National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Griner’s 9½-year sentence “reprehensible” and said the proceeding was “a sham trial.” American negotiators “put forth a serious proposal” for a prisoner swap, Kirby said, and Russia “should’ve accepted it weeks ago when we first made it.” He declined to discuss negotiations but said they “are ongoing at various levels.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Key developments
- Griner’s defense team said that they will “certainly file an appeal.” The United States has urged Russia to accept a deal to free Griner and former security consultant Paul Whelan, an American former Marine serving a 16-year sentence. Moscow has said the talks involve a prisoner exchange, but Washington has declined to say whether the U.S. pair could be exchanged for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
- In response to Griner’s conviction and sentencing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “Nothing about today’s decision changes our determination that Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained,” and that bringing Griner home “is an absolute priority of mine and the Department’s.”
- A new U.S. intelligence finding says Russia may plant fabricated evidence at the site of the attack that killed Ukrainian prisoners who were captured in Mariupol. The United Nations has said it will probe last week’s blast at a prison run by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, but the terms of the fact-finding mission are still under negotiation.
- Ships loaded with grain await approval to leave Ukrainian ports. The first grain shipment from the Black Sea port of Odessa passed inspection in Turkish waters and headed to Lebanon under a deal to ease the world’s food crisis.
Battlefield updates
- The safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is at risk, the head of the U.N. atomic energy watchdog warned as he appealed for access to inspect Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia facility that was captured by Russian forces. The war is highlighting the dangers of combat around nuclear sites.
- Amnesty International said Ukrainian forces have at times endangered civilians with military bases and weapons in residential areas, including schools and hospitals. In certain locations where Amnesty said Russia has committed war crimes, the London-based group found no evidence of Ukrainian forces stationed in targeted civilian areas.
- Ukraine’s military intelligence agency says Russian forces destroyed telecommunication networks of Ukrainian providers that refused to cooperate with them in a village they occupied in the southern Kherson region.