Russia-Ukraine live updates: Zelensky to address U.N. Security Council; U.S. warns of lengthy war

In a video address posted early Tuesday, Zelensky again called for an investigation into Russian wartime conduct, alleging that the Kremlin’s soldiers did “things that the locals had not seen even during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago.” His foreign minister said at a briefing Monday that the humanitarian situation in the devastated port city of Mariupol was “much worse.” President Biden again said war crimes had taken place in Ukraine and vowed to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable.As the Russian invasion grinds on, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that the Kremlin was moving its military focus to Ukraine’s south and east. The next stage of the conflict is likely to be “protracted,” and Russia will continue to use brutal tactics, he warned.Here’s what to knowIn interviews with The Post in recent days, residents in Russian-controlled regions near Kyiv and Mykolaiv recounted how they were terrorized by their new Russian overlords.The governor of the Sumy region said Russian forces no longer occupied any settlements there, but he warned that some soldiers remained.The International Committee of the Red Cross said a team helping with evacuation efforts was stopped about 12 miles west of Mariupol. It is not clear who was detaining them.The Bucha slaughter is again raising uncomfortable questions about where the European Union draws its red lines on Russian energy.The Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel for updates.UNDERSTANDING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICTBiden says Bucha killings a ‘war crime,’ seeks new Russia sanctions Return to menuPresident Biden on Monday joined the chorus of world leaders who have said reports of mass killings in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha constituted a “war crime,” vowing to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin “accountable” for the apparent atrocities in Ukraine. The president’s remarks bolstered the global furor over gruesome images from Bucha that showed mass graves and bodies strewn in the streets — some with hands tied behind their backs, several with gunshot wounds in the head — following the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region.The Kremlin dismissed the allegations as Ukrainian subterfuge, while Russia’s military continued bombarding Ukraine’s southern coastline — moves in line with U.S. intelligence assessments that Putin is focusing offensive operations on the south and east rather than the entire country, in a new phase of the war that is likely to play out over months or longer.Updates continue below advertisementAs Russia retreats from Kyiv, U.S. sees uglier fights to come Return to menuRussia’s apparent retreat from Kyiv and retrenchment into Ukraine’s easternmost regions marks the latest sign that the war is at an inflection point — one that U.S. officials believe could portend even uglier fighting to come. “The next stage of this conflict may very well be protracted,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday during a news conference, as he outlined new U.S. assessments indicating Russia is “revising its war aims” in the face of significant opposition.The ferocious resistance has claimed Russian materiel, momentum and troops’ lives in quantities that far exceeded expectations — forcing Moscow to scramble so much that now its armed forces have largely sapped readily available reinforcements in Ukraine, according to military analysts. That leaves Russian commanders in the short term to fight with the resources at their disposal. U.S. officials believe that about two-thirds of the units that had been focused on Kyiv, the capital, are heading north, back to Belarus and Russia, for expected repositioning in Donbas.Updates continue below advertisementU.S. lawmakers push for government to send weapons, aircraft to UkraineReturn to menuA bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is calling on the Biden administration to send more weapons and military equipment, including aircraft, to Ukraine to help it “win this war” against Russia.More than a dozen lawmakers, led by Reps. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), sent a letter to President Biden on Monday requesting increased military support, such as equipping Ukraine with fighter aircraft and a greater range of aerial and long-range missile systems, as well as replenishing the existing supply of Stinger missiles and other air defense systems.“This is the time to reaffirm our commitment to defending democracy abroad,” they said in the letter.Ukrainians’ fight for freedom & democracy is a fight they must win. They can do it, but they’ll need more support.@RepAndyKimNJ, @RepMeijer & I are asking for increased military support for Ukraine. This is a watershed moment in the battle for democracy & we must win. pic.twitter.com/eZDELjdGzl— Rep. Jason Crow (@RepJasonCrow) April 4, 2022 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly appealed to Western nations to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine or to provide fighter jets and powerful surface-to-air weapons that would enable his military to shoot down Russian aircraft. The latest list includes equipment requested by Ukrainian officials.Last month, more than 40 Republican senators called for Biden to aid “the transfer of aircraft and air defense systems” to Ukraine after U.S. officials turned down Poland’s offer to send fighter jets with American help.The Kremlin has warned that any country hosting Ukraine’s military aircraft would be considered a party to the ongoing armed conflict there.Updates continue below advertisementLondon’s National Gallery renames ‘Russian Dancers’ as ‘Ukrainian Dancers’Return to menuLondon’s National Gallery has changed the name of a work by French impressionist Edgar Degas from “Russian Dancers” to “Ukrainian Dancers,” after mounting pressure on social media from Ukrainians calling on institutions to review how they label Ukrainian art and culture.The pastel, which is not currently on display at the museum but can be viewed on the gallery’s website, is believed to have been created by Degas in 1899. It shows dancers clutching garlands of yellow and blue — the colors of Ukraine’s flag — and wearing the same colors in their hair.In an Instagram post last month, one user called on the gallery to “change the name” of the artwork “to a historically correct one,” while others drew attention to the fact that “Ukraine’s culture has lived under being labelled Russian for so long.” “The dancers are not Russian and never were,” the post from Tanya Kolotusha, who describes herself as a Ukrainian living in London, read.Two weeks ago, the gallery’s official Instagram account wrote in response that it had updated the title to “better reflect” its subject. The “Russian Dancers” title “has been an ongoing point of discussion for many years and is covered in scholarly literature; however there has been increased focus on it over the past month due to the current situation,” a spokesperson for the National Gallery said in a statement to the Guardian, adding that it seemed an “appropriate moment” to update the title.Updates continue below advertisementU.S. is supporting war crimes investigation in KyivReturn to menuThe United States is helping a multinational team of prosecutors collect, preserve and analyze evidence of mass executions of civilians in areas near Kyiv that Russian forces had occupied until last week, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday.The team includes American prosecutors and interdisciplinary experts who are directly supporting the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s war crimes unit, Price said. But the Americans are not working inside Ukraine, he added.“Those responsible for atrocities must be held accountable, as must those who ordered them,” he said.Updates continue below advertisementThe latest on key battlegrounds in UkraineReturn to menu Russian-held areas and troop movement BELARUS RUSSIA POL. Chernihiv Separatist- controlled area Kyiv Lviv Kharkiv UKRAINE Mariupol Odessa ROMANIA 200 MILES Control areas as of April 4 Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting THE WASHINGTON POST Russian-held areas and troop movement BELARUS RUSSIA Chernihiv POLAND Chernobyl Kyiv Sumy Lviv Kharkiv UKRAINE Separatist- controlled area Odessa Mariupol Berdyansk ROMANIA Kherson Crimea Annexed by Russia in 2014 100 MILES Active nuclear power plants with power-generating capabilities Black Sea Control areas as of April 4 Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting Russian-held areas and troop movement BELARUS RUSSIA Chernihiv POLAND Chernobyl Kyiv Sumy Lviv Kharkiv Separatist- controlled area UKRAINE Mykolaiv Mariupol Berdyansk Kherson ROMANIA Odessa Kherson Crimea Annexed by Russia in 2014 Active nuclear power plants with power-generating capabilities Control areas as of April 4 100 MILES Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting Northern Ukraine: Officials in northern Ukraine continued to report Monday that Russian forces have withdrawn. The governor of the Zhytomyr region said Russian forces had left his area. The Sumy regional governor said the same. The Ukrainian military said over the weekend that some villages in the Chernihiv region were cleared.Eastern Ukraine: Russia appears to be refocusing its attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine, including the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday. Pro-Kremlin separatists controlled some territory there before Russia’s invasion.Kharkiv: A spokesman for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces continue to shell the large northeastern city and may be preparing a renewed offensive to “take” the hub — an early target just 25 miles from the Russian border.Mariupol: As many as 130,000 people remain trapped in this port city where shelling has destroyed most infrastructure, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said Monday. Fighting continues, he said, while residents remain cut off from water, electricity and communications. A humanitarian convoy has struggled to reach the city for four days and hit more roadblocks Monday when team members were stopped and held just west of Mariupol, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.Mykolaiv: The governor of the southern Mykolaiv region, Vitaliy Kim, said Monday that Russian strikes badly damaged the southern front-line area of Ukraine, with projectiles hitting more than 2,000 buildings — including homes, hospitals and other health facilities. The strikes have killed at least 161 people, including six children, he said, adding that at least 85 towns and villages were without electricity. His figures could not be independently verified. The mayor of Mykolaiv city said Monday that 10 people were killed and 46 wounded in shellings that hit civilian buildings.David Stern and Jennifer Hassan contributed to this report.Updates continue below advertisementIn Mykolaiv, Russia continues a pattern: Shelling hospitalsReturn to menuMYKOLAIV, Ukraine — Mothers with newborn babies, a woman with a heart condition and elderly people who couldn’t walk on their own hurriedly evacuated to the basement at a Mykolaiv hospital on Sunday night as the booming thuds of artillery drew closer.They made it down to shelter just in time. Five minutes after patients and staff had crowded into the cramped underground hallway, a suspected cluster munition landed right next to the building. The blast shattered nearly all of the windows.It made for an eventful first night for Bohdan, who was born in the makeshift bomb shelter after his mother, Vitalina, and others from the maternity ward made the most harrowing journey to safety, from the hospital’s top floor.“The Russians are animals; there’s no other explanation,” said Bohdan’s grandmother Vlada.Updates continue below advertisement