Ukrainian President says, ‘The more this beast will eat, he wants more, more, and more’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Western countries that the war will not stop at Ukraine — and an attack on freedoms there will affect the rest of the world.

During an interview on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir on Monday, Zelensky again highlighted the need to secure Ukraine’s airspace — something he has urged the US and NATO to help do, to no avail.

“We cannot allow Russia to be active there only, because they’re bombing us, they are shelling us, they are sending missiles, helicopters, jet fighters — a lot of things,” Zelensky said. “We don’t control our sky.”

He added that he believes US President Joe Biden “can do more” to stop the war. “I am sure he can and I would like to believe that. He is capable of doing that,” Zelensky said.

The US stance: The US and NATO oppose creating a no-fly zone in Ukraine, warning that such a move could lead to “full-fledged war in Europe.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday countries imposing such a no-fly zone would be considered to be participating in the conflict.

On Monday, the White House said Biden remains firm in his commitment to keep US troops out of the conflict.

Zelensky’s response: The Ukrainian president said missiles were hitting civilian structures including universities and pediatric clinics. If a missile is flying overhead, “I think there is no other answer … they need to be shot down. You have to preserve lives,” he said.

And he warned the war would affect the rest of the world:

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is increasingly targeting civilians as his military runs into a fiercer-than-expected resistance and more and more refugees head to the border.

Meanwhile, his government has tightened its grip on the media to control what Russians see and think:

What this means for Russia: The country and government have been “authoritarian for a long time, it’s getting worse and worse and worse,” said Beth Sanner, former deputy director of National Intelligence.

Russia is also increasingly cut off from much of the West, with heavy sanctions and a growing number of businesses pulling out from Russia — including Netflix and TikTok.

Putin’s vision: The Russian strongman could be seeking a Russian empire of sorts, according to Fiona Hill, a former White House official and Russia expert.

Putin has been slowly acquiring land since 2008, bringing neighbors under his control and setting the precedent that he can take by force whomever resists, she said, pointing to Putin’s belief in a “Russkiy Mir” or Russian World.

Read more here.

Like much else about the country, Russia’s internet has long straddled East and West.

Russian citizens, unlike their Chinese counterparts, have been able to access US tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, though they have been subject to censorship and restrictions — the defining feature of China’s internet model.

But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has increasingly isolated the country in recent days, could also prove to be the death knell for its presence on the worldwide web.

Facebook blocked: On Friday, as sanctions on Russia tightened and fighting in Ukraine continued to intensify, the Russian government said it had decided to block Facebook, citing the social network’s moves in recent days to impose restrictions on Russia-controlled media outlets.

While Facebook is by no means the largest platform in the country, blocking it may be a symbolic move to indicate that President Vladimir Putin’s government is prepared to go after big global names if they don’t toe the party line. (Instagram and WhatsApp, which are more popular in Russia and also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, have not yet been blocked). Already, the country’s main telecom agency, Rozkomnadzor, is exerting pressure on Google (GOOGL) over what it terms “false” information, and has reportedly restricted Twitter (TWTR) as well. Other platforms are choosing to halt operations on their own.

Crackdown on information: Being cut off from Russia may not pose an existential threat to Western tech platforms, some of which count their audience in the billions. But these moves have major implications for the ability of Russians to access information and express themselves freely. At a more fundamental level, it could also further accelerate the fracturing of the global internet as we know it.

Read the full story here.

The US State Department said a tweet from Russia’s Embassy in the United Kingdom was a “flat out lie.” 

The tweet, posted Monday, claimed that Russia’s military actions aimed “to stop any war that could take place on Ukrainian territory or that could start from there,” quoting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba “to offer continued support to the people and government of Ukraine and to condemn Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities and mounting civilian deaths,” according to a State Department readout. 

US President Joe Biden is facing bipartisan criticism over the potential for new oil deals with Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Iran to offset the loss of Russian oil.

Asked if it were a good idea to import oil from Venezuela, Sen. Joe Manchin told CNN: “Not for us. Now other countries might be able to, we don’t have to. We can do ours. We can work with our neighbors, we can work with, with Canada and Mexico. A lot of other countries don’t have that opportunity.”

Manchin added: “Venezuela is a rough, tough actor, okay. And so is Iran. Saudis can pick up some slack, this and that and everything but we can do what we got to do.”

Sen. Mark Kelly, who is up for re-election, said of Biden’s indecision on Russian oil imports: “Well, I’m decided on this. I don’t think we should be buying Russian oil and gas.” Asked about getting oil from Venezuela potentially, Kelly said: “There are also opportunities here in the United States to increase production of gas.”

And Sen. Rick Scott, who is the head of the Senate GOP campaign committee, said: “We should stop importing Russian oil period. And we shouldn’t be going to Venezuela. … When are we going to learn that we can’t be relying on these thugs?”

The top three House Republicans also slammed Biden over the potential move and called on the President to instead ramp up domestic oil production — something the GOP has long been pushing for.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said it’s “wrong” for Biden to seek oil from those other countries and argued it’s better for US jobs and national security for Biden to open up American oil and gas. “Why would he continue to fund these people who fund terrorists?” McCarthy said to CNN.

House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik called it “outrageous” that Biden is looking to “dictators around the world” for energy. And House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters “it’s time for President Biden to start looking right here in America for our energy.”

“Don’t replace Russian oil with Iranian oil. Replace it with American oil,” Scalise said. “For some reason, President Biden doesn’t want to look right here underneath his feet.”

Rank-and-file Republicans had equally harsh words for Biden: Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, called it “kind of nuts” and warned it would “empower Venezuela” and “enrich Iran.” And Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida said he was “speechless” and hoped the reports weren’t true.

“I don’t think anybody could be this much of an imbecile. And I say that painfully because it’s too reckless, too stupid, too idiotic, too dangerous for it to be true,” Diaz-Balart said. “This will do nothing, by the way. Venezuelan oil? They’re barely producing right now.”

The UK Ministry of Defence on Monday accused Russian forces of targeting evacuation corridors and killing “several civilians” trying to evacuate the town of Irpin, according to the latest intelligence assessment released publicly by the department since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

The ministry noted that due to heavy fighting, Irpin has been without heat, water or electricity for several days.

The intelligence assessment also reported that resistance against Russia advancements towards Kyiv has persisted in the nearby towns of Hostomel, Bucha, Vorzel and Irpin.

Ukraine Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya led his remarks to the UN Security Council Monday by likening Russia’s invasion into Ukraine to the way Germany disregarded what he called “the norms of international humanitarian law during hostilities” during World War II.

The ambassador said Ukrainians will be able to evacuate through evacuation routes only when Russia fully upholds a cease-fire.

Kyslytsya said it was “appalling” that Russian troops were opening fire on evacuees after both countries had allocated certain roads to be utilized as evacuation corridors. 

As of Sunday, the ambassador said Ukraine’s Ministry of Health reported that 34 hospitals in the country were completely destroyed; the World Health Organization reported that 6 Ukrainian doctors were killed and 11 were wounded as a result of Russian shelling. 

Kyslytsya said that Ukraine’s Ministry of Education has reported more than 211 Ukrainian schools as being damaged or destroyed due to Russian shelling since the beginning of the invasion resulting in thousands of Ukrainian children being deprived from their right to education.

“Russia bears full responsibility for the killing and injuring of innocent people, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and obstacles for their safe departure of Ukrainians and foreign citizens,” the Ambassador said. 

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia responded to Kyslytsya’s comments reiterating that Russian authorities agreed to carry out a ceasefire Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. Moscow time, to open up evacuation corridors to evacuate civilians from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy Karkhiv and Mariupol.

“My Ukrainian colleagues said that Ukraine is ready to work in this direction, but let’s see what answer we get to this proposal from the Russian authorities,” Nebenzia said.

CNN’s Liam Reilly and Kiely Westhoff and Pooja Salhorta contributed to this reporting

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer emerged from the House Democratic leadership meeting moments ago.

Asked by CNN when the legislation to ban Russian energy imports could come to the floor and he said, “this week.”

Some background: A powerful, bipartisan group in Congress announced Monday that it would craft legislation suspending normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and grant the White House the authority to increase tariffs on the two countries, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a significant statement, four top lawmakers – the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee – said they would require the US trade representative to try to suspend Russia’s participation in the World Trade Organization and would provide President Joe Biden the power to restore trade relations subject to certain conditions and congressional disapproval.

They also said they had agreed to strike a deal banning the import of “energy products” from Russia. The letter was signed by Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, Texas GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho.