Russia-Ukraine live updates: Zelensky announces diplomatic talks; E.U. to restrict airspace

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. He was born and raised in Ukraine, where many members of his family 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 after Russia launched its assault on Ukraine on Thursday, forcing families to flee and prompting Western officials to condemn President Vladimir Putin for “bringing war back to Europe.”

“My mother and grandmother were nearly killed during the Second World War,” Paska said, explaining that his mother “still remembers the terror” of Nazi atrocities in Europe.

This time she is preparing and she is ready, Paska said. “She tells me she is not afraid.” Many others he knew in his native country were making their own preparations: “They are ready to fight.”

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Sunday advised Americans to leave Russia “immediately,” citing the potential for U.S. citizens to be stuck there as more airlines cancel flights into and out of the country.

“An increasing number of airlines are canceling flights into and out of Russia, and numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines,” the embassy advised in a security bulletin. “U.S. citizens should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available.”

On Friday, the State Department urged Americans to “avoid the areas of Russia along its border with Ukraine.”

Last month, the State Department issued its highest-level travel advisory for Russia — “Level 4: Do Not Travel” — pointing to “ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens, the embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia” and the coronavirus pandemic, among other concerns.

U.S. officials have also been telling Americans to leave Ukraine as soon as possible. The state department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs said in a tweet that U.S. citizens should “consider routes & risk” when seeking a way out of the country.

“Many Polish land border crossings & main Moldavian crossings have long waits,” the agency said. “We recommend Hungary, Romania & Slovakia border crossings. Waits may be hours.”

France on Sunday also urged its citizens to leave Russia and avoid travel there.

Ukraine has asked the United Nations’ judicial body to reject Russia’s claims of “genocide” as a rationale for invasion and order the country to halt and make reparations for its attack.

Ukraine filed its request with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this weekend, saying Russia has turned a decades-old treaty against genocide “on its head — making a false claim of genocide as a basis for actions on its part that constitute grave violations of the human rights of millions of people across Ukraine.”

Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of “planning acts of genocide,” killing Ukrainians as Putin uses “vile rhetoric denying the very existence of a Ukrainian people.”

Based in The Hague and sometimes called the “World Court,” the ICJ settles legal disputes between countries — for instance, by investigating whether one nation has violated a treaty. The U.N. has little ability to enforce its decisions. The ICJ is a civil court, in contrast to the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes war crimes and other atrocities.

Russian leaders have publicly justified their invasion by accusing Ukraine of committing “genocide” in two Moscow-backed separatist areas. Ukrainian officials wrote to the ICJ that the country “emphatically denies that any such genocide has occurred” and wants the court to declare this a false pretext.

The U.S. State Department says that there are “no credible reports of any ethnic Russians or Russian speakers being under threat from the Ukrainian government,” and that the international community has overwhelmingly rejected Russia’s stated reasons for invading.

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Ukraine asks that the ICJ order “full reparation for all damage caused by the Russian Federation” with the purported aim of intervening in genocide.

The U.N.'s General Assembly will meet Monday for a rare emergency session to discuss the Russian invasion.

Russian troops have moved into Ukraine from the north, south and east of the country. Earlier Sunday, Russian forces pushed into Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, but it remains under Ukrainian control. According to the Pentagon, Russia is facing more resistance in the capital, Kyiv, than it was expecting.

The European Union may grant temporary asylum to Ukrainians for up to three years, E.U. officials said Sunday.

E.U. Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said Sunday that a majority of members are in favor of the plan, which could move ahead this week.

About 368,000 Ukrainians have fled to European neighbors — including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova — since Russia invaded Ukraine, the United Nations refugee agency said Sunday.

With people lined up at border crossings, Europe is preparing to host a steep influx of new arrivals. The United Nations estimated that up to 5 million of Ukraine’s 44 million people could become refugees.

E.U. countries have expressed some willingness to welcome Ukrainians, including a number in Eastern Europe that have been tightening their border policies and trying to discourage arrivals from other parts of the world.

Putting down their foils in favor of antiwar signs, a fencing team representing Ukraine at the world championships in Egypt on Sunday refused to participate in a scheduled match against Russia.

“We cannot fight today against them while our families are in danger,” a member of the team said after both sides assembled on the floor of Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex.

In the world of sports as in a host of other sectors, Russia has faced boycotts and other measures aimed at punishing the country for its invasion of Ukraine. After a number of competitors reportedly pulled out, a World Cup women’s epee event being held in Sochi, Russia, this weekend was called off shortly before the semifinal round.

“Stop Russia! Stop the war!” read the signs held by the Ukrainian team, according to Agence France-Presse. “Save Ukraine! Save Europe.”

New satellite images taken Sunday show a large convoy of Russian ground troops approaching Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, where forces over the weekend were engaged in a fierce battle for control of the city.

The images, captured by the U.S. firm Maxar Technologies, show a line of Russian military vehicles — stretching for more than three miles — traveling in the direction of Kyiv. At the time the photographs were taken, on Sunday morning, the convoy was northeast of the Ukrainian city of Ivankiv, about 40 miles from the capital.

The convoy includes fuel, logistics and armored vehicles, such as tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery, Maxar reported. Separate video circulating on social media Sunday also appeared to show a number of Russian vehicles traveling through Ukraine, though it was unclear whether it was the same convoy as the one seen in the Maxar images.

In D.C., several enthusiastic rallies have been held at the White House and the Ukrainian and Russian embassies over the past several days. On Sunday, there was another, larger gathering at Farragut Square, where at least 100 people waved the Ukrainian flag and sang patriotic songs, according to social media posts.

In live footage from Reuters, one person held a sign that read “STOP NEW HITLER,” and others were holding placards calling for peace and “No War.” During one song, people knelt, held each other’s hands and bowed their heads. “President Biden, the world is watching you!” chanted the crowd at the end of the song.

At one point, Damon Wilson, the president and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy — which describes itself as an independent foundation dedicated to strengthening democratic institutions around the world — addressed the crowd, urging the “free world” to rally for Ukraine and for a stop to Putin’s aggressions.

“Their success is crucial to democracy’s future. It is crucial to defeating Putinism,” Wilson said. “Only when Putin is out of Ukraine, only when Putin is out of the Kremlin, will our freedom be safe and secure.”