Mariupol, Ukraine mayor says 'This is the new Auschwitz'
The Mariupol City Council on Wednesday accused Russian forces of relying on a mobile crematorium to cover up their alleged war crimes in the southeast port city of Ukraine.
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The White House has announced a new round of economic sanctions against Russia Wednesday for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha,” President Biden said in a tweet. “Today, along with our Allies and partners, we’re announcing a new round of devastating sanctions.”
The White House says the measures freeze the assets of “Russian elites and their family members, including sanctions on: President Putin’s adult children, Foreign Minister Lavrov’s wife and daughter, and members of Russia’s Security Council including former President and Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.”
“President Biden will sign a new Executive Order that includes a prohibition on new investment in Russia by U.S. persons wherever located, which will further isolate Russia from the global economy,” the White House added.
The sanctions also freeze the assets of Sberbank and Russia’s largest private bank, Alfa Bank, from “touching the U.S financial system and prohibit U.S. persons from doing business with them,” the White House also said.
The U.S. military is training Ukrainian soldiers in the U.S. to use armed drones to attack Russian tanks and other armored vehicles, The New York Times reported.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin disclosed the training in House testimony Tuesday. Pentagon officials offered more details on Wednesday about the Switchblade drones and how U.S. officials are instructing Ukrainians to use them against Russian forces.
The U.S. had previously sent Switchblade drones to Ukraine, which one expert told Fox News could be a "game-changer."
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy has the latest on the U.S. response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict on 'Special Report.'
Athletes from Russia and Belarus previously accepted to compete in this year's Boston Marathon who are currently residing in either country will no longer be allowed to participate, the Boston Marathon Association announced Wednesday.
The exclusion from the world’s oldest annual marathon also extends to athletes previously accepted into the B.A.A.'s 5K event.
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'The Five' discuss the actor's assessment of the Ukraine war.
Human Rights Foundation chairman Garry Kasparov explains why he does not trust a Russian poll on 'Your World.'
Lt. Gen. Richard Newton discusses the rising threat of Putin becoming exceeding desperate on 'Your World.'
Human Rights Foundation chairman Garry Kasparov takes the pulse of Russia and reveals if Putin’s days are numbered on ‘Your World.’
The Russian military's pullout from Kyiv and surrounding cities – though rife with gruesome civilian casualties – is essentially a victory for the Ukrainians and an opportunity for the West to materially help them while Russia reportedly regroups, a former NATO deputy commander told Fox News.
United Kingdom Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff told "The Story" that while the civilian toll is massive and disturbing, any withdrawal from the battlefield is categorically a win for the remaining side.
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Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen dug into President Biden on "America Reports" Wednesday for being behind the curve at "every point" of the Russia-Ukraine war.
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Ukrainian authorities searched for bodies in areas around the nation's capital city on Wednesday
Investigators sought to document what appeared to be widespread killings of civilians by Russian forces.
Ukrainian authorities have said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in towns around Kyiv and dozens of corpses in civilian clothes were counted in Bucha.
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Lt. Col. James Carafano discusses the U.S's developing strategy in using sanctions to financially exhaust Russia on 'The Story.'
President Biden joked about the possibility of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to expand to directly involve the U.S. military on Wednesday, telling union workers, "If I gotta go to war, I'm going with you guys."
Biden made the statement during an address to union workers at the North American Building Trades Unions legislative conference Wednesday. Biden opened his speech with a lengthy section addressing new sanctions against Russia.
"This fight is far from over," Biden said. "Here's the point: This war could continue for a long time, but the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom."
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Fox News national correspondent Griff Jenkins speaks with Ukrainians at train station in Lviv.
President Biden announced sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters Wednesday as part of punishments related to alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
The sanctions will hit Mariya Putina and Katerina Tinkonova, Putin’s two adult daughters, as well as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin; the wife and children of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; and members of Russia’s Security Council, including former president and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
The penalties cut off all of Putin’s family members from U.S. financial systems and freezes any assets they hold in America.
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President Joe Biden arrives to speak at the North America's Building Trades Unions Legislative Conference at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
President Joe Biden suggested Wednesday that the ongoing war in Ukraine could become a prolonged conflict, but vowed that the U.S. will stand beside Ukraine every step of the way.
"This fight is far from over. Here's the point -- this war could continue for a long time, but the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine, Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom," he said.
Biden, following the White House's announcement of a new package of sanctions against Russia, also said that "together with our allies, and our partners, we're going to keep raising the economic costs and ratchet up the pain for Putin and further increase Russia's economic isolation."
"We're continuing to supply Ukraine with the weapons and resources they need to defend their country," he added.
"You know, we won't be able to advertise every piece of security we give... but advanced weapons and ammunition are flowing in every single day," Biden said.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday. (AP/Felipe Dana)
NATO on Wednesday said it is bracing for a "major offensive" by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine just one week after Moscow said it would withdraw forces from around the capital.
"We see that Russia is moving forces out of the north to re-enforce them, to re-supply them, to re-arm them, and then to move them into the east where we are expecting a major offensive," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. "President Putin's aim is to try to control the whole of Donbas and to establish a land bridge."
The NATO chief said security officials have not seen any indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed his ambitions to control all of Ukraine, despite claims from Moscow that it would divert troops amid peace talks with Kyiv.
Russian negotiators said last week that the Kremlin would move soldiers from Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to "increase mutual trust."
But following the removal of Russian troops from Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, hundreds of civilians were reported to have been found lying dead in the streets – some appearing to have been executed with their hands bound.
For more on this story: NATO expecting 'major offensive' from Putin eastern Ukraine, alliance preparing for 'long haul' war
Konstantin Malofeyev, chairman of the board of directors of the Tsargrad media group, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Moscow, Russia, in 2021. (REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva)
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the unsealing of an indictment against Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev for alleged sanctions violations.
Malofeyev had been sanctioned by the U.S. after the Treasury Department identified him as a significant financial source for Russians promoting Crimean separatism and supporting the Donetsk People’s Republic.
"After being sanctioned by the United States, Malofeyev attempted to evade the sanctions by using co-conspirators to surreptitiously acquire and run media outlets across Europe," Garland said in remarks Wednesday morning.
Garland said the U.S. is also seizing millions of dollars that are allegedly traceable to sanctions violations.
"The Justice Department will continue to use all of its authorities to hold accountable Russian oligarchs and others who seek to evade U.S. sanctions," Garland said.
For more on this story: Justice Department charges Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev with sanctions violations
A resident looks for belongings in an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (AP/Vadim Ghirda)
More images are emerging showing Ukrainians scrambling for survival in hard-hit areas such as Bucha as the Russian invasion enters its 41st day.
In one photo captured by the Associated Press, residents who escaped the alleged Russian atrocities there are seen crowding around a van in hopes of securing humanitarian aid.
Elsewhere in Bucha, on the same day, a Ukrainian soldier was photographed zipping up a body bag containing one of four civilians who were found inside a charred vehicle.
The devastation and heartbreak was documented in other parts of Ukraine as well, with images showing one resident walking through the rubble of an apartment building in Borodyanka and another photo depicting the family of a slain Ukrainian soldier standing near his coffin in Kramatorsk.
That soldier, Anatoly German, leaves behind his wife, a 9-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.
For more on this story: Photos from Ukraine-Russia war capture aftermath in Bucha, destruction and heartbreak across country
A view inside the Mariupol theater damaged during fighting in Ukraine. (AP/Alexei Alexandrov)
The Mariupol City Council on Wednesday accused Russian forces of relying on a mobile crematorium to cover up their alleged war crimes in the southeast port city of Ukraine.
Mariupol, which has been partially occupied for weeks, has been the target of one of the most brutal Russian offensives in Ukraine since the invasion began in February.
"The killers are covering their tracks," the city council said in several social media posts, adding that the Russians have set up "mobile crematoriums."
"Russia’s top leadership ordered the destruction of any evidence of crimes committed by its army in Mariupol," the council added in a translated statement, accusing Moscow of reacting to widespread condemnation over mass civilian killings in Bucha.
Humanitarian access to the city has been blocked for weeks, with an estimated 160,000 residents unable to evacuate and lacking access to electricity, heating, health care and water, reported the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense.
For more on this story: Russian crematoria operating in Mariupol: 'This is the new Auschwitz,' mayor says
A firefighter walks by the villa owned by Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyev, after unidentified people attempted to set fire to it, in Menaggio, on Lake Como, Italy, on Wednesday. (Vigili del Fuoco/Handout via REUTERS)
A fire that broke out Wednesday at a villa near Lake Como, Italy, owned by sanctioned Russian state TV host and Putin propagandist Vladimir Solovyev is reportedly being investigated as an act of arson.
The blaze at the property in Menaggio, which has since been extinguished, left “limited” damage, local fire authorities told Reuters. Solovyev, who works for the Russian state-run Channel One network, owns two homes around Lake Como worth a combined $8.7 million, the news agency added.
The villa was under renovation at the time of the fire, which involved tires at the site, another fire official told the Associated Press.
For more on this story: Fire breaks out at Italian lake villa owned by member of Putin's inner circle
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Griff Jenkins reports from Lviv, Ukraine, talks with a mother who left her home with her children as her husband went to fight.
Russian lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a bill to impose fines on anyone who equates the role the Soviet Union played in World War II to Nazi Germany – a position it claims is necessary to counter "slander" by Baltic nations.
In the third and final reading of a bill first introduced two days before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, fines and prison sentences were attached to a 2021 law that banned language associating actions by the USSR with Adolf Hitler’s Germany.
The bill bars comments from the public sphere, the internet or by media outlets that draw parallels between "the goals, decisions and actions" by Soviet leadership under Joseph Stalin and military actions taken under Nazi Germany.
The denial of the "decisive role" that the USSR played in defeating Hitler is also prohibited.
For more on this story: Russian lawmakers push bill to fine anyone equating USSR with Nazi Germany
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley predicted in early February that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could take Kyiv in just "72 hours," a far cry from the monthlong conflict Russia and Ukraine are now engaged in.
Milley delivered the dire prediction for Ukraine to Congress during closed hearings on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3, saying Ukraine would likely lose 15,000 troops compared to Russia's 4,000. Milley arrived to Congress to deliver another prediction Tuesday, this time saying the war in Ukraine could last "years."
Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., pressed Milley on what he now thought the timeline of the conflict would be.
"It’s a bit early, still," Milley responded. "Even though we’re a month-plus into the war, there is much of the ground war left in Ukraine. But I do think this is a very protracted conflict, and I think it’s at least measured in years. I don’t know about a decade, but at least years for sure."
For more on this story: Milley's new Ukraine war prediction is stark departure from early forecast of '72 hour' takeover
Diplomats tell Fox News on Wednesday that the U.S. and Ukraine will present to the U.N. tomorrow a proposal to suspend Russia from its Human Rights Council.
The meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York will begin around 10 a.m. local time and a two-thirds majority vote is needed to suspend Russia from the Council.
Fox News' Ben Evansky contributed to this report.
European Council president Charles Michel said Wednesday that granting asylum to Russian military deserters is “a valuable idea that should be pursued.”
“If you want no part in killing your Ukrainian brothers and sisters, if you don’t want to be a criminal, drop your weapons, stop fighting, leave the battlefield,” Michel, who represents the bloc’s governments, said in a message to Russian soldiers.
The idea that EU member countries should think about ways of offering asylum to Russian soldiers willing to desert Ukraine battlefields has previously been circulated by some of its lawmakers, the Associated Press reports.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a speech to Irish parliament Wednesday, accused the Russian military of weaponizing hunger as they “are destroying things that are sustaining livelihoods” including food storage depots and “putting mines into the fields.”
“For them hunger is also a weapon, a weapon against us ordinary people,” he said, adding Russia is “deliberately provoking a food crisis” in Ukraine, a major global producer of staples including wheat and sunflower oil.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A car that crashed into the gates of the Russian Embassy is seen partly covered in Bucharest, Romania, on Wednesday. (AP/Andreea Alexandru)
A man has died in Romania after crashing his car Wednesday into the gates of the Russian embassy there.
Bucharest police said around 6 a.m., the car "left the road and hit the fence of a diplomatic mission.
"The driver died and it took the intervention of fellow firefighters to put out the fire in the car," it added, without revealing the person's identity.
Local authorities are now investigating and images show the vehicle being towed away from the scene.
Pope Francis shows a flag that was brought to him from Bucha, Ukraine, during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Wednesday. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis on Wednesday is condemning the massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, saying "they are victims whose innocent blood cries up to the sky and implores that this war be stopped, and that the weapons be silenced."
Francis made the remark during his general audience, in which he welcomed a half-dozen Ukrainian children up to the stage of the Vatican audience hall and gave them each a giant chocolate Easter egg. He urged prayers for them and for all Ukrainians.
“The recent news from the war in Ukraine, instead of bringing relief and hope, brought testimony of new atrocities, like the massacre in Bucha, even more horrendous cruelty carried out against civilians, defenseless women and children," the pope said.
The pontiff held up a Ukrainian flag he said had arrived the previous day at the Vatican from Bucha, where evidence has emerged of what appears to be intentional killings of civilians during the city’s occupation by Russian troops.
Kissing it, he said: “This flag comes from the war, from that martyred city Bucha... Let us not forget them. Let us not forget the people of Ukraine.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Ukrainian service member drives a captured Russian T-72 tank in the village of Lukianivka on March 27. (REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko)
The Czech Republic has sent a shipment of T-72 tanks and BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing a Czech defense source.
The reported delivery of tanks is the first of its kind amongst NATO member countries, according to The Telegraph.
Video posted online by a Czech television channel purportedly showed a train carrying five each of the vehicles.
China on Wednesday called images that appeared to show civilians in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities intentionally killed "deeply disturbing" and called for an investigation.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Wednesday that China supports all initiatives and measures “conducive to alleviating the humanitarian crisis” in the country and is “ready to continue to work together with the international community to prevent any harm to civilians.”
Beijing has been reluctant to criticize ally Russia over the war and didn't actually blame Russia for the killings Wednesday.
India, which has also avoided criticizing Russia over the invasion, said it "unequivocally" condemned the situation in Bucha.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he appreciated the strengthening of the European Union's fifth sanctions package Wednesday morning, but added that a Russian oil embargo and de-SWIFTING all Russian banks would be necessary extra steps to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin's war. "Difficult times require difficult decisions," he said.
A view of the Mariupol theater damaged during fighting in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Monday, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
The humanitarian crisis in the besieged city of Mariupol is “worsening” as Russia continues to shell it, U.K. Defense Ministry said in a Wednesday morning update.“Most of the 160,000 remaining residents have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water. Russian forces have prevented humanitarian access, likely to pressure defenders to surrender.
Christian singer and songwriter Michael W. Smith discusses his latest release dedicated to providing Ukrainians with aid on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
'Special Report' All-Star Panel weighs in on Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's pitch to the U.N. and Elon Musk's free speech influence on Twitter.
Dozens of bodies wait to be buried at a cemetery in Bucha, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. Ukraine’s president told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the Russian military must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes, accusing invading troops of the worst atrocities since World War II. He stressed that Bucha was only one place and there are more with similar horrors. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
The U.S and its allies plan to pile additional sanctions on Russia Wednesday, including banning any new investments in the county because of evidence Russia is intentionally killing civilians in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities, the White House said Tuesday.
Among the other measures being taken against Russia are greater sanctions on its financial institutions and state-owned enterprises, and sanctions on government officials and their family members, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
"The goal is to force them to make a choice,” she said. “The biggest part of our objective here is to deplete the resources that Putin has to continue his war against Ukraine.”
The U.S. Treasury Department also plans to block Russia from using U.S. dollars to make debt payments.
Ukrainian soldiers recover the remains of four killed civilians from inside a charred vehicle in Bucha, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while speaking to the United Nations Security Council Tuesday, accused Russia of the worst war crimes since World War II.
He said that the Russian army had tortured and killed civilians. "They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies,” he said while calling for those responsible to be tried for war crimes.
Graphic images appearing to show the atrocities Zelenskyy detailed in Bucha and other cities have led to a worldwide outcry.
Associated Press journalists in Bucha have counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes and interviewed Ukrainians who told of witnessing atrocities. Also, high-resolution satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed that many of the bodies had been lying in the open for weeks, during the time that Russian forces were in the town.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has the latest from the Pentagon on 'Special Report.'
The United States will send an additional $100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine as the country's war with Russia continues, Fox News has learned.
"Today, the Biden Administration authorized an additional Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to an additional $100 million to meet an urgent Ukrainian need for additional Javelin anti-armor systems, which the United States has been providing to Ukraine and they have been using so effectively to defend their country," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"I have authorized, pursuant to a delegation from the President earlier today, the immediate drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $100 million to meet Ukraine’s urgent need for additional anti-armor systems," Blinken said. "This authorization is the sixth drawdown of arms, equipment, and supplies from Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine since August 2021."
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