‘Butcher of Mariupol’ earned reputation for brutality in Syria

Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev long ago earned notoriety for exceptional brutality as a key commander of Russian forces in Syria, where much of the northern city of Aleppo was obliterated in a Russian-Syrian bombing campaign during the country’s civil war.

Now the three-star general, reputed to be one of President Vladimir Putin’s favorites, has a new nickname: the Butcher of Mariupol.

Ukrainian and Western officials have identified him as the architect of a devastating siege of the southern Ukrainian port city that, according to its mayor, has killed thousands of civilians and destroyed many of its buildings.

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Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- Biden on Thursday speculated that Putin has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers and could be “self-isolated” as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues.

- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed doubt Thursday about Russia’s claim that it is withdrawing from the area around Kyiv, saying Moscow has lied about its intentions before and appears to be repositioning troops for fresh attacks.

- The death toll has risen to 20 in Tuesday’s Russian missile strike on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. New strikes were reported in Mariupol and Chernihiv.

- Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are set to resume talks online Friday, head Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said in an overnight Telegram post. He added that he hopes to see Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet if diplomatic efforts progress.

More live updates here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday it was ready to lead a “safe passage operation” in Mariupol, and the Kremlin on Thursday declared a humanitarian cease-fire there, but civilians in the devastated port city are struggling to flee unrelenting Russian artillery fire and airstrikes.

- Ukraine and Russia are set to resume peace talks online Friday after limited progress in Istanbul earlier in the week. On the battlefield, the Kremlin appeared to be pulling forces out of the Chernobyl nuclear plant and moving some units away from the Kyiv area, but Western officials remain skeptical of Russia’s pledge to reduce military operations in northern Ukraine.

- European leaders rejected President Putin’s demand that “unfriendly countries” pay for natural gas in rubles, an apparent bid to help stabilize the Russian currency amid sanctions.

- The European Union will hold a virtual summit with Chinese leaders on Friday.

More live updates here.

A Belarusian battalion fights in Ukraine ‘for both countries’ freedom’

or more than a decade, Pavel Kulazhanka has sought to overthrow the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko in his native Belarus.

First, it was simple street protests. Then, sabotaging train lines and bombing military outposts. Eventually, he had to flee — and landed in New York City, where he became a mixed martial arts fighter.

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But he thinks the best shot yet at toppling Lukashenko — and Russian President Vladimir Putin, without whose support many in Belarus think Lukashenko would quickly fall — has come with the war in Ukraine.

He is one of hundreds of Belarusians who have joined the fight here, inspired by their neighbor’s battlefield successes and determined to carry that momentum back into Belarus to end Lukashenko’s 28-year rule.

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Why Russia’s military is bogged down by logistics in Ukraine

Ambushed convoys and broken-down tanks. Generals killed close to the front. Long-expired rations. Frostbite.

Russia’s military was built for quick, overwhelming firepower, experts say, but its weakness is logistics. And on the roads of Ukraine a month after the first invasion, that weakness is showing.

Many analysts say the Russians assumed they would quickly capture the capital city of Kyiv and force President Volodymyr Zelensky out of power. Whatever the strategy, that outcome did not happen, and Russia has been plagued by an inability to keep supplies flowing to troops in a longer ground war.

After weeks of little success except in southeastern Ukraine, despite relentless shelling and thousands of military and civilian casualties, Moscow said during peace negotiations on Tuesday that it would “drastically reduce” military activity in the northern part of the country, near Kyiv and Chernihiv.

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Russian troops have withdrawn from Chernobyl, Ukraine agency says

No Russian troops were near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site early Friday, Ukraine’s State Agency on Exclusion Zone Management said, following reports a day earlier that the site has been handed back to Ukrainian personnel.

“At the present moment there are no outsiders at the Chernobyl NPP site,” the agency said in a Facebook post, referring to Russian troops and using a Ukrainian spelling for the defunct nuclear facility.

Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy firm, Energoatom, said in a statement on Telegram that all technological equipment at the plant and systems for monitoring radiation were “working normally” on Friday.

The Chernobyl plant, the scene of a major 1986 disaster, was among the first strategic facilities seized by Russian troops at the start of their invasion of Ukraine in February. Its capture sparked international alarm and raised fears of a nuclear accident in Europe.

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Russia accuses Ukraine of helicopter strike on Belgorod fuel depot

Russia accused Ukraine on Friday of escalating their war by carrying out a helicopter attack against a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod in what appeared to be Ukraine’s first airstrike on Russian soil since the invasion began.

Ukrainian officials would not confirm or deny the attack, suggesting it could be a Russian error or even linked to Russian helicopter pilots who had refused to fly into Ukraine. Despite this apparent trolling, many military and intelligence analysts said it had been a Ukrainian attack.

If the attack is confirmed, it would mark an audacious and risky shift by Ukraine, with its forces shifting from a largely defensive posture to a direct airstrike on Russia at a time when the Russian military appears weakened.

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Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- European Union leaders called on China to help end Russia’s war in Ukraine during a virtual summit Friday that was meant to focus on E.U.-China relations.

- Mykolaiv Gov. Vitaliy Kim on Friday said 28 people are confirmed dead and dozens more unaccounted for after a cruise missile struck Mykolaiv’s main government building early Tuesday.

- On the battlefield, the Kremlin appeared to be pulling forces out of the Chernobyl nuclear plant site and moving some units away from the Kyiv area.

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian troop movements reflect the success of his country’s military. But conditions in southern Ukraine and in the eastern region of Donbas — which Russia seems determined to control — remain “extremely difficult,” he added.

More live updates here.

Here is the status of Ukrainian cities under Russian attack as of April 1.

Kyiv region: Ukrainian officials said Friday they have retaken many communities around the capital as Russian forces withdraw. A spokesman for the Ukrainian defense ministry claimed nearly a dozen “settlements” returned to Ukrainian control.

Mariupol: The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was unable to reach Mariupol on Friday to deliver badly needed supplies and help evacuate civilians. Ukrainian leaders have said some 100,000 people may remain trapped in the southern port city.

Mykolaiv: Ukrainian forces have held onto the city and even made recent gains, pushing Russian artillery out of range of downtown Mykolaiv.

Donetsk region: A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said Russian cruise missiles “destroyed” a Ukrainian army headquarters building and “up to 40 personnel” in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Interfax, a Russian news agency.

More live updates here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- The International Committee of the Red Cross will make another attempt Saturday to evacuate civilians from the war-torn port city of Mariupol after Friday’s efforts failed.

- Online peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv took place Friday, in the aftermath of a fuel depot fire in a Russian border city that the Kremlin blamed on a Ukrainian strike. Moscow called the alleged attack an “escalation” that might harm negotiations; Kyiv would not confirm or deny its role, though some military experts said it was probably responsible.

- The Pentagon on Friday announced a new $300 million security assistance package for Ukraine that will include drones, counter-drone systems and armored vehicles.

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video posted early Saturday, threatened to punish Ukrainians who collaborated with Russian occupying forces. He also urged Russian families to keep their sons away from Moscow’s latest conscription draft.

More live updates here.

4,000 letters and four hours of sleep: Ukrainian leader wages digital war

Weeks after Russia invaded, Ukraine’s youngest cabinet minister launched a complaint to the Chinese drone company DJI, claiming that Russia’s military was using its popular technology to target missile attacks.

“@DJIGlobal are you sure you want to be a partner in these murders?” tweeted Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation. “Block your products that are helping russia to kill the Ukrainians!”

DJI has long attempted to keep an arms-length from geopolitics. But the company responded within hours, offering to attempt to block drone flights by installing a geofence throughout the country. With a single provocative tweet, Fedorov had notched another victory.

“Following these attacks, you would get a growing and a burning sense of injustice and a sense of just preservation of yourself, your nation and your freedom,” he said during an exclusive Zoom interview with The Washington Post.

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As Russia drafts young men, some fear ending up on Ukraine’s front line

The Russian military began its spring draft Friday, aiming to sign up 134,500 conscripts and stoking fears among young men that they may end up on the front lines of the invasion of Ukraine.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has vowed that none of them will be used to reinforce Russian troops now fighting in Ukraine. “Please note that conscripts will not be deployed to any hot spots,” he said in televised remarks Tuesday.

But amid the significant losses suffered by Russian forces in their Ukrainian campaign, which appears to have lasted longer than the Kremlin anticipated, Shoigu’s assurances have not put all prospective conscripts and their families at ease.

All Russian men between 18 and 27 must serve one year in the military, and recruitment campaigns are usually held each spring and fall. Dodging the draft is punishable by heavy fines and sentences of up to two years in prison.

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Despite Russian assurances, aid still blocked for hard-hit Mariupol

Treacherous ground conditions tempered hopes of humanitarian relief on Friday for the bomb-ravaged southern city of Mariupol, where tens of thousands of Ukrainians remained trapped under Russian siege as aid workers tried desperately to reach them.

About 6,200 civilians, many of whom apparently had fled Mariupol on their own in recent days and weeks, were transported Friday from Russian-held territory outside the city into a Ukrainian-controlled area. But the International Committee of the Red Cross said its nine-person team was unable to enter Mariupol itself, despite earlier assurances from Moscow of a cease-fire and safe passage for civilians.

Ukrainian officials said the proposed humanitarian corridor was “essentially not operational” and accused Russia of breaking its promise to allow aid into the sealed-off port city, where witnesses have described families starving and buried in rubble.

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Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- A high-ranking Ukrainian official said the entire Kyiv region was no longer under Russian control Saturday, as signs mounted that Moscow’s troops were pulling back from cities and towns across the capital region.

- Still, an adviser to the president urged Ukrainians to prepare for “difficult fights” ahead in Mariupol and in southern and eastern parts of Ukraine, where evacuation efforts were still underway. The Red Cross said Saturday it had not yet reached the hard-hit port city where 100,000 are trapped.

- Four people were “injured and severely burned” after Russian forces fired mortars at protesters in a city near Zaporizhzhia, the site of a nuclear plant that Russia captured last month.

- In the latest sign that Ukrainian personnel have regained control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the nation’s state-owned atomic energy firm Energoatom reported Saturday that the country’s flag has been raised again over the site.

More live updates here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Russian troops appear to be regrouping and shifting their focus away from Kyiv. That is setting the stage for a new phase in the conflict — centered on the country’s south and east — that military analysts warn could be long and bloody as Moscow compensates for its earlier failures with more strikes on civilian areas.

- Explosions were heard throughout the southern city of Odessa on Sunday morning, marking the first major Russian strikes on the Black Sea city’s downtown. Two dark plumes of smoke could be seen on the skyline near one of Odessa’s major ports and a fuel depot.

- The apparent drawdown of Russian troops around Kyiv is leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Burned-out vehicles and bodies line the streets of nearby towns that had been at the forefront of Moscow’s unsuccessful attempt to encircle the capital and overthrow the government.

More live updates here.

Russian retreat exposes dead bodies in Bucha, outside Kyiv

Ukrainian troops recaptured territory around Kyiv on Saturday as Russian forces pulled back from towns they had seized in the opening days of the war and left in their wake scenes of destruction and horror, including the abandoned bodies of dead civilians.

Journalists entered the town of Bucha, a suburb northwest of the capital, and saw numerous corpses strewn on the streets. Video posted to social media and verified by The Post showed what appeared to be at least nine dead, including one child.

Bucha’s mayor, Anatoly Fedoruk, said in an interview that around 270 local residents had been buried in two mass graves. He estimated that 40 people were lying dead in the streets. Some had been bound and executed — shot in the back of the head, he said.

The mayor added that officials are worried that the bodies could be booby-trapped with explosives.

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Signs of massacre in Bucha spark calls for war-crime probes

Ukrainian officials said they have asked the International Criminal Court to visit the mass graves seen in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, so that experts can gather evidence of possible Russian war crimes.

The request comes as Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the discovery of the graves — made as Ukrainian troops recaptured territory and Russian forces pulled back from towns they had seized in the war’s earliest days — could “only be described as genocide.”

Condemnation of the alleged assault on civilians resounded around the world, with numerous countries demanding investigations and accountability, Russia’s Defense Ministry, however, questioned the authenticity of some of the photos from Bucha.

Read the full story here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- The discovery of civilians’ bodies on the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, has sparked international condemnation, calls for an investigation into possible Russian war crimes and vows that new sanctions are coming.

- Russia’s chief negotiator on Sunday shut down the idea of a possible meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, a day after his Ukrainian counterpart said such a sit-down between the leaders was possible.

- Biden administration officials have discussed intensifying their sanctions campaign against Russia as evidence emerges of the apparent execution of civilians in a suburb near Kyiv, according to two people familiar with the matter.

More live updates here.

Here is the status of Ukrainian cities under attack.

Kyiv region: The departure of Moscow’s troops from around the capital has revealed alleged atrocities in nearby towns, sparking a global outcry. Video verified by the Post showed bodies on the streets of Bucha. Journalists and Ukrainian officials said the hands of some corpses had been bound.

Donbas region: Moscow’s forces are moving their focus from the capital to the south and east, setting the stage for a new phase in the conflict that military analysts warn could be long and bloody.

Mariupol: The Red Cross said Sunday that it had not reached this hard-hit port city, where as many as 100,000 people remain trapped after weeks of heavy fighting. It continues to face “intense, indiscriminate” strikes, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry.

Mykolaiv: Missile strikes were reported Sunday in this southern port city that has been on the front lines of Ukraine’s fight against Russian artillery.

More live updates here.