Reactions continue to come in on Sunday after US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “butcher” and said Putin “cannot remain in power.” French President Emmanuel Macron responded saying: “I wouldn’t use terms like that because I’m still in talks with President Putin.”
US ambassador to the NATO Julianne Smith called Biden’s surprising comments a “principled human reaction,” made after he spent the day seeing the firsthand tragedies of war, when he visited with hundreds of Ukrainian refugees, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash. Still, Smith added that the “US does not have a policy of regime change in Russia, full stop.”
Here are more of the latest headlines from the Ukraine-Russia conflict:
- Ukrainian ambassador to US says “Russia is a terrorist state led by a war criminal”: Oksana Markarova on Sunday tore into Russia over its invasion of her country, saying it’s “a terrorist state led by a war criminal.” Markarova told CNN’s Dana Bash: “Well, you know, it’s clear to us that Russia is a terrorist state led by a war criminal and we are working day and night and fighting fiercely to defend our land and to defend our democracy.” She added “everyone should be brought to justice. So, I think it will be difficult to run a state from The Hague,” referring to the International Criminal Court located in the Netherlands.
- US ambassador to NATO: No evidence yet that the Kremlin will limit their sights on the Donbas region: Julianne Smith, the US’s ambassador to NATO, discussed Russia’s supposed changing focus, on Sunday with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” Smith said she didn’t think “we have evidence of that quite yet,” that the Kremlin will limit their sights on the Donbas region, but that the US and allies will be looking for it. “But what we do have evidence of is the fact that the Russians have not succeeded in their original aims. And that was, as you well know, to take Kyiv in just a couple of days,” she said. Smith also defended the new actions NATO and the US introduced to continue to punish Russia in the wake of the US President’s trip, even as Ukrainian officials have voiced disappointment in the lack of support.
- Police in Lviv detain two individuals on suspicion of sharing information with Russia: Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration, said late Saturday that police had detained two individuals in the Lviv region on suspicion of sharing information with Russia. “Today, March 26, on Chornovil Avenue in Lviv, patrols stopped a suspicious car,” Kozytskyi said in a statement on Telegram.”While checking the driver’s documents and phone, police found videos and photos of our military movements. He also had photos of passports of men with Luhansk registration and a lot of contacts with Russian numbers.” Lviv was hit Saturday by two sets of missile strikes, including one that caused a blaze at a fuel depot that burned overnight before being extinguished by emergency responders.
- Ukrainian counterattacks retake villages in Kharkiv: Kharkiv’s regional administrator said a number of villages around Malaya Rogan were retaken by Ukrainian forces. Video verified by CNN shows Ukrainian troops in control of Vilkhivka, one of the settlements roughly 20 miles from the Russian border. The success of Ukrainian forces around Kharkiv has been mirrored further north, near the city of Sumy, where Ukrainian troops have liberated a number of settlements, according to videos geolocated and verified by CNN. A separate counterattack in the south also led to the liberation of two villages from Russian forces northwest of Mariupol, according to the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration.
- Russians strike Lviv: The Russian military on Sunday confirmed strikes on fuel depots in Lviv and outside of Kyiv Saturday, saying it had targeted fuel supplies for Ukrainian troops. At least five people were reportedly injured after at least two missiles struck Lviv, a city in western Ukraine that had been previously spared the worst of Russia’s brutal onslaught.
- President Zelensky calls for more aid: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeated his plea to international partners for stronger military assistance, saying his country is only asking for 1% of NATO’s tanks and planes. In a video message posted to social media Saturday, Zelensky said the need to strengthen common security in Europe was raised during his two conversations with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
- Ukraine claims killing thousands of Russian troops
- Comparison Between Ukraine and Russia’s militaries
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