Ukraine live briefing: China criticized for questioning sovereignty of ex-Soviet states

Meanwhile, Russian journalists have not been cleared to travel to the United States to cover Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s U.N. meetings, according to his spokeswoman. Lavrov was headed to New York this weekend. Moscow holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for April, and Lavrov is scheduled to meet with U.N. Secretary General António Guterres on Monday.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

Key developments

• Latvia summoned China’s chargé d’affaires in Riga to explain the “unacceptable comments” by Lu on French television, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said, adding that the move was coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called Lu’s comments “false.” France expressed “full solidarity” Sunday with the three Baltic states, Reuters reported. E.U. Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said the bloc “can only suppose these declarations do not represent China’s official policy.”
• An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Lu’s comments resembled Russian “propaganda.” “All post-Soviet Union countries have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law,” Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. The United Nations admitted Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1991, amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
• The United States has not issued visas to journalists who planned to cover Lavrov’s trip, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Sunday on Telegram. Lavrov said the lack of visas showed the United States’ “ugly behavior,” and Russia’s U.N. delegation framed it as a denial. “This was done despite the fact that Russian media representatives complied with all relevant terms and requirements, including a valid U.N. accreditation,” the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations said on its website.
• The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the journalists’ visas Sunday morning, citing privacy laws. Last week, Russia rejected U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich’s appeal of espionage charges; Gershkovich and the United States have denied the accusations against him.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced new measures targeting 322 companies and numerous other entities. The blacklist includes Russian weapons manufacturers and those who help Russia circumvent punitive measures. “Every Russian scheme that makes it possible to bypass sanctions makes this war longer, adds opportunities for the aggressor,” Zelensky said.

Global impact

• Russia told its citizens to avoid travel to Canada, citing alleged incidents of discrimination and physical attacks. It did not substantiate the accusations. The Russian Embassy in Ottawa advised against tourism, education- or business-related visits to the country, and it told those already there to “be vigilant, especially in public places.” Canada has a sizable population of residents who claim Russian ancestry.
• The Kremlin will expel more than 20 German diplomats from Russia, state media reported, in a move characterized by Moscow as retaliation for a similar action by Berlin. The German Foreign Ministry acknowledged that it had kicked out Russian diplomats as part of an attempt to decrease the number of intelligence agents in the country.

Battleground updates

• Russia’s Defense Ministry is appealing for “real men” to join as recruits in an ambitious attempt to recruit 400,000 more volunteers, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update Sunday, though noting that it “remains highly unlikely” officials will reach their military recruitment target. The advertisements have popped up on social media, billboards and television.
• Authorities in the Russian city of Belgorod removed an explosive device from a residential area. The city evacuated the area Saturday, but people have since returned home, Mayor Valentin Demidov wrote on Telegram. On Thursday, a Russian warplane accidentally fired on the city, which is near northeastern Ukraine, injuring three people, officials said.
• Tensions between Wagner mercenaries and regular Russian troops escalated to shooting in the region of Luhansk, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed in a battlefield update Sunday. The incident could not be immediately confirmed by The Post. “A fight between Russian Armed Forces and PMC Wagner mercenaries broke out in the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska,” the Ukrainian General Staff said. “It escalated into a shootout with participants on both sides killed as a result.” Earlier this year, Wagner financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin publicly criticized Russia’s military brass for allegedly depriving his forces of ammunition, causing the mercenaries to die “in heaps” in Ukraine.

From our correspondents

In Bakhmut, Ukrainian troops cling to western edge of a destroyed city: For months, Ukraine and Russia have flooded Bakhmut with reinforcements and carted away thousands of dead and wounded in what has become the longest, bloodiest battle of the war. Now, after eight months of Ukraine steadily ceding territory, the fight there is closing in on just a few square miles, Susannah George and Serhii Korolchuk write from the embattled city.

Small teams of Ukrainian and Russian ground forces are battling for control of Bakhmut’s western edge, moving between apartment blocks. “We can attack and repel them for a day or two, or they can advance, and we have to retreat again,” a 35-year-old Ukrainian junior sergeant working on the front lines told The Washington Post. “I don’t even know, to be honest, what will happen in a week or two. … A lot of people are dying here, a lot.”