Moscow cuts gas supply to some E.U. states; explosions reported in ...

Russia is using dolphins to protect Black Sea naval base, satellite photos suggestShell steps up elimination of Russian oil from its suppliesRussian cyberattacks on Ukraine echo ground war, Microsoft report saysU.K. foreign secretary says global systems failed Ukraine, calls for geopolitical ‘reboot’The latest: Widespread shelling in east, Ukraine saysDozens of U.S. howitzers have arrived in Ukraine, Pentagon saysTrain evacuates shellshocked civilians from eastern Ukraine Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of terrorizing survivors in MariupolU.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan had nothing to do with Putin’s decision to invade, Blinken saysGas shutoff is ‘energy blackmail’ and shows dangers of trade with Russia, Zelensky saysUkraine has prerogative to launch offensive attacks on Russia, Blinken saysE.U. scolds energy companies for setting up ruble accounts to pay for gas Could Russia’s cutting of natural gas supplies affect global prices?Agony, Endurance andEscape: Ukraine in PicturesPoland spent decades trying to quit Russian gas. Russia is using dolphins to protect Black Sea naval base, satellite photos suggestShell steps up elimination of Russian oil from its suppliesRussian cyberattacks on Ukraine echo ground war, Microsoft report saysU.K. foreign secretary says global systems failed Ukraine, calls for geopolitical ‘reboot’The latest: Widespread shelling in east, Ukraine saysDozens of U.S. howitzers have arrived in Ukraine, Pentagon saysTrain evacuates shellshocked civilians from eastern Ukraine Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of terrorizing survivors in MariupolU.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan had nothing to do with Putin’s decision to invade, Blinken saysGas shutoff is ‘energy blackmail’ and shows dangers of trade with Russia, Zelensky saysUkraine has prerogative to launch offensive attacks on Russia, Blinken saysE.U. scolds energy companies for setting up ruble accounts to pay for gas Could Russia’s cutting of natural gas supplies affect global prices?This live coverage has ended. We can remain calm.”Satellite photos show Russia has placed trained dolphins at the entrance to a key Black Sea port, in a move that may be designed to help protect a significant Kremlin naval base there, according to a naval analyst.The images, provided to The Washington Post by Maxar Technologies, show two dolphin pens at the entrance to Sevastopol harbor in Crimea — which Russian forces annexed from Ukraine in 2014.H I Sutton, a submarine analyst who first reported on the dolphins for the U.S. Naval Institute on Wednesday, said the pens were moved there in February, around the time of the invasion of Ukraine.As the European Union scrambled to bolster alternatives to Russian energy supplies, Shell stepped up its break with Moscow.The company had earlier vowed to withdraw from involvement with all Russian oil and gas, a move that will cost it $5 billion. The technology company said it has helped Ukraine identify threats and on Wednesday released its report detailing alleged Russian activities.The report says Russia’s military intelligence is linked to a slew of cyberattacks launched the day before Russia’s invasion — targeting “hundreds of systems in Ukrainian government, IT, energy, and financial organizations” with “wiper” malware, or malicious software that erases information.The barrage of threats “are ongoing and threaten civilian welfare,” Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer security and trust, said in a statement.Speaking to The Post this month, some experts argued cyberattacks have had little impact on the broader conflict.“Cyber operations can’t win wars,” Jacquelyn Schneider, a researcher at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, told The Post’s Joseph Marks. Citizens of Russia and the Donetsk Peoples Republic — the self-proclaimed independent area in eastern Ukraine — are allowed entry without filtering for three days, she said.Russians have also established a separate paper permit to stay on the street, according to Denisova.Denisova echoed statements made by Petro Andryschenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, who wrote on Telegram that the city was “increasingly being turned into a real ghetto.”“The attitude of the occupiers towards the people of Mariupol is of slaves, despite the pro-Ukrainian or pro-Russian views of inhabitants,” he wrote, adding that while some concessions have been made to the elderly and children, the rest of the population is under “constant psychological pressure.”Denisova pointed at local reports that accused Russian forces of actively searching for Ukrainian workers and using “physical coercion, torture and blackmail” against Ukrainians who have resettled in surrounding towns and cities, to make them work on rescue and communal services and educational institutions.She also accused Russians of stealing all valuable art works from the Museum of Local Lore and the Art Museum.Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine out of fear that it was “moving inexorably to the West” and not in response to the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a Senate panel Wednesday.The top U.S. diplomat pushed back against a suggestion by Republican Sen. Lindsey O. The European Union has been trying to wean itself off Russian energy imports, but it has been a difficult task, with supply shortages and price spikes looming as potential domestic political threats.Zelensky has sought to frame Europe’s dependence on Moscow’s oil and gas shipments as a major security vulnerability — for both Ukraine and the E.U.“The sooner everyone in Europe recognizes that they cannot depend on Russia for trade, the sooner it will be possible to guarantee stability in European markets,” Zelensky said.The White House on Wednesday also criticized the Gazprom shut-off, with press secretary Jen Psaki calling it “weaponizing energy supplies.” Psaki said the administration has been working to assist Europe in diversifying its natural gas supply but did not offer specifics.Paulina Firozi contributed to this report.Ukraine can choose the “tactics” required to fend off Russia’s invasion, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said when asked whether the United States should support offensive operations by Ukraine against Russia.“My own view is that it’s vital that they do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression,” Blinken told a Senate panel Wednesday. “And the tactics of this are their decisions.”The remarks came after a series of explosions in southern Russia and a fire at an ammunition depot Wednesday, events that a senior Ukrainian official described as “karma” for the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, without explicitly claiming responsibility for the explosions, wrote Wednesday on Telegram that if a country decides to “massively attack another country, massively kill everyone there, massively crush peaceful people with tanks, and use warehouses in your regions to enable the killings, then sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid,” according to a Reuters translation.Blinken, in his defense of Ukraine’s right to respond to Russia, underscored that the goal of Western arms shipments to Ukraine was “making sure that Ukrainians have the means to defend themselves.”European Union officials scolded energy companies on Wednesday for setting up accounts to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles.“Our guidance here is very clear,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.