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NORTHWEST Demonstrations in Seattle, how to help Ukranians > A11

BUSINESS War tests markets as threat of cyberattacks grows > A15

WORLD China walks cautious line,

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war in Ukraine

By YURAS KARMANAU, JIM HEINTZ, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and DASHA LITVINOVA The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital Friday after unleashing air-strikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides in an attack that could rewrite the global post-Cold War security order.

Explosions and air raid sirens sounded before dawn in Kyiv as Western leaders scheduled an emergency meeting and Ukraine’s president pleaded for interna-tional help. The nature of the explosions was not immediately clear, but the blasts came amid signs that the capital and largest Ukrainian city was increasingly threatened following a day of fighting that left more than 100 Ukrainians dead.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zel-enskyy said the government had infor-mation that “subversive groups” were encroaching on the city, and U.S. Secre-tary of State Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege” in what U.S. officials believe is a brazen attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle the government and install his own regime.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on a phone call that Russian mechanized forces that entered from Belarus were about 20 miles from Kyiv, according to a person familiar with the call.

The assault, anticipated for weeks by See > Attack, A8

By William Branigin, David L. Stern and Claire Parker The Washington Post

Ukrainian authorities said Thursday that Russian forces have captured the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear 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 con-taminated soil and other fallout, which remains dangerous.

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zel-enskyy previously announced that fight-ing over the area was underway.

“Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. “This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, re-calling the catastrophe that ranks as the world’s worst nuclear power plant acci-dent, said the Russian attack “may cause another ecological disaster.” If the war continues, it said, Chernobyl “can hap-

See > Chernobyl, A8

As Chernobyl falls to Russia, nuke fears rise

Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement Thurs-day, laying the blame for the conflict squarely on “the cruel ambition of one dictator.”

“This is a time for our country and the world to stand united — in strong support of Ukraine and firmly against Putin and his cronies. I’m thinking of my constituents with friends, family, and loved ones in Ukraine —

See > Delegation, A12

By Jim Brunner Seattle Times political reporter

Members of Washington’s congressional delegation strongly condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching Rus-sia’s attack on Ukraine, and called for swift and severe sanctions.

“Russia must pay a crippling price for in-vading a sovereign democracy unprovoked,”

State’s congressional lawmakers denounce Putin’s ‘war of aggression’

Russian troops close in on Kyiv Ukraine’s Zelenskyy: ‘Who will fight along with us? To be honest, I see no one.’

E v g e n i y M a l o l e t k a / T h e A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s

A woman walks past the debris in the aftermath of Russian shelling, in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Thursday. Ukrainian officials say Russian troops have rolled into the country from the north, east and south, while launching a barrage of air and missile strikes.

E v g e n i y M a l o l e t k a / T h e A s s o c i a t e d P r e s s

Smoke rises from an air defense base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Thursday, as attacks centered on cities and military bases.

By Robyn Dixon and PAUL SONNE The Washington Post

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin, posing one of the biggest security threats to Eu-rope since World War II, is staking his legacy on an irredentist invasion of Ukraine that poses significant risks to his own country and raises worrisome questions about his ambitions to bring Kyiv to heel.

Putin’s defiant decision to use full-fledged military force represents an unprecedented level of risk-taking for the Russian leader and threat-ens to isolate his country even further from the West and its allies. Punishments being leveled by Western nations could land Washington in an escalatory cycle with Moscow, provided Russia responds to the measures in kind.

The attack also carries a direct challenge to the post-Cold War global order. Putin’s sweeping ambition involves hammering out a new interna-tional balance, setting the scene for a club of

See > Analysis, A9

With invasion, Putin signals a dark endgame

Analysis

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