Hundreds of civilians had been taking shelter in the grand, columned theater in central Mariupol after their homes were destroyed in three weeks of fighting in the southern port city.

Dmitry Zakhvatov, a lawyer who had formerly been representing Marina Ovsyannikova, told CNN that the administrative charge was based solely on a video statement that she recorded prior to appearing with an anti-war poster on Channel One.

Although the United States barely uses Russian oil, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still a big factor in the gas-price spike — among other reasons.

Russia and Ukraine kept a fragile diplomatic path open with a new round of talks on Monday even as Moscow’s forces pounded away at Kyiv and other cities across the country in a punishing assault that the Red Cross said has created “nothing short of a nightmare” for the civilian population.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday the new price exceeds by 32 cents the prior all-time high of $4.11 set in July 2008. But that’s still quite a ways from the inflation-adjusted record high of about $5.24 per gallon.

Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died Sunday after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine.

More than two million people have left Ukraine since the start of Russia’s attack, finding refuge in nearby countries. Nations have opened their borders and hearts to Ukrainians, happily taking them in. It’s a stark difference from 2015, when Europe faced another refugee crisis.

Russia widened its offensive in Ukraine on Friday, striking airfields in the west and a major industrial city in the east, while the huge armored column that had been stalled for over a week outside Kyiv was on the move again, spreading out into forests and towns near the capital.

A long-delayed art exhibition has finally opened but with a new focus. A Chicago artist and teacher born in Ukraine makes both traditional and contemporary paintings. She is now using her ability to create to counter forces of destruction. 

Such swings have become common in recent weeks, not only day-to-day but hour-to-hour, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised worries about how high prices will go for oil, wheat and other commodities produced in the region.

Vera Lytovchenko has become an internet icon of resilience as images of the concert violinist playing in the basement bomb shelter in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv have inspired an international audience via social media.

Johnny Clark, chef and owner at Chicago restaurant Wherewithall, is using his culinary skills to help keep Ukrainian culture alive while at the same time raising funds for the country. 

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs turns 100 this year. The organization was created in 1922 amid isolationist sentiment in the U.S. following World War I. In the years since, it has brought a long list of global leaders and experts to Chicago. 

The action follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion.

A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establishing safe corridors that would allow civilians to escape the fighting. Russia’s top negotiator said he expects those corridors to start functioning Tuesday.

Food, water, medicine and almost all other supplies were in desperately short supply in the port city of Mariupol, where Russian and Ukrainian forces had agreed to an 11-hour cease-fire that would allow civilians and the wounded to be evacuated. But Russian attacks quickly closed the humanitarian corridor, Ukrainian officials said.