Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces enter Kharkiv, second-largest city, as Putin intensifies invasion

Google’s parent company Alphabet said it has blocked several Russian channels affiliated with recent sanctions, including state-owned media outlet RT, from making money off advertising on its YouTube video platform.

“In light of extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine, we’re taking a number of actions. We’re pausing a number of channels’ ability to monetize on YouTube, including several Russian channels affiliated with recent sanctions. We will be significantly limiting recommendations to these channels,” a YouTube spokesman said in a statement Sunday. “And in response to a government request, we’ve restricted access to RT and a number of other channels in Ukraine.”

Some of Russia’s most prominent television figures, including the head of Russia’s RT broadcaster, Margarita Simonyan, were added to the European Union’s sanctions list last week for their role in spreading Russian propaganda.

Major tech companies are coming under mounting pressure to use their influence over the world’s most popular phones, apps and social media platforms to take action against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s digital minister, on Friday sent a letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook calling on him to stop supplying products and services, including the App Store, to Russia.

Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called on the CEOs of major tech companies Friday to do more to counter information operations linked to Russia. He wrote to Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai that the company’s YouTube platform was still monetizing videos about the Ukrainian conflict from RT and other Russian state media organizations. RT’s YouTube accounts, including RT America, have continued to post content about Ukraine in recent days.

“Our teams are continuing to monitor closely for new developments, including evaluating what any new sanctions and export controls may mean for YouTube,” YouTube said Sunday, adding that the platform has “removed hundreds of channels and thousands of videos, including a number of channels for coordinated deceptive practices” over the past few days.

Cat Zakrzewski and Claire Parker contributed to this report.

SEOUL — The North Korean Foreign Ministry blamed the United States and defended Russia in its first statement since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, faulting the United States for its “disregard” of Russian security and interfering in other countries’ affairs.

The statement released Saturday evening was written by researcher Ri Ji Song and published on the external-facing site of the Foreign Ministry, which is used to comment on geopolitical activities.

The statement did not directly name the Russian invasion of Ukraine but referred to the issue more generally.

“The root cause of the Ukrainian crisis also lies in the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the U.S. which has held on solely to the unilateral sanction and pressure while pursuing only global hegemony and military supremacy in disregard of the legitimate demand of Russia for its security,” the statement read.

The statement referred to commentary by international media and experts “that the contributing factor to the Ukrainian crisis is the imbalance of power in Europe due to the unilateral expansion of NATO and its threat as well as the grave threat to the national security of Russia.”

The statement also echoed frustrations North Korean officials had previously expressed about the United States imposing a “double standard,” responding harshly to North Korea’s weapons tests but not other countries'.

“The U.S. embellishes its own interference in internal affairs of others as ‘righteous’ for peace and stability of the world, but it denounces for no good reason self-defensive measures taken by other countries to ensure their own national security as ‘injustice’ and ‘provocation’ — this is just the arrogance of the U.S. style and its double standard,” it read.

On Sunday, North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile off its east coast, the militaries of South Korea and Japan said, its first since a spate of launches in January and its eighth test of the year.

Thousands of Russian technology workers signed a petition calling for their government to stop its military operations in Ukraine, adding their voices to the growing calls from Russian citizens opposed to the war.

More than 10,000 people had signed the petition by Saturday evening, just two days after Natalya Lukyanchikova, who works for a large Russian technology company, created it and posted it to her Facebook page. Among them were employees of Russia’s most prominent tech companies, including social media giant VK, cybersecurity leader Kaspersky Lab and online job recruitment platform HeadHunter.

“We, employees of the Russian IT industry, are categorically against military operations on the territory of Ukraine initiated by the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” the petition says. “We consider any display of force that leads to the outbreak of war unjustified and call for the reversal of decisions that could inevitably entail human casualties on each side. Our countries have always been close to each other. And today we are worried about our Ukrainian colleagues, friends and relatives.”

The petition is the latest example of internal opposition to the invasion, which came as a surprise to many Russians. Some prominent comedians, television figures and political analysts have spoken openly against the war, and Thursday, thousands of Russians protested across the country, with more than 1,700 arrested in 47 cities, according to rights group OVD-Info. Spontaneous mass demonstrations are illegal in Russia and can lead to jail time and fines.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday that his country will work with the United States and NATO partners in Europe to help fund the supply of lethal weapons to Kyiv.

Speaking to reporters after a vigil at a Ukrainian church in Sydney, Morrison also vowed to step up humanitarian support for Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, including by speeding up the processing of Ukrainian visas to Australia.

Thousands of Ukrainians are scrambling to flee as Russian attacks on the country continue. More than 150,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed into neighboring countries, the United Nations’ high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said Saturday.

After two years of pandemic border closures that made it hard even for citizens to return from abroad and slowed immigration to a trickle, the prime minister said “there is quite a lot of room within those programs to take in more places, and Ukrainians will have a priority in terms of processing for those visas.”

He declined to put a number on how many refugees Australia would accept, noting that some may choose to relocate only temporarily to escape the conflict, rather than settle permanently.

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” opened its show this weekend not with the usual skit, but with a rendition of “Prayer for Ukraine” sung by the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York.

The show’s Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong solemnly introduced the choir, which sang the Ukrainian hymn in front of a table with votive candles that spelled out “KYIV,” next to bouquets of sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine.

Among the song’s lyrics, translated to English, is the verse: “Protect our beloved Ukraine/ Bless her with freedom and light.”

The performance was a rare departure from the show’s “cold open” that usually weighs in on current events in the form of a skit that pokes fun at politicians and celebrities in the news. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, then-New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani appeared on the show with first responders.

On Saturday, McKinnon and Strong returned to the stage after the chorus concluded, delivering the usual line, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night.”

KYIV, Ukraine — The United States and key Western allies on Saturday announced severe new sanctions on Russian banks as the Ukrainian capital came under bombardment with some of the fiercest shelling since the start of the Russian invasion.

The Biden administration, Canada and European allies will impose major restrictions on Russia’s central bank, freezing its ability to use its $640 billion in foreign reserves. They also announced that they would remove certain Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT messaging network that connects banks worldwide, a move that to date has been taken against only Iran and North Korea.

The latest steps to economically choke Moscow and its ruling class come as Kyiv is under attack from Russian forces encroaching on Ukraine’s largest city. A massive fireball was visible to the southwest of Kyiv following a pounding explosion that rocked the city in the early-morning hours local time on Sunday. At least one high-rise apartment building had been struck directly Saturday, fueling skepticism of Russia’s claim that it was targeting only military facilities.

KYIV, Ukraine — Yuri Shuklin has never fired a gun, not a real one at least. His war experience, he said, comes from playing video games such as “Call to Action.” “Maybe it’s funny, but in some movies and video games, they have nice [battlefield] tactics,” he said.

By Saturday, he had signed up to fight the Russian forces pressing on this capital.

In Ukraine, there’s precedent for Shuklin’s screen-to-reality sense of confidence: President Volodymyr Zelensky was an actor and comedian, whose only political experience before getting elected was playing the role of Ukraine’s president in a satirical TV series. Now, those savvy communication skills, Zelensky’s ability to sway audiences via social media, a healthy dose of grit and defiance — and not least of all, his readiness to die if necessary — has transformed him into an unlikely champion for Ukrainians and the world.

KHARKIV, Ukraine — In a downtown government office building, men and women in military fatigues carried rocket-propelled grenades through hallways lined with ornate white crown molding. Others had AK-47s with loaded clips slung over the sho