Russia-Ukraine War Latest News: Kyiv Missile Attack Leaves At Least Two People Dead – The Wall Street Journal

U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. said Tuesday it would scale back its business in Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Indianapolis-based company said it has suspended all investments, promotional activities, and new clinical trials in Russia. Lilly also said it would stop exporting non-essential medicines to Russia.

Lilly, a leading maker of insulin, will continue to supply essential drugs for cancer and diabetes to Russia. It will donate any profits from Russian sales to humanitarian-relief organizations.

Lilly’s move follows similar decisions by some other big drug makers to scale back involvement in Russia. Pfizer Inc. said Monday it would stop doing business in Russia with local suppliers planning to expand manufacturing, and it won’t start new clinical trials or enroll new patients in ongoing trials there.

Though companies in other industries have pulled out of Russia, many drugmakers have said they continue to supply some medicines there out of a duty to serve patients wherever they live.

Russia imposed sanctions on President Biden and other top U.S. officials, in a move aimed at restricting travel to Russia in response to “unprecedented sanctions” preventing Russian officials from entering the U.S.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it also sanctioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director William Burns and White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The list also includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

The Kremlin’s latest round of travel restrictions includes 13 people, and the foreign ministry said the measures could be expanded.

“In the near future, new announcements will follow to expand the sanctions list by including top U.S. officials, military, lawmakers, businessmen, experts and media people who are Russophobic or who contribute to inciting hatred against Russia and the introduction of restrictive measures,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

France is ready to grant asylum to the Russian woman who interrupted a live broadcast on Russian state television brandishing a poster against the war in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, adding he will raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Monday, a woman ran onto the set of an evening news program on Russian state television’s flagship Channel One holding a poster reading: “No war. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They lie to you here. Russians against war.” She yelled: “Stop the war, no to war” before the camera cut away.

The woman, Marina Ovsyannikova, was detained and taken to a Moscow police station, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS and OVD-Info, a human-rights group that tracks demonstrations and helps protesters find lawyers. TASS cited a law-enforcement source as saying the woman worked for the channel.

“We are obviously taking steps aimed at offering your colleague our protection at the embassy or an asylum protection,” Mr. Macron told reporters Tuesday. “I will have the opportunity during my next conversation with President Putin to propose this solution,” he added.

Messrs. Macron and Putin have spoken several times over the phone in recent days. It is unclear when they will speak again, a spokeswoman for Mr. Macron said.

Mr. Macron also said France will seek clarity on the woman’s current status.

Russia’s Investigative Committee is looking into charging her under a law signed by Mr. Putin earlier this month that imposes a prison sentence of up to 15 years for anyone convicted of knowingly disseminating false information and data about the use of Russia’s armed forces, TASS reported.

Lyft Inc. is adding a fuel surcharge to its trips as gas prices remain near all-time highs.

The ride-hailing company said Monday it would provide more details on the new charge in the coming days.

“We’ve been closely monitoring rising gas prices and their impact on our driver community,” a Lyft spokesman said. “Driver earnings overall remain elevated compared to last year, but given the rapid rise in gas prices we’ll be asking riders to pay a temporary fuel surcharge, all of which will go to drivers.”

Uber Technologies Inc. said last week it would also add a fuel surcharge to help soften the blow of high gasoline prices for drivers. The price will range from 45 cents to 55 cents for Uber riders and 35 cents to 45 cents for Uber Eats customers. It will be in effect for two months.

Other companies that use gig workers are taking measures to help with higher gas prices. Grubhub recently said it raised the per mile pay for couriers.

The average price for regular unleaded gas on Tuesday is $4.316 per gallon, according to AAA. That’s down slightly from the last high of $4.331 recorded on Friday, but the average price is still up more than 20% compared to one month ago.

WASHINGTON–Republican and Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation that would allow the U.S. government to seize Russian oligarchs’ yachts, artwork and other assets, and direct funds from their sale toward humanitarian or military aid in Ukraine.

The bill will be introduced in the Senate by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.), Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), and Roger Wicker (R., Miss.). The House version of the bill is sponsored by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D., N.J.) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R. S.C.).

The U.S., the European Union, the U.K., Australia and others have been scrutinizing the assets of a handful of rich and powerful Russians since the invasion of Ukraine. Western governments say these oligarchs have profited from close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Putin and his oligarchs stow their dirty money in rule-of-law nations by purchasing mansions, mega-yachts, artwork, and other high-value assets. We ought to seize those ill-gotten luxuries and put them to use helping the Ukrainian people,” said Mr. Whitehouse in a statement Tuesday. “That would be a measure of justice for a nation besieged by a corrupt dictator.”

The Asset Seizure for Ukraine Reconstruction Act would allow the president to declare an emergency based on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and enable the federal government to confiscate funds or property worth over $2 million from sanctioned Russians or foreigners tied to the Russian government. The bill also would provide cash rewards for people or nonprofits who help identify assets for seizure.

Funds from the assets’ sale would be used to finance humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement and military assistance, as well as the reconstruction in Ukraine after the war.

BERLIN–Western consumers shouldn’t use Russian software including antivirus products because Moscow could co-opt them for cyberattacks, Germany’s government warned on Tuesday.

Antivirus software made by Kaspersky, a Russian firm, should be replaced because it maintains a link to the manufacturer’s servers that could be used as a backdoor by Kremlin spies, even without the company’s knowledge, the Federal Cyber Security Authority of Germany said.

“The operation of military and/or intelligence service forces in Russia, as well as the threats made by the Russian side against the EU, NATO and the Federal Republic of Germany during the ongoing military conflict [in Ukraine] are posing a significant risk of a successful IT-attack,” the agency known by its German acronym BSI said.

“A Russian IT firm can launch offensive operations, it can be forced against its will to attack targeted systems or it could itself become a victim of a cyber-operation and abused as a tool for attacking its own customers without its knowledge,” the BSI said.

Kaspersky rejected the claims and said relevant operations had been moved to Switzerland, ensuring what the company said was the highest level of security.

“Kaspersky is a private global cybersecurity company, and as a private company does not have any ties to the Russian or any other government” the company said.

“We believe that peaceful dialogue is the only possible instrument for resolving conflicts. War isn’t good for anyone.”

More than three million people have now fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.

In addition, more than two million people have been displaced within Ukraine, according to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency.

More than half of the refugees—over 1.8 million as of Tuesday—have entered Poland, which shares a 330-mile border with Ukraine. Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia have each accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees since Russian President Vladimir Putin started the war, according to UNHCR. Some 143,000 people have fled into Russia.