Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Confident of victory over Ukraine, Russia exhibits Western war trophies

Two women are seeking Mexico’s presidency. But the race is about a man.

Hamas in Cairo for hostage talks as Israel briefs aid agencies on Rafah

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

Ask Amy: My boyfriend just confessed he’s almost $20,000 in debt

Miss Manners: Is it inappropriate to reach out to old girlfriends?

Carolyn Hax: Longtime friend won’t forgive being last-minute canceled for a guy

The New York Times, alone in its outrage over access to Biden

The ‘Access Hollywood’ video cemented Trump’s air of invincibility

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

In a pinch, the Nationals finally find some offense

Is Pastis as good as our food critic thought? He sent spies to find out.

The Capitals, a team in transition, know what they want this offseason

Biden confronts campus protests; Trump hedges on accepting election results

Kristi Noem just won’t stop talking about killing her dog

Noem’s dog-killing isn’t popular, though Trump supporters are divided

The Post endorses April McClain Delaney and Tom Royals for Maryland’s 6th District

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

In photos: At least 39 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil

Sea level rise brings new era of dangerous flooding

Michael Cohen keeps broadcasting despite being a witness

Trump Media auditor charged by SEC with ‘massive fraud’

Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly.

Five tech products we actually like

Europe

World

National Security

Military

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ukraine-russia/

War in Ukraine

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday criticized Western nations, including the United States, for their handling of Russia’s military buildup at his border, taking aim at his most important security partners as his own military braced for a potential attack.

The 44-year-old leader faulted the West for waiting to impose more damaging sanctions on Moscow — “that’s not the way to do it,” Zelensky said — while assailing decisions by the United States, Britain and Australia to withdraw some embassy staff and families, and accusing Western leaders of inciting “panic” with repeated suggestions that an invasion was imminent.

“I can’t be like other politicians who are grateful to the United States just for being the United States,” Zelensky told reporters during a news conference here.

Meet the Ukrainian volunteers training to fight Russians in Kyiv

As his country takes in billions of dollars of economic and military assistance from the West, Zelensky expressed frustration with the public assessments made by the United States and other allies who believe an incursion is increasingly likely, and he appeared to criticize President Biden directly for statements earlier this week indicating Russian forces could advance on Ukraine as soon as next month.

“These signals have come even from respected world leaders, who speak openly and with undiplomatic language. They say simply ‘tomorrow there will be war.’ This is panic,” he said.

Zelensky’s criticisms have rankled and confused U.S. officials, who have tried to project an image of Western unity in support of Ukraine. Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops along with tanks and heavy artillery across large sections of the border while denying any intention to invade. Zelensky said satellite imagery alone was not sufficient to assess the Kremlin’s objectives.

“We’re grateful to the United States for its constant support of our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zelensky said. “But I am the Ukrainian president. I’m located here. I know … deeper details than any president.”

Volodymyr Zelensky: ‘Everyone will lose’ if Russia invades Ukraine

Kyiv’s concerns about causing a panic came as the Biden administration continued to broadcast an ominous outlook about Ukraine. At the Pentagon, Gen. Mark. A Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, predicted a catastrophe if Russia follows through on a major invasion.

“Given the type of forces that are arrayed — the ground maneuver forces, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air forces, all of it packaged together — if that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant. Very significant,” Milley said.

“It would result in a significant amount of casualties, and you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along roads, and so on and so forth. It would be horrific. It would be terrible,” he added.

The U.S. military has issued “prepare to deploy” orders to 8,500 personnel, including Army combat units and elite paratroopers, who could be called upon to augment NATO’s rapid response force and help enhance security in areas of Eastern Europe that remain vulnerable. As of Friday, none had been sent overseas, with defense officials expressing their hope for a diplomatic resolution, though Biden signaled later that was likely to change “in the near term.”

Four maps that explain the conflict between Russia and Ukraine

Whitney Shefte

James Cornsilk

But efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully continued to falter. Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his call for “lasting, legally binding security guarantees” from the United States and NATO in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin said, after a top Russian official threatened that Russia would “retaliate” if its demands were not met.

Putin warned Macron that further NATO expansion was “unacceptable” to Russia, saying the U.S. and NATO response to Russia’s demands did not take into account Russia’s key security concerns, the Kremlin said. Moscow also has called on the Western alliance to withdraw military personnel and weapons from former Soviet states, saying their presence in the region is a threat to Russian security.

It was Putin’s first conversation with a Western leader since Wednesday when Washington and NATO formally rejected Russia’s red line on NATO expansion. The Russian leader showed no sign of blinking in the face of transatlantic unity over NATO’s open-door membership policy and the rights of Ukraine and other nations to choose their own alliances. He said Western leaders were ignoring Russia’s concerns.

Both Washington and NATO ruled out ending NATO’s open-door policy in a formal written communication delivered to Moscow this week. But Putin told Macron he would study the documents carefully and agreed to keep in close contact with the French president, the Kremlin said, leaving the door open to further diplomatic efforts.

A French government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the leaders’ conversation, said the tone of the call, which lasted for over an hour, was “serious” but “respectful.”

“Unsurprisingly, the Russian President reiterated the Russian vision of the current situation,” the official continued.

In response, Macron told Putin that Russia needs to respect the “essential principle of state sovereignty” to ensure security in Europe, the official said.

There were no signs Macron managed to persuade Putin to de-escalate or pull back Russian forces and equipment massed near Ukraine. After the call, Putin met with members of the Russian Security Council.

Pentagon defends its military preparation for the Ukraine crisis

Despite the setbacks, the Biden administration continues to seek a diplomatic solution in an array of international forums. On Monday, the United States will square off with Russia at the United Nations Security Council, a meeting requested by Washington. In New York, the Biden administration hopes to rally the council’s support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, an exercise U.S. officials are calling “preventative diplomacy” aimed at forestalling war.

“This is a really important opportunity for all the world’s powers to be on record about whether they see a path forward for diplomacy or whether they would prefer to see a path toward conflict,” a senior State Department official told reporters Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the administration.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would “retaliate” if its demands for a halt to NATO expansion were not met. He said the decision would be made by Putin.

U.S. officials have warned that Russia would face devastating sanctions designed to cripple its economy if its forces attack Ukraine. Lavrov said that any effort to cut Russia off from the world’s financial system would be equivalent to severing all diplomatic ties.

Jason Aldag

Putin has numerous options available to him, including the seizure of Ukrainian cities, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during remarks at the Pentagon alongside Milley on Friday. Russia also could carry out provocative actions like recognizing new breakaway territories or manufacturing pretexts for invasion, he added.

President Biden has ruled out U.S. troops fighting in Ukraine, where roughly 200 American personnel are among a small contingent of Western forces providing training for the Ukrainian military, but Austin declined to rule out military involvement in an evacuation of U.S. citizens should that become necessary.

Lavrov said Moscow was willing to hold a bilateral meeting with Zelensky in Russia, which would not be the trilateral meeting with Biden present that Zelensky recently called for. He ruled out discussions about the war in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has backed pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.

Zelensky rejected a meeting in Russia and on Friday questioned Moscow’s motivation for deploying so many troops so close to Ukraine’s border.

“Why are you doing this?” Zelensky said. “To threaten us? What is this sadomasochism? What is the pleasure of this? Of someone being afraid?”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the U.S. and NATO responses to Russia’s demands, written in coordination with Ukraine, set out a serious diplomatic path forward. But the Kremlin may not budge from its desire for a grand bargain. Earlier this week, four-way talks involving Paris, Berlin, Moscow and Kyiv ended without a deal, though the parties agreed to resume face-to-face talks in early February.

Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday agreed to work together to ensure Europe’s energy security, should Moscow block supplies in retaliation for any Western sanctions.

The Kremlin, which has sought to leverage any signs of disunity in Europe, announced Friday that Putin would hold a joint news conference Tuesday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban told local radio that he would be asking Putin to increase gas supplies to Budapest. Hungary belongs to the European Union and to NATO.

Meanwhile, ordinary Ukrainians said they are preparing for the worst.

Oleksiy Bida, a 47-year-old graphic designer, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/27/ukraine-russia-volunteers-civilians/" target=_blank>has been training</a> as a reservist member of the 130th defense battalion for the past two years.<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/27/ukraine-russia-volunteers-civilians/" target=_blank> </a>He said he had long been a committed pacifist, but Russian threats have changed the equation.

“I thought that any conflict could be resolved through peaceful means,” he said. “But I don’t believe that anymore. Not with Russia.”

Dixon reported from Moscow, Noack reported from Paris, Hudson reported from Washington, and Jeong from Seoul. Dan Lamothe in Washington and Loveday Morris in Berlin contributed to this report.

David L. Stern

2016: Winner of the Overseas Press Club Madeline Dane Ross Award for international reporting on the human condition

2016: Reporting fellow, International Women’s Media Foundation  

2016: Anchored the Los Angeles Times story, "Diary of Terror," that was awarded an Associated Press Media Editors award in the Sally Jacobsen International Perspective category, as well as a citation for storytelling from the APME

2009: Winner of the Daniel Pearl Award for courage and integrity in reporting

2009: Awarded the Batten Medal by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, recognizing “compassion, courage, humanity and a deep concern for the underdog"

2008: Citation by the Overseas Press Club in relation to the Joe and Laurie Dine award for international reporting dealing with human rights

2008: Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy award for international reporting on human rights, social justice or the power of individual action

2007: Winner of the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi award for international reporting.

Presbyterian Ladies' College, Burwood, Australia

Robyn Dixon is a foreign correspondent on her third stint in Russia, after almost a decade reporting there beginning in the early 1990s. In November 2019 she joined The Washington Post as Moscow bureau chief. 

Robyn Dixon

Sciences Po Paris, BA in political science

Johns Hopkins University, Aitchison Public Service Fellowship in Government

King's College London, MA in terrorism, security and society

Rick Noack is The Washington Post's Afghanistan bureau chief. Previously at The Post, he was the Paris correspondent, covering France and Europe, and an international affairs reporter based in Berlin, London and Washington.

Rick Noack

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Public Service, with the staff of The Washington Post, 2019

Michigan State University, B.A. in International Relations

John Hudson is a reporter at The Washington Post covering the State Department and national security. He was part of the team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He has reported from dozens of countries, including Ukraine, China, Afghanistan, India and Belarus.

John Hudson

Cornell University, BA in Economics, History 

Andrew Jeong is a reporter for The Washington Post in its Seoul hub. 