“That’s not for Biden to decide,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state media. “The president of Russia is elected by Russians.”
Biden’s words capped a fiery speech in which he called Putin a “dictator,” warning him not to encroach on NATO territory and urging Ukrainians to steel themselves for a long battle. He framed the Kremlin’s invasion as the “test of all time” for democracy.
His trip came as fierce fighting continued in Ukraine. Officials in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv reported several powerful explosions on Saturday, and a large plume of smoke could be seen billowing in the air.
Here’s what to know
- Speaking by video to the Doha Forum in Qatar on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the destruction in the port city of Mariupol, comparing it to “what we all saw in Aleppo” — a reference to the northern Syrian city battered by Syrian and Russian forces during the civil war in Syria.
- The Pentagon said Friday that Russia has halted ground operations aimed at Kyiv and is instead focusing attacks on the eastern Donbas region. The move is seen as a sign that Moscow might be paring back its ambitions for the invasion. A U.S. military think tank, however, expressed skepticism that Russia’s war aims have changed.
- For weeks, the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv north of the capital has been under near-constant Russian attack, almost entirely cut off from power, water, food and gas amid constant artillery fire. One resident has shared with The Washington Post the daily struggles that he and others face.
- American teacher Tyler Jacob has been released from Russian custody and reunited with his wife and daughter. He was detained 10 days ago at a checkpoint in Crimea as he was seeking evacuation to Turkey.
- The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates.
UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
Here’s the status of Ukrainian cities under Russian attack
- Kyiv: Russian troops “continued their unsuccessful efforts” to move into positions from which to attack or encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the D.C.-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said in a Saturday battlefield assessment. That’s despite recent claims by Moscow that the primary aim of the invasion is to capture two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine — not to seize the capital and overthrow the government. The Kyiv area still has the largest single concentration of Russian ground forces in Ukraine, the military analysts said.
- Mariupol: Fierce fighting continues in this strategic port city, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky likening the destruction to “what we all saw in Aleppo” — a reference to the northern Syrian city battered by Syrian and Russian forces during the civil war in Syria. U.S. military analysts think Russian forces “will likely gain control of the city in the relatively near future” even though Kremlin units are suffering “significant losses” in the ongoing siege.
- Chernihiv: The Russian military continues to concentrate replacements and reinforcements to fight for positions on Kyiv’s outskirts, U.S. military analysts say, including its attempt to complete the encirclement and reduction of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. Residents of the city reportedly have no electricity, heating or water.
- Slavutych: Russian forces have entered this northern town close to the Chernobyl nuclear site. The mayor said in a video address late Saturday that the town was occupied and under a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. military curfew, with Russian forces set to search buildings for weapons. Video posted Saturday and verified by The Washington Post shows protesters, some carrying Ukrainian flags, in the town square during a large demonstration against the Russians.
- Kharkiv: Ukrainian forces continue to conduct limited counterattacks, most recently near Kharkiv. Unrelenting Russian shelling has forced residents to seek shelter underground as houses and neighborhoods burn.
- Kherson: Russia appears to have at least partially lost control of the southern Ukrainian city on the Black Sea, according to Western defense officials and military analysts, the first of a handful of midsized cities Russia has struggled to occupy since the invasion began.
Lateshia Beachum in Washington and Amy Cheng in Seoul contributed to this report.
Map: Russia’s latest advances in Ukraine
Explosions from rocket attacks jolted the western city of Lviv. One industrial facility where fuel is stored was hit, the governor there said.
Russian forces entered the city of Slavutych, where many workers from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant live, the Kyiv region’s governor said.
Ukrainian forces successfully counterattacked areas around Kharkiv, according to a pro-U.S.-military think tank, while Russian shelling of the city continued.
Amid bombs and gunfire, Ukrainian musicians bring classical music to the sheltered
In a city rattled by thunderous warfare, the refrain of three violins, a cello and a bass gave a melodic break to Kharkiv residents sheltering underground Saturday.
Kharkiv Music Fest organizers said they improvised after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halted their original plans, including a recital by French pianist Lucas Debargue that was to be held in the grand hall of the Kharkiv Philharmonic Saturday. Instead, five musicians facing the threat of injury or death during Russian shelling descended to a subway station and a business’s basement, where the audience of war refugees had been taking shelter.
The group began with the Ukrainian anthem, drawing audience members to hold their hands to their hearts.
The songs performed were adapted to fit a theme of the connections between Ukrainian and Western European culture, art director Vitali Alekseenok said. The musicians played pieces from Bach compositions to Ukrainian folk songs, and hundreds of people from the young to the elderly watched, sometimes holding one another.
“Music can unite,” Alekseenok said, “and it’s important now for those who stay in Kharkiv to be united.”
Kateryna Lozenko, the festival’s communication manager, left Kharkiv after 10 days of strikes and wasn’t there for the performances Saturday. She hadn’t felt like she would be able to return to her city but is feeling more optimistic.
“For those who stayed, it’s like a breath of fresh air,” she said of the music, “a piece of usual life in this terrible war that ruined not only our city but our lives.”
Where was Sergei Shoigu? Russia’s defense minister resurfaces.
For 12 days this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared to vanish from public life.
His troops were fighting and dying in Ukraine, but Shoigu, a senior aide and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, was nowhere to be seen.
Some suggested, without evidence, that he had resigned, while others were sure that he was sick, dead or detained as the invasion stalled and Putin cracked down on dissent.
As Moscow became increasingly isolated, global speculation swirled: Where was Sergei Shoigu?
Then, on Saturday, the Defense Ministry posted an official video showing Shoigu leading a meeting on military procurement. He sat at the head of a table of about a dozen senior defense officials, including Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the armed forces,.
It was his first public appearance since March 11, save for a quick glimpse of Shoigu on television screens Thursday as part of a teleconference call with Putin.
Analysis: How Biden sparked a global uproar with nine ad-libbed words about Putin
WARSAW — During his presidential campaign, President Biden often reminded his audience about the heavy weight that the words of a president can carry.
“The words of a president matter,” he said more than once. “They can move markets. They can send our brave men and women to war. They can bring peace.”
They can also, as Biden discovered on Saturday, spark a global uproar in the middle of a war.
With nine ad-libbed words at the end of a 27-minute speech, Biden created an unwanted distraction to his otherwise forceful remarks by calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be pushed out of office.
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
It was a remarkable statement that would reverse stated U.S. policy, directly countering claims from senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who have insisted regime change is not on the table. It went further than even U.S. presidents during the Cold War, and immediately reverberated around the world as world leaders, diplomats, and foreign policy experts sought to determine what Biden said, what it meant — and, if he didn’t mean it, why he said it.
Russian generals are getting killed at an extraordinary rate
The war in Ukraine is proving extraordinarily lethal for Russian generals, the gray men bedecked in service medals, who are being aggressively targeted by Ukrainian forces and killed at a rate not seen since World War II.
Ukrainian officials say their forces have killed seven generals on the battlefield, felled by snipers, close combat and bombings.
If true, the deaths of so many generals, alongside more senior Russian army and naval commanders — in four weeks of combat — exceeds the attrition rate seen in the worst months of fighting in the bloody nine-year war fought by Russia in Chechnya, as well as Russian and Soviet-era campaigns in Afghanistan, Georgia and Syria.
“It is highly unusual,” said a senior Western official, briefing reporters on the topic, who confirmed the names, ranks and “killed in action” status of the seven.
In all, at least 15 senior Russian commanders have been killed in the field, said Markiyan Lubkivsky, a spokesperson for the Ukraine Ministry of Defense.
NATO officials estimated earlier this week that as many as 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in four weeks of war, a very high number. Russia has offered a far lower figure, reporting Friday that 1,351 of its fighters had died.
The Russian government has not confirmed the deaths of its generals.
If the numbers of senior commanders killed proves accurate, the Russian generals have been either extremely unlucky or successfully targeted — or both.
Biden ends trip stating, ‘This man cannot remain in power,’ in speech about Putin, Russia
WARSAW — President Biden forcefully denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, casting Moscow’s aggression as “the test of all time” for democracy before ending his sunset speech here by saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said, in an unscripted remark that came at the end of his roughly 30-minute address.
The White House raced to clarify his comment, issuing a statement saying that Biden had not actually meant what he’d said.
“The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said in a statement. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
Even aside from that remark, Biden’s speech in Warsaw — the capstone of a three-day trip to Europe — marked the most defiant and aggressive speech about Russia by an American president since Ronald Reagan, and came as the war between Russia and Ukraine entered its second month.
Photos: Activists vandalize Russian Embassy in Prague
By News Services and Staff Reports6:48 p.m.
Demonstrators threw red paint onto the steps of the Russian Embassy in Prague on Saturday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to photos from Agence France-Presse.
Biden meets Polish President Andrzej Duda and Belarusian opposition leader
President Biden met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on the final leg of his European trip designed to bolster the NATO alliance and reassure allies.
Photos showed the two men taking part in an arrival ceremony outside the Presidential Palace, flanked by soldiers in ceremonial uniforms. A military band played the U.S. and Polish national anthems, and at one point some of the service members shouted in Polish, “Hail to the president!” according to pool reports.
After his speech on Saturday, Biden met with Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, according to the White House.
“He thanked her for attending his speech in Warsaw tonight,” a White House message said. “The President underscored the continued support of the United States for the Belarusian people in defending and advancing human rights, including freedom of expression, and free and fair elections.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The president’s visit to Poland reflects the country’s position at the center of the crisis, as more than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have sought safety in Poland since the conflict began.
Poland shares a border with Ukraine and with Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad and hosts NATO troops in its military bases.
On Wednesday, Poland said it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats it accused of being spies, describing it as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s policies toward Poland and its allies.
Russian forces said to enter town housing Chernobyl workers
By David L. Stern5:29 p.m.
MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Russian forces have entered Slavutych, a town that serves as a housing community for workers from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and seized a hospital there, the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said Saturday.
In a post on his Telegram channel, Pavlyuk also said the Russians kidnapped Slavutych Mayor Yury Fomichiv, but later reports said the mayor had been released. News reports earlier this week indicated that Russian troops had surrounded the town, which has a population of about 25,000.
Video posted Saturday and verified by The Washington Post shows protesters, some carrying Ukrainian flags, in the town square during a large demonstration against the Russians. Gunfire can be heard in the background, and gas can be seen engulfing the crowd. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
“Russians opened fire in the air. Noise grenades are thrown at the crowd,” Pavlyuk wrote. “Residents do not disperse. On the contrary, they are increasing.”
Pavlyuk’s statement could not be verified independently. Slavutych is about 75 miles north of Kyiv, near the Belarusian border and the city of Chernihiv, which is under heavy bombardment by Russian forces and facing a humanitarian crisis.
Later Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Russian shelling in Slavutych prevented workers at the closed Chernobyl nuclear plant from returning to their homes for about a week.
Ukrainian officials have said that the Russian takeover of the Chernobyl zone, the scene of a 1986 nuclear disaster, in the first days of the war jeopardized safety at the plant by disrupting shift changes of workers, including technical staffers responsible for managing the radioactive waste stored there.
Turkey defuses mine in Bosporus Strait
ISTANBUL — An explosive mine that was said to have drifted from the Black Sea into the Bosporus on Saturday forced a temporary closure of the busy waterway and raised fears that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could threaten traffic in the strait, a chokepoint for global energy supplies and commerce.
The mine’s provenance was unclear.
Photographs purporting to show the mine depicted what appeared to be a metallic orb with spikes. Turkey’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, on Saturday described the mine as “old” and said Turkey had been in touch with the Kremlin and Kyiv about its appearance in the Bosporus, the channel between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which is bordered by Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.
Akar, in remarks to reporters, said the mine had been neutralized.
Last week, Russia warned that hundreds of mines had drifted into the Black Sea after coming loose from cables near Ukrainian ports. At the time, Ukraine dismissed that assertion as propaganda, according to the Reuters news agency.
The mine was first spotted Saturday by fisherman near a docking area, Reuters reported.
Turkey, a NATO member, has tried to strike a delicate balance in its response to the conflict. It has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an increasingly close Turkish ally, but refused to join other NATO allies in sanctioning Moscow, which also has close commercial ties to Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has also pledged to enforce a treaty that could prevent some Russian naval vessels from entering the Bosporus and joining Moscow’s war effort.
Explosions rock Lviv; smoke billows over city in Ukraine’s west
Powerful back-to-back rocket strikes hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, officials there reported, leaving five people injured in a metropolitan region that many seeking safety have fled to in recent weeks.
Maksym Kozytskyy, Lviv’s governor and head of the regional military, said an oil depot and a factory had been hit in residential areas of the city, which is 50 miles from the border with Poland.
The explosions sent a large plume of black smoke into the air and came as President Biden was in Warsaw on the final day of his European visit. The cause of the explosions could not immediately be independently verified.
“I think that with today’s strikes, the aggressor is giving his greetings to President Biden, who is in Poland right now,” said Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi.
Hours after the explosions, Sadovyi said there had been “significant damage” to “infrastructure facilities” but that no residential homes were hit. He asked resident to stay in shelters until air raid alerts ceased.
“Firefighting continues,” he added.
Lviv is regarded as a center of Ukrainian nationalism and culture and dates its official founding to more than seven centuries ago. Since the start of Russia’s invasion, it has become something of a western capital for the country. Many diplomats and others have fled to Lviv from Kyiv and other cities that have come under heavy Russian bombardment.
The explosions came nearly two weeks after at least 35 people were killed and 134 injured when a barrage of Russian missiles slammed into a military facility in western Ukraine about 15 miles from the border with Poland, Ukrainian officials said. Western Ukraine has thus far seen less fighting than eastern cities closer to Russia.
Photos and video taken by journalists and residents showed a large, dark cloud of smoke rising over densely spaced buildings.
Russia could use nuclear weapons if existence threatened, official says
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chief of the Russian Security Council, reiterated Saturday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if there was any kind of attack that threatened the nation’s existence.
In an interview with Russian state media, Medvedev outlined the various scenarios under which Russia would utilize its nuclear weapons, saying that it “demonstrates our determination to defend the independence and sovereignty of our country.”
The remark came before President Biden’s comment about how Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” Saturday, and days after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to rule out using nuclear weapons in an interview with CNN. Peskov said Russia could also use those weapons if there was a nuclear attack or an assault on the country’s nuclear infrastructure.
Russia’s doctrine laying out when Moscow would be willing to use nuclear weapons has been public for years. In recent weeks, top Russia officials have remarked on it as the nation wages its war against Ukraine.
It is unknown what Russia might deem a threat to its existence. Putin and several top officials close to him have warned recently that Russia’s existence is at stake in its war against Ukraine.
Launching his invasion Feb. 24, Putin claimed that Ukraine’s close relations with the West threatened Russia’s existence, calling it “a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a people.”
“And this is not an exaggeration — it is true. This is a real threat not just to our interests but to the very existence of our state, its sovereignty,” he said, warning that any nation that intervened would face “consequences you have never seen,” taken by many as a nuclear threat.
Three days after the invasion, he ordered Russia’s nuclear weapons to be put on alert. Several days later Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on March 2 that World War III would be nuclear and “destructive.”
On Friday, Putin claimed that the West was trying to “abolish an entire thousand-year-old country, our people,” complaining about Western discrimination against Russian culture and cultural figures.
U.S. to give $100 million more aid to Ukraine, Blinken says
The United States will provide Ukraine with an additional $100 million in security aid aimed at helping police and border guards amid the deepening conflict with Russia.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that the new assistance will help Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs “provide essential border security, sustain civil law enforcement functions, and safeguard critical governmental infrastructure in the face of President Putin’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack.”
It will include armored vehicles, medical supplies, protective gear and communications equipment for the country’s State Border Guard Service and police.
“Ukrainian law enforcement officers are playing a key role in rescuing victims of the Russian government’s brutal assault, leading and protecting convoys of those displaced by attacks, and providing security to civilian areas torn apart by ruthless and devastating bombing,” Blinken said in a statement.
The United States, like many of its Western allies, has provided an increasing amount of military aid to Ukraine including antitank and antiaircraft missiles. Security aid since the beginning of the Biden administration exceeds $2 billion.
“That’s not for Biden to decide,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state media. “The president of Russia is elected by Russians.”Biden’s words capped a fiery speech in which he called Putin a “dictator,” warning him not to encroach on NATO territory and urging Ukrainians to steel themselves for a long battle. He framed the Kremlin’s invasion as the “test of all time” for democracy.His trip came as fierce fighting continued in Ukraine. Officials in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv reported several powerful explosions on Saturday, and a large plume of smoke could be seen billowing in the air.Here’s what to knowSpeaking by video to the Doha Forum in Qatar on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the destruction in the port city of Mariupol, comparing it to “what we all saw in Aleppo” — a reference to the northern Syrian city battered by Syrian and Russian forces during the civil war in Syria.The Pentagon said Friday that Russia has halted ground operations aimed at Kyiv and is instead focusing attacks on the eastern Donbas region. The move is seen as a sign that Moscow might be paring back its ambitions for the invasion. A U.S. military think tank, however, expressed skepticism that Russia’s war aims have changed.For weeks, the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv north of the capital has been under near-constant Russian attack, almost entirely cut off from power, water, food and gas amid constant artillery fire. One resident has shared with The Washington Post the daily struggles that he and others face.American teacher Tyler Jacob has been released from Russian custody and reunited with his wife and daughter. He was detained 10 days ago at a checkpoint in Crimea as he was seeking evacuation to Turkey.The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates.UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICTHere’s the status of Ukrainian cities under Russian attackReturn to menuKyiv: Russian troops “continued their unsuccessful efforts” to move into positions from which to attack or encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the D.C.-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said in a Saturday battlefield assessment. That’s despite recent claims by Moscow that the primary aim of the invasion is to capture two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine — not to seize the capital and overthrow the government. The Kyiv area still has the largest single concentration of Russian ground forces in Ukraine, the military analysts said.Mariupol: Fierce fighting continues in this strategic port city, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky likening the destruction to “what we all saw in Aleppo” — a reference to the northern Syrian city battered by Syrian and Russian forces during the civil war in Syria. U.S. military analysts think Russian forces “will likely gain control of the city in the relatively near future” even though Kremlin units are suffering “significant losses” in the ongoing siege.Chernihiv: The Russian military continues to concentrate replacements and reinforcements to fight for positions on Kyiv’s outskirts, U.S. military analysts say, including its attempt to complete the encirclement and reduction of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. Residents of the city reportedly have no electricity, heating or water.Slavutych: Russian forces have entered this northern town close to the Chernobyl nuclear site. The mayor said in a video address late Saturday that the town was occupied and under a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. military curfew, with Russian forces set to search buildings for weapons. Video posted Saturday and verified by The Washington Post shows protesters, some carrying Ukrainian flags, in the town square during a large demonstration against the Russians.Kharkiv: Ukrainian forces continue to conduct limited counterattacks, most recently near Kharkiv. Unrelenting Russian shelling has forced residents to seek shelter underground as houses and neighborhoods burn.Kherson: Russia appears to have at least partially lost control of the southern Ukrainian city on the Black Sea, according to Western defense officials and military analysts, the first of a handful of midsized cities Russia has struggled to occupy since the invasion began.Lateshia Beachum in Washington and Amy Cheng in Seoul contributed to this report.Updates continue below advertisementMap: Russia’s latest advances in UkraineReturn to menuExplosions from rocket attacks jolted the western city of Lviv. One industrial facility where fuel is stored was hit, the governor there said.Russian forces entered the city of Slavutych, where many workers from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant live, the Kyiv region’s governor said.Ukrainian forces successfully counterattacked areas around Kharkiv, according to a pro-U.S.-military think tank, while Russian shelling of the city continued.Updates continue below advertisementAmid bombs and gunfire, Ukrainian musicians bring classical music to the shelteredReturn to menuKharkiv Music Fest, an international classical music festival, was scheduled to start on March 26. Amid the war in Ukraine, musicians played from the subway. (Video: Maria Avdeeva via Twitter, Photo: Maria Avdeeva via Twitter)In a city rattled by thunderous warfare, the refrain of three violins, a cello and a bass gave a melodic break to Kharkiv residents sheltering underground Saturday.Kharkiv Music Fest organizers said they improvised after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halted their original plans, including a recital by French pianist Lucas Debargue that was to be held in the grand hall of the Kharkiv Philharmonic Saturday. Instead, five musicians facing the threat of injury or death during Russian shelling descended to a subway station and a business’s basement, where the audience of war refugees had been taking shelter.The group began with the Ukrainian anthem, drawing audience members to hold their hands to their hearts.The songs performed were adapted to fit a theme of the connections between Ukrainian and Western European culture, art director Vitali Alekseenok said. The musicians played pieces from Bach compositions to Ukrainian folk songs, and hundreds of people from the young to the elderly watched, sometimes holding one another.“Music can unite,” Alekseenok said, “and it’s important now for those who stay in Kharkiv to be united.”Kateryna Lozenko, the festival’s communication manager, left Kharkiv after 10 days of strikes and wasn’t there for the performances Saturday. She hadn’t felt like she would be able to return to her city but is feeling more optimistic.“For those who stayed, it’s like a breath of fresh air,” she said of the music, “a piece of usual life in this terrible war that ruined not only our city but our lives.”Updates continue below advertisementWhere was Sergei Shoigu? Russia’s defense minister resurfaces.Return to menuFor 12 days this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared to vanish from public life.His troops were fighting and dying in Ukraine, but Shoigu, a senior aide and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, was nowhere to be seen.Some suggested, without evidence, that he had resigned, while others were sure that he was sick, dead or detained as the invasion stalled and Putin cracked down on dissent.As Moscow became increasingly isolated, global speculation swirled: Where was Sergei Shoigu?Then, on Saturday, the Defense Ministry posted an official video showing Shoigu leading a meeting on military procurement. He sat at the head of a table of about a dozen senior defense officials, including Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the armed forces,.It was his first public appearance since March 11, save for a quick glimpse of Shoigu on television screens Thursday as part of a teleconference call with Putin.Updates continue below advertisementAnalysis: How Biden sparked a global uproar with nine ad-libbed words about Putin Return to menuWARSAW — During his presidential campaign, President Biden often reminded his audience about the heavy weight that the words of a president can carry.“The words of a president matter,” he said more than once. “They can move markets. They can send our brave men and women to war. They can bring peace.”They can also, as Biden discovered on Saturday, spark a global uproar in the middle of a war.With nine ad-libbed words at the end of a 27-minute speech, Biden created an unwanted distraction to his otherwise forceful remarks by calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be pushed out of office.“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.It was a remarkable statement that would reverse stated U.S. policy, directly countering claims from senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who have insisted regime change is not on the table. It went further than even U.S. presidents during the Cold War, and immediately reverberated around the world as world leaders, diplomats, and foreign policy experts sought to determine what Biden said, what it meant — and, if he didn’t mean it, why he said it.Updates continue below advertisementRussian generals are getting killed at an extraordinary rate Return to menuThe war in Ukraine is proving extraordinarily lethal for Russian generals, the gray men bedecked in service medals, who are being aggressively targeted by Ukrainian forces and killed at a rate not seen since World War II.Ukrainian officials say their forces have killed seven generals on the battlefield, felled by snipers, close combat and bombings.If true, the deaths of so many generals, alongside more senior Russian army and naval commanders — in four weeks of combat — exceeds the attrition rate seen in the worst months of fighting in the bloody nine-year war fought by Russia in Chechnya, as well as Russian and Soviet-era campaigns in Afghanistan, Georgia and Syria.“It is highly unusual,” said a senior Western official, briefing reporters on the topic, who confirmed the names, ranks and “killed in action” status of the seven.In all, at least 15 senior Russian commanders have been killed in the field, said Markiyan Lubkivsky, a spokesperson for the Ukraine Ministry of Defense.NATO officials estimated earlier this week that as many as 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in four weeks of war, a very high number. Russia has offered a far lower figure, reporting Friday that 1,351 of its fighters had died.The Russian government has not confirmed the deaths of its generals.If the numbers of senior commanders killed proves accurate, the Russian generals have been either extremely unlucky or successfully targeted — or both.Updates continue below advertisementBiden ends trip stating, ‘This man cannot remain in power,’ in speech about Putin, RussiaReturn to menuIn President Biden’s closing remarks during a speech from Warsaw on March 26, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post)WARSAW — President Biden forcefully denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, casting Moscow’s aggression as “the test of all time” for democracy before ending his sunset speech here by saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said, in an unscripted remark that came at the end of his roughly 30-minute address.The White House raced to clarify his comment, issuing a statement saying that Biden had not actually meant what he’d said.“The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said in a statement. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”Even aside from that remark, Biden’s speech in Warsaw — the capstone of a three-day trip to Europe — marked the most defiant and aggressive speech about Russia by an American president since Ronald Reagan, and came as the war between Russia and Ukraine entered its second month.Updates continue below advertisementPhotos: Activists vandalize Russian Embassy in PragueReturn to menuBy News Services and Staff Reports6:48 p.m.Demonstrators threw red paint onto the steps of the Russian Embassy in Prague on Saturday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to photos from Agence France-Presse.Updates continue below advertisementBiden meets Polish President Andrzej Duda and Belarusian opposition leaderReturn to menuPresident Biden met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on the final leg of his European trip designed to bolster the NATO alliance and reassure allies.Photos showed the two men taking part in an arrival ceremony outside the Presidential Palace, flanked by soldiers in ceremonial uniforms. A military band played the U.S. and Polish national anthems, and at one point some of the service members shouted in Polish, “Hail to the president!” according to pool reports.After his speech on Saturday, Biden met with Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, according to the White House.“He thanked her for attending his speech in Warsaw tonight,” a White House message said. “The President underscored the continued support of the United States for the Belarusian people in defending and advancing human rights, including freedom of expression, and free and fair elections.”Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.The president’s visit to Poland reflects the country’s position at the center of the crisis, as more than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have sought safety in Poland since the conflict began.Poland shares a border with Ukraine and with Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad and hosts NATO troops in its military bases.On Wednesday, Poland said it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats it accused of being spies, describing it as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s policies toward Poland and its allies.Russian forces said to enter town housing Chernobyl workersReturn to menuBy David L. Stern5:29 p.m.Gunfire is heard and gas is seen in videos posted March 26, in Slavutych, where protesters gathered in the town square. (Video: Suspilne News via Storyful, Photo: Suspilne News via Storyful)MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Russian forces have entered Slavutych, a town that serves as a housing community for workers from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and seized a hospital there, the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said Saturday.In a post on his Telegram channel, Pavlyuk also said the Russians kidnapped Slavutych Mayor Yury Fomichiv, but later reports said the mayor had been released. News reports earlier this week indicated that Russian troops had surrounded the town, which has a population of about 25,000.Video posted Saturday and verified by The Washington Post shows protesters, some carrying Ukrainian flags, in the town square during a large demonstration against the Russians. Gunfire can be heard in the background, and gas can be seen engulfing the crowd. There were no immediate reports of casualties.“Russians opened fire in the air. Noise grenades are thrown at the crowd,” Pavlyuk wrote. “Residents do not disperse. On the contrary, they are increasing.”Pavlyuk’s statement could not be verified independently. Slavutych is about 75 miles north of Kyiv, near the Belarusian border and the city of Chernihiv, which is under heavy bombardment by Russian forces and facing a humanitarian crisis.Later Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Russian shelling in Slavutych prevented workers at the closed Chernobyl nuclear plant from returning to their homes for about a week.Ukrainian officials have said that the Russian takeover of the Chernobyl zone, the scene of a 1986 nuclear disaster, in the first days of the war jeopardized safety at the plant by disrupting shift changes of workers, including technical staffers responsible for managing the radioactive waste stored there.Turkey defuses mine in Bosporus StraitReturn to menuISTANBUL — An explosive mine that was said to have drifted from the Black Sea into the Bosporus on Saturday forced a temporary closure of the busy waterway and raised fears that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could threaten traffic in the strait, a chokepoint for global energy supplies and commerce.The mine’s provenance was unclear.Photographs purporting to show the mine depicted what appeared to be a metallic orb with spikes. Turkey’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, on Saturday described the mine as “old” and said Turkey had been in touch with the Kremlin and Kyiv about its appearance in the Bosporus, the channel between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which is bordered by Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.Akar, in remarks to reporters, said the mine had been neutralized.Last week, Russia warned that hundreds of mines had drifted into the Black Sea after coming loose from cables near Ukrainian ports. At the time, Ukraine dismissed that assertion as propaganda, according to the Reuters news agency.The mine was first spotted Saturday by fisherman near a docking area, Reuters reported.Turkey, a NATO member, has tried to strike a delicate balance in its response to the conflict. It has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an increasingly close Turkish ally, but refused to join other NATO allies in sanctioning Moscow, which also has close commercial ties to Turkey.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has also pledged to enforce a treaty that could prevent some Russian naval vessels from entering the Bosporus and joining Moscow’s war effort.Explosions rock Lviv; smoke billows over city in Ukraine’s westReturn to menuPowerful back-to-back rocket strikes hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, officials there reported, leaving five people injured in a metropolitan region that many seeking safety have fled to in recent weeks.Maksym Kozytskyy, Lviv’s governor and head of the regional military, said an oil depot and a factory had been hit in residential areas of the city, which is 50 miles from the border with Poland.The explosions sent a large plume of black smoke into the air and came as President Biden was in Warsaw on the final day of his European visit. The cause of the explosions could not immediately be independently verified.“I think that with today’s strikes, the aggressor is giving his greetings to President Biden, who is in Poland right now,” said Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi.Hours after the explosions, Sadovyi said there had been “significant damage” to “infrastructure facilities” but that no residential homes were hit. He asked resident to stay in shelters until air raid alerts ceased.“Firefighting continues,” he added.Video verified by The Post shows smoke rising over Lviv on March 26. (Video: Twitter, Photo: Twitter)Lviv is regarded as a center of Ukrainian nationalism and culture and dates its official founding to more than seven centuries ago. Since the start of Russia’s invasion, it has become something of a western capital for the country. Many diplomats and others have fled to Lviv from Kyiv and other cities that have come under heavy Russian bombardment.The explosions came nearly two weeks after at least 35 people were killed and 134 injured when a barrage of Russian missiles slammed into a military facility in western Ukraine about 15 miles from the border with Poland, Ukrainian officials said. Western Ukraine has thus far seen less fighting than eastern cities closer to Russia.Photos and video taken by journalists and residents showed a large, dark cloud of smoke rising over densely spaced buildings.Russia could use nuclear weapons if existence threatened, official saysReturn to menuDmitry Medvedev, deputy chief of the Russian Security Council, reiterated Saturday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if there was any kind of attack that threatened the nation’s existence.In an interview with Russian state media, Medvedev outlined the various scenarios under which Russia would utilize its nuclear weapons, saying that it “demonstrates our determination to defend the independence and sovereignty of our country.”The remark came before President Biden’s comment about how Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” Saturday, and days after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to rule out using nuclear weapons in an interview with CNN. Peskov said Russia could also use those weapons if there was a nuclear attack or an assault on the country’s nuclear infrastructure.Russia’s doctrine laying out when Moscow would be willing to use nuclear weapons has been public for years. In recent weeks, top Russia officials have remarked on it as the nation wages its war against Ukraine. It is unknown what Russia might deem a threat to its existence. Putin and several top officials close to him have warned recently that Russia’s existence is at stake in its war against Ukraine.Launching his invasion Feb. 24, Putin claimed that Ukraine’s close relations with the West threatened Russia’s existence, calling it “a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a people.”“And this is not an exaggeration — it is true. This is a real threat not just to our interests but to the very existence of our state, its sovereignty,” he said, warning that any nation that intervened would face “consequences you have never seen,” taken by many as a nuclear threat.Three days after the invasion, he ordered Russia’s nuclear weapons to be put on alert. Several days later Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on March 2 that World War III would be nuclear and “destructive.”On Friday, Putin claimed that the West was trying to “abolish an entire thousand-year-old country, our people,” complaining about Western discrimination against Russian culture and cultural figures. U.S. to give $100 million more aid to Ukraine, Blinken saysReturn to menuThe United States will provide Ukraine with an additional $100 million in security aid aimed at helping police and border guards amid the deepening conflict with Russia.Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that the new assistance will help Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs “provide essential border security, sustain civil law enforcement functions, and safeguard critical governmental infrastructure in the face of President Putin’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack.”It will include armored vehicles, medical supplies, protective gear and communications equipment for the country’s State Border Guard Service and police.“Ukrainian law enforcement officers are playing a key role in rescuing victims of the Russian government’s brutal assault, leading and protecting convoys of those displaced by attacks, and providing security to civilian areas torn apart by ruthless and devastating bombing,” Blinken said in a statement.The United States, like many of its Western allies, has provided an increasing amount of military aid to Ukraine including antitank and antiaircraft missiles. Security aid since the beginning of the Biden administration exceeds $2 billion.