Ukraine.

The list includes President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton and George Soros. It also names 211 Republicans and 224 Democrats from both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

There are also a few notable omissions. Former President Donald Trump and Mike Pence, who served as his vice president, are not included. Former President Barack Obama is also not on the list.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more here.

— Carmen Reinicke