Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday pressed the world to help his country beat back a Russian invasion, even as those forces attacked Kyiv from various directions in an effort to take the capital.
Zelenskyy tweeted that he had started "a new day on the diplomatic frontline" by talking to French President Emmanuel Macron. In a second tweet, Zelenskyy called the present "a crucial moment to close the long-standing discussion once and for all and decide on Ukraine's membership in the #EU," or European Union.
In the United States, President Joe Biden was slated to meet with his national security team on Saturday morning.
But despite international condemnation of Russia's strike against its smaller neighbor, Russia carried out airstrikes on cities and military bases in the predawn hours. The violence prompted thousands of Ukrainians to flee their homes, looking for safety in nearby countries.
Friday recap:Battle for Kyiv intensifies; defiant Zelenskyy urges resistance: 'The fight is here.'
Russian official shrugs off Western sanctions
A senior Russian official has warned that Moscow could react to Western sanctions over its attack on Ukraine by opting out of the last remaining nuclear arms pact and freezing Western assets.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, shrugged off a set of crippling sanctions that the U.S., the European Union and other allies slapped on Russia as a reflection of Western “political impotence.”
In comments posted on his page on Russian social media VKontakte, Medvedev said the sanctions could offer Moscow a pretext for a complete review of its ties with the West, suggesting that Russia could opt out of the New START nuclear arms control treaty that limits the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals.
-- Associated Press
Czechs to send more arms to Ukraine
The Czech Republic’s government has approved a plan to send more arms to Ukraine.
The Defense Ministry said it is immediately sending machine guns, submachine guns, assault rifles and pistols together with ammunition worth 188 million Czech crowns ($8.6 million).
The ministry said the Czechs will transport the weapons and deliver them to a place determined by the Ukrainian side.
The Czech Republic has already agreed to donate some 4,000 pieces of artillery shells worth 36.6 million Czech crowns ($1.7 million) to Ukraine.
-- Associated Press
'Our world is crumbling':Ukrainians try to flee homes with food, belongings amid Russian invasion
Poles quit World Cup qualifying against Russia
WARSAW, Poland -- The Polish Football Association says it will not play its World Cup qualifying match against Russia due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“No more words, time to act!” said association president Cezary Kulesza on Twitter, saying the move was prompted by the “escalation of the aggression.”
The match had been scheduled for March 24.
-- Associated Press
Ukrainian health minister: Nearly 200 dead, 1,000 wounded
The Ukrainian health minister says that 198 people have been killed and more than 1,000 others have been wounded in the Russian offensive.
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said Saturday that there were three children among those killed. His statement made it unclear whether the casualties included both military and civilians.
He said another 1,115 people, including 33 children, were wounded in the Russian invasion that began Thursday with massive air and missile strikes and troops forging into Ukraine from the north, east and south.
-- Associated Press
UN: Over 120,000 Ukrainians have fled
WARSAW, Poland -- The UN refugee agency says that over 120,000 Ukrainian refugees have left the country since Russia began its attack on its neighboring country this week.
Speaking as Russian troops were engaging in battle with Ukrainian forces in the capital Kyiv on Saturday, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly Clements, said in an interview on CNN the situation was expected to get worse.
“We now see over 120,000 people that have gone to all of the neighboring countries,” she said. “The reception that they are receiving from local communities, from local authorities, is tremendous. But it’s a dynamic situation. We are really quite devastated, obviously, with what’s to come.”
Most are heading to Poland and Moldova, but also to Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.
-- Associated Press
Zelenskyy: Ukraine is fighting 'with weapons in hand'
Zelenskyy detailed further diplomatic efforts to drum up support for Ukraine Saturday, tweeting about a conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"Ukraine is fighting the invader with weapons in hands, defending its freedom and European future. Discussed with @vonderleyen effective assistance to our country from (the European Union) in this heroic struggle. I believe that the #EU also chooses Ukraine," he tweeted.
-- Luciana Lopez
Zelenskyy: Italy Prime Minister supports removing Russia from SWIFT
In a tweet, Zelenskyy early Saturday wrote that in a phone conversation with Italy Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the Italian leader supported "Russia's disconnection from SWIFT, the provision of defense assistance."
Zelenskyy also pushed for Ukraine to become part of the European Union in the tweet.
SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. It is a global messaging system connecting thousands of financial institutions around the world.
The U.S. did not impose removing Russia from SWIFT following concerns from European allies in what was seen as America's harshest punishment at its disposal.
-Craig Harris and Associated Press
Zelenskyy: 'Our weapons are our truth'
In a selfie-style video posted to twitter early on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to stay and fight on.
"I am here. We will not lay down any weapons. We will defend our state, because our weapons are our truth," he declared, denouncing as disinformation claims that he had surrendered or fled.
-- Associated Press
Russia-Ukraine explained:Inside the crisis as US calls Russian movements an invasion
Sean Penn calls Russian invasion of Ukraine 'a brutal mistake' while filming documentary there
Sean Penn, in Ukraine working on a documentary about the ongoing Russian assault, called the invasion "already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken."
"If he doesn't relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind," Penn said in a statement to USA TODAY early Saturday morning. President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people "have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost."
-- Brian Truitt
Read the whole story here:Sean Penn calls Russian invasion of Ukraine 'a brutal mistake' while filming documentary there
Biden's hitting Russia's yacht-riding rich with sanctions. Will it blunt Putin's Ukraine invasion?
Russia's wealthy oligarchs and political elites flaunt a level of in-your-face affluence across the world. This week, their wealth and connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin made some of them targets of President Joe Biden's sanctions in response to the Kremlin’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine.
But if the Biden administration really wants to hurt Russian oligarchs enough to rein in Putin's actions in Ukraine, it needs to hit them much harder – and hit a lot more of them, some U.S. officials and kleptocracy experts told USA TODAY.
By any measure, the new rounds of U.S. financial blockages issued this week go far beyond what has been done in the past to pressure Putin into curbing his rogue behavior, White House officials said. The sweeping actions would cause extreme hardship for some of Russia’s largest financial institutions and a small handful of Russian oligarchs and kleptocrats that Biden said use them as their own “glorified piggy bank.”
-- Josh Meyer
Tens of thousands flee Ukraine into neighboring countries
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries to the west in search of safety as Russia pounded their capital and other cities with airstrikes for a second day.
Those arriving were mostly women, children and the elderly after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday banned men of military age from leaving the country.
A woman from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, who arrived in Przemsyl, Poland, broke down in tears describing how men were pulled off trains in Ukraine before they got to the border.
“Even if the man was traveling with his own child he couldn’t cross the border, even with a kid,” said the woman, who would only give her first name, Daria.
More than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled their country in less than 48 hours, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said Friday, as many more continued to move towards the borders. He said a majority went to Poland and Moldova.
-- Associated Press
US sanctions on Russian oligarchs miss richest of rich
The term Russian oligarch conjures images of posh London mansions, gold-plated Bentleys and sleek superyachts in the Mediterranean, their decks draped with partiers dripping in jewels.
But the raft of sanctions on oligarchs announced by President Joe Biden this week in response to the invasion of Ukraine may do little to dim the jet-setting lifestyles of Russia’s ultra-rich and infamous – much less force a withdrawal of tanks and troops.
U.S. sanctions target Russian President Vladmir Putin and a handful of individuals believed to be among his closest security advisers, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
But the list is just as notable for who isn’t on it — most of the top names from Forbes’ list of the richest Russians whose multi-billion-dollar fortunes are now largely intertwined with the West, from investments in Silicon Valley start-ups to British Premier League soccer teams.
Citing the concerns of European allies, the U.S. also didn’t impose what was seen as the harshest punishment at its disposal, banning Russia from SWIFT, the international financial system that banks use to move money around the world.
-- Associated Press
