Russia sending reinforcements to Ukraine, U.S. official says
The Russian military has started to move reinforcements to Ukraine from Georgia, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.
It was the first time Russia had deployed additional troops to Ukraine after having massed more than 150,000 forces around Ukraine before invading the country a month ago.
The defense official told reporters in a phone briefing that “we've seen our first indication that they [Russians] are trying to send in some reinforcements from Georgia.”
“So we have seen the movement of some number of troops from Georgia. We don't have any exact numbers,” the official said.
Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and has kept troops in two secessionist areas, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Pentagon officials had indicated previously that Russia appeared to be considering bringing in more troops and supplies to bolster its forces in Ukraine.
The move underscored how Russia’s attack on Ukraine has failed to produce a swift victory and has been plagued by logistical and communication problems, despite Russia’s overwhelming advantage in troop numbers and firepower.
Spotify pulls out of Russia
Spotify said Friday it is pulling out of Russia due to legislation criminalizing certain types of news.
"Spotify has continued to believe that it's critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region," the streaming company said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify's employees and possibly even our listeners at risk," it said.
Spotify said it expected to have fully suspended its service in Russia by early April, after working through operational obstacles.
More than 1,080 civilians killed, 1,707 injured in Ukraine as of Thursday, United Nations says
As of Thursday, more than 1,080 civilians have been killed and another more than 1,700 have been injured following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement Friday.
A total of 1,081 civilians have been killed, including children, and 1,707 have been injured in regions around Ukraine, according to the United Nations.
Most of the civilian deaths and injuries were caused “by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” it said.
The United Nations said it believes the actual figures are “considerably higher” given information delays and many reports pending confirmation. It also said a report from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said that as of 8 a.m. local time Friday, 135 children had been killed and 184 injured.
NBC News has not independently verified the number of casualties.
Biden speaks to troops in Poland: 'We're at an inflection point'
Biden on Friday traveled to southeastern Poland where he met with U.S. troops before a scheduled meeting with aid workers assisting refugees in a country on the front lines of the humanitarian and military crisis unfolding in Ukraine.
“What you’re engaged in is much more than just whether or not you can alleviate the pain and suffering of the people in Ukraine. We’re in a new phase, your generation, we’re at an inflection point,” Biden told the troops.
Biden spoke with the U.S. troops in Rzeszow who began arriving at the military base there last month as part of U.S. deterrence efforts against Russia. The president made small talk and shook hands with a group of service members, whom he called the “finest fighting force in the history of the world," at one point sitting down to join them for a slice of pizza in the mess hall.
"You are the organizing principle around which the rest of the world, the free world, is moving," Biden said. "We’re in the midst of, and I don’t want to sound too philosophic here, but you’re in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs."
Claims of mass deportations in Ukraine evoke painful history
The reports have filtered out for days: Mass kidnappings, forced deportations, Ukrainians spirited across the border to Russia.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said Thursday that 6,000 residents of the besieged city of Mariupol had been “forcibly deported” by Russian forces — stripped of their passports and identity documents — and taken to Russia as “hostages.”
Like much in this war, the claims have been impossible to independently verify. A statement from the foreign ministry Thursday echoed allegations and details released by Mariupol’s city council in recent days, stating that “several thousand” of its residents had been taken to “filtration camps” in Russia before being “redirected to remote cities.”
Russia, in turn, has cited the “evacuations” of more than 380,000 people from Ukraine to its territory.
Communications are sporadic or down, and no foreign journalists are left in the city. That’s meant relying on the rare videos that have emerged from the city — and on the testimony of those who’ve managed to escape.
Yet the language — “filtration camps” — and the imagery of mass deportations are particularly resonant, evoking a dark chapter in Russian history.
Swiss adopt more E.U. sanctions against Russia
The Swiss government announced Friday it has decided to adopt more European Union sanctions against Russia over President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Switzerland will now prohibit the export of goods and related services for the Russian energy sector, the government said in a statement. "Also prohibited is the participation in businesses active in the energy sector and the provision of loans or other financial resources to such businesses," the statement said.
The government will also ban iron and steel goods imports from Russia and block the export of luxury goods and maritime navigation goods to the country. In the financial sector, Swiss transactions with certain Russian state-owned firms will be barred.
Polish president’s plane makes emergency landing in Warsaw on way to meet Biden
The plane carrying Polish President Andrzej Duda to eastern Poland to meet President Joe Biden made an emergency landing in Warsaw, the Polish state-run news agency PAP reported Friday, citing an adviser to Duda.
Duda awaited the departure of a reserve plane to Rzeszow, where he was expected to welcome Biden, according to PAP.
Ukrainian mother of 2 displaced by war: 'Pray that we win sooner'
Yulia Zhdanova, a Ukrainian mother of two, fled her home in Chernihiv amid Russian bombing. She is now trying to survive in western Ukraine, where she described her new reality in stark terms.
The people where she is sheltering "cook food on the fire outside," Zhdanova said in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday. "They don't have toilets because there is no water. ... They don't have gas, oil or electricity. No connection."
She said that trucks were bringing water to some regions, but stomach illnesses and other ailments were rampant "because people can't even wash their hands." Russian's attacks on bridges and other critical infrastructure make it especially challenging to access humanitarian aid, she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces remain intent on ravaging her country, she said.
"They want to destroy everything of what we worshipped, everything [that] was precious to us," she said. "We don't want them to do anything on our peaceful land, because before, we had a really good, peaceful life."
But she said she remains optimistic that Ukrainian troops and freedom fighters trying to resist Russia's assault will be triumphant in the end.
"I know that our soldiers are so brave, and they are so patriotic," she said. "Pray that we win sooner."