Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces press closer to Kyiv as U.S. fears it could fall soon

BELGOROD, Russia — In an attempt to justify Russian military action, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that the multipronged attack on Ukraine was meant to “demilitarize and denazify” the country so that the people could be free.

He also denied that there had been any attacks on civilian infrastructure or on military barracks as had been alleged by Ukraine’s president.

Speaking to representatives of Ukraine’s two Russian-aligned breakaway regions, Luhansk and Donetsk, Lavrov outlined why Russia had to invade its neighbor after months of saying it had no intentions of doing so.

“The decision on the operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine was made so that, freed from this oppression, Ukrainians could freely determine their own future,” he said from Moscow.

“No strikes are being conducted on civilian infrastructure,” he added. “No strikes are being made on the location of the personnel of the Ukrainian army in dormitories and other places that are not associated with shock military facilities.”

The U.N. office for human rights has reported at least 25 civilians killed and a 102 injured from shelling and airstrikes.

Lavrov slammed NATO and the European Union, accusing them of ignoring what he called Ukrainian plans to forcibly take over Donetsk and Luhansk — allegations Kyiv has repeatedly denied. Supposed Ukrainian threats to the breakaway regions have been described by the United States and its allies as false-flag operations to be used as a pretext for Russian invasion.

Lavrov, who maintains that the democratically elected government of Ukraine is actually a Western puppet and that many of its supporters are Nazis and a threat to Russia, complained of “abuses, constant shelling from the side of the Kyiv regime, which openly chose the path of Russophobia and genocide.”

Sergey Peresada, a representative of the Donetsk separatists, thanked Lavrov and Russia “for saving the lives of our children, our parents, our loved ones. We want to live, we want to work, we want peace.”

The White House on Thursday expressed outrage over “credible” reports that Russian forces were holding the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear facilities hostage.

Ukrainian authorities had earlier said Russian forces captured the abandoned power plant, the scene of a 1986 meltdown that sent a radioactive cloud over parts of Europe and left a no man’s land of contaminated soil and other fallout, which remains dangerous.

“This unlawful and dangerous hostage-taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities, is obviously incredibly alarming,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a news briefing, requesting the workers’ release.

“The Chernobyl zone — the exclusion zone — and all installations of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have been taken under control of Russian armed groups,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a televised statement. He said no casualties have yet been confirmed there.

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TAIPEI — Taiwan, home to the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, announced Friday that it will join international economic sanctions targeting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it would impose sanctions to “compel Russia to halt its military aggression against Ukraine, and to restart peaceful dialogue.” The statement did not provide details of specific measures.

Although Russia is not a major buyer of Taiwanese goods, Taiwan is a critical node in global technology supply chains — especially for microchips.

Taiwan’s announcement adds to sweeping sanctions from the United States and allies that target Russian banks, companies, and business and political elites to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Included in the measures are the U.S. Commerce Department’s strictest use of export controls to target a single country, designed to limit the sale to Russia of high-tech products made anywhere in the world using U.S. software, tools or technology.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of semiconductor chips used in smartphones, cars and many other products. The company, which counts Apple and Qualcomm as clients, is reliant on U.S. manufacturing equipment.

“TSMC complies with all applicable laws and regulations and is fully committed to complying with the new export control rules announced,” the firm said.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday said she “strongly condemned” the Russian invasion of Ukraine and added that “Taiwan is willing to take part in any effort that will benefit the peaceful resolution of this dispute.”

In her statement, Tsai downplayed comparisons between the conflict and a possible Chinese Communist Party invasion of Taiwan, the self-governing island of 23.5 million that Beijing claims as its own.

“I want to emphasize that the situation in Ukraine is fundamentally different from the one in the Taiwan Strait,” she said.

The Union of European Football Associations announced Friday that it would move the Champions League final out of Russia in response to the nation’s attack on Ukraine.

European soccer’s governing body said it would relocate the May 28 final, the biggest club soccer match in the world, from Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg to Paris.

The game will be played at Stade de France in St. Denis.

LONDON — Oleg Paska says his mother may be an “old woman,” but she is not scared.

Paska, 56, recently moved to the United Kingdom after years traveling for work but was born and raised in Ukraine, where many members of his family still live, including his “brave” 84-year-old mother in the western city of Khmelnitsky.

“She has survived a lot,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday as Russia repeatedly attacked Ukraine, bombing buildings and forcing families to flee as countries around the world announced sweeping sanctions and condemned President Vladimir Putin for “bringing war back to Europe.”

The French defense minister said her country was seeking a cease-fire to halt Moscow’s assault on Ukraine, as Russian troops advanced toward the capital Friday.

“We have not declared war on Russia. I don’t think there is, in any European country or in the United States, a willingness to enter in war against Russia,” Florence Parly, France’s minister of the armed forces, said in a television interview in response to a question about whether further Russian actions would prompt a Western intervention.

“What we want is to put an end to this vast and terrible invasion,” Parly said. “Our objective is to be able to obtain a cease-fire as quickly as possible to put an end to this unacceptable violence.”

French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the attack Thursday, calling on him to stop the military operations, which have triggered a round of U.S. and European sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that the sanctions were not enough and called on Britain and other world powers to strengthen them.

“It’s definitely our view that the Russians intend to invade the whole of Ukraine,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said early on Friday. While columns of Russian forces crossed into Ukraine from multiple directions, “our assessment as of this morning is that Russia has not taken any of its major objectives,” he added.