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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of a ramped-up Russian offensive in his country's east, with civilians rushing to flee the region ahead of what many fear could be a brutal new phase in the war.
Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops to "prepare new attacks," Zelenskyy warned Monday, a day after he vowed his country's troops were prepared to "respond" to the new assault Moscow's forces appeared poised to launch in eastern Ukraine.
Satellite images captured by Maxar, a commercial company that works with the U.S. government, appeared to show an 8-mile convoy of Russian military vehicles moving south toward the Donbas area, which seems likely to be the focus of a major new offensive.
Russia has appointed a general with a record of brutality in Syria to take over its operations in Ukraine, a U.S. official and a Western official confirmed. Zelenskyy said that in Mariupol, the besieged southeastern port city, tens of thousands of people were likely to have been killed. NBC News has not verified the numbers of deaths.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first European leader to do so since the Feb. 24 invasion, and said he had “no optimistic impression” to report.
Nehammer said he told Putin that sanctions would continue and would mean long-lasting damage for Russia for decades. “I clearly told him that his attitude toward war is in no way even remotely shared,” Nehammer said at a news conference, adding that it is an invasion, according to Reuters.
Support for Griner, detained in Russia, at WNBA draft
NEW YORK — Moments before Rhyne Howard went to Atlanta with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league is working very hard to help bring Brittney Griner back to the United States.
Griner, one of the league’s biggest stars, has been detained in Russia since arriving at a Moscow airport in mid-February. Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“I want to take a moment to reiterate the WNBA’s support for Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner,” Engelbert said before the draft started. “Please know that getting her home safely continues to be our top priority and while we are facing an extraordinarily complex challenge, there is strength in community, especially the WNBA.”
Engelbert said there will be a league-wide charity initiative spearheaded by the Mercury to support Griner’s philanthropic project, called BG’s Heart and Sole Shoe Drive. The drive has gathered new or gently used shoes for homeless people in the Phoenix area.
“This is an unimaginable situation for BG to be in,” Engelbert said. “She continues to have our full support. Certainly, we’re trying everything we can, every angle, working with her legal representation, her agent, elected leaders, the administration. Just everybody in our ecosystem to try and find ways to get her home safely and as quickly as we can.”
Warsaw takes over Russia-built compound to give to Ukraine
WARSAW, Poland — The mayor of Warsaw says a disputed compound administered by Russia’s diplomatic mission is being taken over by the city and will be made available to the Ukrainian community.
Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was at the site Monday and said that a bailiff had entered the two apparently empty buildings, dubbed “spyville” by Warsaw residents, to check their condition and to mark them as seized by the Town Hall.
“It is very symbolic that we are closing this procedure of many years now, at the time of Russia’s aggression” on Ukraine, Trzaskowski said on Twitter.
The Russian Embassy, which had the tall apartment blocks built in the 1970s, has been refusing court orders to pay the lease or to hand it over. Once busy, the buildings became empty in the 1990s, after Poland shed its communist rule and dependence from Moscow and after the then-Soviet Union dissolved.
Ever since, Poland has been saying that lease on the plot of land had expired and demanded it be returned.
Russian opposition figure reportedly arrested in Moscow
Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. was arrested in Moscow on Monday, according to his lawyer and the foundation he heads.
Kara-Murza’s lawyer told Russian state media RIA Novosti that he did not have details about the detention. NBC News has not verified the arrest independently.
The Boris Nemtsov Foundation, which Kara-Murza leads, tweeted that he was detained near his house in Moscow without explanation and demanded his release.
While a reason for the reported arrest was not immediately clear, Kara-Murza had criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government on U.S. cable news networks.
He said Sunday on MSNBC that Putin’s regime has “created a false reality” in Russia through censorship, and he described the measures as “Orwellian.”
“It’s not only that you cannot speak out against this war. You’re not even allowed to call it a war,” Kara-Murza said.
Russia’s government has been cracking down on media in the country, limiting what they can say under threat of imprisonment.
Kara-Murza, a well-known critic of Putin, survived what he said was his second poisoning in 2017. It occurred as he was promoting a documentary about Boris Nemtsov, the former deputy prime minister and Putin critic who was shot dead in February 2015 on a bridge across from the Kremlin.
UNICEF official: Nearly two-thirds of Ukraine’s children displaced
Nearly two-thirds of all of the children in Ukraine have been forced from their homes by Russia’s attack and invasion, a war that a top UNICEF official called remarkable for the devastation it has caused.
“In my 31 years as a humanitarian, I have rarely seen so much damage caused in so little time,” Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s emergency programs director, told the United Nations on Monday after returning from a trip to the country.
The U.N. has recorded 148 children killed in Ukraine since Russia attacked the country, but Fontaine said the real number is likely to be much higher.
He said two-thirds of the children in Ukraine have been displaced. They are being killed and wounded mainly in crossfire and by explosive weapons. He recounted seeing a 4-year-old shot twice in the stomach while fleeing with his family, who is expected to live.
“Every day the war continues, children will continue to suffer,” Fontaine told the U.N. Security Council. He said that eastern Ukraine was one of the most mine-contaminated areas in the world even before the invasion and that "this reality is rapidly extending to other parts of the country."
U.K. investigating reports Russia 'may have used chemical agents'
The British government said Monday that it was investigating reports that Russia may have used chemical agents in its attack on Mariupol last month.
Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said the U.S. is aware of the "reports" and will monitor the situation.
If it is verified, the use of a "chemical munition" would be "deeply concerning and reflective of concerns that we have had about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine," he said.
Kirby appeared to be responding to a single Telegram message from Azov, an ultra-nationalist faction of the Ukrainian National Guard that's often described as a regiment or battalion. It alleged Russian forces used "a poisonous substance of unknown origin."
NBC News has not confirmed the claim.
The U.K.'s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, tweeted Monday, "We are working urgently with partners to verify details."
"Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account," she said.
Austrian chancellor says Putin meeting ‘very direct, open, tough’
VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer says his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow was “very direct, open and tough.”
In a statement his office released after the meeting, Nehammer said Monday that his primary message was “that this war needs to end, because in war both sides can only lose.”
Nehammer was the first European leader to meet Putin in Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Nehammer stressed that the Monday trip was “not a friendly visit” but rather his “duty” to exhaust every possibility to end the violence in Ukraine.
Nehammer on Saturday visited Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In his conversation with Putin, Nehammer said he raised the issue of “serious war crimes” committed by the Russian military in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and others. “All those who are responsible will be held to account,” he added.
Austria has backed the European Union’s sanctions against Russia, although it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country, which is militarily neutral, is not a member of NATO.
France declares six Russian spies 'persona non grata'
France’s foreign ministry said Monday that following an investigation, six Russian agents “operating under diplomatic cover” were declared persona non grata in the country.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that a “very long investigation” revealed “a clandestine operation carried out by the Russian intelligence services on our territory.”
“Six Russian agents operating under diplomatic cover and whose activities proved contrary to our national interests have been declared persona non grata,” the ministry said.
The French government said that in the absence of the Russian ambassador, the No. 2 official was informed of the decision.
