Ex-leaders call for global anti-corruption court to tackle Putin, more

The American general slated to become NATO’s next supreme allied commander warned Thursday that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports could enable terrorist networks in other parts of the world and may require U.S. military intervention to ensure global markets don’t become destabilized.

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of all U.S. Army forces in Europe and Africa, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that groups including the Islamic State, al-Shabab and Boko Haram stand to benefit from food shortages resulting from the war. Those groups, he said, “feed on weak governance and food insecurity and corruption and poverty.”

Ukraine is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, the fourth largest exporter of corn, and the fifth largest exporter of wheat. Western officials have accused Moscow of using food as a form of blackmail.

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Russia has incited genocide in Ukraine, independent experts conclude

Russia is responsible for inciting genocide and perpetrating atrocities that show an “intent to destroy” the Ukrainian people, a new legal analysis signed by more than 30 independent experts concluded.

The report, published Friday by the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy and the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, also concludes that there is “serious risk of genocide in Ukraine,” and that states have a legal obligation to prevent genocide from occurring.

It cited denials from high-level Russian officials and state media commentators of the existence of a distinct Ukrainian identity, and dehumanizing claims that Ukrainians are Nazis and “are therefore deserving of punishment.” The report also points to Russian authorities’ rewarding soldiers suspected of mass killings in Ukraine, among other evidence.

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U.S. is preparing to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine

The Biden administration is preparing to send advanced long-range rocket systems to Ukraine as the country suffers losses in the east from advancing Russian forces, said U.S. administration and congressional staffers.

The move, which could be announced as early as next week, involves the provision of the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS, a U.S. weapon capable of firing a torrent of rockets many miles farther than current Ukrainian capabilities.

The rocket system has been a top request from Ukrainian officials who say it is necessary to curb the advance of Russian forces, which claimed full control of the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Friday, handing Moscow another victory in its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

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Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- President Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people” in a speech to the U.S. Naval Academy’s graduating class on Friday.

- Russian forces control more than 95 percent of the Luhansk oblast, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

- The port of Mariupol will reopen to incoming ships by the end of the month, a Russia-backed separatist leader said Friday.

- While Russian forces have made some gains in their attempt to entrap key areas in eastern Ukraine, several decisions revealed “tactical failures,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for sending more weapons to Ukraine, including multiple launch rocket systems.

More live updates here.

Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine:

Severodonetsk: Serhiy Haidai, the Luhansk regional governor, said in a Friday interview with local media that Russian forces have not yet encircled Severodonetsk. But they have gained control of a hotel just inside a main ring road near the city’s bus station and are clashing with Ukrainian troops on the city outskirts, officials said.

Lyman: Russia-backed separatist forces claimed full control of this strategically important city near a major highway in Luhansk. Ukrainian defense authorities said they are still fighting for control in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the city.

Kharkiv: As life inside bombed-out Kharkiv gradually returns to normal, the ISW said fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the city’s northeast is static.

Mariupol: A port in this southern Ukrainian city will reopen at the end of May to receive inbound ships, according to a Russia-backed separatist leader.

More live updates here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday pledged to continue fighting for the eastern region of Donbas, where Russian forces have taken more territory in recent days. The Kremlin has claimed the strategically important city of Lyman and a regional governor said that a retreat was possible to avoid being encircled in Severodonetsk, where fighting continues on the city’s outskirts.

- The Pentagon compared the Donbas clashes to a “knife fight” and noted that control of territory there shifted rapidly. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Russia has improved its control of its supply lines.

- In a Friday virtual meeting with foreign allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of working closely to counteract Western sanctions. The country’s finance minister said perhaps $120 billion in budget stimulus would be needed to sustain the war effort, according to Reuters.

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Putin’s war grinds on, with dissent from Russian hawks and peace-seekers

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear that he will not tolerate criticism of his assault on Ukraine. Russians who describe his “special military operation” as an invasion may be imprisoned for up to 15 years, and dissenters have been punished for speaking out.

But as the war enters its fourth month, disapproval is increasingly bubbling to the surface — from war hawks who argue the Kremlin has been insufficiently aggressive to officials who don’t want to be part of the bloodshed.

Putin’s early attempt to blitz Ukraine’s major cities failed, and the war has morphed into a protracted conflict that may have claimed the lives of as many Russian soldiers as the Soviet Union’s nine-year war in Afghanistan, Britain’s Defense Ministry said this week. Moscow has tried to downplay these losses, but the battlefield setbacks have raised questions.

Signs of resistance are growing.

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Here is the latest from Ukraine.

- Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday its forces now control Lyman, a key transport hub providing access to bridges over the Siversky Donets river, and the British Defense Ministry said most of the town has probably fallen into Russian hands. Ukraine’s military hasn’t confirmed the capture but said Moscow’s troops had consolidated positions around the city.

- Russia is also trying to encircle the eastern city of Severodonetsk, but the regional governor said Saturday that the city has not been cut off.

- On the diplomatic front, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday to agree to an immediate cease-fire and withdraw Russian forces from Ukraine.

More live updates here.

Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine:

Severodonetsk: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that the city remained under Ukrainian control. Moscow’s troops tried to gain ground near a settlement on Severodonetsk’s outskirts but retreated after suffering losses, the Ukrainian military said.

Lyman: Russia-backed separatist forces said they have full control of Lyman, a strategically important city near a major highway in Luhansk, while the British Defense Ministry confirmed that Russian forces probably have captured most of the city.

Mykolaiv: One person was killed and seven were injured — including two people “in a grave condition” — Saturday from Russian shelling near a kindergarten in a residential area, Zelensky said.

Kharkiv: The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said fighting in the city’s northeast is static, with neither side launching major attacks. Ukraine has so far stopped Russian troops from seizing the city.

More live updates here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Russian forces appear to be closing in on their goal of seizing the entire Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, Western military analysts say, with the Kremlin claiming it controls Lyman, a key transport hub, and its troops locked in a fierce battle for the city of Severodonetsk. Capturing Severodonetsk would be a symbolic victory for the Kremlin. It is the last big city in Luhansk not under Russian occupation.

- Ukraine’s military is “suffering serious losses” in the battle for Severodonetsk and faces the “most serious challenge it has encountered since the isolation of the Azovstal Plant in Mariupol,” the Institute for the Study of War, a D.C. think tank, said in its latest assessment.

- President Volodymyr Zelensky called on partners in the West to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons. The Biden administration is preparing to send advanced long-range rocket systems, administration officials and congressional staffers told The Washington Post.

More live updates here.

Ukraine war volunteers are coming home, reckoning with difficult fight

A Marine Corps veteran who volunteered to fight in Ukraine took cover behind walls as Russian gunfire punched through and felt the throttle of artillery so many times that his catchphrase, “It’s normal,” became a joke within the unit.

What wasn’t normal, he said, was the feeling of dread while he hid and listened as Russian attack helicopters strafed the position his team had just fled. That moment “was quite honestly the most unsettled I had been the entire time,” he said.

Dakota, who is home in Ohio now after seven weeks of fighting, is among scores of volunteers who have taken up arms against Russia. Like others, he spoke on the condition that his full name not be disclosed, citing concerns for his safety and that of family and friends.

In interviews with The Post, foreign fighters from the U.S. and elsewhere described the disparities between what they expected the war to be like and what they experienced.

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Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has agreed to a new three-year contract with Russia’s Gazprom to supply natural gas after a phone call with President Vladimir Putin. Serbia, a traditional ally of Russia, remains entirely dependent on Russia for gas supplies and has not joined Western sanctions against Moscow.

- Professionalism in the Russian army is “eroding,” which may be detrimental to Putin’s chances of winning the war, the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment.

- Russia has claimed its forces control the key transport hub of Lyman, which Western officials have said would give Russia an advantage in the potential next phase of the Donbas offensive.

More live updates here.

Here's the latest on key battlegrounds in Ukraine:

Severodonetsk: Russian attacks have destroyed all of the “critical infrastructure” in this key battleground city, and a large majority of buildings have been damaged, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

Donetsk region: More than 100 miners were stuck underground in this hard-hit region because of power outages, an official said Sunday. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the region, wrote on Telegram that two districts — Bakhmut and Kramatorsk — are without electricity amid fierce fighting.

Chernihiv, Sumy regions: Ukraine’s military reported that shelling continued in Chernihiv and Sumy. Russian troops withdrew from both regions nearly two months ago when they abandoned their efforts to seize the capital, Kyiv — but shelling has not ceased. Oleksandr Sereda, deputy commander of Chernihiv’s border guards, recently told The Washington Post that soldiers are preparing for “a possible reinvasion.”

More live updates here.

Here is the latest from Ukraine:

- Heavy fighting continues between Russian and Ukrainian forces on the streets of Severodonetsk, one of the last Ukrainian-held cities in the country’s eastern Luhansk region, with Moscow using air support for its assault, the regional governor said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying 90 percent of the city’s buildings and all of its “critical infrastructure” have been destroyed.

- Zelensky, who is set to virtually address a special European Council summit scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, met Ukrainian troops on the front lines during a weekend visit to the Kharkiv region, about a third of which is occupied by Russian forces, according to the regional military administrator.

- A Russian ship was seen in new satellite images picking up grain in annexed Crimea and unloading it in Syria last week, with Ukrainian officials alleging that Moscow is stealing one of the country’s main exports.

More live updates here.

Hungary is still holding up the E.U.'s push to phase out Russian oil

The European Union is not done talking about Russian oil. Nor is it done buying it.

In Monday morning talks, E.U. ambassadors once again failed to reach a deal to phase out oil imports from Russia because of the ongoing opposition from Hungary, keeping the issue on the E.U.’s agenda — and Russian oil flowing to Europe — for at least another day.

The issue now threatens to overshadow a two-day European Council summit on the war in Ukraine that starts Monday afternoon in Brussels, where leaders will discuss a watered down plan that would ban seaborne deliveries but exempt pipeline oil.

A senior E.U. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief the press, said the European Council hopes to reach a political agreement on the revised proposal Monday. It is not yet clear if all 27 leaders will sign on.

Arriving at the summit, Orban said he had seen the revised proposal and there is still no agreement on it.

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