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The U.S. reopened its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday three months after it shuttered its doors and relocated staff members to other parts of the region.
"The Ukrainian people, with our security assistance, have defended their homeland in the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, as a result, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the Embassy once again," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Earlier, a Russian soldier pleaded guilty in the first war crimes trial since the conflict began. The case will renew the focus on mounting allegations of atrocities committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces. It comes as Moscow's troops gain full control of the key port city of Mariupol after the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance surrendered, ending a battle that came to symbolize the brutality of Putin’s war.
Putin faced a new setback on the global stage, meanwhile, with Nordic neighbors Finland and Sweden jointly submitting their applications to join NATO as Russia's war in Ukraine reshapes European security and boosts the West.
Here’s what to know today:
- The NATO chief hails a "historic moment which we must seize" as he receives the Nordic duo's applications in Brussels.
- The Kremlin says it has no information about the Russian soldier on trial in Kyiv and calls war crimes allegations "unacceptable."
- Uncertainty surrounds the fate of fighters who surrendered in the Azovstal steel plant and were taken to Russian-controlled territory.
- Ukraine wants to conduct a prisoner swap, but some figures in Russia have balked at the idea.
- The Senate has confirmed Bridget Brink as the new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
Google’s Russian subsidiary to file for bankruptcy
Google’s Russian subsidiary plans to file for bankruptcy after authorities seized its bank account, making it impossible to pay staff members and vendors, but free services, including search and YouTube, will keep operating, a Google spokesperson said Wednesday.
Google unit has been under pressure in Russia for months for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal and for restricting access to some Russian media on YouTube, but the Kremlin has so far stopped short of blocking access to the company’s services.
A TV channel owned by a sanctioned Russian businessman said last month that bailiffs had seized 1 billion rubles ($15 million) from Google over its failure to restore access to its YouTube account, but this is the first time Google has said its bank account as a whole has been seized.
Google did not immediately confirm whether it was the seizure of funds that led to its intention to file for bankruptcy or whether other seizures had occurred.
The database of Russia’s Federal Bailiffs Service listed two seizures since mid-March, without specifying the amounts, as well as other fines and enforcement fees.
The service confirmed that it had seized Google assets and property.
Foreign service vet confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Bridget Brink late Wednesday to be the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine as officials plan to return U.S. diplomats to Kyiv during the country’s battle against the Russian invasion.
Brink, a veteran foreign service officer who has spent most of her career in the shadow of the former Soviet Union, was nominated last month by President Joe Biden. The Senate confirmed her unanimously without a formal roll call vote.
U.S. diplomats evacuated Kyiv when the war began three months ago. Brink told senators at her confirmation hearing this month that she would work to reopen the embassy.
Russia has fired more than 2,000 missiles in war
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia has already fired more than 2,000 missiles in its attack on Ukraine, which he said was a large part of its arsenal.
He said the majority of the missiles hit civilian infrastructure and brought no strategic military benefit. In the past day, Russian missiles hit the southern cities of Mikolaiv and Dnipro, Zelenskyy said late Wednesday in his nightly video address to the nation.
Zelenskyy noted Russia’s claims Wednesday to have deployed new laser weapons in Ukraine, saying the claims reflected a desire to find an alternative to its missiles.
A senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday the U.S. has seen nothing to corroborate Russia’s claims that it has used laser weapons in Ukraine. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is determined to restore its control over the southern cities of Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar and Mariupol, now occupied by Russian troops.
“All of our cities and communities under occupation — under temporary occupation — should know that Ukraine will return,” Zelenskyy said.
War unlikely to end by fall, Ukrainian presidential adviser warns
Despite signs that parts of Ukraine are resuming some level of normalcy, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Wednesday that the war is likely to continue through the summer and possibly beyond.
“It is quite clear to me that this war is unlikely to end by the fall,” Arestovych said on Ukrainian TV.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seeking to extend martial law for 90 more days, even as the U.S. Embassy reopened its doors Wednesday and border guards recorded an uptick in Ukrainian citizens returning home.
The current martial law order is in effect until May 25.
Nearly 1,300 bodies of civilians found in Kyiv since invasion
The bodies of more than 1,280 Ukrainian civilians have been found in the Kyiv region since Russian forces invaded in late February, local police said.
"Today, there are 1,288 bodies of dead people," Kyiv regional Police Chief Andriy Nebitov said in a televised address. "I emphasize civilians! Most of them were shot from automatic weapons."
Two men were killed Wednesday in a mine explosion in the Kyiv region near the villages of Lipovka and Korolovka, police said. Several people were also injured and taken to a hospital. The total number of victims was not immediately clear.
Border officials say thousands of Ukrainians 'starting to return home'
Ukrainian border guards say they have seen a steady flow of civilians seeking to re-enter the country, many crossing along the Polish border.
Since May 10, border officials have recorded 30,000 to 40,000 Ukrainians returning home a day and few looking to flee, the Internal Affairs Ministry said.
“We can assume that Ukrainians are starting to return home," Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, said in a statement.
30,000 Crimean Tatars flee Russian-occupied territory, Ukraine says
Ukrainian prosecutors say they have submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court about Russian war crimes committed against thousands of indigenous people in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
“We remember Crimea," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. "And we will never forget 1944 — the genocide of the Crimean Tatars committed by the Soviet authorities. Nor will we forget 2014 — the second wave of destruction of everything free on the Crimean Peninsula."
Since then, 30,000 Crimean Tatars have fled "intolerable living conditions and persecution" in the peninsula, Ukrainian officials said.
At least 22 activists have been abducted or are missing, and 18 Crimean Tatars have been tortured, Ukrainian prosecutors said. At least 136 are being held as political prisoners.
"The history of persecution of Crimean Tatars has been repeated since the occupation of the Russian peninsula in 2014," Ukrainian officials said in a statement. "They are systematically tortured, forcibly disappeared, deported and other serious violations of international humanitarian law."
