Russian troops enter Kharkiv;
Zelensky urges top UN court to halt Moscow's invasion - live updates

Jordan Culver and Caren Bohan, USA TODAY

Sun, February 27, 2022,

Russian troops entered Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv and fighting is underway in the streets, according to the Associated Press.

Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and a light vehicle burning on the street. Residents were urged to stay inside.

The troops in Kharkiv arrived after Russia unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine targeting airfields and fuel facilities.

Two large explosions rocked an area south of the capital just before 1 a.m. local time. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said one of the blasts was near the Zhuliany airport and the other blast hit an oil depot about 25 miles south of the capital, according to the mayor of Vasylkiv via the AP. Russian forces also blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, according to the Ukrainian president's office.

The United Nations says it has confirmed at least 240 civilian casualties, including at least 64 people killed in the fighting in Ukraine that erupted since Russia’s invasion on Thursday, according to the AP. Though, the UN believes the toll may be "considerably higher.”

A view of a residential building damaged by recent shelling in Kharkiv on Feb. 26, 2022. - Russia ordered its troops to advance in Ukraine "from all directions" as the Ukrainian capital Kyiv imposed a blanket curfew and officials reported 198 civilian deaths.

More than 200,000 people have fled the Ukraine to neighboring countries. UN officials believe up to 4 million people could leave if fighting continues.

Meanwhile, the United States and its European allies agreed to remove “selected” Russian banks from the international SWIFT messaging system, which allows for the movement of financial transactions.

A few things to catch you up:

THE NEWS COMES TO YOU: Get the latest updates on situation in Ukraine. Sign up here.

WHY IS RUSSIA INVADING UKRAINE?: Could this be the start of WWIII? We explain.

BACK IN THE STATES: What is the draft? And can it ever be reinstated here?

BANNED FROM SWIFT?: How banning Russia from the world banking system could impact the country

This general view shows damage to the upper floors of a building in Kyiv on February 26, 2022, after it was reportedly struck by a Russian rocket.

Kyiv eerily quite after explosions

The capital, Kyiv, was eerily quiet after huge explosions lit up the morning sky and authorities reported blasts at one of the airports. Only an occasional car appeared on a deserted main boulevard as a strict 39-hour curfew kept people off the streets. Terrified residents instead hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale Russian assault.

“The past night was tough – more shelling, more bombing of residential areas and civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “There is not a single facility in the country that the occupiers wouldn’t consider as admissible targets.”

An armed civil defense woman holds a Kalashnikov assault rifle while patrolling an empty street due to a curfew in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.

Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. The images showed Russian troops roaming the city in small groups. In one image, Ukrainian troops were seen firing at the Russians and damaged Russian light utility vehicles abandoned nearby.

The images underscored the determined resistance Russian troops face while attempting to enter Ukraine’s bigger cities. Ukrainians have volunteered en masse to help defend the capital, Kyiv, and other cities, taking guns distributed by authorities and preparing firebombs to fight Russian forces.

– Associated Press

Zelenskyy asks UN top court to halt Russian invasion, says Moscow 'manipulating the notion of genocide'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of manipulating the notion of genocide to justify invading its neighbor and urged the International Court of Justice to hold trials.

Located in The Hague in the Netherlands, the ICJ is the main judicial arm of the United Nations.

"Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

The ICJ rules on disputes between states, including responsibility for breaches of international law. It is not linked to the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, which holds individuals accountable for atrocities.

– Caren Bohan and Associated Press

Zelenskyy is a lion of a leader | Opinion

“I need ammunition, not a ride.” Those are the words proclaimed by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the midst of terrible death and destruction and the most egregious threat to Europe since World War II, Ukrainians are teaching the rest of the world a lesson about freedom, resolve and love of country.

When offered an escape from Kyiv, allegedly by the United States, the 44-year-old Ukrainian president immediately rejected the notion and demonstrated selfless leadership and a portrait of courage generally reserved for Hollywood.

Many leaders would have abandoned ship, putting their own personal safety above that of their countrymen. Zelenskyy, on the other hand, is taking a stand for freedom, boldly demonstrating that freedom is worth fighting for; that a government of, by and for the people is worth defending.

-- August Pfluger (Read more of August Pfluger's column.)

NHL star Alex Ovechkin called over over stance on war

Hockey Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek has called for the NHL to "immediately suspend contracts for all Russian players" amidst Russia's deadly invasion of Ukraine.

The 57-year-old Czech also had some choice words for Washington Capitals' Russian-born star Alex Ovechkin, a supporter of President Vladimir Putin.

Hasek, who played in the NHL for 16-seasons and is widely considered one of the best goaltenders of all time, called Ovechkin an "alibist," a "liar" and a "chicken (expletive)" after Ovechkin failed to publicly denounce Putin and his country's aggression.

-- Cydney Henderson

Ukraine rejects location for talks with Russia

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country is ready for peace talks with Russia but not in Belarus.

Speaking in a video message Sunday, Zelenskyy suggested meeting in Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku. He said other locations are also possible but made clear that Ukraine doesn’t accept Russia’s selection of Belarus, which Russia has used as a staging ground for its invasion.

The Kremlin said Sunday that a Russian delegation had arrived in the Belarusian city of Homel for talks with Ukrainian officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegation includes military officials and diplomats.

-- Associated Press

Russia's cutting off port access

Russia was working Sunday to limit strategic strategic ports along the Ukraine’s coastline stretching from the border with Romania in the west to the border with Russia in the east. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Russian forces had blocked the cities of Kherson on the Black Sea and the port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea.

Russia’s military also put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the south of Ukraine, blocking the cities of Kherson on the Black Sea and the port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea.

Cutting Ukraine’s access to its sea ports would deal a major blow to the country’s economy.

-- Associated Press

Russia targets Ukraine airfields in next phase

Russia unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine targeting airfields and fuel facilities in what appeared to be the next phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance. The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and powerful sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow.

Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.

-- Associated Press

Where are Russian military forces? Tracking the Ukraine invasion

'You cannot defeat a whole nation'

On Sunday morning, Ukranian writer Illarion Pavliuk plans to set out on a dangerous journey to help his countrymen as explosions rock Kyiv, and outgunned Ukrainian forces continue to maintain control of their capital.

Pavliuk is not a solider, but he does have a military background. In 2015, he was an intelligence volunteer in the war in Eastern Ukraine. And yet, this is what Ukraine has become – a country where internationally acclaimed artists are forced to kiss their children goodnight before they go off to defend their homeland from the occupying force. "We will never give up and we are going to win this war. You cannot defeat the whole nation. And Ukrainians are absolutely united as a nation now."

His words are haunting and powerful, with his children in the background.

"What can I tell you about this war? It is difficult to say a couple of words," he says. "I would never ever imagine my four children dropping their toys and running to sit in the thickest doorway in the house because of cruise missiles above our city; ballistic missiles.

"And I would never imagine this and I will never forgive Russia."

– Carli Pierson, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russian troops in Kharkiv; Zelenskyy makes plea to UN - live updates

Many Russians aren't buying the war Putin is selling




Dave Lawler

AXIOS
Thu, February 24, 2022

Vladimir Putin has launched an unprovoked ground war in a neighboring country after only the most perfunctory attempt to convince his own people, and with no groundswell of support behind him.

Why it matters: That’s a dangerous proposition for any leader, even an autocrat as entrenched as Putin. But while some experts believe high casualties or sanctions-induced economic distress could destabilize Putin’s regime, others contend that a quick victory would solidify his historic legacy in many Russians’ eyes.

Driving the news: Hundreds of protesters marched through central Moscow Thursday night chanting "no to war," while hundreds more gathered in St. Petersburg, all despite an explicit threat of arrest from the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, several celebrities, journalists and other public figures publicly criticized the invasion.

That stands in stark contrast to the 2014 annexation of Crimea, when the government actively mobilized mass shows of support for a highly popular operation.

This time around, there was "no big demand" for war, and Putin — with his eyes apparently fixed on history rather than public opinion — hardly tried to generate one, says Alexander Baunov of Carnegie Moscow.

Rather than patriotic fervor, Baunov sensed the slight "embarrassment" of Muscovites on Thursday morning as they withdrew cash from ATMs in case Russia is cut off from the global financial system.

Breaking it down: Most Russians were not expecting war on any scale, let alone a full-scale invasion, but a majority also accepts Putin's argument that the West has created the crisis, says Denis Volkov, director of Russia's last independent pollster, the Levada Center.

Just 7% blamed the tensions over Ukraine on the Russian government according to one recent poll, Volkov says. The belief in Western culpability among most Russians "will not be shaken," he adds.

Perceptions of Ukraine were also trending downward before the invasion, in a sign that the relentless coverage on state TV had an effect even as it generated a great deal of fatigue, Volkov says.

Now public opinion is in flux. "It will depend on how long it will be, how bloody it will be, what the response of the West will be," and whether there is some form of protest movement, he says.

What to watch: Most of the groups that have rallied past protests have been systematically dismantled over the past few years, most notably Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.

During court proceedings Thursday that could add 15 years to his prison sentence, Navalny accused Putin of launching the war "to cover up the theft from Russian citizens and divert their attention" from internal problems.

Vladimir Ashurkov, the now-exiled executive director of Navalny's foundation, told reporters over dinner in Washington on Tuesday that the timing of the trial was no accident. "Unfortunately, this Ukrainian shitstorm is putting it into the shadows," he said.

Ashurkov conceded that if Russia effectively absorbs Ukraine with minimal casualties and economic fallout, it could bolster Putin internally. Many in the business and governing elite have grown very concerned by Putin's maneuvers, he added, but Putin has shown little interest in any opinion but his own.

The bottom line: "Putin is starting to get more isolated from modernity, from the present time, and thinking of himself as a historic figure, making not politics but history," Baunov says.

He is indeed making history, but the domestic fallout could yet pull him back into the present.

Go deeper: Ukraine-Russia crisis latest developments

Ukraine: Media Groups Join Together For ‘United News’ & Urge World To Turn Off Russian Channels

Max Goldbart
Sat, February 26, 2022


Ukraine’s biggest media groups have united to broadcast one all-encompassing news service to cover the conflict, as they urge the world to impose “media sanctions” and turn off Russian channels.

In a statement in the past hour, 1+1 Media, StarLightMedia, Media Group Ukraine and Inter Media Group said they are now showing one newscast entitled United News, which is “promptly providing comprehensive information from different regions of the country.”

The media groups, the four largest in Ukraine, are taking it in turns to helm the show, which has been forged with the co-operation of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council, the Office of the President of Ukraine and other government bodies.

“It is extremely important that people around the world have access to reliable and truthful information relating to the Russia’s war against Ukraine and the course of hostilities here,” said the statement.

With that in mind, the media groups urged the world to impose “media sanctions” and “turn off the broadcasting of Russian news channels on European satellites.”

“We have been waging an information war for years, and such media sanctions are globally important to Ukraine,” it added. “We understand how powerful the Russian propaganda machine is and what kind of effort the aggressor makes to spread fake news to cynically fool people. We absolutely oppose this.”

When the conflict started in earnest Thursday some Ukrainian channels were still showing entertainment programs but Deadline reported yesterday on a pivot to back-to-back news, with commercial advertising turned off. Ukrainian news bosses have reported through-the-roof TV news ratings in recent weeks and all media groups have enacted contingency plans in order to keep broadcasting.

The statement in full

On behalf of Ukrainian media groups – 1+1 media, StarLightMedia, Media Group Ukraine and Inter Media Group in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, we would like to express our honour and to address you with the following matter.

It is extremely important that people around the world have access to reliable and truthful information relating to the Russia’s war against Ukraine and the course of hostilities here. We understand how powerful the Russian propaganda machine is and what kind of effort the aggressor makes to spread fake news to cynically fool people. We absolutely oppose this!

As of 26 February, the channels of all Ukrainian media groups named above are broadcasting in the format of a single newscast named the United News. The media groups are taking turns in providing uninterrupted information. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council, the Office of the President of Ukraine and other government bodies, on which the course of events depends, have joined the broadcasting. We objectively and promptly provide comprehensive information from different regions of the country 24/7. We are ready to provide TV providers with our signal, and thus, ask you to help spread this information.

We also suggest to our partners to turn off all Russian news channels so that Russia’s outright propaganda does not go beyond Russia itself. In particular, we ask to block, turn off the broadcasting of these channels on European satellites.

We have been waging an information war for years, and such media sanctions are globally important to Ukraine.

Now it is extremely important that people know the truth and understand the real course of events in Ukraine!

The technical parameters for broadcasting are as follows: satellite Astra 4A at 4.8°E, transponder 12 130 (B22), polarization vertical, frequency 27500, FEC ¾.

Putin’s war is gambling with Russia’s future. He’s going to lose this bet.


Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Brian LaPierre
Sat, February 26, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is a cynical, brutal and inhumane example of the discredited and obsolete principle that “might makes right.”

Singlehandedly, Putin has plunged Europe into the worst military crisis since WWII and sank American-Russian relations to the worst depths of the Cold War period. With this obscene and grotesque invasion, Putin is gambling with the future of the country he has misruled and dominated for over two decades. Putin will lose this bet because his war is more than an exercise in ethical and legal nihilism. It is self-defeating.

Through his aggression, Putin has brought about the very outcomes against which he claims to be fighting. Instead of restoring its power, he has isolated Russia diplomatically and smeared its international reputation. Apart from his autocratic allies in China and Mar-a-Lago, Putin has united the world against him and reinforced its commitment to contain Russian expansionism. In contrast to the disunity and ambiguities of the Trump era, Putin has revitalized and given new urgency to both NATO and the Euro-Atlantic alliance of liberal democracies. Rather than rolling back America’s military presence in the former Soviet space, Putin’s hostile policies have led to increased military deployments on Russia’s western frontier.

Putin’s war has also exposed the Russian nation to potentially crippling economic warfare. Sanctions and countersanctions will hurt everyone. They will hit Russia harder and damage it more deeply given his country’s lack of economic depth, diversification and dynamism. If the sanctions regime is robust, unified, and lengthy, Russia will not be able to escape this economic noose through cryptocurrency transactions, Chinese support and internal currency reserves. As the ruble tanks and Russians watch the accumulated purchasing power of their hard-earned savings, pensions, and scholarships disappear, many Russians will wonder whether Putin’s military adventure abroad is worth the price of their lowered living standards and livelihoods.

Militarily, Russia has the force to overwhelm Ukraine in this opening phase of conventional military operations. Russia does not have the force, however, to occupy and control Ukraine in the long term through violence alone. Nor can it do so in the face of widespread Ukrainian opposition, resistance, and prolonged insurgency. While it will be easy to invade Ukraine, Putin will find that it is difficult to pacify it, impossible to Russify it, and dangerous to withdraw from it.

Lastly, I do not (and cannot) believe that the Russian public supports this war. For all his false flag operations, disinformation, and posturing, Putin has not prepared Russia to support a war of aggression and territorial aggrandizement in Ukraine. If this conflict is bloody and protracted, it will be deeply distressing and increasingly unpopular with the average Russian. It will also be deeply destructive to Putin’s political image and domestic reputation as a competent and rational technocrat.

Tragically, it is the ordinary people who will suffer the most from Putin’s hubris and mistakes. Undoubtedly, however, this war will produce many more collateral casualties. One of them—unbeknownst to all the cronies and sycophants in the Kremlin—may be Vladimir Putin’s domestic popularity, legitimacy, and power.

By Dr. Brian LaPierre is an associate professor of history at The University of Southern Mississippi School of Humanities. You can reach him at brian.lapierre@usm.edu.

Our leaders’ contempt for the truth have led us into war | Opinion


Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Leonard Pitts Jr.
Fri, February 25, 2022

Then as now, it began with lies.

On Sept. 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler’s forces crossed the border into Poland. The German chancellor did so on the pretext that ethnic Germans were being persecuted. German operatives, disguised as Poles, even staged an attack on a German radio station, yelling anti-German threats into the microphone.

With that lie, the most devastating war in the history of the world began.

It is far too early to know how devastating this latest European war will turn out to be, how many will die, how many will be left homeless and stateless, how the repercussions will play out across the globe. There is, however, an ominous resonance in the lies from which it arose.

First, Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed he had no intention of invading Ukraine, even as he massed troops on that country’s border. Then he announced Russia would recognize two separatist regions. Finally, shortly before Russian ordnance began to pound the smaller country, he announced a “military operation” aimed at “peacekeeping” and “denazification.”

Now, as then, lies. And now, as then, what strikes you is not just the utter brazenness of them, but the threadbare flimsiness of them. Hitler, granted, put some work into his lie, but at the end of the day, was anyone really expected to believe that Poland, which had more horses than tanks, had suddenly decided to attack its heavily armed neighbor?

Putin’s lies are even shoddier. He would have us believe his forces were needed to keep the peace in a nation that was at peace and to evict Nazis from a nation whose democratically elected president is a Jew. These are the kinds of lies you tell when you don’t care what anyone thinks. Their very shabbiness is an expression of contempt.

And the fact that Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, J.D. Vance, Steve Bannon and other denizens of the American right either lionize this liar — “Savvy,” Trump called him — or dismiss the suffering of his victims — “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine,” said Vance — is a clear, albeit superfluous indicator of just how broken our own country has become.

Like Putin, much of the right bears allegiance not to truth, much less to democracy, but rather, to the brutish power of the strongman to do as he pleases, unfettered by such niceties. That’s what they very nearly imposed in 2016. It is what they promise in 2024. And if you’re not frightened, you’re not paying attention.

This moment has been a long time coming. A little more than a quarter century ago, a House speaker named Newt Gingrich declared politics war and an upstart cable network called Fox declared facts optional. It was called a conservative resurgence, but it was actually the foundation stone for the kingdom of lies our country has become.

No wonder Trump likes Putin and claims the feeling is mutual. Each recognizes himself in the other.

What they recognize, what they have in common, is that transactional disdain for the truth and, more to the point, for anyone naive enough to expect it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her Russian counterpart a red “reset” button, Russia accepted it, but kept right on being a thugocracy. TV pundits kept assuring us Trump was going to “become presidential” any second now, but to his last day, he remained a willful child. Now families seek refuge in Ukrainian subways, while Trump cheers their tormentor on.

Let no one be surprised.

What begins in lies tends to end in carnage.

Special forces evacuated German spy chief from Ukraine -Focus magazine

FILE PHOTO: The President of the German Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) Bruno Kahl attends the opening ceremony of the new BND (Federal Intelligence Service) headquarter in Berlin

Fri, February 25, 2022, 

BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of Germany's foreign intelligence service was in Ukraine when Russia invaded and had to be taken home overland in a gruelling two-day journey by special forces when the country's airspace was closed, Focus magazine reported.

The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) confirmed that Bruno Kahl had been in Ukraine on Wednesday for "urgent talks" but had to change his departure plans after the invasion began.

"Because of the outbreak of hostilities and the closure of Ukraine's airspace, the President had taken the land route back," the BND said in a statement on Friday, which did not mention the part special forces had allegedly played.

"This was a difficult and lengthy journey because of the streams of refugees going in the same direction. He is back in the European Union and is expected in Berlin today."
Related video: German president said in an address, 'Stop the craziness of this war'

Bild newspaper quoted sources as saying that Kahl had been in Ukraine to pass on important information in person. Kahl, a former politician rather than a career secret agent, had missed an earlier evacuation of German diplomats. He was now in Poland.

Massive flows of refugees fleeing the advancing Russian army have resulted in queues of many hours at Ukraine's borders with its western neighbours.

Former Ukraine president, armed with an AK-47, tells CNN Putin will 'never' take the country

Brendan Morrow, Staff Writer
Fri, February 25, 2022,

The former president of Ukraine spoke live with CNN on Friday from the streets of Kyiv, while armed with a rifle, amid Russia's invasion of the country.

CNN on Friday aired a live interview with Petro Poroshenko, who served as president of Ukraine until 2019 and spoke from the country's capital with an armed battalion behind him. Poroshenko spoke out against Russia's "disastrous aggression" against Ukraine, and he said there was fighting with Russia ongoing two or three kilometers away from him.

"Everybody should understand, Putin declared a war not for Ukraine," he said. "Putin declared a war to the whole world, to every single person who's watching now."

Poroshenko also called Russian President Vladimir Putin "simply crazy" and "evil" to "come here to kill Ukrainians." Asked by CNN anchor John Berman what he was armed with, Poroshenko held up a Kalashnikov, and he said that many Ukrainians wanted to enlist to fight against Russia, which shows "how Ukrainians people hate Putin." But he noted "we don't have enough arms."

When Berman asked how long he can hold out against Russia, Poroshenko replied, "Forever."

"Putin never will capture Ukraine, no matter how many soldiers he has, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has," he said. "We Ukrainians are free people with a great European future."

CNN's interview with Poroshenko on the streets of Kyiv on Friday came as the network reported that U.S. intelligence officials "are concerned that Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days."

Ukrainian-born Milla Jovovich ‘heartbroken and dumbstruck’ over Russia invasion, pleads for help


Muri Assunção, New York Daily News
Sat, February 26, 2022, 

Milla Jovovich shared an emotional Instagram post on Friday, urging her near 4 million followers to help her native country of Ukraine against the full-scale military invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin earlier this week.

“I am heartbroken and dumbstruck trying to process the events of this week in my birthplace of Ukraine,” Jovovich wrote. “My country and people being bombed. Friends and family in hiding.”

The 46-year-old actress and supermodel was born in Kyiv to a Serbian father and a Russian mother. According to her IMDb page, her family left the then-Soviet Union for the U.K. when she was 5, and they eventually relocated to Los Angeles.

“My blood and my roots come from both Russia and Ukraine. I am torn in two as I watch the horror unfolding, the country being destroyed, families being displaced, their whole life lying in charred fragments around them,” she wrote, recalling her family’s experiences with brutal and bloody conflicts.

“I remember the war in my father’s homeland of former Yugoslavia and the stories my family tells of the trauma and terror they experienced. War. Always war. Leaders who cannot bring peace. The never-ending juggernaut of imperialism. And always, the people pay in bloodshed and tears,” she wrote, adding the hashtag #helpukraine.

In the post, which received nearly 47,000 likes as of Saturday morning, the star of the “Resident Evil” film franchise added several links to “organizations who can help the people of Ukraine.”

Among them, a link to the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund; the Return Alive Foundation; the Ukrainian Foundation, which helps children living in the war zones of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions; the Kyiv Independent, in support of independent journalism in Ukraine; and link to a site that supports LGBTQ members of the Ukrainian military.

Sean Penn calls Russian invasion of Ukraine 'a brutal mistake' while filming documentary there

Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
Sat, February 26, 2022

Sean Penn, in Ukraine working on a documentary about the ongoing Russian assault, called the invasion "already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken."

"If he doesn't relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind," Penn said in a statement to USA TODAY early Saturday morning. President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people "have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost."

The Office of the President wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday that the actor and filmmaker attended news briefings, met with Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and spoke to journalists and military personnel about the Russian invasion.

Why is Russia invading Ukraine? Could it be the start of WWIII? Here's what we know

"Sean Penn demonstrates the courage that many others, especially western politicians lack," the president's office wrote on Facebook. "The director specially came to Kiev to record all the events that are currently happening in Ukraine and to tell the world the truth about Russia's invasion of our country."

He was also there in late November to work on the project, which is being produced by VICE Studios. Photographs at the time showed him visiting the frontlines of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the Donetsk region.

Sean Penn is on the ground filming a documentary in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

The Oscar winner has been involved in numerous international humanitarian and anti-war efforts over the years and founded the non-profit disaster relief organization CORE in response to the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti, chronicled in the documentary "Citizen Penn."

Contributing: Associated Press

Sean Penn: Putin will be making 'most horrible mistake for all of humankind'

Sat, February 26, 2022

Hollywood actor and producer Sean Penn visits positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the frontline with Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk region in November

"Milk" actor Sean Penn warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be making the "most horrible mistake for all of humankind" if he does not relent and stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken, and if he doesn't relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind. President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle," Penn said in a statement.

"Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams," he added. "If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost."

Penn's comments come as the 61-year-old actor is in Ukraine filming a documentary, which is a Vice Studios production associated with Endeavor Content and Vice World News.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Thursday, just two days after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, that over 100 people had died and over 300 others had been injured, though those estimates have grown since then. The U.N. refugee agency estimated on Saturday that close to 116,000 Ukrainians have been displaced since Thursday.

The development shows the staggering change of events that have transpired in over 48 hours, with a handful of countries, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S., announcing sanctions against Putin and the Russian foreign minister.

The deputy head of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned on Saturday that Russia could retaliate in response, including freezing Western assets, restoring the death penalty and removing itself from its nuclear arms deal with the U.S., The Associated Press reported.

"We are being driven out of everywhere, punished and threatened, but we don't feel scared," Medvedev said on a Russian social media platform, according to the newswire.

Sean Penn on Invasion of Ukraine: ‘If We Allow It to Fight Alone, Our Soul as America Is Lost’

Claudia Eller
Sat, February 26, 2022


Sean Penn, who is in Ukraine filming a documentary about Russia’s invasion, released a statement on Friday night after appearing at a press briefing in the capital of Kyiv on Thursday, where he listened to government officials talk about the crisis.

“Already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken, and if he doesn’t relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind,” Penn said. “President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.”

This week, Newsweek reported that “Penn has visited the Office of the President and spoken with deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk, as well as local journalists and members of the Ukrainian military.” The Office of the President issued a statement praising the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker, noting that the director had come to Kyiv to record events that were unfolding in Ukraine “and to tell the world the truth about Russia’s invasion of our country.”

Scroll back up to restore default view.

The doc is a Vice Studios production in association with Vice World News and Endeavor Content. Penn last flew to Ukraine in November 2021. He started preparing for his documentary by visiting with the country’s military.

Penn’s non-profit organization Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) was set up in response to the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and also deployed teams to aid with COVID-19 testing and vaccines across the country.

More from Variety

Poland News Channel TVN24 Works 24/7 to Cover Russia's 'Insane and Inhuman Invasion'

Sky News Dedicates Two Daily Specials To Cover Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (TV News Roundup)

AJR Cancels Russian Tour Due to Ukraine Invasion -- Will Others Follow?

Chilling video shows the moment a missile strikes an apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine

Connor Perrett

Sat, February 26, 2022

An apartment building damaged following a rocket attack on the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022.AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

• A video verified by The New York Times showed the moment a missile struck an apartment building.

• The video showed the missile hit the building, which is located in southwestern Kyiv.

• There were no fatalities reported in the incident, an official said, according to Reuters.

Chilling video captured early Saturday morning local time showed a missile striking an apartment building in southwestern Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, according to The New York Times.

The New York Times, which verified the video, said the strike was captured about 1.5 miles from the Sikorsky Memorial Airport.

A report from Reuters early Saturday said the missile strike resulted in zero fatalities, according to Anton Herashchenko, an advisor to the interior in the country. The BBC reported Saturday that officials hadn't yet specified the number of casualties in the incident.

Herashchenko said that Russian officials were lying when it said its military was not targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and said at least 40 civilian sites had been targeted, according to Reuters.

Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukraine foreign affairs minister, in a tweet Saturday shared a photo of the damaged building, writing: "Kyiv, our splendid, peaceful city, survived another night under attacks by Russian ground forces, missiles. One of them has hit a residential apartment in Kyiv."

Kuleba called on other nations in response to "fully isolate Russia," asking them to "expel ambassadors," place embargoes on Russian oil, and "ruin its economy."

"Stop Russian war criminals!" he wrote.

GAZA 2021

Poll: US majority believes no Russian invasion with Trump as president

Edward Helmore
Sat, February 26, 2022

A clear majority of Americans think Vladimir Putin would not have ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine had Donald Trump still been in the White House, according to a new poll.

Related: Tucker Carlson leads rightwing charge to blame everyone but Putin

The poll, by the Harvard Center for American Political Studies (Caps)-Harris, found that 62% of those surveyed believed Putin would not have sent troops into Ukraine with Trump in the White House.

Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

In partisan terms, the survey found that 85% of Republicans and 38% of Democrats held the view.

The poll, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday this week among 2,026 registered voters, found that 59% said Putin only ordered the invasion because he saw weakness in Joe Biden. Forty-one percent said the US president was not a factor in Putin’s decision.

Republicans in Congress have attacked Biden for perceived weakness in the face of autocratic leaders abroad. Party figures have been less keen to discuss Trump’s expressions of admiration for Putin during the Ukraine crisis.

The Harvard study’s findings broadly buttressed a Fox News poll, carried out before Russia invaded, that found more Republicans had a negative view of Biden than of Putin and more Democrats had a negative view of Trump than of the Russian leader.

That study said 92% of Republicans had a negative view of Biden while 81% had a negative view of Putin. Among Democrats, 87% had a negative view of Trump and 85% a negative view of Putin.

A third poll, released by NPR/PBS/Marist College, will add concern for a Biden administration battling low approval ratings generated by public dissatisfaction on fronts including handling of the pandemic, the Afghanistan withdrawal, a stalled legislative agenda and inflation.

The NPR-Marist poll found that 56% of Americans said Biden’s first year in office was a “failure”. Just 39% called it a success.

Two-thirds of independents said Biden’s first year was a failure, while 91% of Republicans said so. Among Democrats, 80% called Biden’s first year a success – but 15% said it had been a failure.

Trump places fault for Russia invasion of Ukraine on Biden during CPAC speech
By Adam Schrader

President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC22) in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, February 26, 2022. 

Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo


Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Former President Donald Trump spoke for 85 minutes during the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, placing fault for the aggression on the policies of President Joe Biden.

Trump seemed to largely downplay the invasion of Ukraine, telling his supporters that "the Biden administration cares more about taking care of citizens of a distant foreign nation than our own citizens."

"Biden has obsessed for months over how to stop the invasion of a foreign country thousands of miles away," Trump said. "You can't defend western civilization if you would not be able to defend our own civilization."

The former president said that Democrats believe "Ukraine sovereignty must be defended at all costs" but that the U.S. has "a border that's a catastrophe."

"Under Joe Biden we are losing our country no different than had we lost it in a war," Trump said.

Trump said that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he was president because under his administration "Russia respected America just like every other country respected America and they really respected us a lot."

"Joe Biden is weak," Trump said. "And when you have a weak president who is not respected by other nations you have a chaotic world. And this world has not been as chaotic since World War II."

Trump said that he had "no doubt" that Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine because of the "pathetic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan."

The Afghanistan withdrawal came after the Trump administration had signed an agreement with the Taliban in 2020 promising to fully withdraw troops by May 2021. The removal of troops from Afghanistan was completed under the Biden administration in August 2021.

"Afghanistan was a surrender for no reason whatsoever," Trump said Saturday.

Trump said in his speech that he remains the only U.S. president of the 21st Century under which Russia has not invaded another country.

"Under [former President George W. Bush], Russia invaded Georgia. Under [former President Barack Obama], Russia took Crimea. Under Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine," Trump said. "I stand as the only president in the 21st Century under whom Russia did not invade another country."

Trump also praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just moments before calling Putin a "smart" man who was allowed "to get away with the travesty and assault on humanity" by the Biden administration.

"The president of Ukraine is a brave man, he's hanging in, a brave man. During the impeachment ... the president of Ukraine said I did nothing wrong. I called him up to congratulate him on his victory," Trump said.

"Putin is saying, 'Okay, I can take over a whole country and they're going to just sanction me?' ... The problem is not that Putin is smart. The real problem is that our leaders are dumb."

Trump added that the cost of the war for Putin "is very small" compared with the "money they're taking in." It was not immediately clear what Trump meant as Russia has been aggressively sanctioned and excluded from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication network.

Trump also blamed rising energy prices on the cancellation of U.S. oil and gas leases as well as the Keystone XL Pipeline by the Biden administration, rather than on the war in Ukraine.

"He enriched Putin by approving the Russian pipeline which has really been at the core of much of the problem we have right now," Trump said.

Earlier this week, Biden said he would impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russia and Germany in a reversal of his decision to waive sanctions on the pipeline in May 2021.

"I got along with Putin. ... I'm the one who ended his pipeline. He said, "you're killing me with this pipeline." Nobody was as hard on Russia as I was," Trump said Saturday.

"With respect to what's going on, it would have been so easy for me to stop this travesty from happening. He understood me. Someday I will tell you exactly what we talked about. It's no secret he had an affinity for Ukraine."

During the speech, Trump also ripped Biden for his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court. "A radical left zealot has been nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States," Trump said.

He also touted his Truth Social media platform "which is trending at the top all over the place" and expressed support for podcaster Joe Rogan amid his Spotify scandal.

Trump also criticized Canada for "tyranny" for breaking up recent trucker protests over COVID-19 restrictions.

"They have been slandered as Nazis, racists and terrorists. These are the names they've been called. They've been arrested and charged with phony crimes," Trump said.

"You're either with the peaceful truckers or you're with the left-wing fascists. We stand with the Canadian truckers to reclaim their freedom."

He also criticized the January 6 commission for its investigation into the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last year as Congress worked to certify the votes of the electoral college.

"They're continuing their evil persecution of me, my family, my staff and you," Trump said.

He then repeated false claims that people were stuffing ballot boxes and that hundreds of thousands of votes in swing states were the result of fraud.

War in World’s Breadbasket Leaves Big Buyers Hunting for Grain



Áine Quinn and Megan Durisin
Fri, February 25, 2022, 

(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is threatening shockwaves through two of the world’s staple grain markets, prompting countries that rely on imports from the region to seek alternative supplies and heightening concerns about food inflation and hunger.

Grain exports from Russia will probably be on hold for at least the next couple of weeks, the local association said on Friday, after turmoil erupted in the Black Sea. Ukrainian ports have been closed since Thursday.

That means the war has temporarily cut off a breadbasket that accounts for more than a quarter of global wheat trade and nearly a fifth of corn. Major importers are already looking at their options to buy from elsewhere, and prices for both grains swung wildly in the past two days.

The disruptions come at a time when global crop prices have already soared to records, while hunger has surged dramatically in the past two years.

“There will be a big impact with respect to wheat prices and prices of bread for ordinary people,” World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Friday.

Russia and Ukraine supply crops to a long list of countries around the world, including large volumes to buyers in the Middle East and Africa, who will have to look elsewhere and probably pay more for both the grain itself and the cost of shipping. Egypt, the top wheat importer, had scheduled a tender on Thursday but canceled it after only receiving one offer -- of French wheat.

“It is difficult to plan any transactions at the moment,” said Eduard Zernin, the head of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters. “I think it might take a couple of weeks.”

Demand is beginning to shift to alternative export origins including India and the European Union, according to two people familiar with the matter.

In Tunisia, the agriculture ministry said it’s looking to Uruguay, Bulgaria and Romania for supplies of soft wheat to shield itself from possible supply disruptions, while Indonesian flour mills are also hunting for other origins due to the escalating crisis. A Moroccan millers group said it would turn to Argentina, France and Poland, according to chairman Abdelkader El-Alaoui.

However, the outsized role that the Black Sea plays in global grains markets means that alternatives may be limited. Global grain stockpiles are already declining, making it more difficult to offset lost supply.

“It really does put a squeeze on an already tight market and creates a huge amount of uncertainty for the coming weeks if not months,” said James Bolesworth, managing director at U.K.-based CRM AgriCommodities. “For wheat and corn, it pushes demand to other parts of the world where we know stocks are tight.”

In the U.S., the war in Ukraine may have a modest impact on food costs, though grocery inflation is likely to ease this year regardless of the conflict, said Joseph Glauber, former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The crisis may have a more severe impact on food prices in the Middle East and Africa, especially if spring planting is disrupted in Ukraine, he said.

The impact on U.S. consumers will be muted because food commodities account for only a small portion of the price Americans pay for groceries--less than 15 cents of each dollar spent, according to USDA. Volatility in global wheat markets have little impact on the supermarket cost of a loaf of bread or a box of cereal.

Where the U.S. will likely be more affected is in the cost of grains such as corn and soybeans used to feed livestock and poultry. It could exacerbate the pressures meat producers are already feeling, with drought in the U.S. plains accelerating the decline of herds.

For Russian grains, in addition to the challenges of shipping in the Black Sea, some of the country’s biggest wheat exporters have links to state-owned bank VTB Group, which is now under sanctions from the U.S.

Overall, the war is likely to have far-reaching effects, the World Food Programme said.

“The food security impact of the conflict will likely be felt beyond Ukraine’s border, especially on the poorest of the poor,” the Rome-based agency said in a statement.“Interruption to the flow of grain out of the Black Sea region will increase prices and add further fuel to food inflation.”

Brazilian Farmers Rush to Secure Fertilizers on Ukraine War Fears

Tatiana Freitas and Tarso Veloso
Fri, February 25, 2022



(Bloomberg) -- Farmers in Brazil, the world’s top fertilizer importer, are rushing to secure crop nutrients as the Russian attack on Ukraine spreads fears of a global shortage.

“Farmers are scared, rushing to buy potash,” said Jose Marcos Magalhaes, president of the Minasul co-operative, Brazil’s second-largest coffee exporter.

The rush to ensure crop nutrients in Brazil illustrates the shock waves the invasion of Ukraine is sending through agricultural, metal and energy markets. Russia is a key supplier of potash and other crop additives, as well as a major exporter of aluminum, grains, crude oil and natural gas. Brazil, an agriculture powerhouse that leads production of soybeans, coffee and sugar, imports around 80% of its fertilizer needs.

Minasul, which has farm-supplies stores in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, saw its daily sales of agriculture inputs jump to about 20 million reais ($4 million) on Thursday, from the usual 2 to 3 million reais.

“We made half of February sales in the past couple of days,” Magalhaes said, adding it’s so far been able to meet the surge in demand thanks to its stockpiles.

In Brazil’s far west, farmers haven’t been so lucky. Some grain producers in Mato Grosso state, the nation’s biggest soybean grower, haven’t even been able to get price quotes and delivery estimates from their fertilizer dealerships in the past three days. Importers haven’t received price lists from their overseas suppliers either, according to Jeferson Souza, fertilizer analyst for Agrinvest Commodities.

“Fertilizer prices in the Brazilian market were thrown into uncertainty by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and may remain unstable into early March,” Marina Cavalcante, an analyst for Bloomberg’s Green Markets, wrote Friday in a report.

Following price increases early in the week, fertilizer suppliers suspended price lists, according to Cavalcante. Market participants are cautious about new negotiations, concerned that further trade restrictions may be imposed, she said.

Brazilian soybean farmers are buying fertilizers for planting that starts in September and are likely to pay higher prices than U.S. producers who have already bought their nutrients, according to Souza.

The group representing fertilizer companies in Brazil, known as Anda, says it’s monitoring the risks of disruptions in the global fertilizer supply chain, including in Brazil.

“Any economic sanctions on Russia will affect fertilizer pricing and availability,” Cavalcante said.

UPDATE 1-Brazil farmers brace for potential fertilizer pinch due to Ukraine crisis

Thu, February 24, 2022,
(Adds statement from local association)
By Ana Mano

SAO PAULO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Brazilian agricultural exports may lose their competitive edge due to a scarcity of fertilizer and soaring prices for the key material if Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggers Western sanctions on Russian fertilizer exports, according to analysts.

Brazil relies on imports for about 85% of its fertilizer needs. Russia is its biggest supplier of the NPK mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Even before the Ukraine conflict, fertilizer prices were climbing due to global logistics issues, U.S. sanctions on Belarus and China's absence from the market since October.

The Ukraine crisis means Brazilian growers of soybeans and other agricultural commodities are potentially in for a rough time.

"It is the perfect storm," said Jeferson Souza, an analyst with Agrinvest Commodities.

"Brazil has the most to lose among the world's largest producers of soy," he said, adding that competitors such as the United States and Argentina do not use as much potassium fertilizer as Brazil.

The situation raises doubts about whether Brazil can expand its area planted with soy for the 2022/2023 crop, as costs may become prohibitive, Souza said.

ANDA, an association representing fertilizer companies in Brazil, said in a statement it is early to assess the impact of international sanctions stemming from Russia's attack on Ukraine, adding it is still evaluating the effects on the fertilizer market and on the food supply chain as a whole.

ANDA acknowledged risks regarding the lack of inputs to produce fertilizers as the conflict develops, and said it will work to create alternatives to ensure supplies.

Brazil bought about 40 million tonnes of fertilizer products in 2021, a record high, with Russia accounting for some 9 million tonnes of imports, according to data compiled by Agrinvest.

There is a real possibility of Brazil having an immediate "potassium supply crisis," said Marcelo Mello, head of the fertilizer desk at StoneX, referring to the commodity that has farmers the most worried.

He said simultaneous sanctions on Russia and Belarus would leave farmers without enough of the fertilizer.

"The impact can be felt already, as the supply of fertilizers has been hampered by the low availability of maritime transport," said agribusiness lawyer Frederico Favacho.

Favacho noted that other areas of trade will also be affected by an escalation of the Ukraine conflict, as Russia is a big buyer of Brazilian meats.

Potential financial sanctions against Russia would hamper that trade too, he said. (Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Brad Haynes, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)