LVIV, Ukraine — The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol says those hiding at a massive steel mill are running out of food, water and medicine.

Vadym Boichenko described the situation at the Avozstal steel plant as dire. The steel mill is the last position held by Ukrainian fighters, who also are with civilians.

The Soviet-era facility has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more extreme after the Russians dropped a series of so-called “bunker buster” bombs and unguided munitions.

“Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse,” Boichenko said, according to a translator. “They are begging to get saved.”

He added: “There, it’s not a matter of days, it’s a matter of hours.”

Boichenko said he hoped a cease-fire would allow those inside the steel mill to safely leave. Russia earlier offered a truce that was rejected by Ukrainians, who said Moscow previously broke other agreements.

“We hope there’s a slight touch of humanity in the enemy,” the mayor said.

Boichenko spoke Friday in a government-organized video conference.

(DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears to have dismissed the need for the United Nations to help secure humanitarian corridors out of Ukraine’s besieged cities, striking a tough line a day after the U.N. chief toured war-wracked Kyiv with that very aim.

As an interviewer at Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV tried to ask Lavrov about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut him off.

“There is no need. I know, I know,” an irritated Lavrov said. “There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem … humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals,” he said.

“We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful,” he added. “(We have) explained … what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.”

During the hour-long interview, Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging Russia’s peace talks with Ukraine. He claimed that thorny negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

“We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time,” Lavrov said. “Because of the instructions, they get Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.”

When asked about the risks of war spilling into neighboring Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov struck an ominous tone.

“Moldova should worry about their own future,” he said. “Because they’re being pulled into NATO.”

(WASHINGTON) -- A senior U.S. defense official said on Friday the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

“We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military’s assessment.

He said the U.S. believes the Russians are “at least several days behind where they wanted to be” as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

As the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been “slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event,” the official said.

The $40 billion U.S. package of assistance for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia's aggression is hitching a ride on a commercial flight to South Korea so it can be signed by President Joe Biden.

The Senate voted Thursday to finalize new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as Biden was making his way to the South Korean capital. A White House official says the bill is being flown to Seoul by a U.S. government official who was already planning to travel to the region on a commercial flight.

As the Associated Press reported, bills that have needed an urgent signature have been routinely flown by White House aides for decades to the location of the sitting president, if they were abroad.

Then-President George W. Bush flew back to Washington from his Texas ranch to in 2005 to sign legislation that would require doctors to continue feeding a comatose Florida woman, Terri Schiavo. Her husband wanted to let her die.

The Kremlin-backed leader of Russia’s southern province of Chechnya has posted a video in which he warns that Poland could be next after Ukraine.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who is famous for his bluster, said in the video he posted to his official Telegram page that Ukraine was “a done deal” and that “if an order is given after Ukraine, we’ll show you [Poland] what you’re made of in six seconds.”

Poland, which borders Ukraine, has provided its neighbor with weapons and other aid since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. It has also welcomed in millions of Ukrainian refugees.

Kadyrov later urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “finally come to his senses and accept the conditions offered by our president [Vladimir Putin].”

Kadyrov has repeatedly used social media to boast about Chechen fighters’ alleged performance against Ukrainian troops and to make other unconfirmed statements about the war in Ukraine.

SANDSTONE, Minn. (AP) — Four lion cubs that were orphaned during the war in Ukraine have arrived safely at a Minnesota animal sanctuary that has pledged to provide them a permanent home.

A male cub named Taras and three females named Stefania, Lesya and Prada, who are all between four and five months old, spent the last three weeks at the Poznan Zoo in Poland. Their arrival Tuesday marked the final step in an arduous journey after they lived through sporadic bombings and drone attacks in Ukraine, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, one of several groups working to rescue animals from the war.

"These cubs have endured more in their short lives than any animal should," Meredith Whitney, wildlife rescue program manager at the fund, said in a statement. "They were born at breeding facilities in Ukraine during the war and then orphaned at a few weeks old."

Their new home is The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Minneapolis. They were put on a plane that was returning to the U.S. from Poland. It landed Tuesday in Minneapolis, from where sanctuary staffers brought them to the facility where they were assessed by a veterinarian and given a warm place to rest. The flight was funded in part by the New York-based Andrew Sabin Family Foundation.

Dr. Andrew Kushnir, an American veterinarian with the fund who accompanied the cubs on their flight, cared for the cubs in Ukraine and Poland. Despite drone attacks and airstrikes, he prepared their specialized formula every three hours, the fund said. On nights when the power went out, he used his arms and legs to warm their milk bottles.

The cubs came from two litters, Whitney said. Three were rescued from Odesa, she said, while Prada, the oldest, was born at a breeder in Kyiv. The rescuers don't know what became of the mothers, she added.

The nonprofit Wildcat Sanctuary shelters nearly 130 lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and other wildcats, many of which were rescued from the trade in exotic pets, including the four cubs. To assure peace and tranquility for the cats, it does not put them on public display, but lets them roam fenced enclosures amid the woods of Minnesota. The sanctuary does offer virtual tours via its website and Facebook page.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced for the first time it has representatives who visited Ukrainian prisoners of war that Russian forces are holding.

Visits to Russian prisoners of war also took place by the group.

The Red Cross checked the prisoners' condition, gave them books, personal hygiene products, blankets and warm clothes. They also made it possible for their relatives to be contacted.

As the war rages on, a Russian ship-borne air defense system was able to knock down a drone in the area of Sevastopol, a key southern port city in Ukraine on the Black Sea.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet's base is found there. The regional governor for the area confirmed the news. Several attacks were launched on Sevastopol since the start if the war. The city is on the Crimean Peninsula.

In another area, Russian officials said Ukrainian forces shelled the Belgorod province, which borders Ukraine.

According to Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the shelling damaged power lines in Yakovlevo, located 31 miles from the Ukrainian border. Though Gladkov did not report casualties or injuries, a local news channel on Telegram reported a fire at a military base, with several Russian military personnel killed or wounded.

Ukrainian officials maintained their policy of not commenting on cross-border attacks.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that more U.S.-Russian prisoner exchanges are possible if Moscow and Washington find a compromise.

Putin spoke a day after Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was swapped for WNBA star and two-time Olympian Brittney Griner.

Asked after a summit in Kyrgyzstan whether other prisoners could be swapped, Putin replied that "everything is possible," noting that "compromises have been found" that cleared the way for Thursday's exchange of Griner for Bout.

"We aren't refusing to continue this work in the future," the Russian leader said, making his first comments about the closely watched trade.

Despite negotiating for Griner's release, the most high-profile American jailed abroad, the U.S. failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan. The Michigan corporate security executive has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.

U.S. officials said they did not see an immediate path to bringing about Whelan's release, saying Russia has treated his case differently because of the "sham espionage" charges against him. Still, they said they believe communication channels with the Russians remain open for negotiations about his freedom.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: "We registered what Mr. Putin said, let's see what he actually does."

Putin said the U.S.-Russia talks that resulted in Thursday's exchange didn't touch on other subjects.

"Whether this could set stage for a dialogue with the U.S. is a separate issue," he said. "We didn't set the task to move from those talks to something else, but they do create a certain atmosphere."

On a similar note, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was Russian and U.S. intelligence agencies that agreed to exchange Bout for Griner and their contacts were focused exclusively on hammering out its specifics.

"It has no impact on the overall state of bilateral ties that looks sad," Peskov said in televised remarks.

Peskov said that "special services may continue their work if necessary," and also noted the role of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in helping broker the swap.

Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death" who provided arms for some of the world's worst conflicts and spent over 14 years behind bars in the U.S., was seen in Russia as unjustly imprisoned after an overly aggressive U.S. sting operation.

Russian state media hailed his release, carrying footage of him talking to his family from a private jet following a swap at Abu Dhabi's airport and then embracing his wife and his mother on a snowy tarmac in Moscow.

Speaking in an interview for RT channel with Maria Butina, who also served 18 months in a U.S. prison after being convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the United States, Bout said he was still struggling to control his emotions after his imprisonment.

He charged that the West's long-held objective was to destroy Russia.

"The West believes that it has failed to finish us off when the Soviet Union began to collapse," Bout said. "And our efforts to live independently, be an independent power, is a shock to them."

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Tuesday with troops in the eastern city of Bakhmut, the scene of some of the most intense combat since Russia invaded the country, praising their "courage, resilience and strength" as artillery boomed in the background.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the "courage and self-denial" of his forces in Ukraine — but he did so at a ceremony in an opulent and glittering hall at the Kremlin in Moscow, not on the battlefield.

Both leaders sought to build morale as the stalemated conflict grinds through its 10th month and winter sets in.

Zelenskky met with military personnel in a dimly lit building — possibly a disused factory — in Bakhmut, which he has called "the hottest spot on the entire front line," his office said. The city, about 600 kilometers (380 miles) east of Kyiv, has remained in Ukrainian hands, thwarting Moscow's goal of capturing the rest of Donetsk province and the entire Donbas industrial region.

The Ukrainian leader told the troops he passed through Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka to reach Bakhmut in an unannounced trip that appeared designed to show Moscow's failure to capture the city and dishearten the Russians trying to surround it.

"Bakhmut Fortress. Our people. Unconquered by the enemy. Who with their bravery prove that we will endure and will not give up what's ours," he wrote on his Telegram channel, thanking the troops for "the courage, resilience and strength shown in repelling the enemy attacks.

"Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time goes by and Bakhmut is already breaking not only the Russian army, but also the Russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers," he said.

Russia's invasion, which began Feb. 24, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested. Capturing Bakhmut would sever Ukraine's supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press on toward cities that are key Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk province.

Mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military contractor, are reported to be leading the charge in Bakhmut. Before Russia's full-scale invasion, Russia-backed separatists had controlled parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk since 2014. The two provinces together make up the Donbas.

Unverified videos on a popular Russian social media platform showed the Wagner Group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, standing near an artillery piece and saying he was ready to meet Zelenskyy in Bakhmut. In a statement accompanying the videos, Prigozhin's spokespeople relayed a message to Zelenskyy reading: "If you haven't left Bakhmut yet, I'm ready to meet you. Prigozhin." It wasn't clear from the videos where they were shot or when.

At the Kremlin ceremony, Putin presented awards to the Moscow-appointed heads of the four illegally annexed regions of Ukraine.

"Our country has often faced challenges and defended its sovereignty," Putin said. "Now Russia is again facing such a challenge. Soldiers, officers and volunteers are showing outstanding examples of courage and self-denial on the front line."

In a video address honoring Russia's military and security agencies, he praised the security personnel deployed to the four regions, saying that "people living there, Russian citizens, count on being protected by you."

Putin acknowledged the challenges faced by security personnel deployed there.

"Yes, it's difficult for you," he said, adding that the situation in the regions is "extremely difficult."

The former KGB operative added: "Your duty is to do all that is needed to ensure their safety and protection of rights and freedoms." Putin also promised to reinforce units there with more equipment and personnel. The regions are under pressure from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Putin also called on counterintelligence officers to step up efforts to "derail activities by foreign spy agencies and quickly track down traitors, spies and saboteurs."

A Russian newspaper, Rossiskaya Gazeta, reported that Putin last week had visited his Ukraine command headquarters. Its location wasn't disclosed, and it wasn't even clear if it was in Ukraine.

British authorities, meanwhile, gave a bleak assessment of how the war is going for Russia.

Some 100,000 Russian troops were "dead, injured or have deserted" in the invasion, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. Wallace didn't give a figure for Ukrainian casualties, but a senior U.S. military recently put the estimated number of Ukrainian troops killed and wounded at about 100,000.

Losses in Russia's military command have also taken a toll, as has the destruction of equipment. "Not one single operational commander then in place on Feb. 24 is in charge now," Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons. "Russia has lost significant numbers of generals and commanding officers."

"Russian capability has been severely hampered by the destruction of more than 4,500 armored and protected vehicles, as well as more than 140 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft," Wallace said.

Ukraine's counteroffensive has succeeded in recapturing large swaths of land. After 300 days of war, the U.K. Ministry of Defense tweeted, Ukraine has liberated about 54% of the maximum amount of extra territory Russia seized in the invasion. It didn't say what portion of the Ukrainian territory Russia controlled at the peak of its gains.

Russia now controls about 18% of internationally recognized areas of Ukraine, including those parts of the Donbas and Crimea seized earlier, it said.

With battles still raging, Zelenskyy's office said at least five civilians have been killed and eight wounded since Monday, with Russian forces attacking nine southeastern areas.

Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said Russia shelled 19 cities and villages in the region in the past day.

With the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine's power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.

Life in the Ukrainian capital took a minor but welcomed step toward normality with the reopening of two of Kyiv's main subway stations for the first time since the war began. The key hubs of Maidan Nezalezhnosti and Khreschatyk, like the capital's other underground stations, have served as air raid shelters.

"It's the feeling that despite everything, we are returning to a routine that we were used to," said 24-year-old passenger Denys Kapustin. "This is very important."

CNN —

A coalition of media organizations and the father of a murder victim are set to come to an Idaho court on Friday with the same goal in mind: challenging a gag order.

Two separate hearings are scheduled in the criminal case against Bryan Kohberger, the criminology graduate student at Washington State University accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home. A not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf, and the trial is set for October.

The brutality of the killings and the lack of clarity on his connections to the group of friends have made it one of the highest-profile cases in U.S. news.

Yet due to a wide-ranging gag order, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and attorneys for victims' families and witnesses are prohibited from saying anything publicly, aside from what is already in the public record.

Gag orders are a common occurrence in high-profile cases, such as the man accused of carrying out January's mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California, or the involuntary manslaughter trial of the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley.

In Idaho on Friday, an attorney for the family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four victims, will argue to amend the order at a hearing at 10:30 a.m. local time, saying it has restricted their free speech rights. Afterward, a coalition of media organizations also will argue to vacate the order, calling it "vague, overbroad, unduly restrictive, and not narrowly drawn," according to court documents.

The dual hearings have put a renewed focus on the gag order, the colorful term for what's technically known as a "nondissemination order."

At its most basic level, the gag order sets restrictions on what information can be released to the public and what certain people involved in the case can say.

The idea is to balance the First Amendment right to free speech with the Sixth Amendment right for a defendant to receive a fair trial, said University of Idaho assistant professor of law Samuel Newton. The concern is that too much commentary and publicity about a case can create jurors who have already made up their minds.

"What you're worried about is tainting the whole (jury) pool," Newton said.

The gag order is just one of a number of strategies judges can take to eliminate jury bias. They can also move the trial to another venue, create a jury questionnaire or sequester the jury during the trial.

But when does restricting speech in a case with such high public interest go too far? What are the limits?

What the gag order says

The arrest warrant and criminal affidavit for Kohberger were issued on December 29, 2022, and within a week the prosecution and defense jointly agreed to a gag order.

The Jan. 3 order states that "investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and agents of the prosecuting attorney or defense attorney, are prohibited from making extrajudicial statements, written or oral, concerning this case, other than quotation from or reference to, without comment, the public records of the case," Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall wrote.

The order specifically forbade commentary on evidence of occurrences or transactions, the character or criminal record of a party, opinions about the merits of the case and "the existence or contents of any confession, admission, or statement given by the defendant."

An amended nondissemination order issued on January 18 then expanded the gag order. The amended order stated the restrictions applied not just to the prosecution and defense but to "any attorney representing a witness, victim, or victim's family." Further, the order prohibited any statements on the character or criminal record of "a party, victim, or witness, or the identity of a witness, or the expected testimony of a party, victim, or witness."

"There is a balance between protecting the right to a fair trial for all parties involved and the right to free expression as afforded under both the United States and Idaho Constitution," the amended order explained. "To preserve the right to a fair trial some curtailment of the dissemination of information in this case is necessary and authorized under the law."

For the Goncalves family, that amended order went too far. The family's attorney Shanon Gray filed a motion challenging it, saying there should not be any restrictions on what he can say on behalf of the Goncalves family.

"He's not voicing his own opinion, he's voicing the family's opinion," Steve Goncalves, Kaylee's father, told CNN on May 23. "What's the point of having a lawyer if a judge can just say your lawyer can't speak?"

Separately, a coalition of media organizations petitioned the district court to vacate the gag order for other reasons. In a May 1 filing, the coalition, referred to as "Associated Press, et al," said the gag order was too expansive and argued the court did not provide any evidence that media coverage presents a risk to Kohberger's right to a fair trial.

"The Gag Order, which is based on the Parties' stipulation, rests merely on an assumption that press coverage is bad. The U.S. Constitution and the Idaho Constitution demand more."

The filing specifically noted several instances of the gag order's impact on journalists. For example, officials have cited the gag order in declining to release tapes of 911 calls and public records requests, the filing states.

The media coalition had initially asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the gag order. While the court agreed the order restricted freedom of the press, it declined to vacate the order, saying the state supreme court was not the proper venue.

Kohberger's defense attorneys pushed back in motions arguing that courts have broader powers to limit the speech of lawyers and that the media attention, specifically noting a recent "Dateline NBC" special, threatens his right to a fair trial.

"The upshot of this and similar media stories is a constant feedback loop of people crying out for Mr. Kohberger's blood," defense attorneys wrote.

Similarly, state prosecutors have argued against amending the nondissemination order, stating that the restrictions on attorney statements is "not vague, overbroad or unduly restrictive."

Gag orders used in other cases

Gag orders have similarly been used in other high-profile mass killings that garnered significant public attention.

One such case is the trial of Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley. His parents have pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter for what prosecutors say was their "gross negligence" in purchasing the gun and ignoring their son's warning signs.

Prosecutors have publicly criticized the couple repeatedly, and the couple's arrest after a manhunt was captured on CNN video.

Last year, the defense filed a motion to restrict pretrial publicity, but Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald pushed back, saying their request was "consistent with the conduct that brings them before this Court – they are concerned only about themselves."

After a series of back-and-forth filings, the court issued an order and an amended order restricting publicity about the case.

"It is hereby ordered that, to protect the rights of the accused as well as the People to a fair trial, none of the parties, directly or through their agents, will engage in pretrial publicity by making public statements about the case to the media," Judge Cheryl Matthews wrote on July 14, 2022, in the amended order.

Similarly, the suspect in the January mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, which left seven people dead, asked for and was granted a gag order in his case, according to CNN affiliate KGO. That ruling prohibits any of the parties from talking about the case outside of court.

Chunli Zhao, the shooting suspect, has pleaded not guilty.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A fire at a munitions depot inside Russia forced the evacuation of two villages near the border with Ukraine, an official said Friday, while two civilians were reported wounded by Russian shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as both sides traded accusations about fighting near the facility in southern Ukraine.

The fire late Thursday struck the munitions storage building near the village of Timonovo in Russia's Belgorod region on Ukraine's northeastern border. About 1,100 people live in Timonovo and Soloti, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the border. No one was hurt, said Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.

The fire came days after another ammunition depot exploded on the Crimean Peninsula, a Russian-occupied territory on the Black Sea that was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Last week, nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed at an airbase on Crimea, demonstrating both the Russians' vulnerability and the Ukrainians' capacity to strike deep behind enemy lines.

Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility. But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines after the blasts in Crimea, which Russia has blamed on "sabotage."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in televised remarks Friday that statements from Ukrainian officials about striking facilities in Crimea mark "an escalation of the conflict openly encouraged by the United States and its NATO allies."

Ryabkov said Russian officials had warned the U.S. against such actions in phone calls with high-level members of the Biden administration, adding that "deep and open U.S. involvement" in the war in Ukraine "effectively puts the U.S. on the brink of becoming a party to the conflict."

In spite of the latest incidents, a Western official said the war is at a "near operational standstill," with neither side able to launch major offensives.

"The whole tempo of the campaign has slowed down, partly because both sides have become more conscious that this is a marathon not a sprint and that expenditure rates and conserving their munitions is important," said official said who spoke on condition of anonymity because he's not authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.

Later Friday, a Ukrainian official said two civilians were wounded by Russian shelling of Ukrainian communities neighboring the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the latest in a long string of such shelling accusations over the past weeks.

"A new enemy attack on the Nikopol district. Five shells fired by Russian cannon artillery flew into the residential areas of Marhanets," Valentyn Reznichenko, the regional governor, said on Telegram. Both Nikopol and Marhanets are Ukrainian-controlled towns which face the nuclear plant across the Dnieper River.

"According to preliminary reports, two people have been wounded: an 18-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man. Both are in hospital," Reznichenko added.

Kyiv and Moscow continued to accuse each other for the shelling near Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

A senior official at the Ukrainian presidential office told reporters "the threat of an environmental catastrophe on a global scale" remains due to the "periodic shelling" of the plant by the Russian army.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office, said at the same briefing that Russian shelling had destroyed "more than 3,700 infrastructure objects" in the vicinity of the plant, including heating, electricity, gas and water supply facilities.

Zelenskyy also stressed the situation around the Zaporizhzhia plant in his Friday evening address.

"If Russia's radiation blackmail continues, this summer may go down in the history of various European countries as one of the most tragic of all time. Because not a single instruction at any nuclear power plant in the world provides a procedure in case a terrorist state turns a nuclear power plant into a target," he said.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in their first phone conversation since May 28 that Ukrainian shelling around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "raised the threat of a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radioactive contamination of large territories."

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility in Ukraine's south has been controlled by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began on Feb. 24. Ukraine has accused Russia of storing troops and weapons at the plant and using its grounds to launch strikes against Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukrainian officials and military analysts say Moscow's forces have cynically employed the plant as a shield, knowing that the Ukrainians would be hesitant to fire back.

Russia has denied the accusations and, in turn, accused Ukrainian forces of repeatedly shelling the plant.

The French presidency said in a statement that Macron "underlined his concerns" regarding the situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant and expressed his support for the deployment of a International Atomic Energy Agency mission to the site "as soon as possible."

Putin agreed to the mission's deployment under the discussed terms, according to the French statement. The Kremlin said that "the Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to offer the necessary assistance to the agency's experts."

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-backed chief of temporary administration for the Russia-controlled part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said Friday that an IAEA mission could approach the plant from Ukrainian-held territory, a shift in Moscow's position which previously had suggested that the mission should travel to the plant from Crimea.

"I believe they may also come from the side of Ukraine," Balitsky said in televised remarks. "We can safely bring them to the plant and show where the fire is coming from and who is shooting."

Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian envoy to international organizations in Vienna where the IAEA is based, said he believes a visit by the agency could realistically take place in early September.

___

Jill Lawless in London contributed.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday reiterated that the Biden administration remains resistant for now on banning Russian oil imports, raising concerns that such a ban could have a negative impact for U.S. and European economies. She added, however, that the administration was “looking at options we could take right now to cut U.S. consumption of Russian energy,”

Psaki also called on Russian forces to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine. Russian troops seized the plant earlier Friday.

“The best step for nuclear safety would be for Russia to immediately withdraw,” Psaki said.

Officials from the U.N. and Ukraine said no radiation was released from the Russian attack at Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine, and firefighters have extinguished a blaze at the facility.

The fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar was extinguished early on Friday morning, hours after Russian forces began shelling the facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's director-general said Friday the building hit by a Russian "projectile" at the plant was "not part of the reactor" but instead a training center at the plant.

Nuclear officials from Sweden to China also said no radiation spikes had been reported.

The fire at the plant sparked fears of the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Soviet-run Chernobyl plant in Ukraine. Even though the nuclear plant is of a different design than Chernobyl and is protected from fire, nuclear safety experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency warn that waging war in and around such facilities presents extreme risks.

KYIV, Ukraine —

Russian forces shelled Ukraine's second-largest city on Monday, rocking a residential neighborhood, and closed in on the capital, Kyiv, in a 17-mile convoy of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles, as talks aimed at stopping the fighting yielded only an agreement to keep talking.

Here's the latest on the Ukraine-Russia conflict as of 7:50 p.m. (eastern):

• The United States is expelling 12 Russian diplomats at the United Nations for engaging in activities not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats
• The European Union has slapped sanctions on 26 more Russians, including oligarchs, senior officials and an energy insurance company
• Ukraine's leader Zelenskyy has applied for Ukraine to join the 27-nation European Union on the fifth day of the Russian invasion
• Russian teams have been suspended from international soccer after the country's invasion of Ukraine
• The U.N. reports that at least 406 civilians have been hurt or killed in Ukraine
• The State Department has closed the U.S. Embassy in Belarus and is allowing non-essential staff at the U.S. Embassy in Russia to leave the country

Amid ever-growing international condemnation, Russia found itself increasingly isolated five days into its invasion, while also facing unexpectedly fierce resistance on the ground in Ukraine and economic havoc at home.

For the second day in a row, the Kremlin raised the specter of nuclear war, announcing that its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and long-range bombers had all been put on high alert, following President Vladimir Putin's orders over the weekend.

Stepping up his rhetoric, Putin denounced the U.S. and its allies as an “empire of lies.”

Meanwhile, an embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to join the European Union — a largely symbolic move for now, but one that is unlikely to sit well with Putin, who has long accused the U.S. of trying to pull Ukraine out of Moscow’s orbit.

A top Putin aide and head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that the first talks held between the two sides since the invasion lasted nearly five hours and that the envoys “found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen.” He said they agreed to continue the discussions in the coming days.

As the talks along the Belarusian border wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in Kyiv, and Russian troops advanced on the city of nearly 3 million. The convoy of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 17 miles from the center of the city, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.

People in Kyiv lined up for groceries after the end of a weekend curfew, standing beneath a building with a gaping hole blown in its side.

Messages aimed at the advancing Russian soldiers popped up on billboards, bus stops and electronic traffic signs across the capital. Some used profanity to encourage Russians to leave. Others appealed to their humanity.

“Russian soldier — Stop! Remember your family. Go home with a clean conscience,” one read.

Video from Kharkiv, meanwhile, showed residential areas being shelled, with apartment buildings shaken by repeated, powerful blasts. Flashes of fire could be seen and gray plumes of smoke.

Footage released by the government from Kharkiv depicted what appeared to be a home with water gushing from a pierced ceiling. What looked like an undetonated projectile was on the floor.

Authorities in Kharkiv said at least seven people had been killed and dozens injured. They warned that casualties could be far higher.

“They wanted to have a blitzkrieg, but it failed, so they act this way,” said 83-year-old Valentin Petrovich, who watched the shelling from his downtown apartment and gave just his first name and his Russian-style middle name out of fear for his safety.

The Russian military has denied targeting residential areas despite abundant evidence of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals.

Fighting raged in other towns and cities across the country. The strategic port city of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is “hanging on,” said Zelenskyy adviser Oleksiy Arestovich. An oil depot was reported bombed in the eastern city of Sumy.

In the seaside resort town of Berdyansk, dozens of protesters chanted angrily in the main square against Russian occupiers, yelling at them to go home and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. They described the soldiers as exhausted young conscripts.

“Frightened kids, frightened looks. They want to eat,” Konstantin Maloletka, who runs a small shop, said by telephone. He said the soldiers went into a supermarket and grabbed canned meat, vodka and cigarettes.

"They ate right in the store,” he said. “It looked like they haven’t been fed in recent days.”

Across Ukraine, terrified families huddled overnight in shelters, basements or corridors.

“I sit and pray for these negotiations to end successfully, so that they reach an agreement to end the slaughter,” said Alexandra Mikhailova, weeping as she clutched her cat in a makeshift shelter in Mariupol. Around her, parents tried to console children and keep them warm.

For many, Russia's nuclear high alert stirred fears that the West could be drawn into direct conflict with Russia. But a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had yet to see any appreciable change in Russia’s nuclear posture.

As far-reaching Western sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, the ruble plummeted, and Russia’s Central Bank scrambled to shore it up, as did Putin, signing a decree restricting foreign currency.

But that did little to calm Russian fears. In Moscow, people lined up to withdraw cash as the sanctions threatened to drive up prices and reduce the standard of living for millions of ordinary Russians.

In yet another blow to Russia's economy, the oil giant Shell said it is pulling out of the country because of the invasion. It announced it will withdraw from its joint ventures with state-owned gas company Gazprom and other entities and end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Russia and Europe.

The economic sanctions, ordered by the U.S. and other allies, were just one contributor to Russia's growing status as a pariah country.

Russian airliners are banned from European airspace, Russian media is restricted in some countries, and some high-tech products can no longer be exported to the country. On Monday, in a major blow to a soccer-mad nation, Russian teams were suspended from all international soccer.

The U.N. human rights chief said at least 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded — warning that figure is probably a vast undercount — and Ukraine’s president said at least 16 children were among the dead.

More than a half-million people have fled the country since the invasion, another U.N. official said, many of them going to Poland, Romania and Hungary.

Among the refugees in Hungary was Maria Pavlushko, 24, an information technology project manager from a city west of Kyiv. She said her father stayed behind to fight the Russians.

“I am proud about him,” she said, adding that many of her friends were planning to fight too.

The negotiators at Monday's talks met at a long table with the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag on one side and the Russian tricolor on the other.

But while Ukraine sent its defense minister and other top officials, the Russian delegation was led by Putin’s adviser on culture — an unlikely envoy for ending a war and perhaps a sign of how seriously Moscow took the talks.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Putin is seeking in the talks, or from the war itself, though Western officials believe he wants to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.

At this stage, Ukraine is many years away from reaching the standards for achieving EU membership. Any addition to the 27-nation bloc must be approved unanimously by its members, and Ukraine's deep-seated corruption could make it hard for the country to win acceptance.

Still, in an interview with Euronews on Sunday, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “We want them in the European Union.”

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Isachenkov and Litvinova reported from Moscow. Robert Burns in Washington; Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Lorne Cook in Brussels; and other AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

Amid heightened tensions between Ukraine and Russia, lawmakers are looking at the potential implications of the next moves. 

The Pentagon announced it planned to send forces to Poland, Romania and Germany to bolster NATO's eastern flank, while more forces remain on standby. 

The U.S. Helsinki Commission, a commission independent of the federal government, met Wednesday to discuss the developing situation and hear insight into the implications beyond Ukraine and what messages potential U.S. actions send. 

"The Kremlin's threat menaces not only Ukraine, our partners in Georgia, and the wider region but also the long-cherished dream and long-standing bipartisan U.S. policy to work towards a Europe whole and free," said Sen. Ben Cardin, the commission's chairman. 

It comes as Congress debates sanctions on Russia. Ukraine's foreign minister said it's preparing for all possible scenarios, but that active diplomacy works. 

"It puts a lot of pressure on us but it is still insufficient for a large-scale military operation against Ukraine," said Dmytro Kuleba in a video released by the Ukranian Foreign Ministry. 

During the commission hearing, lawmakers heard expert testimony into Ukraine and Russia from high-profile witnesses. Experts told lawmakers unity seen surrounding the conflict may have surprised Putin. 

Former ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor explained it can't be assumed Putin’s bluffing since he’s invaded before, but that he’s looking at unity and the possibility of severe sanctions. Taylor said actions have appeared to deter an invasion for now, but reiterated strong steps until Putin withdraws military force.

Former U.S. National Security Council official Fiona Hill told lawmakers Russia may feel emboldened by developments in Eurasia, and look at the U.S.' role in addressing upheavals.

 

"We should continue to make clear to Moscow we are open to negotiation as Chairman Cardin has said … but not under the current coercive circumstances," said Hill. "We need to reframe this crisis for what it is as the administration has just done in the United Nations. This Is not a proxy conflict, this is not aggression by the United States or NATO, this is not a righteous effort to counter some great historic wrong as President Putin says. This is an act of post-colonial revisionism."

On the Hill, the move to send troops to Europe drew praise, as well as a split reaction between high-profile Republicans. 

Senator Lindsey Graham said he completely supports the decision, while Senator Josh Hawley called it a mistake, pushing for a focus on China instead. Senator Mitch McConnell praised it, but also called for more assistance to Ukraine and sanctions now. 

"Yesterday, I was glad to hear that U.S. forces are finally moving to reinforce our Eastern Flank allies. I urged President Biden to take this step nearly two months ago. I hope this belated action will lead other NATO allies to follow suit," McConnell said.

This story was originally published by Haley Bull of Newsy.