Ukraine Russia War – The Russo-Ukraine War: What Happened Today (2 April) is a summary of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers ride a combat vehicle outside Kyiv on Saturday. Russian forces withdraw from the capital area and direct their firepower towards the south and east. Vadim Ghirda/AP hide caption
Ukraine Russia War
Ukrainian soldiers ride a combat vehicle outside Kyiv on Saturday. Russian forces withdraw from the capital area and direct their firepower towards the south and east.
Ukraine War: Russian Forces Regrouping For Attack
As Saturday draws to a close in Kyiv and Moscow, here are the key developments for the day:
Russian forces appear to be withdrawing from the area around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, turning their attention and firepower to the south and east. But parts of southwestern Ukraine remain on high alert.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says the city is in ruins. He says dealing with Russia is difficult now unless Russian forces leave the country. But he says everyone still has hope for a diplomatic solution.
Ukraine and Russia staged their largest prisoner exchange to date, with 86 soldiers from each side returning home. Now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready to exchange all Russian prisoners of war – if Russia agrees to stop abducting civilian children.
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A Ukrainian photojournalist who had been missing since March 13 was found dead in a village north of Kyiv. Max Levine, 40, was killed by two bullets said to have been fired by the Russian military. An investigation into his death has begun.
Russia’s top space official said the future of the country’s partnership with the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan on the International Space Station is at risk if Western sanctions are not lifted. Dmitry Rogozin, director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said he found the current situation unacceptable.
You can read more of Saturday’s news here, as well as more in-depth reporting and daily recaps here. Also listen to and subscribe to the Ukraine country podcast for updates throughout the day. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will negotiate with Russia when Ukrainian forces push the Russian army back to its positions on February 24, the day President Vladimir Putin launched his last war of aggression against Ukraine. The decision on when and how to negotiate is entirely up to Ukraine. But the United States and other allies can provide the support the Ukrainians need in this process. What would this support look like?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, centre-right, meets with residents of Bucha, near Kyiv, after the killing of civilians by Russian forces in March. The Ukrainians interviewed expressed strong support for his stance on the war. (Presidential Office of Ukraine)
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Army. To allow Ukraine to push Russian forces back to the February 24 lines and put them in the best position to negotiate, the United States, NATO allies, and others must dramatically accelerate the flow of advanced weaponry into Ukraine. This should include long-range rocket artillery, high-altitude anti-aircraft and missile weapons, and large quantities of ammunition for it and for the new artillery pieces now on the front lines. It must contain fuel for tanks and aircraft. It should include a bulletproof vest and first aid kits for soldiers. It must include training and intelligence. The United States and NATO allies provide that support, but it needs to get there faster. This will allow the Ukrainian army to halt the Russian advance and launch a counterattack this summer.
Financial. Weapons are as important as financial support. To put itself in a strong position to negotiate with the Russians, Ukraine must maintain a functioning government by paying soldiers and government officials. However, Russia, which aims to eliminate Ukraine as a state, is destroying cities, railways, bridges, hospitals, schools, government offices, industry, farms and ports – the lifeblood of the Ukrainian economy. These attacks cut Ukraine’s economic production by almost half. People are out of work and their homes are destroyed. Tax revenues have fallen dramatically. To keep schools, hospitals, police and the army functioning, the Kyiv government needs financial support, which Zelensky has estimated at $5 billion a month. The United States has allocated $54 billion in total to help Ukraine. This immediate funding must be followed by a massive rebuilding effort. A large batch of this financing – short-term budget support and long-term reconstruction financing – is expected to come from $300 billion of Russia’s central bank’s frozen reserves in G7 banks. ).
Politician. To negotiate with the Russians, the Ukrainians will need various forms of political support. First, they must enter into negotiations confident that they can live securely in the future, free from the threat of further Russian invasions. Ukrainians have learned – the hard way – that written Russian promises to respect their sovereignty and territorial integrity are worthless. In 1994, the Ukrainians gave up the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal based on Russia’s (and the United States and Britain’s) promise to guarantee Ukraine’s security. In 2014 and again in 2022 the Russians invaded.
To ensure that it will be secure in the future, Ukraine must be accepted into NATO or it must be fully capable of defending itself. The Russians will not abandon their goal of wiping Ukraine off the map. As the debate over NATO membership continues (NATO pledged in 2008 that Ukraine would one day become a member), the United States must commit to providing Ukraine with state-of-the-art weaponry, starting now. This obligation need not be a treaty. It could take the form of an ongoing commitment from the US government – Congress and administration – to be drawn up bilaterally, specifying types and dates for weapons delivery. The United States and Israel have a similar agreement, codified in a memorandum of understanding signed by both sides. (The latest version of this memorandum obliges the United States within 10 years to provide Israel with advanced military capabilities worth $38 billion.)
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In addition, Israel is an important non-NATO ally of the United States. As the debate over Ukraine’s NATO membership continues, the United States should also designate Ukraine as a major ally. This would clarify the close military and political relationship between the United States and Ukraine and increase Ukraine’s influence in any dealings with Russia.
The United States must continue to lead and strengthen the broad coalition of democracies that has come together to supply Ukrainians with military equipment and impose sanctions on Russia…
Second, the United States must continue to lead and strengthen the broad coalition of democracies that have come together to supply military equipment to the Ukrainians and impose sanctions on Russia, primarily to deny it the high-tech components needed to power its war machine. NATO, the European Union, the Group of Seven and East Asian nations have joined together in an unprecedented display of resolve to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable for its crimes of aggression and atrocities. This alliance has been the key to Ukraine’s success so far.
The leaders of these nations and organizations need to continue to preach to their audiences that maintaining a rules-based order that can sustain peace and enable prosperity is critical to global well-being. To broaden this alliance, U.S. policy must support two messages: protecting the right of Ukrainians to self-determination is what protects that right for all nations, and that a stronger rules-based order also means ending underrepresentation. From many parts of the global south in the management of our international institutions.
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Third, the United States and its allies need to reinforce the policy that Ukraine should enter into negotiations only when the Ukrainians decide it makes sense. No country should pressure – or even make suggestions – that another country, especially one struggling for its very existence, give up its sovereign territory. Ukrainians will decide these questions. They and President Zelensky were clear: they won’t.
Along with this position, the United States should make clear its willingness to negotiate with Russia on conventional and nuclear weapons in Europe. If the Russians have legitimate concerns about their security that can be addressed by NATO and the rest of Europe, then Washington should offer to sit down and negotiate — separately from the Ukraine-Russia talks, of course, but perhaps in parallel. For example, if the Russians were concerned that NATO might place nuclear weapons in Ukraine, NATO might agree not to — if the Russians made mutual commitments not to place nuclear weapons near NATO’s borders. Likewise, if the Russians wanted American bombers to fly at least a specified distance from the Russian border, the United States might agree—again, if the Russians made mutual undertakings.
Finally, the United States should state that it intends to continue sanctions and export controls on Russia and Russia indefinitely and that it may consider easing some sanctions only in close consultation with the Ukrainian government and other Western allies.
If the United States and its Western allies provide Ukraine with sufficient military, financial and political support, then President Zelensky and the Ukrainian government
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