Live Updates: Biden and Russia-Ukraine War News - The New York Times

As hundreds more Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol surrendered to Russia on Thursday, Moscow was also seeking to project control over southeastern Ukraine, where a high-ranking official declared that seized parts of the region would “take a worthy place in our Russian family.”.

The Ukrainian military has warned that Russia is fortifying its defensive positions in southern Ukraine, even as its forces have retreated in the northeast and failed to gain ground in the eastern Donbas region.

Moscow’s announcements are also part of a propaganda campaign aimed at conveying control over territories where — even though Russia’s grip seems firmer than elsewhere in Ukraine — military analysts say its forces could still face both public uprisings and Ukrainian counteroffensives.

Khusnullin said that Russia would soon begin charging Ukraine for electricity from the region’s giant nuclear power plant, while a local pro-Russia leader suggested that the ruined city of Mariupol — an emblem of Ukrainian resistance where fighters withstood a nearly three-month Russian siege — could be turned into a resort.

Putin has not said what he aims to do with Ukrainian territory captured by Russia beyond the Donbas region.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 700 Ukrainian fighters from the Azov battalion had surrendered over the past 24 hours at the steel plant in Mariupol.

A total of 1,730 fighters have surrendered so far, Moscow said, as it seeks to portray victory despite the long, ruinous fight for that city.

Belarus has bought Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems from Russia, President Aleksandr G.

The first Russian soldier to be put on trial for war crimes since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine apologized in court on Thursday to the widow of the 62-year-old man he shot and killed.

McDonald’s is selling its Russian business to Alexander Govor, a licensee who runs 25 restaurants in Siberia, the company said on Thursday.

President Sauli Niinisto of Finland declared that “the Finnish armed forces are among the strongest in Europe.” “Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed our security environment.” He added: “Now that we have taken this strong step, it is time for NATO to step in.” He addressed Turkey’s concerns directly, which center on Turkey’s claim that the Nordic nations are hotbed of Kurdish separatism.

The Senate is set on Thursday to give final approval to a $40 billion emergency military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine, as the United States deepens its support for an increasingly costly and protracted fight against a Russian invasion.

The measure’s relatively smooth path through Congress has demonstrated how the searing images of suffering in Ukraine, coupled with fears about Russian aggression spreading beyond the country’s borders, have — at least for now — overcome resistance from both parties to American involvement in war abroad.

Fewer than a dozen Republicans opposed bringing up the bill in a test vote on Monday; several who did cited concerns about sending billions of dollars abroad for a conflict whose endpoint is unknown at a time when the United States is struggling with economic challenges, including inflation.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, led a delegation of senators in his party in a surprise visit to Ukraine last weekend and pledged bipartisan support for the country’s fight against Russia.

“I think it’s important for the United States to help, important for the free world to help, important for the Ukrainians to win and hopefully, not many members of my party will choose to politicize this issue,” Mr.

Biden said he would submit to the Senate on Thursday the treaty language needed for the United States to approve accession.

Tens of millions of people are threatened by hunger and famine because of the war in Ukraine, the secretary general of the United Nations said Thursday, in the latest warning about the impact Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports has had on global grain supplies.

But Russian warships have made exports from Black Sea ports such as Odesa in southern Ukraine impossible.

Beasley, who told a special United Nations meeting on food security on Wednesday that the blockade is sending the world hurtling toward hunger-induced chaos.

The conflict’s impact on food supplies has also been felt domestically, as Russian control over parts of southern and eastern Ukraine has blocked access to agricultural land and stores of grain.

On Wednesday, a Ukrainian parliamentary report said that Russia had stolen 400,000 tons of grain in territory Moscow controls in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and said that this could lead to famine there.

“In addition, Russian troops destroy elevators, warehouses, agricultural machinery and infrastructure with their missile and bomb strikes, thereby disrupting the sowing campaign,” said the report, written by a committee for economic development.

KÖNIGSWINTER, Germany — Top economic officials from the world’s advanced economies moved closer toward agreement on a global rescue package for Ukraine on Thursday, with finance leaders negotiating the details of a multibillion dollar plan to keep the Ukrainian government operating amid Russia’s onslaught.

Finance ministers of the Group of 7 nations expressed optimism about the emergency financing deal on the first day of a two-day summit, where they are focused on how to provide aid to Ukraine and exert pressure on Russia while avoiding economic blowback that will slow the global economy.

“We have to secure the liquidity of the Ukrainian state,” Christian Lindner, Germany’s finance minister, said as the meetings convened.

The gathering on the outskirts of Bonn comes as the United States Senate is poised to pass a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine on Thursday.

The International Monetary Fund and Ukrainian officials have said the country needs $5 billion per month to continue paying government salaries and pensions and to cover other expenses.

Yellen said at a news conference on Wednesday.

European Union officials said this week that they were prepared to contribute 9 billion euros in economic assistance loans to Ukraine but that the nations within the E.U.

Treasury Department officials have been encouraging their counterparts to offer grants to Ukraine instead of loans and are pushing for any loan terms to be as favorable as possible.

The World Bank said on Wednesday that it was committing $30 billion over the next 15 months to projects that will encourage food and fertilizer production and remove barriers to trade.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday it had registered hundreds of prisoners of war, including wounded combatants, who were leaving a Mariupol, Ukraine, steel plant that had fallen to Russia after a weekslong siege.

The Red Cross said that it was not involved with transporting the fighters but that registration, which started on Tuesday, allowed the organization to “track those who have been captured and help them keep in touch with their families.” It added that “it must have immediate access to all P.O.W.s in all places where they are held.”.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that more than 700 fighters of the Azov Battalion who were in the Azovstal steel plant have surrendered to Russian forces in the last 24 hours.

In a statement, the ministry said that 1,730 fighters total had surrendered so far, including 80 who were wounded.

Putin of Russia has used the inclusion of the Azov Battalion among Ukraine’s fighters to argue that Moscow’s invasion of the country is an attempt to rid it of Nazis.

The Russian Supreme Court has said it would hold a hearing next week on whether to declare the group, which has far-right origins, a terrorist organization.

Amnesty International called on Wednesday for Red Cross involvement in the treatment of the prisoners and said it had “serious concerns about their fate” because they had been dehumanized in Russian media.

officials say, a major escalatory step that could put the United States in political conflict with China, India, Turkey and other nations that buy Russian oil.

Putin wages war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia that have battered its economy.

But the nearly $20 billion per month that Russia continues to reap from oil sales could sustain the sort of grinding conflict underway in eastern Ukraine and finance any future aggressions, according to officials and experts.

Putin and worsens inflation in the United States and elsewhere.

The United States banned Russian oil imports in March, and the European Union hopes to announce a similar measure soon.

“As this is happening, the United States has taken a number of steps to help,” he added.

But Russian oil exports increased in April, and soaring prices mean that Russia has earned 50 percent more in revenues this year compared to the same period in 2021, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency in Paris.

American officials are looking at “what can be done in the more immediate term to reduce the revenues that the Kremlin is generating from selling oil, and make sure countries outside the sanctions coalition, like China and India, don’t undercut the sanctions by just buying more oil,” said Edward Fishman, who oversaw sanctions policy at the State Department after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

The United States imposed secondary sanctions to cut off Iran’s exports in an effort to curtail its nuclear program.

One measure American officials are discussing would require foreign companies to pay a below-market price for Russian oil — or suffer U.S.

officials would press nations to gradually decrease their purchases of Russian oil, as they did with Iranian oil.

“There wouldn’t be a ban on Russian oil and gas per se,” said Maria Snegovaya, a visiting scholar at George Washington University who has studied sanctions on Russia.

Under the new measures, the United States would have to confront nations that are not part of the existing sanctions coalition and, like India and China, want to maintain good relations with Russia.

Experts say the measures could be announced in response to a new Russian provocation, such as a chemical weapons attack, or to give Kyiv more leverage if Ukraine starts serious negotiations with Moscow.

officials want to ensure that European and Asian partners remain united with Washington on any new sanctions.

But some European officials say certain measures, such as a price cap or tariffs on Russian oil, would be ineffective or too complicated to enact.

American officials say they have crunched numbers to see to what extent Russia would be starved of revenues if major buyers paid only a fraction of the market price for oil.

The toughest sanction imposed by the United States and European Union on Russia so far has blocked the Russian central bank’s access to foreign currency reserves in global accounts.

and European officials have focused discussions on oil sanctions, leaving out the thornier question of Russian natural gas exports.

The Biden administration is also discussing another way to inflict pain on Russia: legally seizing the Russian central bank assets that were frozen in accounts overseas during the war, as well as those of Russian tycoons, and giving them to Ukraine for reconstruction, U.S.

As with the proposed energy sanctions, the United States is exploring the idea with European nations and members of the Group of 7.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that more than 700 Ukrainian fighters of the Azov battalion had surrendered to Russian forces over the past 24 hours at the steel plant in Mariupol.

In a statement, the ministry said that 1,730 fighters have surrendered so far, including 80 wounded.

“By initiating a brutal war against Ukraine, Russia has chosen to become much poorer and less influential in economic terms.”.

Putin has insisted that the economy is weathering the measures imposed by the United States, Europe and others.

And the Finnish paper company, Stora Enso, said it was divesting itself of three corrugated packaging plants in Russia.

Anton Siluanov, the Russian finance minister, said that sanctions could cause as much as a 17 percent drop in oil output this year.

Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, said on Wednesday at a United Nations meeting on food security.

The move comes hours after the United States reopened its embassy in Kyiv after a three-month closure.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the breakaway Donestk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, said on Wednesday that the largely destroyed port city of Mariupol, including the Azovstal steel complex, would eventually be rebuilt as a resort, according to a Telegram post by RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency.

The Mariupol city council said in its own Telegram post that the idea showed that Russia wanted to erase any reminder of Ukraine’s “heroic” stand at the Azovstal complex.

Days after Russian forces invaded, Yaroslav Bohak, a young cardiovascular surgeon, was at home with his family in the relative safety of western Ukraine, when a colleague placed a desperate call from the east, pleading with him to come help.

As Russian forces pummel eastern Ukraine with a mix of artillery, airstrikes and rocket attacks, frontline hospitals, many of them in poorer, rural areas, have become overwhelmed.

All day long, the walls of the hospital shake with the thunder of battles raging near Kramatorsk, an industrial city in the Donbas region, where Russian forces have been waging a bloody offensive.

The city of Bakhmut sits at a crossroads between Russian forces pushing from the east and the north.

Air raid sirens wail daily, and the steady rumble of artillery can still be heard in the distance, but Ukrainian forces this month pushed Russian troops out of the eastern city of Kharkiv and beyond striking distance.

It appeared that they had been hiding in his basement vegetable cellar when they were discovered by Russian forces and killed.

Emets said over the thump of Ukrainian artillery fire as smoke rose from a hilltop on the horizon.

24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, worried because the house was close to a Ukrainian military base.

Ten civilians, including two children, were killed by Russian forces on Wednesday in the eastern Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the region’s governor, said on Telegram.

The United States called on other nations to step up contributions of food, fertilizer, and financing to address a growing global food shortage that has become acute with exports being blocked by the war in Ukraine.

Sweden’s defense minister said on Wednesday that the Pentagon had pledged several interim security measures to shore up the defenses of Sweden and Finland while NATO considers their requests to join the alliance.

Navy warships steaming in the Baltic Sea, Air Force bombers flying over Scandinavia, Army forces training with Swedish troops and American specialists helping to thwart against any possible Russian cyberattacks

Hultqvist said in an interview at the Swedish Embassy, noting that officials were still working out the details

Austin’s comments last month that the United States wants “to see Russia weakened to the degree it cannot do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

He said the two Nordic countries were seeking NATO membership to defend against possible aggression from Russia or other states

Hultqvist said the Kremlin had badly underestimated Ukraine’s will to fight and its military prowess, which had been built up after Russia first invaded the country in 2014

The Ukrainian fighters who surrendered to Russian forces at a steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol are entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions as prisoners of war, legal experts said on Wednesday, noting that they had fallen into enemy hands during an international conflict

Nearly 1,000 fighters surrendered at the Azovstal steel complex this week after a protracted period of fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol, and some Russian officials have been calling for them to be treated as war criminals

A line of buses escorted by an armored personnel carrier bearing the letter “Z,” a symbol of Russian forces in Ukraine, carried the prisoners away

Experts said that the Third Geneva Convention, which covers the treatment of prisoners of war, would apply from the moment of capture, and that the protections would apply to surrendering members of the Azov Battalion, which is part of the Ukrainian military

The Russian Supreme Court has said it would hold a hearing next week on whether to declare the group a terrorist organization, which could give Moscow a pretext to deprive the prisoners of protections, and possibly prevent a prisoner swap the Ukrainians had been hoping for

Amnesty International on Wednesday demanded that the Red Cross be given immediate access to the fighters and said it had “serious concerns about their fate as prisoners of war,” in part because they had been dehumanized in the Russian news media

While soldiers cannot be prosecuted for the mere fact of being soldiers, experts said states can put prisoners on trial for violations of international human rights law, including war crimes, as long as those trials follow the requirements set forth in the Geneva Conventions

“The question would be, is there any legitimate claim by the Russian government that the Ukrainian soldiers it has captured have violated international humanitarian law,” said Jenny S

From pop star pleas to street murals, hashtags to petitions, Ukrainians around the world have been expressing their solidarity with the besieged fighters who held off Russian forces for 80 days in the southern city of Mariupol

Tense negotiations between Russia and Ukraine resulted in a deal this week to surrender and evacuate the encircled plant, in the southern port city of Mariupol

The Russian Defense Ministry said nearly 1,000 of them have been bused to Russian custody after laying down their arms and being taken prisoner

Ukrainian officials have said the fighters will be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war, but they have provided no details about the agreement

So far, the Ukrainian public is withholding judgment of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has put his own name behind efforts to get the fighters out alive

The future of the surrendering Ukrainian forces is far from clear

Ukrainian officials have expressed hope that the fighters will ultimately be traded for Russian prisoners of war

But some Russian officials have insisted the fighters will be interrogated about alleged war crimes, raising fears they may eventually be put on show trials in Russia