Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces close in on Kyiv, and more than 50,000 Ukrainians flee

BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers agreed Friday to freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the first time the two men have been targeted personally by such measures.

The decision, part of a larger round of sanctions approved to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, probably won’t be the last step taken against the Kremlin during the conflict, policymakers said.

It wasn’t clear how many E.U.-based assets the two men control, and E.U. foreign policy officials said that it would take some technical work to target the sanctions properly. Neither man will be barred from traveling to the European Union, a step that in some ways would have been more concrete but could also have complicated any diplomatic settlement to the escalating violence that Russia is inflicting on its neighbor.

“Russia needs to see that it’s going to be isolated from the international community,” said E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, announcing the measures in Brussels on Friday.

NATO will deploy troops from an alliance response force for the first time, as the Western military bloc seeks to respond with strength to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg did not provide specific figures but said “thousands of troops” would be deployed to countries as part of the response force’s activation. He said troops would come from France, Germany, the United States and other countries.

“There must be no space for miscalculation or misunderstanding,” he told reporters in Brussels. “We will do what it takes to protect and defend every ally and every inch of NATO territory.”

Stoltenberg said the United States, Canada and European countries had already moved thousands of troops to Eastern Europe and put more than 100 planes on alert. More than 120 ships are operating from northern Europe to the Mediterranean.

He said the number of troops activated under the response force would be less than its total size, some 40,000 members, and noted the deployment would include some troops assigned to a special “high readiness” task force. The response force was declared operational in 2006 and enlarged after 2014.

Speaking following a meeting of NATO leaders on Friday, Stoltenberg said NATO would stand by Ukraine, whose aspiration to join the alliance was cited by Moscow as a threat to Russian security in the lead-up to this week’s assault.

Stoltenberg said the NATO leaders also discussed plans for ongoing military support to Ukraine, including air defense equipment. He provided no further details.

The deployments are designed in large part to reassure NATO members in Eastern Europe that have been alarmed by Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said the gravity of the moment went beyond Ukraine. “This is about how Russia is actually challenging, contesting, core values for our security and demanding that NATO should withdraw all forces and infrastructure from almost half of our members,” threatening “military-technical” consequences should that not occur, he said.

Some of the response force elements are already operational, and some can move within days, he said.

Russia on Friday announced a “partial restriction” of access to Facebook after reporting the social media network had taken action against the accounts of several Kremlin-backed media outlets over their coverage of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian Internet regulator Roskomnadzor demanded that Facebook lift the blocks placed Thursday on several outlets, including state news agency RIA Novosti and state TV network Zvezda, affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.

Roskomnadzor explained its move as “measures to protect the Russian media,” and along with the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s Office, accused Facebook of “violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as the rights and freedoms of Russian nationals.”

The “partial restriction” of Facebook takes immediate effect. However, the regulator did not provide details on what the measures would include.

Zvezda said Facebook imposed restrictions on its page after the posting of two news articles, “Russian Defense Ministry: Air Defense Forces of Ukraine Suppressed” and “The Russian Defense Ministry said that the military border services of Ukraine are not resisting.” The network said the restrictions relate to how Zvezda articles appeared, lower in the Facebook feeds so that fewer users can see them.

Facebook’s head of global affairs and communications, Nick Clegg tweeted that Russian authorities restricted the use of the company’s services, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, after the company had labeled and fact-checked content from four state-owned media organizations.

The Russian government, Clegg wrote, had asked the company to stop fact-checking, and the company refused, so the government retaliated by restricting access.

Facebook executives have long known this was a risk, said Brian Fishman, the former Facebook executive and counterterrorism expert in charge of preventing dangerous organizations from proliferating on the service.

Last year, Roskomnadzor slowed down the speed of Twitter, accusing the U.S. social media company of failing to remove what it considered banned content, leading to issues with accessing video and photos posted on the network.

Facebook, Twitter and other Western social media platforms are widely used by the Kremlin’s opponents, including Alexei Navalny, who has been jailed since January 2021 upon returning to Russia after treatment for a poisoning attack in Siberia.

For several years, Russia and its Internet regulator tried to pressure foreign tech firms to comply with its increasingly strict rules on what it deems illegal content — particularly apps, websites, posts and videos related to demonstrations organized by Navalny or his network, which has been labeled as extremist in the country.

Google was fined nearly $100 million for these violations in December, the largest such penalty yet in the country.

As Russian forces advance on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, people all over the country are being urged by officials — and sometimes compelled by necessity — to fight back in whatever ways they can.

The country’s former president is patrolling the city streets with a civilian defense force, armed with an AK-47. Civilians have been called to find their own weapons and make molotov cocktails — a type of crude, homemade explosive.

About 18,000 weapons have already been distributed in the Kyiv region, according to the government. At the country’s borders, Ukrainian guards have been stopping vehicles, looking for men between the ages of 18 and 60 who can help in the fight.

In fact, almost anyone who wants to fight for Ukraine is welcome. “If you have combat experience in Europe, come to our country and defend Europe together with us,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video statement on Friday.

The Ukraine invasion and Russia’s influence on global oil and natural gas markets is upending U.S. domestic energy politics.

What is good for motorists — such as temporarily eliminating the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal gasoline tax — isn’t good climate policy, as it encourages people to drive more. What’s good for homeowners — lower natural gas prices and fewer liquefied natural gas exports — makes it harder to rush supplies abroad to help Europe fend off gas shortages. And what was convenient for lawmakers — selling off part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to raise revenue and hide deficits — doesn’t look so appealing today.

“From Reagan forward, gasoline prices go up, approval ratings go down and vice versa pretty reliably,” said Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, a consulting firm. “It’s been true for four decades.”

After her mother’s building was hit by a rocket on Friday, Kyiv resident Katya decided to stay and clean up the dwelling, Reuters reported.

She sang the Ukrainian national anthem as she swept away shards of glass, crooning from the window overlooking the desolate city. The scene was captured on video by a Reuters journalist. It identified her only by her first name.

What should have been a day to celebrate her emerging pastry business was one filled with defiant sorrow. Her mother’s home was one of the 33 civilian locations that Russia bombed when it began its attack on Ukraine, officials said.

“Long live Ukraine,” she said with watery eyes, looking at the devastation below her.

KYIV, Ukraine — Several blasts could be heard from central Kyiv starting after 8 p.m. local time Friday, with the sound of sporadic gunfire ringing out in the distance. This marks the first time The Washington Post has heard gunfire from Ukraine’s capital in recent days.

A louder blast appeared to strike at 8:51 p.m. local time.

Most civilians remained indoors, with many sheltered in underground bunkers, basements or parking garages to try to protect themselves. Concerns continued to mount over the possibility that Russian forces could soon close in on the capital.

Russia launched an extensive assault on Ukraine on Thursday, after months of denying that it would do so. Invading forces hit several Ukrainian towns and cities, closed in on Kyiv, and captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of a 1986 disaster. Casualties mounted, thousands under siege tried to flee or hunkered down, and protests were underway in several Russian cities.

President Biden denounced the operations as “unprovoked and unjustified” and, on Thursday, announced an unprecedented package of sweeping sanctions and export controls coordinated with European and Asian allies to punish and isolate Russia.

“Putin is the aggressor,” Biden said at the White House. “Putin chose this war. And now, he and his country will bear the consequences.”

In photos, videos and maps, this is how the situation on the ground is unfolding, including reports from journalists for The Washington Post on the scene.