U.S., Canada and European leaders vow to freeze Russian assets, target banks

KYIV, Ukraine — Yuri Shuklin has never fired a gun, not a real one at least. His war experience, he said, comes from playing video games such as “Call to Action.” “Maybe it’s funny, but in some movies and video games, they have nice [battlefield] tactics,” he said.

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Outside the Russian Embassy on Boris Nemtsov Plaza in Washington, the sound of honking filled the air. It was noon on Saturday, and a dozen people had found their way there. The invasion of Ukraine was unfolding thousands of miles away, but here, they felt a sense of purpose.

They held signs and balloons in Ukraine’s national colors. As vehicles passed on Wisconsin Avenue NW, drivers sounded their support.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra elicited a standing ovation Saturday when it started its “From Russia With Love” concert with the Ukrainian national anthem in a show of solidarity for the invaded nation.

China’s ambassador to Ukraine said he is still in the country and has urged Chinese citizens there to remain calm amid intensifying Russian attacks.

In a video posted online, Fan Xianrong said that he has received a deluge of anxious reports over the welfare of Chinese citizens and that the embassy is taking steps to ensure their safety.

Former president Donald Trump again lauded Russian President Vladimir Putin as “smart,” telling a crowd of his most ardent supporters that the problem is not with Putin, but that U.S. leaders “are dumb.”

The ravine where the massacres took place looked like a dusty river bed. In 1941, it was outside Kyiv, Ukraine, out of sight. The sound of gunfire from within didn’t carry far.

Over two days that September, more than 33,000 people were executed there by Nazi killing squads in one of the worst mass murders of Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.

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It was 3:15 a.m. in Belgorod, Russia — much too early for a traffic jam, thought Jeffrey Lewis, who was watching the traffic pileup on Google Maps.

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LONDON — Oleg Paska says his mother may be an “old woman,” but she is not scared.

Paska, 56, recently moved to the United Kingdom after years traveling for work but was born and raised in Ukraine, where many members of his family live, including his “brave” 84-year-old mother in the western city of Khmelnitsky, he said.

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Although images of smoldering apartment buildings and unsuspecting cyclists cut down by incoming fire have ricocheted across social media, the cumulative toll of Russia’s invasion has been obscured by a bevy of factors, including international observers unable to do their work, a sprawling conflict zone in Europe’s largest nation, a government in disarray as it fights for survival, and a steady drip of misinformation.

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Greece’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday that 10 people of Greek origin were killed and six others injured in fighting near Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine and home to many from the Greek diaspora.

“Stop the bombing now!” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter.

Greece’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday that 10 people of Greek origin were killed and six others injured in fighting near Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine and home to many from the Greek diaspora.

Russian troops have moved into Ukraine from the north, south and east. Russian successes in the south contrast with difficulties to take Kyiv, which is resisting more than Russia was expecting.

Video verified by The Washington Post captured a large explosion at a dam along the Northern Crimean Canal on Saturday that had been a source of increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine over water rights.

Russian media shared the video, saying Russian military forces were responsible for the destruction. It is unclear who originally recorded the video.

The system could help Ukrainians continue to access the Internet, and be able to communicate and gain valuable information, even if broadband is severed on the ground.

As Russian military forces began their broad assault on Ukraine, the top news stories on RT’s English-language website weren’t about missiles, airborne troops or the deaths of civilians.

Instead, Thursday’s most prominent headlines included, “Firm admits selling potentially tainted rocket fuel to NASA” and “U.S. investigating complaints of self-braking Hondas.”

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With Ukraine’s capital under siege, major tech companies are coming under mounting pressure to use their influence over the world’s most popular phones, apps and social media platforms to take action against Russia.

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Ukraine officials called on tech volunteers around the world to attack major Russian government and business websites Saturday, quickly attracting tens of thousands of followers and rendering at least some sites inaccessible in parts of the world.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced on Twitter that he was forming an “IT Army of Ukraine,” directing viewers to a channel on Telegram that by the evening local time had more than 90,000 subscribers.

Polish women’s rights activist Marta Lempart is usually organizing protests against abortion restrictions or generally advocating for human rights.

But in a matter of days, the Warsaw office of her organization, All-Poland Women’s Strike, has transformed into a “crisis center” for organizing immediate shelter, food, medical care and other donations for the tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion.

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The Ukrainian government is planning to remove road signs in hopes of confusing Russian troops — and is encouraging citizens to help.

Ukravtodor, the government agency responsible for Ukraine’s national road system, announced the move on social media on Saturday, while sharing a fake photo of a road sign echoing the sentiments many hold toward Russian troops.

The photo of the blue road sign was altered to state, “Go f--- yourselves,” in three different ways.

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LONDON — As Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine, one of the world’s largest private planes rose from a runway near Monte Carlo and followed a route around the unfolding carnage before landing in Moscow, according to online tracking sites.

The palatial Boeing belongs to Roman Abramovich, a billionaire backer of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has come to symbolize the conflicted position of Western governments now moving to impose sanctions on oligarchs long welcomed by Europe’s elite.

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Russian forces destroyed a dam in a water reservoir near Kyiv, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said Saturday.

The damage has created a risk of significant flooding, Oksana Markarova told reporters. She said that Ukrainian officials were “monitoring the situation closely” but did not provide further details.

Earlier Saturday, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said that Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian missile as it approached the dam.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Ukraine is a member of NATO. The article has been corrected.

The Pentagon on Saturday denied that the United States was involved in Ukrainian naval operations in the Black Sea, after Russian officials accused the U.S. military of operating reconnaissance and combat aircraft in the area.

When Nazar Cherniha, 34, heard the alarm on Saturday morning, he hurried toward the designated safe location with his wife and friends. As he stepped into the doorway, he heard a massive blast. A missile had ripped into a large apartment building nearby, raining glass and concrete onto the street.

Outnumbered Ukrainian forces continued to counter Russian attacks on their capital Kyiv early Saturday after hours of street fighting overnight. Earlier, Russian forces captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site, as well as Snake Island on the Black Sea.

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A young man posted a live stream to TikTok while sheltering underground during an air raid on Thursday. In Russia, antiwar protesters posted images and videos of gathering crowds to Twitter. And massive open Telegram groups have filled with first-person updates, worries and chatter from residents of cities under siege.

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As the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered a third day on Saturday, calls on social media grew louder for a boycott of Russia and its goods, as an act of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

In Canada, liquor stores in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador announced Friday that they would stop selling Russian spirits.

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Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich released a statement on Saturday stating that he was giving up control of the team. Abramovich, while ceasing control of the team, didn’t indicate that he planned to sell the team.

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A cargo ship and an oil tanker off the southern tip of Ukraine in the Black Sea were struck by missiles Friday, sparking fires, a Ukrainian shipping company said.

At about 12:10 p.m. local time, missiles hit the bunker of the Moldovan-registered vessel Millennium Spirit, according to a statement from Vladimir Ivantsov, manager of Stark Shipping Ukraine.

The ship was targeted, Ivantsov said, because it was carrying about 600 metric tons of fuel for Ukrainian forces.

With Ukraine’s capital under siege, major tech companies are coming under mounting pressure to use their influence over the world’s most popular phones, apps and social media platforms to take action against Russia.

Russia’s Internet censor also escalated pressure on the tech companies, as protesters used social media to voice opposition to the war and organize. A Twitter corporate account on Saturday tweeted that the service was being “restricted for some people in Russia.”

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In a message meant to bolster strength and solidarity in the face of Russian invasion, Zelensky on Saturday praised his fellow citizens for being willing to defend their nation and vowed to fight “for as long as it takes to liberate the country.”

LONDON — British lawmakers Saturday urged the government to do more to offer safe passage for people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Unlike some other countries, Britain has not offered to waive its current rules to take in Ukrainian refugees.

Julian Smith, a senior member of the ruling Conservative Party, urged the government to “rip up” the bureaucracy. “Let’s just say they are welcome & we will make it as easy as possible to be here,” he said on Twitter.

Russian troops have moved into Ukraine from the north, south and east of the country. Russian forces entered Ukraine through a ground incursion from Belarus toward Kyiv. According to the Pentagon, Russia is facing more resistance in the capital than what it was expecting.

MOSCOW — Spontaneous mass protests are illegal in Russia, so people across the country got creative Saturday, pouring out their opposition to a war that has shocked liberals and unsettled its comfortable urban class.

LONDON — When Boris Johnson announced in Parliament this week “the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen,” the British prime minister made a boast that drew guffaws.

“Oligarchs in London,” Johnson declared, “will have nowhere to hide.”

Except in plain sight, it appears.

Russian money is so ubiquitous, so notorious in Britain’s capital city that the global financial hub was long ago nicknamed “Londongrad.”

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Germany on Saturday announced plans to send 1,000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles to Ukraine, a major shift in post-World War II German defense policy that marked a significant escalation in Europe’s military support for Kyiv.

“The Russian invasion marks the turning of an era. It is our duty to support Ukraine to the best of our ability in defending against Putin’s invading army,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement.

One of the first serious points of division among Western nations on Russian sanctions in the Ukraine crisis is whether Russian financial institutions should be cut off from a global messaging system known as SWIFT.

More than two dozen nations have agreed to impose sanctions but have not united around this latest proposal, which the French finance minister called a “financial nuclear weapon.”

The German government said Saturday that it supports cutting off Russia from a key financial transactions mechanism in a “targeted and functional” way, marking a possible breakthrough for governments that had urged Berlin to back more decisive action against Moscow.

Two surveillance camera videos, verified by The Washington Post, show the moment a missile hits a residential high-rise in Kyiv on Saturday morning, as Ukrainian forces fight to hold the capital city.

Images and videos, posted by Ukrainian officials and others, show the damage to the area, as well as firefighters extinguishing flames and evacuating someone from the building, where it appears there are commercial shops on the ground floor.

LVIV, Ukraine — Cranes moved huge concrete blocks into roads leading into Lviv on Saturday, as volunteers filled and stacked sandbags in an attempt to fortify the western city against Russian attack.

As fears of an invasion built in recent weeks, Lviv, 50 miles from the border with the European Union, was considered a safe haven, with some embassies initially evacuating their staff to the city. But now it is bracing for an assault.

Russian troops coming from the north are approaching the Ukrainian capital, which is less than 70 miles from the Belarusian border, and skirmishes were reported on the edge of the city.

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MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that it had orders to “advance in all sectors” of Ukraine, claiming that its attacks had earlier been temporarily halted on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin claimed earlier Saturday that Putin ordered Russian troops to halt their advance Friday afternoon to allow for talks with Ukraine. Putin reversed the decision because Ukraine refused negotiate, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on Saturday said that any negotiations with Russia to end the invasion must be rooted in common sense instead of brute force.

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As Russian forces close in on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko begged other nations to immediately intervene against the assault that he said has killed civilians.

“It’s happening in the heart of Europe,” Klitschko said in a video posted to Twitter. “There’s no time to wait, because it’s going to lead into the humanitarian catastrophe.”

Klitschko repeatedly implored the rest of the world not to wait to respond.

MOSCOW — A top Russian official flying to Moscow faced a dramatic rebuff when Sweden denied his official government plane permission to enter its airspace — just as it was about to fly across the Scandinavian nation.

Finland also denied his flight permission.

The U.S. Treasury Department is looking at imposing sanctions against Russia’s central bank, a move that would seek to dramatically ramp up the financial isolation of Russia, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

A final decision hasn’t been made, and White House officials are looking to take actions in coordination with their international partners. The fact that the Biden administration is looking at the option was first reported by Bloomberg News.

President Biden has authorized a $350 million defense aid package for Ukraine, the White House announced late Friday, as Washington rushes to send more assistance to the pro-Western government.

Russian reconnaissance forces have made their way into Kyiv, a senior U.S. defense official said Saturday, with the bulk of Russia’s assault less than 20 miles north of Ukraine’s capital.

Australian satellite television operator Foxtel is suspending Russian channel RT’s broadcast distribution in the country, RT announced on its Telegram channel Saturday.

Foxtel cited “concern about the situation in Ukraine” in its notification to the channel, according to an RT report. The broadcaster’s account could not be confirmed, and Foxtel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

KYIV, Ukraine — Outside of a police station on Saturday afternoon, men are lined up and down the street to register their names so they can go through the first round of background checks to get a weapon. Men of all ages in the capital have come out to register for a weapon in response to the Russian forces that are attacking Kyiv. More men in the city are expected to register in the hours and days to come.

The Washington Post’s Sudarsan Raghavan explains how Ukrainians are making homemade weapons, such as molotov cocktails, and planning to use them against Russian troops and armored vehicles.

In a rarity, Britain’s royals have commented on the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, tweeted on Saturday that they stood with the people of Ukraine.

“In October 2020 we had the privilege to meet President Zelenskyy and the First Lady to learn of their hope and optimism for Ukraine’s future,” they said.

“Today we stand with the President and all of Ukraine’s people as they bravely fight for that future.”

Even amid fire and explosions in their capital, Ukrainian officials have ramped up the volume on a diplomatic request that they say would represent an essential show of solidarity: booting Russia from the Swift global payment system.

“Kick it out,” Ukraine’s foreign minister said Friday.

“Disconnect Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday.

Their urgent pleas seem to be building some momentum for the move.

Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to bolster deterrence efforts between the allies, warning that failing to take a strong stance against Russia could embolden others in the region, including China.

MOSCOW — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to halt their advance Friday afternoon to allow for talks on Ukraine’s accepting neutral status but reversed his decision, blaming the Ukrainians for refusing to negotiate.

He said Russian troops resumed their advance after the lack of agreement from Ukraine.

Mikhail Podolyak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, rejected Peskov’s claims.

The world must brace for a long-lasting crisis from Russia’s assault on Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday.

Actor and activist Sean Penn, who is on the ground in Ukraine filming a documentary on the invasion, denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for what the American filmmaker called “a most horrible mistake for all of humankind.”

In a statement to The Washington Post, Penn on Saturday praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while acknowledging the destruction caused by Putin in the days since Russia launched broad attacks throughout Ukraine.

Estonia, Latvia and Romania joined a growing list of countries moving to close their airspace to Russian airlines after Moscow launched its assault on Ukraine, widening the impact of the bans as Russia responded with its own closures.

Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, in a lengthy personal essay Saturday, defended President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine and said Russia did not need diplomatic ties with the West.

Writing on his official page on the Russian social media site VKontakte, he said: “There is no particular need in maintaining diplomatic relations,” and it is time to “padlock the embassies” in Moscow. “We may look at each other in binoculars and gunsights,” he added, according to the Associated Press.

LONDON — Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday morning that the majority of Russian forces are now 18 miles from the center of Kyiv.

It added that Russia has “yet to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine” and that this has reduced the effectiveness of the Russian air force. It added: “Russian casualties are likely to be heavy and greater than anticipated or acknowledged by the Kremlin.”

PARIS — French maritime officials said Saturday that they diverted a commercial vessel possibly linked to a Russian company that is targeted by European Union sanctions.

The Defense Ministry confirmed reports that the vessel was believed to have transported vehicles through the English Channel on its way to the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

According to the Agence France-Presse news agency, the vessel was diverted to Boulogne-sur-Mer, near the city of Calais.

The Kyiv Metro has stopped running. A tweet from the agency’s account said that stations have been repurposed solely as shelters.

“There will be no transportation,” read the message from the agency’s account.

Poland’s deputy interior minister, Pawel Szefernaker, said Saturday that 100,000 people have fled into Poland from neighboring Ukraine since the start of Russia’s offensive — marking the beginnings of what could be an exodus.

Some who’ve arrived have relatives living in Poland, as the country is home to several million Ukrainians. But Szefernaker said reception points have been set up along the border for those with nowhere to go.

MOSCOW — Russia’s tech and communications regulator launched a probe Saturday into 10 independent media outlets that have not parroted the Kremlin’s line on the invasion of Ukraine.

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MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Government forces are “repelling” a Russian assault on the capital, Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday, although fighting continues. He called for tougher sanctions on Russia and for Ukraine to be admitted to the European Union.

Ukrainian forces say they are still in control of their capital, Kyiv, early Saturday after a night in which many citizens sought refuge from Russian airstrikes in subway stations and air raid shelters — many among them children.

Others continued to flee abroad, with images showing people crossing borders into Slovakia, Hungary and other neighboring countries.

The United States and its European allies are turning to the United Nations General Assembly after Russia vetoed a U.S.-backed Security Council resolution condemning the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter late Friday that the United States would pursue the matter in the General Assembly, “where the nations of the world can, will, and should hold Russia accountable and stand.”

Ukraine’s health minister marked a rising death toll in an update posted Saturday morning on Facebook. The minister, Viktor Liashko, said that 198 people had been killed in the fighting — up from 137 a day earlier — and that 1,115 had been wounded, including 33 children.

Liashko said Ukraine’s medical system continues to function, both for those injured in the war and those who already needed care because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Britain’s armed forces minister said early Saturday that “isolated pockets” of Russian special forces were waging the street battles in Kyiv overnight as gunfire and explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital.

Images and videos of a blown-out residential building in Kyiv were being shared widely on social media by Ukrainian officials Saturday.

Ukraine’s foreign minster, Dmytro Kuleba, shared a photo of the high-rise apartment building, which he said was damaged by shelling in Kyiv.

The Kyiv City Council also posted images and video of the building being hit on its official website and said floors 17 to 21 had been destroyed and its residents evacuated.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said Russian state-owned media outlets will no longer be allowed to run advertisements or monetize their content on the social media giant’s platform.

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Residents of Kyiv spent the early hours of Saturday sheltering indoors from street fighting and shelling, but Ukrainian authorities still controlled the capital as of the morning, top officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky started the night with the grim warning that people should prepare for Russia to storm the capital. But as dawn broke, the president posted a video of himself apparently in the capital’s streets to show he remained at his post.

MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday morning that its forces had taken control over Melitopol, a city of about 150,000 people in southern Ukraine, between the annexed Crimean peninsula and Mariupol.

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MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video to his social media accounts Saturday morning, calling on his fellow citizens to continue defending the country against Russian invasion. The video shows the unshaven Ukrainian leader apparently standing in the streets of Kyiv and announcing that there will be no surrender.

The sound of gunfire and explosions continued through the early hours of Saturday in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

KYIV, Ukraine — From what was left of her fourth-floor balcony, an elderly woman tossed piece after piece of debris to the grass below. Out went heaps of glass, insulation and wood. She occasionally paused to survey the damage around her.

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KYIV, Ukraine — With Russian forces pressing into the northern suburbs of this besieged capital this week, Alexei Ianikovskyi took his family into the city’s center. They found sanctuary at a hotel where he worked, one with a basement for a bomb shelter.

By Friday, Ianikovskyi was faced with a difficult choice — one shared by countless Ukrainians: “I really want to join the army,” he said inside the bunker, as explosions rocked the outskirts of the city. “But I also need to protect my family.”

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Ukrainian lawmaker and tech executive Kira Rudik repeated her intent to bear arms against Russian troops entering Kyiv during a television interview early Saturday local time, stressing that the country’s leaders should show citizens how to act in support of Ukrainian troops.

“If you would have asked me like three days ago about me bearing arms, I would tell you like definite no, and we would have argument,” she said in an appearance on MSNBC. “And now I have Kalashnikov.”