MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Friday denied that his country attacked Europe’s largest nuclear plant as delegates from other countries condemned the assault.
“All of this is a false-information attack, as if Russia had fired against the power plant,” said Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya.
A Russian projectile ignited a fire at the Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine overnight, causing alarm but triggering no release of radioactive material. Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned of the “risks that we may all incur” if fighting around nuclear sites rages on. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv tweeted: “It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant” — but the U.S. State Department warned diplomats against sharing the tweet.
Ukraine’s nuclear inspectorate and Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces are now in control of the plant, a key supplier of Ukraine’s electricity. Nuclear safety at the site was “ensured as of now,” a regional military leader said after firefighters extinguished the blaze in the early morning hours.
Here’s what to know
- Russia’s communications watchdog on Friday announced it would block access to Facebook, and the BBC announced it was suspending coverage from Russia. Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Deutsche Welle have also been blocked.
- More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine and that at least 331 civilians have been killed, the U.N. said. The organization has cautioned that the true toll is likely “considerably higher” than its estimates because of the difficulty of conducting accurate counts in war zones.
- Russia and Ukraine said they agreed to limited local cease-fires to facilitate “humanitarian corridors,” as several cities warned that they were running out of supplies. But local officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson said Russia is not cooperating with them and is pushing a plan to distribute its own aid unilaterally.
- The U.N.’s top human rights body voted to establish a commission to investigate alleged Russian rights violations during its attack on Ukraine.
UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
BBC suspends coverage from Russia after country blocks access to the network, other Western media outlets
LONDON — The BBC announced Friday that it was suspending coverage from Russia after Russia’s communications watchdog said it had blocked access to the network and several foreign news organizations’ websites for spreading what it called “false information” about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Access has been restricted to a host of information resources owned by foreigners,” the watchdog, known as Roskomnadzor, said in a statement, according to Reuters. “The grounds for restricting access to these information resources on the territory of the Russian Federation was their deliberate and systematic circulation of materials containing false information.”
Some of the other outlets that have been blocked in Russia include Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Deutsche Welle. The move by Russia’s communications watchdog seems to be targeting state-sponsored news outlets in retaliation for actions taken against RT in recent days. CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada’s public broadcaster for radio and television, announced that it temporarily suspended its reporting from the ground in Russia until it could clarify the Kremlin’s restrictions.
In a statement Friday posted to Twitter, BBC Director General Tim Davie said that the new legislation passed by Russian authorities “appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism.”
“It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff in the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development,” Davie said.
He added, “We remain committed to making accurate, independent information available to audiences around the world, including the millions of Russians who use our news services.”
BBC statement on reporting from within Russia.
Reacting to new legislation passed by the Russian authorities, BBC Director-General Tim Davie says: pic.twitter.com/uhowHW3jkr— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) March 4, 2022
Earlier this week, the BBC said that the audience for its Russian language news website more than tripled its year-to-date weekly average and that its live page in Russian covering the invasion was the most visited site across the whole of the BBC World Service’s non-English-language services, with 5.3 million views.
Peter Limbourg, the director general of Germany’s Deutsche Welle, issued a public letter Friday to Russian audiences.
“The situation for free journalism in your country has grown more difficult by the day,” he said. “DW’s Russian programming has a long tradition. We have always sought to portray a complete picture of Russia.” Limbourg urged people in Russia instead to “use Internet block bypass tools to access our channels.”
The European Union this week banned the Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik. YouTube, TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta also have blocked access to RT content on their platforms in Europe.
Davie said Friday that the safety of the BBC staff remains “paramount,” and he commended the journalists for “their bravery, determination and professionalism.”
Brace for ‘massive loss of human life,’ in coming days and weeks, intelligence official warns
Scenes from the city of Mariupol, under heavy attack in Ukraine’s southeast, have been as grim as they get. No water. No electricity. No heat.
Officials in the encircled city say they can’t offer an accurate estimate of fatalities because no one has been able to leave the relative safety of wherever they’ve taken shelter to go out and find the dead.
Mariupol, a heavily fortified city of 430,000, may be a dismal harbinger of things to come for other Ukrainian cities, as Russian forces — unable to capture the country quickly — carry out siege tactics and mass shelling to take over major metropolitan areas.
A senior Western intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, warned this week to brace for “massive loss of human life, especially civilians,” in the coming days and weeks as the war in Ukraine enters a new stage.
Key U.S. provider of Internet to Russia cuts service there, citing ‘unprovoked invasion of Ukraine’
A leading American Internet service provider, Cogent Communications, said it was severing relations with Russian customers on Friday, a move that gives Ukrainian officials another victory in their campaign to isolate Russia online.
Cogent chief executive Dave Schaeffer said the company did not want to keep ordinary Russians off the Internet but did want to prevent the Russian government from using Cogent’s networks to launch cyberattacks or deliver propaganda targeting Ukraine at a time of war.
“Our goal is not to hurt anyone. It’s just to not empower the Russian government to have another tool in their war chest,” Schaeffer said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Cogent, based in Washington, D.C., is one of the world’s largest providers of what’s known as Internet backbone — roughly comparable to the interstate highway system, providing the primary conduit for data flows that local companies then route to individual domains. Schaeffer said Cogent’s networks carry about one-quarter of the world’s Internet traffic. Cogent has several dozen customers in Russia, with many of them, such as state-owned telecommunications giant Rostelecom, being close to the government.
Harris to travel to Poland and Romania next week to discuss ways to support Ukraine
Vice President Harris will travel to Poland and Romania next week to show support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as the member countries unite in opposition to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“Her visit will demonstrate the strength and unity of the NATO Alliance and U.S. support for NATO’s eastern flank Allies in the face of Russian aggression,” Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary to the vice president, said in a statement. “It will also highlight our collective efforts to support the people of Ukraine.”
U.S. intelligence and foreign policy experts have said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was partly based on his belief that NATO had become less unified in recent years. The Biden administration has pointed to multiple countries in the organization stepping up to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia as proof of the alliance’s resolve.
Harris will meet with Polish and Romanian leaders to further coordinate the countries’ response to Russia.
Singh said the vice president and global leaders will discuss ways to continue economic, security and humanitarian support for Ukraine and determine how to expand the consequences inflicted on Russia.
“The vice president’s meetings will also focus on how the United States can further support Ukraine’s neighbors as they welcome and care for refugees fleeing violence,” she said.
Taiwanese fear they will be next after Ukraine despite reassurances from leaders
By Lily Kuo, Vic Chiang and Pei-Lin Wu3:57 p.m.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese officials have been working hard to discourage a catchphrase that has emerged over the last week, “Today Ukraine, Tomorrow Taiwan.”
Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the slogan has been repeated in local headlines, discussed in panels and discussion groups and uttered by jittery citizens worried that the war will embolden their similarly powerful and aggressive neighbor China, which claims Taiwan should be under its rule.
In Taiwan, where residents have for years been numb to Beijing’s threats and intimidation — including daily incursions into their air defense identification zone, military exercises simulating attacks on the island and cyberattacks — there is a growing realization that the status quo may no longer hold.
“I believe that today’s Ukraine is tomorrow’s Taiwan,” said Lung Wei-chen, a 69-year-old retired soldier from the southern city of Kaohsiung.
Russia boycott: More companies institute bans to protest Ukraine invasion
The list of entities boycotting Moscow continues to grow as companies and sporting bodies protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tech giant Microsoft and hosting service Airbnb announced that they were stopping their operations in Russia on Friday, while the International Gymnastics Federation said Russian and Belarusian gymnasts are banned indefinitely from competing in competitions.
The Washington Post has compiled a non-exhaustive list of some of the boycotts launched globally since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine.
Pentagon calls on Russia to be ‘more mindful’ of targets, as Moscow sends more troops into Ukraine
The Pentagon’s spokesman called on Russia to be more responsible about the targets they choose to attack in Ukraine, warning that the overnight strike on a nuclear power plant could have easily “visited a lot more damage and destruction” on Ukraine and its neighbors — a category that includes Russia.
“We continue to call on Russia to stop the invasion period … but certainly short of that to be more mindful of their obligations under international law,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday, noting that nuclear power plants “are not designed to withstand combat.”
The Russian operation continues to press into Ukraine, with what the Pentagon estimates are 92 percent of the forces they had prestaged now in the country. Defense officials also count a total of more than 500 Russian missile strikes since the fighting began.
The Russian advance in southern Ukraine has claimed the city of Kherson and is now waging an assault on Mykolaiv, Kirby said. A senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ground movements, previously surmised that Mykolaiv could be used to stage a ground assault on Odessa, a major port city on the Black Sea coast.
“We don’t know for sure if the Russians are going to use a land route to assault Odessa,” Kirby cautioned, adding that “as of this morning we hadn’t seen any significant naval activity to lead us to believe that an assault on Odessa is imminent.”
He also added that Ukrainian forces continue to have some success in their efforts to “thwart” the advance of a convoy in the north of the country toward Kyiv.
“We do believe that the actions by the Ukrainians have in fact stalled that convoy, certainly slowed it down, stopped it in some places,” Kirby noted, though he declined to detail what weapons or ammunition Ukrainian forces had used in such strikes, or whether they had been supplied by the United States.
State Department warns diplomats against sharing tweet by U.S. Embassy calling plant attack a ‘war crime’
The U.S. State Department sent an “URGENT” memo to every U.S. embassy in Europe on Friday, warning them not to retweet or share a post from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that called Russia’s attack on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant a “war crime.”
The memo, obtained by The Washington Post, instructs the embassies, “If you have retweeted it — un-re-tweet it ASAP.”
A Russian projectile ignited a fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine overnight, causing widespread alarm but triggering no release of radioactive material. Russian forces seized the plant early Friday.
The tweet, which was not deleted as of Friday afternoon in the United States, said, “It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant.”
When asked about the memo, a State Department spokeswoman said U.S. officials were still determining whether the attack on the plant was intentional.
“The intentional targeting of civilians or civilian objects, including nuclear power plants, is a war crime, and we are assessing the circumstances of this operation,” the spokeswoman said. “But — regardless of the legality — this action was the height of irresponsibility, and the Kremlin must cease operations around nuclear infrastructure.”
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, warned of the “risks that we may all incur” if fighting around nuclear sites rages on.
NBC News first reported on the memo.
Emergency recovery work starting on damaged thermal energy pipeline, mayor says
Emergency recovery work is starting in Enerhodar, a city in southeastern Ukraine that is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the mayor said in a Telegram message Friday.
Mayor Dmytro Orlov said Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant specialists are working to repair a damaged thermal energy pipeline. The pipeline’s proximity to the plant was not clear.
Russia seized the plant Friday as troops encircled cities across the coastal south. The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna said Ukrainian officials informed them that a projectile hit a training building in the vicinity of one of the plant’s reactor units. That caused a localized fire that sparked alarm but triggered no release of radioactive material.
Damage to the pipeline has made it “impossible” to supply thermal energy in the city, Orlov said, estimating that heat will be restored by Saturday. Forecasts show temperatures are expected to dip below freezing in the coming days.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Friday that the “world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe” with the strike and thanked Ukrainian operators for keeping nuclear reactors safe.
“Russia’s attack last night put Europe’s largest nuclear power [plant] at grave risk,” she said. “It was incredibly reckless and dangerous.”
White House says it is conducting ‘internal review’ on whether Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine
The White House said Friday that it is conducting an “internal review” to collect evidence and data on Russia’s attacks on civilian areas in Ukraine to determine whether Russia has committed war crimes.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned the review in response to a reporter’s question about a tweet by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that called Russia’s attack on a nuclear power plant a “war crime.”
“What I will say is that the intentional targeting of civilians or civilian objects would be considered a war crime — even as we are assessing that,” Psaki told reporters, referring to the administration’s legal review of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. “Regardless of the legality, this action was the height of irresponsibility. The Kremlin must cease operations around nuclear infrastructure, and we have, of course, remaining concerns.”
Psaki added that “the best step for nuclear safety would be for Russia to immediately withdraw its forces around the facility.”
Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, said his office had received referrals from 39 countries as of Wednesday regarding the situation in Ukraine. Neither Ukraine nor Russia is a party to the court, so neither can bring allegations to prosecutors. But Ukraine has twice accepted the court’s jurisdiction over its territory — and other countries can refer alleged crimes there to the court.
Psaki said Friday that the Biden administration “would provide any information through our own process that became available to all of the international entities that are looking into and exploring this exact question” of alleged war crimes.
Many Americans are united behind Russia sanctions, even if fuel costs rise
One week ago, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that a 67 percent majority of Americans supported the U.S. and European allies imposing sanctions on Russia for its military invasion of Ukraine. But that finding came with a caveat: Support dropped to 51 percent if the sanctions led to higher energy prices in the United States.
A separate poll by the Economist and YouGov conducted a few days later found a smaller 40 percent supported additional sanctions on Russia if it caused gas prices in the United States to rise.
But after another week of Russian attacks in Ukraine, national polls show that the public has unified more in support for sanctions against Russia, and one survey finds that a clear majority are willing to absorb higher prices at the pump.
Video shows aftermath of fierce battle in Hostomel, north of Kyiv
Ukrainian defense authorities said they repelled an ambush by Russian forces Thursday in Hostomel, a town approximately 20 miles northwest of the capital, Kyiv.
Several graphic videos and images captured burned Russian military vehicles — including one with a tire still on fire — strewn about an intersection near a glass factory. The Washington Post verified the visuals with older photos of the area. Additionally, “V” is written on the side of the vehicles, a marker used by a branch of the Russian military. Ukrainian authorities said special forces and “local resistance groups” led the battle.
At least four Ukrainian soldiers stand guard at a skirmish site. Dead soldiers are inside the vehicles and on the street. Men dressed in civilian clothing observe the carnage. Weapons are laid out in a row on the sidewalk.
In a Twitter post Thursday, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry wrote that at least 20 enemy combat vehicles were destroyed in the skirmish. The city is under Ukrainian control, the directorate in a statement posted to Facebook that included graphic images of dead soldiers.
About four miles north of the factory, in a video published Friday, a reporter for Russian state broadcaster Channel One winces at the sound of explosions and stands in front of a damaged hangar and the remains of the largest aircraft in the world, the Antonov An-225 Mriya. She claims that the plane, stationed at Antonov Airport, was damaged by Ukrainian shelling.
The Ukraine minister of foreign affairs had previously said Russian attacks destroyed the Mriya, according to a Twitter post from last month.
The airport was the site of heavy fighting Feb. 24 as Russian forces fought for control over the site.
Russian ambassador to U.N. defends attack on nuclear plant, says building is under Russia’s ‘protection’
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Friday defended his country’s attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, denying reports that the Russian military shelled it.
At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York, diplomats from around the world urged Russia and Ukraine to continue negotiations and stop the fighting that has raged in Ukraine since the invasion began more than a week ago. Much of their attention was on the aftermath of Russia seizing the Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, in southeastern Ukraine. A Russian projectile hit the plant overnight, igniting a fire that caused widespread alarm but triggered no release of radioactive material.
After delegates from countries such as the United States, Britain and France condemned the attack, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the discussion of the nuclear plant attack at the meeting was “another attempt from Kyiv authorities to create artificial hysteria related to the situation in Ukraine.”
“All of this is a false information attack, as if Russia had fired against the power plant,” Nebenzya said.
Nebenzya followed up by saying the Russian military was actually protecting the plant and the surrounding area.
“The Zaporizhzhia power plant and the surrounding areas has been placed under the protection of the Russian military, and that is the case at this point,” he said.
The ambassador echoed talking points of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who earlier in the day called for the “normalization” of relations with other states following wide-ranging, extensive sanctions on Russia from the international community. Meanwhile, critics such as Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, labeled Russia’s actions on the nuclear plant “incredibly reckless and dangerous.”
“It threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe,” she said.
Russia’s Internet censor says it will block access to Facebook
Russia’s Internet censor on Friday announced that it would block access to Facebook, following days of escalating pressure on the social network.
The Roskomnadzor, the country’s Internet censorship agency, announced the decision in a Telegram post, where it accused Facebook of violating laws by blocking the free flow of information to Russia and Russian media on its platform.
The move is an escalation from last week, when the agency said it would slow traffic to the platforms, which are owned by California-based Meta.
Meta president for global affairs Nick Clegg confirmed last week that the company’s service had been slowed in response to the company’s fact-checking of Russian state media.
The company did not immediately respond to the Friday announcement.
MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Friday denied that his country attacked Europe’s largest nuclear plant as delegates from other countries condemned the assault.“All of this is a false-information attack, as if Russia had fired against the power plant,” said Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya.A Russian projectile ignited a fire at the Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine overnight, causing alarm but triggering no release of radioactive material. Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned of the “risks that we may all incur” if fighting around nuclear sites rages on. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv tweeted: “It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant” — but the U.S. State Department warned diplomats against sharing the tweet.Ukraine’s nuclear inspectorate and Russia’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces are now in control of the plant, a key supplier of Ukraine’s electricity. Nuclear safety at the site was “ensured as of now,” a regional military leader said after firefighters extinguished the blaze in the early morning hours.Here’s what to knowRussia’s communications watchdog on Friday announced it would block access to Facebook, and the BBC announced it was suspending coverage from Russia. Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Deutsche Welle have also been blocked.More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine and that at least 331 civilians have been killed, the U.N. said. The organization has cautioned that the true toll is likely “considerably higher” than its estimates because of the difficulty of conducting accurate counts in war zones.Russia and Ukraine said they agreed to limited local cease-fires to facilitate “humanitarian corridors,” as several cities warned that they were running out of supplies. But local officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson said Russia is not cooperating with them and is pushing a plan to distribute its own aid unilaterally.The U.N.’s top human rights body voted to establish a commission to investigate alleged Russian rights violations during its attack on Ukraine.UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICTBBC suspends coverage from Russia after country blocks access to the network, other Western media outletsReturn to menuLONDON — The BBC announced Friday that it was suspending coverage from Russia after Russia’s communications watchdog said it had blocked access to the network and several foreign news organizations’ websites for spreading what it called “false information” about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.“Access has been restricted to a host of information resources owned by foreigners,” the watchdog, known as Roskomnadzor, said in a statement, according to Reuters. “The grounds for restricting access to these information resources on the territory of the Russian Federation was their deliberate and systematic circulation of materials containing false information.”Some of the other outlets that have been blocked in Russia include Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Deutsche Welle. The move by Russia’s communications watchdog seems to be targeting state-sponsored news outlets in retaliation for actions taken against RT in recent days. CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada’s public broadcaster for radio and television, announced that it temporarily suspended its reporting from the ground in Russia until it could clarify the Kremlin’s restrictions.In a statement Friday posted to Twitter, BBC Director General Tim Davie said that the new legislation passed by Russian authorities “appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism.”“It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff in the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development,” Davie said.He added, “We remain committed to making accurate, independent information available to audiences around the world, including the millions of Russians who use our news services.”BBC statement on reporting from within Russia.Reacting to new legislation passed by the Russian authorities, BBC Director-General Tim Davie says: pic.twitter.com/uhowHW3jkr— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) March 4, 2022 Earlier this week, the BBC said that the audience for its Russian language news website more than tripled its year-to-date weekly average and that its live page in Russian covering the invasion was the most visited site across the whole of the BBC World Service’s non-English-language services, with 5.3 million views.Peter Limbourg, the director general of Germany’s Deutsche Welle, issued a public letter Friday to Russian audiences.“The situation for free journalism in your country has grown more difficult by the day,” he said. “DW’s Russian programming has a long tradition. We have always sought to portray a complete picture of Russia.” Limbourg urged people in Russia instead to “use Internet block bypass tools to access our channels.”The European Union this week banned the Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik. YouTube, TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta also have blocked access to RT content on their platforms in Europe.Davie said Friday that the safety of the BBC staff remains “paramount,” and he commended the journalists for “their bravery, determination and professionalism.”Updates continue below advertisementBrace for ‘massive loss of human life,’ in coming days and weeks, intelligence official warnsReturn to menuScenes from the city of Mariupol, under heavy attack in Ukraine’s southeast, have been as grim as they get. No water. No electricity. No heat.Officials in the encircled city say they can’t offer an accurate estimate of fatalities because no one has been able to leave the relative safety of wherever they’ve taken shelter to go out and find the dead.Mariupol, a heavily fortified city of 430,000, may be a dismal harbinger of things to come for other Ukrainian cities, as Russian forces — unable to capture the country quickly — carry out siege tactics and mass shelling to take over major metropolitan areas.A senior Western intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, warned this week to brace for “massive loss of human life, especially civilians,” in the coming days and weeks as the war in Ukraine enters a new stage.Updates continue below advertisementKey U.S. provider of Internet to Russia cuts service there, citing ‘unprovoked invasion of Ukraine’Return to menuA leading American Internet service provider, Cogent Communications, said it was severing relations with Russian customers on Friday, a move that gives Ukrainian officials another victory in their campaign to isolate Russia online.Cogent chief executive Dave Schaeffer said the company did not want to keep ordinary Russians off the Internet but did want to prevent the Russian government from using Cogent’s networks to launch cyberattacks or deliver propaganda targeting Ukraine at a time of war.“Our goal is not to hurt anyone. It’s just to not empower the Russian government to have another tool in their war chest,” Schaeffer said in an interview with The Washington Post.Cogent, based in Washington, D.C., is one of the world’s largest providers of what’s known as Internet backbone — roughly comparable to the interstate highway system, providing the primary conduit for data flows that local companies then route to individual domains. Schaeffer said Cogent’s networks carry about one-quarter of the world’s Internet traffic. Cogent has several dozen customers in Russia, with many of them, such as state-owned telecommunications giant Rostelecom, being close to the government.Updates continue below advertisementHarris to travel to Poland and Romania next week to discuss ways to support UkraineReturn to menuVice President Harris will travel to Poland and Romania next week to show support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as the member countries unite in opposition to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.“Her visit will demonstrate the strength and unity of the NATO Alliance and U.S. support for NATO’s eastern flank Allies in the face of Russian aggression,” Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary to the vice president, said in a statement. “It will also highlight our collective efforts to support the people of Ukraine.”U.S. intelligence and foreign policy experts have said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was partly based on his belief that NATO had become less unified in recent years. The Biden administration has pointed to multiple countries in the organization stepping up to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia as proof of the alliance’s resolve.Harris will meet with Polish and Romanian leaders to further coordinate the countries’ response to Russia.Singh said the vice president and global leaders will discuss ways to continue economic, security and humanitarian support for Ukraine and determine how to expand the consequences inflicted on Russia.“The vice president’s meetings will also focus on how the United States can further support Ukraine’s neighbors as they welcome and care for refugees fleeing violence,” she said.Updates continue below advertisementTaiwanese fear they will be next after Ukraine despite reassurances from leadersReturn to menuBy Lily Kuo, Vic Chiang and Pei-Lin Wu3:57 p.m.TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese officials have been working hard to discourage a catchphrase that has emerged over the last week, “Today Ukraine, Tomorrow Taiwan.”Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the slogan has been repeated in local headlines, discussed in panels and discussion groups and uttered by jittery citizens worried that the war will embolden their similarly powerful and aggressive neighbor China, which claims Taiwan should be under its rule.In Taiwan, where residents have for years been numb to Beijing’s threats and intimidation — including daily incursions into their air defense identification zone, military exercises simulating attacks on the island and cyberattacks — there is a growing realization that the status quo may no longer hold.“I believe that today’s Ukraine is tomorrow’s Taiwan,” said Lung Wei-chen, a 69-year-old retired soldier from the southern city of Kaohsiung.Updates continue below advertisementRussia boycott: More companies institute bans to protest Ukraine invasionReturn to menuThe list of entities boycotting Moscow continues to grow as companies and sporting bodies protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Tech giant Microsoft and hosting service Airbnb announced that they were stopping their operations in Russia on Friday, while the International Gymnastics Federation said Russian and Belarusian gymnasts are banned indefinitely from competing in competitions.The Washington Post has compiled a non-exhaustive list of some of the boycotts launched globally since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine.Updates continue below advertisementPentagon calls on Russia to be ‘more mindful’ of targets, as Moscow sends more troops into UkraineReturn to menuThe Pentagon’s spokesman called on Russia to be more responsible about the targets they choose to attack in Ukraine, warning that the overnight strike on a nuclear power plant could have easily “visited a lot more damage and destruction” on Ukraine and its neighbors — a category that includes Russia.“We continue to call on Russia to stop the invasion period … but certainly short of that to be more mindful of their obligations under international law,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday, noting that nuclear power plants “are not designed to withstand combat.”The Russian operation continues to press into Ukraine, with what the Pentagon estimates are 92 percent of the forces they had prestaged now in the country. Defense officials also count a total of more than 500 Russian missile strikes since the fighting began.The Russian advance in southern Ukraine has claimed the city of Kherson and is now waging an assault on Mykolaiv, Kirby said. A senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ground movements, previously surmised that Mykolaiv could be used to stage a ground assault on Odessa, a major port city on the Black Sea coast.“We don’t know for sure if the Russians are going to use a land route to assault Odessa,” Kirby cautioned, adding that “as of this morning we hadn’t seen any significant naval activity to lead us to believe that an assault on Odessa is imminent.”He also added that Ukrainian forces continue to have some success in their efforts to “thwart” the advance of a convoy in the north of the country toward Kyiv.“We do believe that the actions by the Ukrainians have in fact stalled that convoy, certainly slowed it down, stopped it in some places,” Kirby noted, though he declined to detail what weapons or ammunition Ukrainian forces had used in such strikes, or whether they had been supplied by the United States.Updates continue below advertisementState Department warns diplomats against sharing tweet by U.S. Embassy calling plant attack a ‘war crime’Return to menuThe U.S. State Department sent an “URGENT” memo to every U.S. embassy in Europe on Friday, warning them not to retweet or share a post from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that called Russia’s attack on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant a “war crime.”The memo, obtained by The Washington Post, instructs the embassies, “If you have retweeted it — un-re-tweet it ASAP.”A Russian projectile ignited a fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine overnight, causing widespread alarm but triggering no release of radioactive material. Russian forces seized the plant early Friday.The tweet, which was not deleted as of Friday afternoon in the United States, said, “It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant.”When asked about the memo, a State Department spokeswoman said U.S. officials were still determining whether the attack on the plant was intentional.“The intentional targeting of civilians or civilian objects, including nuclear power plants, is a war crime, and we are assessing the circumstances of this operation,” the spokeswoman said. “But — regardless of the legality — this action was the height of irresponsibility, and the Kremlin must cease operations around nuclear infrastructure.”Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, warned of the “risks that we may all incur” if fighting around nuclear sites rages on.NBC News first reported on the memo.Updates continue below advertisementEmergency recovery work starting on damaged thermal energy pipeline, mayor saysReturn to menuEmergency recovery work is starting in Enerhodar, a city in southeastern Ukraine that is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the mayor said in a Telegram message Friday.Mayor Dmytro Orlov said Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant specialists are working to repair a damaged thermal energy pipeline. The pipeline’s proximity to the plant was not clear.Russia seized the plant Friday as troops encircled cities across the coastal south. The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna said Ukrainian officials informed them that a projectile hit a training building in the vicinity of one of the plant’s reactor units. That caused a localized fire that sparked alarm but triggered no release of radioactive material.Damage to the pipeline has made it “impossible” to supply thermal energy in the city, Orlov said, estimating that heat will be restored by Saturday. Forecasts show temperatures are expected to dip below freezing in the coming days.The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Friday that the “world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe” with the strike and thanked Ukrainian operators for keeping nuclear reactors safe.“Russia’s attack last night put Europe’s largest nuclear power [plant] at grave risk,” she said. “It was incredibly reckless and dangerous.”White House says it is conducting ‘internal review’ on whether Russia is committing war crimes in UkraineReturn to menuThe White House said Friday that it is conducting an “internal review” to collect evidence and data on Russia’s attacks on civilian areas in Ukraine to determine whether Russia has committed war crimes.White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned the review in response to a reporter’s question about a tweet by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that called Russia’s attack on a nuclear power plant a “war crime.”“What I will say is that the intentional targeting of civilians or civilian objects would be considered a war crime — even as we are assessing that,” Psaki told reporters, referring to the administration’s legal review of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. “Regardless of the legality, this action was the height of irresponsibility. The Kremlin must cease operations around nuclear infrastructure, and we have, of course, remaining concerns.”Psaki added that “the best step for nuclear safety would be for Russia to immediately withdraw its forces around the facility.”Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, said his office had received referrals from 39 countries as of Wednesday regarding the situation in Ukraine. Neither Ukraine nor Russia is a party to the court, so neither can bring allegations to prosecutors. But Ukraine has twice accepted the court’s jurisdiction over its territory — and other countries can refer alleged crimes there to the court.Psaki said Friday that the Biden administration “would provide any information through our own process that became available to all of the international entities that are looking into and exploring this exact question” of alleged war crimes.Many Americans are united behind Russia sanctions, even if fuel costs riseReturn to menuOne week ago, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that a 67 percent majority of Americans supported the U.S. and European allies imposing sanctions on Russia for its military invasion of Ukraine. But that finding came with a caveat: Support dropped to 51 percent if the sanctions led to higher energy prices in the United States.A separate poll by the Economist and YouGov conducted a few days later found a smaller 40 percent supported additional sanctions on Russia if it caused gas prices in the United States to rise.But after another week of Russian attacks in Ukraine, national polls show that the public has unified more in support for sanctions against Russia, and one survey finds that a clear majority are willing to absorb higher prices at the pump.Video shows aftermath of fierce battle in Hostomel, north of Kyiv Return to menuUkrainian defense authorities said they repelled an ambush by Russian forces Thursday in Hostomel, a town approximately 20 miles northwest of the capital, Kyiv.Several graphic videos and images captured burned Russian military vehicles — including one with a tire still on fire — strewn about an intersection near a glass factory. The Washington Post verified the visuals with older photos of the area. Additionally, “V” is written on the side of the vehicles, a marker used by a branch of the Russian military. Ukrainian authorities said special forces and “local resistance groups” led the battle.At least four Ukrainian soldiers stand guard at a skirmish site. Dead soldiers are inside the vehicles and on the street. Men dressed in civilian clothing observe the carnage. Weapons are laid out in a row on the sidewalk.In a Twitter post Thursday, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry wrote that at least 20 enemy combat vehicles were destroyed in the skirmish. The city is under Ukrainian control, the directorate in a statement posted to Facebook that included graphic images of dead soldiers.About four miles north of the factory, in a video published Friday, a reporter for Russian state broadcaster Channel One winces at the sound of explosions and stands in front of a damaged hangar and the remains of the largest aircraft in the world, the Antonov An-225 Mriya. She claims that the plane, stationed at Antonov Airport, was damaged by Ukrainian shelling.The Ukraine minister of foreign affairs had previously said Russian attacks destroyed the Mriya, according to a Twitter post from last month.The airport was the site of heavy fighting Feb. 24 as Russian forces fought for control over the site.Russian ambassador to U.N. defends attack on nuclear plant, says building is under Russia’s ‘protection’Return to menuRussia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Friday defended his country’s attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, denying reports that the Russian military shelled it.At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York, diplomats from around the world urged Russia and Ukraine to continue negotiations and stop the fighting that has raged in Ukraine since the invasion began more than a week ago. Much of their attention was on the aftermath of Russia seizing the Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, in southeastern Ukraine. A Russian projectile hit the plant overnight, igniting a fire that caused widespread alarm but triggered no release of radioactive material.After delegates from countries such as the United States, Britain and France condemned the attack, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the discussion of the nuclear plant attack at the meeting was “another attempt from Kyiv authorities to create artificial hysteria related to the situation in Ukraine.”“All of this is a false information attack, as if Russia had fired against the power plant,” Nebenzya said.Nebenzya followed up by saying the Russian military was actually protecting the plant and the surrounding area.“The Zaporizhzhia power plant and the surrounding areas has been placed under the protection of the Russian military, and that is the case at this point,” he said.The ambassador echoed talking points of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who earlier in the day called for the “normalization” of relations with other states following wide-ranging, extensive sanctions on Russia from the international community. Meanwhile, critics such as Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, labeled Russia’s actions on the nuclear plant “incredibly reckless and dangerous.”“It threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe,” she said.Russia’s Internet censor says it will block access to FacebookReturn to menuRussia’s Internet censor on Friday announced that it would block access to Facebook, following days of escalating pressure on the social network.The Roskomnadzor, the country’s Internet censorship agency, announced the decision in a Telegram post, where it accused Facebook of violating laws by blocking the free flow of information to Russia and Russian media on its platform.The move is an escalation from last week, when the agency said it would slow traffic to the platforms, which are owned by California-based Meta.Meta president for global affairs Nick Clegg confirmed last week that the company’s service had been slowed in response to the company’s fact-checking of Russian state media.The company did not immediately respond to the Friday announcement.