Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on his people to keep up their resistance to Russia’s invading forces, saying “every minute determines our fate, our future, whether we will live.”
During his nightly video address to his people, Zelenskyy said late Thursday that, “With every day of our defense, we are getting closer to the peace that we need so much. We are getting closer to victory.”
As Russian troops continue their bombardment, Ukrainians have kept up stiff resistance. Ukraine has accused Moscow of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians to Russia so they could be used as “hostages” to pressure a surrender. But Russia said they've been going of their own free will.
Here are some key things to know about the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
ARE UKRAINIANS BEING FORCED INTO RUSSIA?
Kyiv and Moscow gave conflicting accounts about whether people were being moved to Russia willingly or whether they were being coerced or manipulated.
Ukraine officials say Russian troops are confiscating passports from Ukrainian citizens then moving them to “filtration camps” in Ukraine’s separatist-controlled east before sending them to various distant, economically depressed areas in Russia. Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, were moved against their will.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said 6,000 of those forced to Russia were from the devastated port city of Mariupol, and 15,000 more people in a section of Mariupol under Russian control have had their identifying documents confiscated.
The ministry said the Russians intend to “use them as hostages and put more political pressure on Ukraine.”
But Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said the roughly 400,000 people evacuated to Russia since the start of the war were from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting for control for nearly eight years.
WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE BATTLEFIELD?
Ukraine’s navy said Thursday that it sank a large landing ship near the port city of Berdyansk that had been used to supply Russian forces with armored vehicles.
Photos and video after the naval attack showed fire and thick plumes of smoke. Russian TV reported earlier this week that the ship, the Orsk, was the first Russian warship to enter Berdyansk. The port was going to be used to deliver military equipment for the Russians, the report said.
Ukraine also claimed two more ships were damaged and a 3,000-ton fuel tank was destroyed when the Orsk was sunk, causing a fire that spread to nearby ammunition supplies.
A local government official in the northern city of Chernihiv said a “catastrophe” is unfolding as Russian troops deliberately target sites where food is being stored. An airstrike there this week destroyed a crucial bridge.
City council secretary Olexander Lomako estimated that more than 130,000 people remain in the city, which had a pre-war population of 285,000, but that Ukraine remains in full control. He said the “Ukrainian flag waves here" and that the city's ancestors never thought of surrendering to enemies.
About half the population of the eastern city of Kharkiv has left, and food and other essentials are dwindling for those who stay behind. A line formed Thursday at an apartment block as neighbors waited for aid from the Red Cross.
“Among those who stayed, there are people who can walk on their own, but many who cannot walk, the elderly,” said Hanna Spitsyna, who distributed the food to the sound of explosions behind her.
Kharkiv has been under siege by Russian forces since the start of the invasion, with relentless shelling that has forced people to sleep in metro stations and in basements.
Late Thursday, Russian forces fired two missiles at a Ukrainian military unit on the outskirts of Dnipro, the fourth-largest city in the country, emergency services said. The strikes destroyed buildings and set off two fires, it said, adding that the number of killed and wounded was still being established.
HOW IS THE WEST CRACKING DOWN ON RUSSIA?
Western nations continued to crank up the cost of war for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Germany’s economy minister said Friday that his country has forged contracts with new suppliers that will allow it to significantly reduce its reliance on Russian coal, gas and oil in the coming weeks.
He said Germany also expects to be able to become almost entirely independent of Russian gas by mid-2024. To do this the government has secured the use of three “floating” terminals capable of regasifying LNG brought in by ship and is working hard to build permanent LNG terminals for long-term imports.
Even as the Russian stock market opened to limited trading Thursday, the Group of Seven leaders announced they are restricting the Russian Central Bank’s use of gold.
The U.S. also announced a new round of sanctions targeting 48 state-owned defense companies, 328 members of the Duma, Russia’s lower parliament, and dozens of Russian elites. The White House said the efforts were designed to blunt Russia’s ability to use its international reserves to fund the war.
Britain on Thursday sanctioned 65 more companies and individuals over the invasion. The targets include Russia’s largest private bank and a woman who the British government says is the stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
But Hungary, known for being Putin's strongest ally within the EU, said
WHAT HAS THE AP DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED?
The outskirts of Kharkiv were shrouded by foggy smoke Friday, with shelling constant since early in the morning. In a city hospital, doctors on Thursday treated a dozen civilians and on Friday several injured soldiers arrived, with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Even as doctors stabilized the direst case, the sound of shelling could be heard in the surgery ward.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show thick black smoke rising Thursday over the port in Berdyansk, with a large ship on fire. The timing of the photos correspond with what the Ukrainian navy described as a successful attack on a Russian landing craft. The image also corresponds to online videos purportedly showing the attack at the port in the city held by Russia on the Sea of Azov.
Shelling was heard in northern Kharkiv on Thursday afternoon, and AP journalists saw an ambulance collecting four bodies near the remnants of rockets. Smoke billowed from neighborhoods and at least one house was destroyed.
WHAT ABOUT WAR CRIMES?
Dozens of nations met Thursday in The Hague to pledge support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation into whether Russia committed war crimes in Ukraine.
Britain said it was boosting its support for the ICC’s Ukraine probe with extra funds and specialist staff. France announced it will provide magistrates, investigators and experts and 500,000 euros ($550,000) in extra funding.
British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the meeting was important to show support for a prosecution office that has often been stretched financially. Raab said the meeting also sends a message that these 38 countries “will not stand for impunity in Ukraine.” He said Russian leaders and commanders, whether in Moscow or on the ground in Ukraine, will be held accountable if they commit war crimes.
The meeting came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration made a formal determination that Russian troops have committed war crimes. The U.S. is not a member state of the ICC, but could still help gather evidence.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
