Russian Sailors Evacuate Warship In The Black Sea After Ukraine Attack; U.S. Will Send Another $800 Million In Weapons To Ukraine

Russian Sailors Evacuate Warship In The Black Sea After Ukraine Attack; U.S. Will Send Another $800 Million In Weapons To Ukraine

The Russian missile cruiser Moskva was set aflame and evacuated after suffering a Ukrainian missile attack in the Black Sea, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Russian State Media service TASS, quoting the Russian Ministry of Defense, confirmed the ship caught fire after being “seriously damaged” and that the entire crew had been evacuated.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced another $800 million in weaponry for Ukraine on Wednesday, following an hour-long phone call with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Biden said the new weapons package will include systems already deployed to the fight, as well as new artillery weapons, artillery rounds, armored personnel carriers and helicopters.

Meanwhile, a report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Russia has committed human rights abuses and broken international humanitarian law during its invasion.

Details revealed on $800 million U.S. weapons package for Ukraine

Ukraine was already stocking up on U.S.-made Javelins before Russia invaded. Here a group of Ukrainian servicemen take a shipment of Javelins in early February, as Russia positioned troops on Ukraine’s border.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday night revealed details about the latest military aid package the United States will send to Ukraine, which includes 300 armored vehicles, artillery and anti-chemical protective equipment.

A post on his official Twitter account listed 200 M113 armored personnel carriers and 100 other armored, wheeled vehicles. The M113 is an older, tracked vehicle that the United States began using before the Vietnam War.

Among the newer weapons in the package are 500 Javelin missiles and 300 Switchblade attack drones. Ukrainian defenders have used the Javelin and other shoulder-launched weapons to devastating effect against Russian tanks and other vehicles.

Eight howitzers and 40,000 artillery rounds are also part of the newest U.S. arms shipment.

The list includes “protective equipment” against chemical, biological and radiological attacks, as well as 30,000 sets of body armor and helmets.

Military observers and others have voiced fears that Vladimir Putin may use weapons of mass destruction against Ukrainian troops and civilians as Russia continues to suffer defeats on the battlefield.

“We continue to stand with the brave Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom,” Austin said. “To that end, this latest support package contains many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided along with critical new capabilities.”

Presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia visit Ukraine

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Latvian President Egils Levits, Estonian President Alar Karis and Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal visit the town of Borodianka, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 13, 2022.

Ukrainian Governmental Press Service | Reuters

The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia visited Ukraine on Wednesday and underscored their support for the embattled country.

The presidents of the four NATO countries on Russia’s doorstep saw heavily damaged buildings and demanded accountability for what they called war crimes carried out by Russian forces. The visit was a strong show of solidarity by the leaders of the countries on NATO’s eastern flank, three of them like Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union.

They traveled by train to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited Borodyanka, one of the towns near Kyiv where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the country’s east.

“The fight for Europe’s future is happening here,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said, calling for tougher sanctions, including against Russia’s oil and gas shipments and all the country’s banks.

Appearing alongside Zelenskyy in an ornate room in Kyiv’s historical Mariinskyi Palace, the European leaders — Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Estonian President Alar Karis, Poland’s Andrzej Duda and Egils Levits of Latvia — reiterated their commitments to supporting Ukraine politically and with transfers of military aid.

Duda described what is happening not as war but as “terrorism,” saying accountability must extend not just to soldiers who committed atrocities but also those who gave the orders.

“We know this history,” Duda said. “We know what Russian occupation means. We know what Russian terrorism means.”

Ukraine claims it has damaged a Russian warship in the Black Sea

The Russian missile cruiser Moskva was set afire and evacuated after a Ukrainian attack on the ship. Here the Moskva is shown off the coast of Syria in 2015.

Max Delany | AFP | Getty Images 

Ukraine claimed it has damaged a Russian warship, the Moskva, stationed in the Black Sea after striking it with Neptune missiles.

“It has been confirmed that today the missile cruiser ‘Moscow’ went exactly where it was sent to by our border guards on Zmiinyi Island! Neptune missiles which are guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship,” Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the Odesa region, said in a Telegram post.

Russian State Media service TASS, quoting the Russian Ministry of Defense, confirmed the ship caught fire after being “seriously damaged” and that the entire crew had been evacuated.

According to the Russian ministry, the fire started after ammunition was detonated onboard the warship. “As a result of a fire, ammunition detonated on the Moskva missile cruiser. The ship was seriously damaged. The crew was completely evacuated,” TASS quoted the Russian the ministry as saying.

Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovych claimed that 510 Russian crew members were on board the ship during a television interview. During the interview, Arestovych sarcastically said two sailors must have caused the fire by smoking in the wrong place, or maybe they were just unlucky.

Arestovych also said the Moskva was the same warship that asked Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island (a Ukrainian island on the Black Sea) to surrender at the start of the conflict, with the Ukrainian troops telling the marines on the ship to “go f--- yourself.” Audio recordings of this incident went viral back in February.

Unlike the Russian logistics vessel Orsk which Ukraine destroyed last month, the guided missile cruiser Moskva is an offensive warship designed to attack targets from a distance. Moscow used the ship off the coast of Syria in 2015.

International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor visits mass graves at Bucha

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Britain’s Karim Khan, visits a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022, amid Russia’s military invasion on Ukraine.

Fadel Senna | AFP | Getty Images

A UN and a police car seen in in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022, amid Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

Fadel Senna | AFP | Getty Images

The Kyiv suburb of Bucha is now synonymous with scores of atrocities against civilians discovered in areas abandoned by Russian forces.

Editor’s note: Image depicts death. Officials continue to exhume the bodies of civilians who died during the Russian attacks, found in a backyard of St. Andrea’s Church in Bucha, Ukraine on April 13, 2022.

Metin Atkas | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Editor’s note: Graphic image. Volunteers load bodies of civilians killed in Bucha onto a truck to be taken to a morgue for investigation, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022.

Rodrigo Abd | AP

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova visits a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022.

Fadel Senna | AFP | Getty Images

UN warns of conflict-related sexual violence in new report

A woman carries her daughter during an evacuation, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in the town of Irpin outside Kyiv, Ukraine April 1, 2022. 

Gleb Garanich | Reuters

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it has been “made aware of increasing reports of Ukrainian women feeling at risk” from sponsors in a British program called Homes for Ukraine.

The agency warned in a statement that it was concerned about potential UK hosts turning out to be a “potential threat to the safety of the refugee.”

The calls for more oversight of the British program come as the United Nations brings to light more than 3,200 verified cases of rape and other conflict-related sexual violence crimes amid the new war in Ukraine.

“Every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy, including new waves of war’s oldest, most silenced, and least-condemned crime,” said Pramila Patten, special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, before the UN Security Council.

U.S. authorizes another $800 million in firepower for Ukraine

U.S. military vehicles are parked outside the G2A Arena near the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, Poland February 7, 2022.

Kuba Stezycki | Reuters

President Joe Biden announced another $800 million in military assistance for Ukraine on Wednesday following an hour-long phone call with the war-torn country’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Biden said the latest weapons package would be a mixture of systems already deployed to the fight as well as “new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine.”

“These new capabilities include artillery systems, artillery rounds, and armored personnel carriers. I have also approved the transfer of additional helicopters,” Biden wrote in a statement announcing the additional arms package.

The latest security package comes on the heels of recent U.S. intelligence reports that say the Kremlin will soon intensify its military campaign in eastern and southern Ukraine after weeks of stalled ground advances on the capital city of Kyiv.

Russia deliberately attacked civilians and committed ‘war crimes,’ report finds

A view shows the building of a theatre destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 10, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. 

Pavel Klimov | Reuters

Russia committed human rights abuses and broke international humanitarian law during its invasion of Ukraine, according to a new report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The 108-paged report published by the group’s experts found that Russian forces deliberately targeted and killed civilians in Ukraine and those who ordered attacks on a maternity hospital and theater in Mariupol committed war crimes.

Michael Carpenter, the United States ambassador to the organization, told reporters on a conference call that the report found evidence of attacks on medical facilities, rape, executions, looting and forced deportation of civilians to Russia.

Carpenter said that due to the deadline of this fact-finding mission, the report does not include more recent reports of Russian attacks on civilians.

“The world has been horrified by the scenes of large-scale civilian killings at the hands of Russian forces in the northern suburbs of Kyiv, in Bucha and Irpin,” Carpenter said, adding “And of course, more recently, we also had the egregious barbaric missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk.”