Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Difficult weeks ahead in Donbas, Zelensky warns; E.U. nears oil embargo deal

Severodonetsk fully under Ukrainian control, Luhansk governor saysRussia has increased intensity of eastern assault, U.K. officials sayPutin made ‘big strategic mistake’ invading Ukraine, NATO chief says Pro-Moscow official says occupied Kherson seeks to join RussiaUkraine war roils ‘whole international order,’ E.U. leader tells Davos‘Putin is trying to extinguish a culture’ in Ukraine, Biden saysUkraine issues stamp commemorating sinking of Russian warshipIndia remains silent on Russia at Quad meetings with BidenPutin downplays sanctions, says Russia withstanding them ‘quite well'What rights do prisoners of war have under international law?As tennis wrestles with Russia’s invasion, a Ukrainian player calls for compassionRussian diplomat resigns protesting Putin’s ‘aggressive war’U.S. has 30 percent more troops in Europe since invasion began, Milley saysMore than 2 million Ukrainians returned since Feb. 28, U.N. saysUpdates from key battlefields: 87 dead in missile attacks on northern villageSeverodonetsk fully under Ukrainian control, Luhansk governor saysRussia has increased intensity of eastern assault, U.K. officials sayPutin made ‘big strategic mistake’ invading Ukraine, NATO chief says Pro-Moscow official says occupied Kherson seeks to join RussiaUkraine war roils ‘whole international order,’ E.U. leader tells Davos‘Putin is trying to extinguish a culture’ in Ukraine, Biden saysUkraine issues stamp commemorating sinking of Russian warshipIndia remains silent on Russia at Quad meetings with BidenPutin downplays sanctions, says Russia withstanding them ‘quite well'What rights do prisoners of war have under international law?As tennis wrestles with Russia’s invasion, a Ukrainian player calls for compassionRussian diplomat resigns protesting Putin’s ‘aggressive war’U.S. has 30 percent more troops in Europe since invasion began, Milley saysMore than 2 million Ukrainians returned since Feb. 28, U.N. saysUpdates from key battlefields: 87 dead in missile attacks on northern villageRussian President Vladimir Putin “made a big strategic mistake” in invading Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as the war reached its three-month mark with no end in sight. In a separate Telegram post, he said four civilians were killed when the Russians shelled a high-rise residential building in Severodonetsk — claims that could not be independently verified by The Washington Post.Russia has increased the intensity of its operations in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, seeking to surround the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne, according to British defense officials.The northern and southern ends of the Russian operation are separated by about 15 miles of Ukrainian-held territory, the British Defense Ministry said Tuesday in an intelligence update.Russian troops are being met with “strong Ukrainian resistance,” it added, with Kyiv’s forces occupying “well dug-in defensive positions” that are limiting any Russian advances. They predicted that if the front line moves west, Russia will again encounter the kind of logistical supply problems that plagued its early campaign.Russian President Vladimir Putin “made a big strategic mistake” invading neighboring Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday.He said the invasion has “shattered peace in Europe,” calling it a “game changer” both for European security and the wider international order.Paradoxically as a result of the war, Putin is now getting “more NATO on his border, and more members” of the alliance, Stoltenberg said, referring to the increasing likelihood that Sweden and Finland will be admitted to the alliance, which now has 30 members. Policies including switching the currency used there from the hryvnia to the ruble have been introduced to weaken Kyiv’s hold over the southern city.Stremousov said he is also planning to request that Russia build a military base in Kherson to safeguard the region from what he alleged are rocket attacks from “Ukrainian nationalists.” The Post could not independently verify that claim.LONDON — The war in Ukraine has thrown the “whole international order into question,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told global leaders and businesses executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.Rather than finding solutions to climate change and shaping globalization, “instead, we must address the costs and consequences of Putin’s war of choice,” she told the audience. “Ukraine must win this war.”Von der Leyen also chastised Russia for disrupting global supply chains, impeding grain exports from Ukraine and stoking a global food crisis, as well as “weaponizing its energy supplies,” all of which she said were having severe “global repercussions.”Annabelle Timsit and Emily Rauhala contributed to this report.President Biden said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “extinguish” Ukrainian culture, and he called on democracies to work together to stop a conflict with global ramifications.Biden, speaking from Japan at a meeting of the Quad — a partnership of four influential Indo-Pacific democracies — said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “is more than just a European issue. The release of the altered stamp comes after Ukrainian forces, aided by U.S. intelligence, attacked the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, which later sank, in a setback for the Russian invasion.NEW DELHI — President Biden said the world is experiencing a “dark hour” because of Russia’s war on Ukraine, as he met in Tokyo on Tuesday with leaders of the Quad, an Indo-Pacific partnership of the United States, India, Japan and Australia.One country that remained silent was India.