Biden Calls Putin A War Criminal As Russia Says Mission 'will Be Planned'

“Close to an agreement,” says Lavrov
Russia describes Ukraine’s status as Austria and Sweden
Zelensky called for help in a speech before the US Congress
Kyiv seeks ceasefire, withdrawal of troops, security guarantees

KYIV/LVIV, Ukraine, March 16 – US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a war criminal in comments that the Kremlin called “inexcusable” as he insisted the war in Ukraine was “going according to plan” against the backdrop of talk of compromise in the peace talks.

Kremlin forces continued to bombard besieged cities, including heavy shelling of Kyiv, while civilians waiting in line for bread and hiding in the theater were killed, US and Ukrainian officials said.

Moscow has yet to capture any of Ukraine’s largest cities since the invasion, which began on Feb. 24, was the largest attack on a European state since World War II, raising fears of a wider conflict in the West.

On Wednesday, Putin said he would discuss Ukraine’s neutral status and that what he calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country is “in the pipeline.” Kyiv and its allies say its actions are an unprovoked invasion and more than 3 million Ukrainians have fled and hundreds have died.

The United States announced $800 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine to fight Russia, with the new package including drones, anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems.

“There will be more when we get additional stocks of equipment that … we are ready to transfer,” Biden said, later denouncing Putin.

“He is a war criminal,” he told reporters.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the comment “unacceptable and unforgivable rhetoric,” according to the TASS news agency.

Ukraine is still hoping for a diplomatic solution. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the talks were becoming “more realistic” and Russia said the proposals under discussion were “close to an agreement.”

The US embassy in Kyiv said the Russian military shot and killed 10 people waiting in line for bread in Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv. Russia denied the attack and called the incident a hoax.

The emergency services reported that rescuers found the bodies of five people during searches in the buildings damaged by shells.

The city council said that in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Russian troops bombed a theater where civilians were hiding. The number of casualties was not known.

Russia denied that it had launched an airstrike on the theatre. Reuters was unable to independently verify the information.

Maxar Technologies, a private US company, released satellite imagery it said was taken on March 14 and showed the word “children” written in large Russian on the ground near the red-roofed Mariupol Drama Theatre.

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The governor of the Zaporozhye region said Russian forces fired artillery on a convoy of evacuees from Mariupol on Wednesday, injuring five people.

Three people were killed and five injured in a shelling on a market in the east of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, emergency services said.

Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said 400 staff and patients are being held hostage at a hospital in Mariupol that Russian forces seized on Tuesday.

Moscow denies the attack on civilians.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian shelling caused a fire and damaged private houses and a gas pipeline in the evening after the morning shelling.

Russian troops stopped at the gates of the capital, having suffered heavy losses.

Ukraine handed over nine captured soldiers to secure the freedom of the mayor of the city of Melitopol, who was detained last week, Interfax-Ukraine reported on Wednesday, citing a senior official.

Firefighters work at the scene of a blaze as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Lapshin

And as the information battle goes hand in hand with the fighting, Facebook on Wednesday removed official Russian posts that falsely claimed reports of Russia’s bombing of a children’s hospital in Ukraine were a hoax.

Russia reversed its stance on the bombing, which sparked worldwide outrage, with a mixture of statements that vacillated between aggressive denials and a call for hard facts.

“DARKEST TIME”

In his speech to the US Congress via video link, Zelenskiy repeated the request for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which the West would not impose.

“In the darkest time for our country, for all of Europe, I urge you to do more,” he said.

NATO defense ministers at a meeting in Brussels promised to increase the supply of weapons to help Ukraine.

On Friday, the UN Security Council is due to vote on a Russian-drafted appeal for access to aid and protection of civilians, but diplomats say the measure is doomed to fail because it does not require a cessation of hostilities or a withdrawal of troops.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that delegations from the two sides met via videoconference as efforts continued to find a diplomatic solution.

The Kremlin said the negotiators discussed Ukraine’s status, similar to that of Austria or Sweden, which are members of the European Union and are not members of the NATO military alliance.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator said that Kyiv continues to demand a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops with guarantees.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine could accept international security guarantees that fall short of its long-standing goal of joining NATO. This prospect was one of Russia’s main concerns.

“A neutral status is now being seriously discussed, along with security guarantees, of course,” Lavrov said. “There are very specific formulations that, in my opinion, are close to agreement.”

Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator, told state television: “Ukraine offers an Austrian or Swedish version of a neutral demilitarized state, but at the same time a state with its own army and navy.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the idea “can really be seen as a compromise.”

Austria and Sweden, the largest of the six non-NATO members of the EU, have small armed forces that cooperate with the alliance.

DAMAGE TO THE ECONOMY OF RUSSIA

Ukrainian forces have withstood the onslaught of a much larger army, but humanitarian losses are mounting.

Ukraine said some 20,000 people had fled besieged Mariupol in vehicles, but hundreds of thousands remained trapped.

The economic impact is also being felt around the world.

The Biden administration has authorized additional exports of liquefied natural gas from Texas-based Cheniere Energy, which could help Europe deal with the worsening crisis.

Meanwhile, Russia had to pay $117 million in interest on dollar-denominated sovereign bonds but could instead pay in rubles, marking its first foreign debt default since the Bolshevik revolution.

Moscow said it had the money and Washington would be to blame if it couldn’t pay.

In his most candid acknowledgment of the pain caused by Western sanctions, Putin said that inflation and unemployment would rise and structural changes in the economy would be required.

Reuters reporting; Writing by Peter Graff, Angus McSwan and Kostas Pitas, editing by Tomasz Janowski, Philippa Fletcher, Grant McCool and Cynthia Osterman.

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