The War Room: Responding to reports of atrocities in the Kyiv area and facing increasing attacks in eastern Ukraine, residents of that area are beginning to flee in advance of Russian troops.

  The Ukrainians say Russian units have been massing in the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv regions. Russian forces have taken 60 percent of the town of Rubizhne, in the Luhansk region, according to the governor there. “Evacuations are taking place under the roar of enemy guns,” Gov. Serhiy Haidai wrote in a Facebook post, adding that approximately 30,000 people had left the region since Russia invaded.

  The Ukraine military says they shot down three cruise missiles near the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia last night as the Russian military shifts its attacks to the east.

  An estimated 11 million Ukrainians, a quarter of the population, have fled their homes or left the country entirely since the start of the Russian invasion.

  The Ukraine government is pleading for more weapons from the West to face the onslaught. Arriving at NATO headquarters for discussions, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, “It’s weapons, weapons, and weapons. The more weapons we get, and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved.”

Financial War: As the Ukraine war continues, the US yesterday imposed new financial sanctions on Russia and specifically on President Vladimir Putin’s adult daughters and members of Russia’s Security Council, including former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

  The sanctions target Putin’s daughters in an effort to freeze any assets their father might be hiding with them. The new sanctions will cut all those individuals off from the American banking system and freeze any assets they hold  in the United States.

  President Biden said, “Together with our allies and our partners, we’re going to keep raising the economic costs and ratchet up the pain for Putin, and further increase Russia’s economic isolation.”

  The US also announced sanctions on the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 

  The Brits announced their own sanctions, and the European Union is expected to follow.

  The White House also announced a ban on new investment in Russia to be implemented with an executive order signed by President Biden. The US will also apply what’s known as “full blocking” sanctions on critical Russian state-owned enterprises while the Department of Treasury has blocked Russia from making debt payments with dollars stockpiled at US banks.

  In just one example, the “full blocking” sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank, will prohibit transactions with any American financial institutions and freeze assets held by the banks in the US. Sberbank holds nearly a third of Russia’s total banking assets. 

  And in an interesting sideline to sanctions and seizures, Finland seized $46 million worth of art and antiquities about to go over a border crossing home to Russia. The works had been on loan to galleries in Japan and Italy.

Contempt: The House voted to recommend criminal contempt of Congress charges against former President Trump associates Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr. because the two defied subpoenas from the January 6^th investigating committee. 

  The mostly party-line vote of 220 to 203 came as the Democrats have become increasingly frustrated with Trump’s most loyal supporters who have refused to meet with or cooperate with the committee. Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin said the men had “nothing but excuses for their noncompliance — excuses you would not accept from a teenage child.”

Info Demon: Alex Jones, the conspiracy-minded host of Infowars, finally appeared before lawyers representing families in the Connecticut Sandy Hook School massacre. After first refusing to appear, Jones paid $75,000 in fines.

  Parents of children killed in the 2012 mass shooting have already won a defamation lawsuit suit against Jones for his claim that the shooting never happened. The latest proceedings are to determine how much he should pay in damages.

  Jones said in a video on his website, “It’s just totally insane to sit there and watch this happen and to watch them lick their lips and lick their chops and think we’re going to finally shut Alex Jones down.” He said, “These people want to put us in prison for our speech.”

The Spin Rack: The Senate is expected to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson today, making her the first black woman on the court. Republicans are unashamed about opposing her. — Attorney General Merrick Garland has tested positive for Covid-19. — Under fire for the nation’s high inflation, President Biden extended the moratorium on student loan repayments through August. — Police in Sacramento now say as many as five shooters may have been involved in the gang gunfight that killed six people and wounded a dozen Saturday night. As many as 200 shell casings were found. — In a year of terrible drought and near-empty reservoirs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked state residents in February to reduce water use by 15 percent. They responded by reducing just .2 percent.

Punch Line: republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the leading wacknuts in Congress, says she reported late night host Jimmy Kimmel to the Capitol police as a threat to her safety. Joking about Greene, Kimmel had asked, “Where is Will Smith when you really need him?” 

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