KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky remained defiant Monday, saying he would never agree to an ultimatum from Russia or surrender Ukraine’s cities, even as the Kremlin continued its bombardment of the capital, the coast and elsewhere.
As Moscow sought its first strategic victory in a war that appears to be approaching a stalemate in many places, it issued a warning to leaders in Mariupol: flee, or face further attacks. Ukrainian officials rejected the demands, and the fate of the southeastern port city is uncertain. In remarks published by a Ukrainian public TV channel, Zelensky said the country “cannot fulfill ultimatums.”
In Kyiv, an attack on a shopping mall late Sunday reduced much of the area to rubble, killing at least eight people and leaving civilians on edge. The capital remains one of Moscow’s primary targets. Military experts have warned that the Kremlin could turn to progressively deadlier siege tactics and missile strikes in civilian areas to compensate for its lack of battlefield progress in the three-week war. With diplomatic efforts making minimal advances, the war’s human toll continues to climb.
Here’s what to know
- Ukrainian officials said seven of the eight humanitarian corridors for Ukrainians fleeing violence operated successfully Monday, allowing just over 8,000 people to evacuate, most from Mariupol and the Kyiv region. Ukraine has accused Moscow of forcing some evacuees into Russian-controlled areas and of attacking civilian convoys, assertions that Russia rejects.
- Ukrainians have grown more confident in their country’s ability to repel Russia’s invasion, according to a new poll that found 91 percent of Ukrainian respondents believe Ukraine will emerge victorious from the war.
- In a video posted Monday, Zelensky made a direct appeal to the German people, asking for further restrictions against Russia and support for Ukraine’s bid for European Union membership.
- The White House is urging U.S. businesses to increase their cybersecurity capabilities, citing intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential attacks.
- The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine, providing unlimited digital access to our coverage. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.
UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
Britain’s pick-a-refugee program had one Brit flying to Poland with Cadbury bars
LONDON — Max Fox arrived in the Polish border town of Przemysl with suitcases full of gifts for refugees and their pets — Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars, toy London buses, dog chews — and high hopes of finding a Ukrainian who would like to come back to Britain to live with him.
Fox, a 32-year-old British singer who belted out Disney songs as he handed out chocolate bars, putting smiles on faces, is among the more than 100,000 Britons who have signed up as potential hosts through a Homes for Ukraine program.
But Britain’s largely do-it-yourself asylum plan requires hosts to name a Ukrainian when submitting paperwork. And because many Brits don’t know a Ukrainian personally, they are scouring social media, contacting charities, churches, community groups, friends of friends. Or in cases like Fox’s, they are getting on planes.
“I’ve been a bit spontaneous, but I can’t sit down anymore and watch this war unfold and do nothing,” said Fox, who has a two-bedroom apartment in Poulton-le-Fylde, a market town in northern England. He flew to Poland on Thursday to identify a refugee he could sponsor. He wanted to make sure they were comfortable with the fact that he is gay and married, with a pet cockapoo dog named Canela.
Biden confirms Russia’s use of hypersonic weapons in Ukraine
Speaking to a group of U.S. business executives Monday evening, President Biden confirmed for the first time Russia’s use of a hypersonic missile in its invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday and Sunday, Russian military officials claimed they had deployed hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, but the Pentagon had declined to confirm their use through Monday afternoon.
“As you noticed, they just launched a hypersonic missile because it’s the only thing they can get through with absolute certainty. As you all know, it’s a consequential weapon,” Biden said Monday at the quarterly meeting of Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from some of the largest U.S. companies. “But with the same warhead on it as any other launched missile. It doesn’t make that much difference except it’s almost impossible to stop it. There’s a reason they’re using it.”
Biden said NATO and Pacific allies had been united in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression with sanctions and other punishments, and he thanked business leaders for making decisions — such as pulling their business out of Russia — that also helped impose real costs on the Russian economy. But Biden also warned that the effectiveness of their alliance would drive Putin to pursue more severe war tactics.
“Now Putin’s back is against the wall. He wasn’t anticipating the extent of our strength, of our unity,” Biden said. “And the more his back is against the wall, the greater severity the tactics he may employ. We’ve seen it before.”
Biden said U.S. intelligence warned that Russia could be planning a cyberattack against the United States and urged the CEOs “as a patriotic obligation” to invest as much as they can to bolster technological capacity to deal with such attacks.
What is happening in Mariupol, the Ukrainian city under Russian siege?
Moscow issued an ultimatum Sunday: Ukrainian forces had to leave the besieged city of Mariupol or face further assaults and a “military tribunal.”
Ukraine rejected the order to surrender the city, which has been battered by a Russian blockade and bombardments for nearly three weeks.
Here’s what to know about Mariupol and the humanitarian catastrophe happening there.
Video: Zelensky plays the sound of an air raid siren
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played an air raid siren on Monday during a Telegram address, saying he was demonstrating to the world what Ukrainians hear amid Russian air assaults.
“You will hear what we have been living for 25 days now,” he said before playing the siren noise from a phone.
More than 90 percent of Ukrainians say their military will be victorious, new poll finds
In recent weeks, as Russia has escalated its assault, Ukrainians have grown more confident in their country’s ability to repel the invasion and emerge victorious from the war, a newly released poll found.
The survey, conducted by the Kyiv-based firm Info Sapiens, shows how Ukrainian public opinion has evolved during the intense shelling and bloody firefights in which the Ukrainian military exhibited a stouter-than-expected defense. According to the poll — conducted March 14 and 15 — 91 percent of Ukrainian respondents say the country’s troops will eventually defeat Russian forces and end the invasion.
That figure has risen significantly since an Info Sapiens survey in February, just before the war began, in which 56 percent of Ukrainians said they would be victorious in the event of a Russian invasion. The increased resolve is perhaps unsurprising and probably can be at least partly attributed to the “rally ‘round the flag effect,” in which public support grows for governments and their leaders in times of war or conflict.
The latest Info Sapiens poll, which surveyed a random sample of people on their mobile phones and is representative of Ukraine’s adult population, found that “confidence in victory prevails in all regions” but that it is lowest — 74 percent — in the country’s east, where Russia has the largest presence.
One of the firm’s earlier polls found that 67 percent of Ukrainians surveyed — 78 percent of men and 59 percent of women — said they were “willing to put up armed resistance” to stop Russia’s advance into Ukraine.
Western analysts and experts have in recent days said the war appears headed toward a stalemate, with Russia’s progress stalled and its casualties mounting. But they cautioned that the Kremlin, with its far larger military, has the upper hand and said the coming weeks will be crucial.
White House urges businesses to strengthen cybersecurity in case Russia launches network attacks
The Biden administration on Monday reiterated a call for U.S. businesses to increase their cybersecurity capabilities, citing intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential attacks.
The warning, which came after U.S. intelligence concluded that Russian government hackers probably have penetrated Ukrainian military, energy and other critical computer networks, adds to concerns that private U.S.-based companies need to do more to secure their networks.
“Today, we are reiterating those warnings, and we’re doing so based on evolving threat intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, said at a White House briefing Monday. “To be clear, there is no certainty there will be a cyber incident on critical infrastructure.”
The administration last week held a classified briefing with companies and sectors it said could be affected. Neuberger declined to specify the companies and sectors involved.
She said there was no evidence of a specific attack but that U.S. intelligence had detected “preparatory activity” such as scanning websites and looking for potential vulnerabilities.
The executive chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a think tank on tech and trade security, said he anticipated Russian retaliation “for sanctions, including with cyberattacks.”
“They are probably judging that now is as good a time as any, with the war in Ukraine grinding into a stalemate,” Dmitri Alperovitch said.
Neuberger said any such actions taken by Russia would be met with a response.
“We’re not looking for a conflict with Russia,” she said. “If Russia initiates a cyberattack against the United States, we will respond.”
Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.
Videos from Odessa show residential area damaged by shelling
Videos verified by The Washington Post show Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov walking through residential buildings damaged by suspected Russian strikes in the southern part of the Ukrainian city, near the Black Sea coast.
In the video, a resident says he heard shelling about 5:50 a.m. before running to his bomb shelter just as the roof starting to give in. Another resident recounts an explosion in his front yard.
According to a statement from the mayor’s office to The Post, the strike was not near a military facility and there were no reported fatalities.
In additional video, a crew from the State Emergency Services of Ukraine puts out a fire and clears rubble from the area. Odessa, a city in southwestern Ukraine known for its historic downtown and Black Sea beaches, has largely avoided the bulk of the Russian strikes, and many residents have chosen to stay in the city.
“We will not leave Odessa and we will fight for our city,” Trukhanov said in his statement.
Oil surges above $116 a barrel; Russian markets partially reopen
Oil prices surged past $116 a barrel on Monday and U.S. stocks turned negative — with the Dow sliding 200 points — as the war in Ukraine and inflation dominated investors’ attention.
The major U.S. indexes erased mild advances, then remained in the red after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell raised the specter of bigger interest rate hikes to beat back decades-high inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 201.94 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 34,552.99. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 55.83 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 13,838.46, while the broader S&P 500 index edged down 1.94 points, or 0.04 percent, to end at 4,461.18.
Last week, all three indexes notched their best weekly performance since November 2020, boosted by a cool-down in oil prices that had spiked past $130 a barrel in early March. But prices have swelled as bombardments intensify and resolution seems to remain out of reach. An attack on Saudi oil facilities over the weekend injected further uncertainty into energy markets.
Additional pressure came as the European Union weighed whether to ban Russian oil, a move that would strike a direct blow to Russia’s main financial artery — oil sales account for 40 percent of the Russian government’s budget, according to Russia’s Finance Ministry — while also cutting the bloc off from its biggest energy supplier.
The Bank of Russia said Monday that federal loan bonds would resume trading, days after the government made a $117 million interest payment to foreign bondholders, averting what would have been its first foreign debt default since 1918. Other trading remains suspended, as the government seeks to shield stocks from the pain that Russian-listed firms outside the country have felt in recent weeks amid the cavalcade of sanctions.
What is an oligarch, really?
Oligarch. It’s a word that refers to wealthy elites, people who don’t just hold power and money but who control enough resources to influence politics or government in a meaningful way.
It is also heavily associated with the rich and powerful in Russia, specifically those who made their fortunes in the post-Soviet era, including some who remain connected to the Kremlin today.
An oligarchy is government by the few. And the Oxford Dictionary defines “oligarch” as an “extremely rich and powerful person, especially a Russian who became rich in business after the end of the former Soviet Union.”
Despite the Russian overtones, the word oligarch has Greek roots: It is derived from oligoi (“few”) and arkhein (“to rule”). Aristotle used it to describe a privileged few exercising despotic power for corrupt purposes — a debased kind of aristocracy.
Kyiv mayor, brother from Kyiv defense force detail capital’s devastation, ask for U.S. intervention
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother, Kyiv Territorial Defense Force member Wladimir Klitschko, renewed calls for the United States to help their besieged hometown, where four children have been killed among at least a dozen wounded, part of hundreds of injuries the city has seen. The U.N. human rights office in Ukraine said it has recorded more than 900 civilian deaths, including 75 children, and 1,459 injured.
In an interview with Washington Post Live on Monday, the brothers detailed the devastation that has wracked Kyiv and warned that without support from the United States, Russia’s attacks could eventually have global repercussions in the form of nuclear catastrophe.
Russian forces have already destroyed 72 buildings, including apartment buildings and several preschools, Vitali Klitschko said.
“We cannot defend our country just with our fists,” Wladimir Klitschko said. “If our cities are going to continue to be bombarded like this morning. … We need to protect the sky above us, so we need this high-tech equipment.”
He warned that the ongoing airstrikes by Russian forces could hit one of Ukraine’s numerous nuclear power facilities.
“And if something is going to happen to one of those major nuclear power plants it’s gonna be Fukushima and Chernobyl combined multiple times, and there’s going to be disaster for thousands of years for the entire world,” he said.
Given Ukraine’s long history and close cultural and historic ties with Russia, Wladimir Klitschko said his countrymen understand Russia — just not its leader.
“What we don’t understand [is] the reckless mind, the madman’s mind to go and invade a country after the Second World War,” he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This is not 2022, this is a man from the past, a madman from the past.”
Survivor of four Nazi concentration camps is killed in Ukraine, foundation says
BERLIN — Boris Romantschenko eluded death at Hitler’s hand, surviving forced labor and detention in four concentration camps as Europe became a killing field in the 1940s.
Last week, his life was snuffed out by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught in Ukraine, according to a foundation memorializing Nazi crimes. Romantschenko, 96, was killed when a Russian missile struck his apartment building in Kharkiv.
“It is with horror that we report the violent death of Boris Romantschenko in the war in Ukraine,” read a statement on the website of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation. The foundation said it learned of the elderly man’s death from his son and granddaughter.
Romantschenko’s “horrific death,” the statement continued, “shows how threatening the war in Ukraine is for concentration camp survivors.”
How Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 is shaping Biden’s actions today
The former diplomats and defense officials who visited the U.S. Naval Observatory in early 2015 were seeking a receptive audience — and they found one in Vice President Joe Biden. Russia had taken over the Ukrainian territory of Crimea the previous year and fueled a bloody separatist uprising in the country’s east, and the officials urgently wanted President Barack Obama to send Ukraine advanced antitank missiles called Javelins. Not only would that help repel the Russian-armed separatists, they insisted, but it would serve as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to stand by a former Soviet republic that was moving steadily toward the West.
“He said, ‘Okay, I’ll go down the hall’ — meaning to the Oval Office — ‘and make the case,’ ” recalled Jan Lodal, a former senior Pentagon official who helped organize the meeting. But Lodal said Biden added with a smile: “You’ve got to remember my first name: It’s ‘Vice.’ Spelled V-I-C-E. I’m the highest-paid staff officer in the government.”
Sure enough, Obama rejected the request, fearing that providing lethal aid to Ukraine would escalate tensions with Russia. Now Biden, as president, is finally doing what he could not do then. He has provided Ukraine with more than $2 billion in security assistance since the start of his administration, including small arms, body armor and other munitions — including, of course, Javelins.
Biden’s role as chief Ukraine envoy during Russia’s brazen seizure of Crimea and fomenting of conflict in eastern Ukraine — for which it faced few significant consequences — deeply informs his handling of the current crisis in Ukraine, according to current Biden and former Obama officials.
White House believes Russia is seeing big drop in oil sales, imperiling key source of funding
Senior Biden aides believe that Russia is suffering a dramatic decline in oil sales that stands to deprive the Kremlin of a key source of government revenue, according to a senior administration official and one person briefed by a senior administration official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share an assessment not yet made public.
The Biden administration is examining private industry data showing that sales of Russian crude oil by vessel have gone from roughly 2 million per day to close to zero from the period between March 15 and March 20, the people said. The official said that more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil sold per day have been taken out of the market and that Asian buyers are not stepping in to fully fill the gap.
But some analysts think that Russia will continue to sell huge quantities of oil that will help Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine — arguing that Congress, the administration and Europe could take more aggressive action to curb sales of Russian energy.
Russian court finds Facebook and Instagram guilty of extremist activity
A Russian court found Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, guilty Monday of extremist activity, the latest blow to the tech giant, which is already blocked in Russia.
But the court excluded the WhatsApp messenger service in the decision. WhatsApp is highly popular in Russia.
The court decision is the result of a move last week in which Russian prosecutors opened a case to declare the company an extremist organization. Separately, Russia’s Internet regulator has blocked both apps.
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky remained defiant Monday, saying he would never agree to an ultimatum from Russia or surrender Ukraine’s cities, even as the Kremlin continued its bombardment of the capital, the coast and elsewhere.As Moscow sought its first strategic victory in a war that appears to be approaching a stalemate in many places, it issued a warning to leaders in Mariupol: flee, or face further attacks. Ukrainian officials rejected the demands, and the fate of the southeastern port city is uncertain. In remarks published by a Ukrainian public TV channel, Zelensky said the country “cannot fulfill ultimatums.”In Kyiv, an attack on a shopping mall late Sunday reduced much of the area to rubble, killing at least eight people and leaving civilians on edge. The capital remains one of Moscow’s primary targets. Military experts have warned that the Kremlin could turn to progressively deadlier siege tactics and missile strikes in civilian areas to compensate for its lack of battlefield progress in the three-week war. With diplomatic efforts making minimal advances, the war’s human toll continues to climb.Here’s what to knowUkrainian officials said seven of the eight humanitarian corridors for Ukrainians fleeing violence operated successfully Monday, allowing just over 8,000 people to evacuate, most from Mariupol and the Kyiv region. Ukraine has accused Moscow of forcing some evacuees into Russian-controlled areas and of attacking civilian convoys, assertions that Russia rejects.Ukrainians have grown more confident in their country’s ability to repel Russia’s invasion, according to a new poll that found 91 percent of Ukrainian respondents believe Ukraine will emerge victorious from the war.In a video posted Monday, Zelensky made a direct appeal to the German people, asking for further restrictions against Russia and support for Ukraine’s bid for European Union membership.The White House is urging U.S. businesses to increase their cybersecurity capabilities, citing intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential attacks.The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine, providing unlimited digital access to our coverage. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICTBritain’s pick-a-refugee program had one Brit flying to Poland with Cadbury bars Return to menuLONDON — Max Fox arrived in the Polish border town of Przemysl with suitcases full of gifts for refugees and their pets — Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars, toy London buses, dog chews — and high hopes of finding a Ukrainian who would like to come back to Britain to live with him.Fox, a 32-year-old British singer who belted out Disney songs as he handed out chocolate bars, putting smiles on faces, is among the more than 100,000 Britons who have signed up as potential hosts through a Homes for Ukraine program.But Britain’s largely do-it-yourself asylum plan requires hosts to name a Ukrainian when submitting paperwork. And because many Brits don’t know a Ukrainian personally, they are scouring social media, contacting charities, churches, community groups, friends of friends. Or in cases like Fox’s, they are getting on planes.“I’ve been a bit spontaneous, but I can’t sit down anymore and watch this war unfold and do nothing,” said Fox, who has a two-bedroom apartment in Poulton-le-Fylde, a market town in northern England. He flew to Poland on Thursday to identify a refugee he could sponsor. He wanted to make sure they were comfortable with the fact that he is gay and married, with a pet cockapoo dog named Canela.Updates continue below advertisementBiden confirms Russia’s use of hypersonic weapons in UkraineReturn to menuSpeaking to a group of U.S. business executives Monday evening, President Biden confirmed for the first time Russia’s use of a hypersonic missile in its invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday and Sunday, Russian military officials claimed they had deployed hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, but the Pentagon had declined to confirm their use through Monday afternoon.“As you noticed, they just launched a hypersonic missile because it’s the only thing they can get through with absolute certainty. As you all know, it’s a consequential weapon,” Biden said Monday at the quarterly meeting of Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from some of the largest U.S. companies. “But with the same warhead on it as any other launched missile. It doesn’t make that much difference except it’s almost impossible to stop it. There’s a reason they’re using it.”Biden said NATO and Pacific allies had been united in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression with sanctions and other punishments, and he thanked business leaders for making decisions — such as pulling their business out of Russia — that also helped impose real costs on the Russian economy. But Biden also warned that the effectiveness of their alliance would drive Putin to pursue more severe war tactics.“Now Putin’s back is against the wall. He wasn’t anticipating the extent of our strength, of our unity,” Biden said. “And the more his back is against the wall, the greater severity the tactics he may employ. We’ve seen it before.”Biden said U.S. intelligence warned that Russia could be planning a cyberattack against the United States and urged the CEOs “as a patriotic obligation” to invest as much as they can to bolster technological capacity to deal with such attacks.Updates continue below advertisementWhat is happening in Mariupol, the Ukrainian city under Russian siege? Return to menuMoscow issued an ultimatum Sunday: Ukrainian forces had to leave the besieged city of Mariupol or face further assaults and a “military tribunal.”Ukraine rejected the order to surrender the city, which has been battered by a Russian blockade and bombardments for nearly three weeks.Here’s what to know about Mariupol and the humanitarian catastrophe happening there.Updates continue below advertisementVideo: Zelensky plays the sound of an air raid sirenReturn to menuUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played the sound of an air raid siren in a video posted to Telegram on March 21. (Volodymyr Zelensky)Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played an air raid siren on Monday during a Telegram address, saying he was demonstrating to the world what Ukrainians hear amid Russian air assaults.“You will hear what we have been living for 25 days now,” he said before playing the siren noise from a phone.Updates continue below advertisementMore than 90 percent of Ukrainians say their military will be victorious, new poll findsReturn to menuIn recent weeks, as Russia has escalated its assault, Ukrainians have grown more confident in their country’s ability to repel the invasion and emerge victorious from the war, a newly released poll found.The survey, conducted by the Kyiv-based firm Info Sapiens, shows how Ukrainian public opinion has evolved during the intense shelling and bloody firefights in which the Ukrainian military exhibited a stouter-than-expected defense. According to the poll — conducted March 14 and 15 — 91 percent of Ukrainian respondents say the country’s troops will eventually defeat Russian forces and end the invasion.That figure has risen significantly since an Info Sapiens survey in February, just before the war began, in which 56 percent of Ukrainians said they would be victorious in the event of a Russian invasion. The increased resolve is perhaps unsurprising and probably can be at least partly attributed to the “rally ‘round the flag effect,” in which public support grows for governments and their leaders in times of war or conflict.The latest Info Sapiens poll, which surveyed a random sample of people on their mobile phones and is representative of Ukraine’s adult population, found that “confidence in victory prevails in all regions” but that it is lowest — 74 percent — in the country’s east, where Russia has the largest presence.One of the firm’s earlier polls found that 67 percent of Ukrainians surveyed — 78 percent of men and 59 percent of women — said they were “willing to put up armed resistance” to stop Russia’s advance into Ukraine.Western analysts and experts have in recent days said the war appears headed toward a stalemate, with Russia’s progress stalled and its casualties mounting. But they cautioned that the Kremlin, with its far larger military, has the upper hand and said the coming weeks will be crucial.Updates continue below advertisementWhite House urges businesses to strengthen cybersecurity in case Russia launches network attacksReturn to menuThe Biden administration on Monday reiterated a call for U.S. businesses to increase their cybersecurity capabilities, citing intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential attacks.The warning, which came after U.S. intelligence concluded that Russian government hackers probably have penetrated Ukrainian military, energy and other critical computer networks, adds to concerns that private U.S.-based companies need to do more to secure their networks.“Today, we are reiterating those warnings, and we’re doing so based on evolving threat intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, said at a White House briefing Monday. “To be clear, there is no certainty there will be a cyber incident on critical infrastructure.”The administration last week held a classified briefing with companies and sectors it said could be affected. Neuberger declined to specify the companies and sectors involved.She said there was no evidence of a specific attack but that U.S. intelligence had detected “preparatory activity” such as scanning websites and looking for potential vulnerabilities.The executive chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a think tank on tech and trade security, said he anticipated Russian retaliation “for sanctions, including with cyberattacks.”“They are probably judging that now is as good a time as any, with the war in Ukraine grinding into a stalemate,” Dmitri Alperovitch said.Neuberger said any such actions taken by Russia would be met with a response.“We’re not looking for a conflict with Russia,” she said. “If Russia initiates a cyberattack against the United States, we will respond.”Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.Updates continue below advertisementVideos from Odessa show residential area damaged by shellingReturn to menuVideos verified by The Washington Post show damage to a residential area in Odessa due to alleged Russian shelling on March 21. (Odessa City Council/State Emergency Services of Ukraine via Telegram)Videos verified by The Washington Post show Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov walking through residential buildings damaged by suspected Russian strikes in the southern part of the Ukrainian city, near the Black Sea coast.In the video, a resident says he heard shelling about 5:50 a.m. before running to his bomb shelter just as the roof starting to give in. Another resident recounts an explosion in his front yard.According to a statement from the mayor’s office to The Post, the strike was not near a military facility and there were no reported fatalities.In additional video, a crew from the State Emergency Services of Ukraine puts out a fire and clears rubble from the area. Odessa, a city in southwestern Ukraine known for its historic downtown and Black Sea beaches, has largely avoided the bulk of the Russian strikes, and many residents have chosen to stay in the city. “We will not leave Odessa and we will fight for our city,” Trukhanov said in his statement.Updates continue below advertisementOil surges above $116 a barrel; Russian markets partially reopenReturn to menuOil prices surged past $116 a barrel on Monday and U.S. stocks turned negative — with the Dow sliding 200 points — as the war in Ukraine and inflation dominated investors’ attention.The major U.S. indexes erased mild advances, then remained in the red after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell raised the specter of bigger interest rate hikes to beat back decades-high inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 201.94 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 34,552.99. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 55.83 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 13,838.46, while the broader S&P 500 index edged down 1.94 points, or 0.04 percent, to end at 4,461.18.Last week, all three indexes notched their best weekly performance since November 2020, boosted by a cool-down in oil prices that had spiked past $130 a barrel in early March. But prices have swelled as bombardments intensify and resolution seems to remain out of reach. An attack on Saudi oil facilities over the weekend injected further uncertainty into energy markets.Additional pressure came as the European Union weighed whether to ban Russian oil, a move that would strike a direct blow to Russia’s main financial artery — oil sales account for 40 percent of the Russian government’s budget, according to Russia’s Finance Ministry — while also cutting the bloc off from its biggest energy supplier.The Bank of Russia said Monday that federal loan bonds would resume trading, days after the government made a $117 million interest payment to foreign bondholders, averting what would have been its first foreign debt default since 1918. Other trading remains suspended, as the government seeks to shield stocks from the pain that Russian-listed firms outside the country have felt in recent weeks amid the cavalcade of sanctions.Updates continue below advertisementWhat is an oligarch, really? Return to menuOligarch. It’s a word that refers to wealthy elites, people who don’t just hold power and money but who control enough resources to influence politics or government in a meaningful way.It is also heavily associated with the rich and powerful in Russia, specifically those who made their fortunes in the post-Soviet era, including some who remain connected to the Kremlin today.An oligarchy is government by the few. And the Oxford Dictionary defines “oligarch” as an “extremely rich and powerful person, especially a Russian who became rich in business after the end of the former Soviet Union.”Despite the Russian overtones, the word oligarch has Greek roots: It is derived from oligoi (“few”) and arkhein (“to rule”). Aristotle used it to describe a privileged few exercising despotic power for corrupt purposes — a debased kind of aristocracy.Kyiv mayor, brother from Kyiv defense force detail capital’s devastation, ask for U.S. interventionReturn to menuKyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother, Kyiv Territorial Defense Force member Wladimir Klitschko, renewed calls for the United States to help their besieged hometown, where four children have been killed among at least a dozen wounded, part of hundreds of injuries the city has seen. The U.N. human rights office in Ukraine said it has recorded more than 900 civilian deaths, including 75 children, and 1,459 injured.In an interview with Washington Post Live on Monday, the brothers detailed the devastation that has wracked Kyiv and warned that without support from the United States, Russia’s attacks could eventually have global repercussions in the form of nuclear catastrophe.Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, PhD join Washington Post Live (The Washington Post)Russian forces have already destroyed 72 buildings, including apartment buildings and several preschools, Vitali Klitschko said.“We cannot defend our country just with our fists,” Wladimir Klitschko said. “If our cities are going to continue to be bombarded like this morning. … We need to protect the sky above us, so we need this high-tech equipment.”He warned that the ongoing airstrikes by Russian forces could hit one of Ukraine’s numerous nuclear power facilities.“And if something is going to happen to one of those major nuclear power plants it’s gonna be Fukushima and Chernobyl combined multiple times, and there’s going to be disaster for thousands of years for the entire world,” he said.Given Ukraine’s long history and close cultural and historic ties with Russia, Wladimir Klitschko said his countrymen understand Russia — just not its leader.“What we don’t understand [is] the reckless mind, the madman’s mind to go and invade a country after the Second World War,” he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This is not 2022, this is a man from the past, a madman from the past.”Survivor of four Nazi concentration camps is killed in Ukraine, foundation says Return to menuBERLIN — Boris Romantschenko eluded death at Hitler’s hand, surviving forced labor and detention in four concentration camps as Europe became a killing field in the 1940s.Last week, his life was snuffed out by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught in Ukraine, according to a foundation memorializing Nazi crimes. Romantschenko, 96, was killed when a Russian missile struck his apartment building in Kharkiv.“It is with horror that we report the violent death of Boris Romantschenko in the war in Ukraine,” read a statement on the website of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation. The foundation said it learned of the elderly man’s death from his son and granddaughter.Romantschenko’s “horrific death,” the statement continued, “shows how threatening the war in Ukraine is for concentration camp survivors.”How Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 is shaping Biden’s actions today Return to menuThe former diplomats and defense officials who visited the U.S. Naval Observatory in early 2015 were seeking a receptive audience — and they found one in Vice President Joe Biden. Russia had taken over the Ukrainian territory of Crimea the previous year and fueled a bloody separatist uprising in the country’s east, and the officials urgently wanted President Barack Obama to send Ukraine advanced antitank missiles called Javelins. Not only would that help repel the Russian-armed separatists, they insisted, but it would serve as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to stand by a former Soviet republic that was moving steadily toward the West.“He said, ‘Okay, I’ll go down the hall’ — meaning to the Oval Office — ‘and make the case,’ ” recalled Jan Lodal, a former senior Pentagon official who helped organize the meeting. But Lodal said Biden added with a smile: “You’ve got to remember my first name: It’s ‘Vice.’ Spelled V-I-C-E. I’m the highest-paid staff officer in the government.”Sure enough, Obama rejected the request, fearing that providing lethal aid to Ukraine would escalate tensions with Russia. Now Biden, as president, is finally doing what he could not do then. He has provided Ukraine with more than $2 billion in security assistance since the start of his administration, including small arms, body armor and other munitions — including, of course, Javelins.Biden’s role as chief Ukraine envoy during Russia’s brazen seizure of Crimea and fomenting of conflict in eastern Ukraine — for which it faced few significant consequences — deeply informs his handling of the current crisis in Ukraine, according to current Biden and former Obama officials.White House believes Russia is seeing big drop in oil sales, imperiling key source of funding Return to menuSenior Biden aides believe that Russia is suffering a dramatic decline in oil sales that stands to deprive the Kremlin of a key source of government revenue, according to a senior administration official and one person briefed by a senior administration official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share an assessment not yet made public.The Biden administration is examining private industry data showing that sales of Russian crude oil by vessel have gone from roughly 2 million per day to close to zero from the period between March 15 and March 20, the people said. The official said that more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil sold per day have been taken out of the market and that Asian buyers are not stepping in to fully fill the gap.But some analysts think that Russia will continue to sell huge quantities of oil that will help Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine — arguing that Congress, the administration and Europe could take more aggressive action to curb sales of Russian energy.Russian court finds Facebook and Instagram guilty of extremist activityReturn to menuA Russian court found Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, guilty Monday of extremist activity, the latest blow to the tech giant, which is already blocked in Russia.But the court excluded the WhatsApp messenger service in the decision. WhatsApp is highly popular in Russia.The court decision is the result of a move last week in which Russian prosecutors opened a case to declare the company an extremist organization. Separately, Russia’s Internet regulator has blocked both apps.