March 22, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russia has begun firing on the city of Mariupol from the Sea of Azov, according to a senior US defense official, using a group of approximately seven ships to launch attacks on the critical coastal city.

The official said a few of the ships may be a minesweeper and some amphibious landing ships, but some of the ships are surface combatants that have joined the attack on the besieged city over the last 24 hours.

The city has already been under an ongoing Russian bombardment from long-range missile launches and artillery outside the city.

Separately, the Russians have a total of about 21 ships in the Black Sea, the official said. Twelve of the ships are surface combatants, while the rest are amphibious ships.

The Wagner Group, a paramilitary group sponsored by Russia, is “active” in Ukraine, a senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday.

There are no foreign fighters “that have flown into the country” from Syria or elsewhere that the US has seen, the official added.

Right now, the US is not seeing “tangible indications” that Russians are making an effort to re-supply, but “we do continue to see indications that they are having these discussions and that they are making these kinds of plans both in terms of re-supply and also reinforcement,” the official noted.

The United States has seen indications that some Russian soldiers have gotten frostbite in Ukraine because they lack the appropriate cold-weather gear, according to a senior US defense official. 

The lack of proper equipment is compounded by the shortages of food and fuel among Russian forces, the official said, as logistics and sustainment problems continue to plague Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is nearing the one-month mark. 

The Russians are also having command and control challenges, which has made communications difficult, further exacerbating the logistics and sustainment problems, the official said.

Ukraine experienced a cold snap earlier this month.

If Ukrainian forces consolidate their control of Makariv, it would become more difficult for Russian forces to secure the western approaches to Kyiv and then push further south. There are also indications that Russian forces have suffered setbacks to the north of Kyiv in areas they have held almost since the beginning of the invasion.  

A brief video geolocated by CNN showed Ukrainian troops walking in the town of Moschun, about 20 miles (35 kms) north of the capital. The video appears to have been shot in the last two days.

Ukrainian drone video geolocated during the weekend showed the destruction of Russian armor in the same area.   

Additionally, the flooding of the Irpin River may pose logistical difficulties for Russian troops in the area, as could the destruction of a railway bridge north of Irpin.  

If Ukrainian forces consolidate their gains, the Russians' most advanced positions at Bucha and Hostomel immediately north of Kyiv could become vulnerable to encirclement. 

The Russians' capture of the Antonov air base at Hostomel just after the invasion began was short-lived, preventing them from using it as an airbridge. Russian forces have artillery positions near the Antonov base, according to recent satellite imagery. 

Some 12 miles (or about 20 kilometers) north of Makariv is the town of Borodyanka, which has been held by Russian and Chechen forces since early in the campaign. If the Ukrainians were to take Borodyanka, forward Russian units could be cut off.

At present, the southern route out of the capital is still open, and according to CNN teams that have traveled the route, it is frequently congested with traffic bringing supplies into Kyiv.

Russia's inability to complete the encirclement of the capital over nearly four weeks has come as a surprise to the Western officials, some of whom predicted that Kyiv would fall within 72 hours of the invasion beginning.

CNN's Ellie Kaufman contributed reporting to this post.

The United States has “clear evidence” that Russian forces have “deliberately and intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure, hospitals, places of shelter,” a senior US defense official said Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden's administration is “helping to provide evidence” to multiple ongoing investigations into whether Russia is committing war crimes, the official said.

“The administration is going to be helping to provide evidence to the multiple investigations that are going on, but we see clear evidence that they’re committing war crimes through these indiscriminate and intentional attacks on civilian targets and the people of Ukraine,” the official said.

A Ukrainian counterattack north and west of the capital of Kyiv appears to have made some headway, jeopardizing Russian efforts to encircle the city and threatening the ability of Russian forces to resupply the forward units that are exposed to the north of the city.   

Videos geolocated Monday show Ukrainian soldiers draping the national flag over a building in the town of Makariv, some 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Kyiv.  

Then, early Tuesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a post on social media that they had regained control of Makariv.  

Following 24 hours of fighting, the “state flag of Ukraine was raised over the city of Makariv” as the Russians retreated, the Armed Forces said on Facebook. 

The town is strategically placed due west of Kyiv.     

The head of Kyiv’s regional police, Andriy Nebytov, toured Makariv on Monday. A video of his visit showed widespread devastation and the town appeared deserted.

Nebytov said Makariv was still being shelled, indicating the immediate area is still contested. He was told by another officer during the tour that artillery fire was coming from five kilometers (three miles) to the north, an area still held by the Russians.   

"Makariv is still under fire," he said. "Every second civilian building, private houses, have been destroyed, damaged by artillery shelling."

At one point, Nebytov passed a memorial to villagers "who gave their lives for the Soviet Motherland, in 1941-1945,” as he put it. “So there you are, those people died in a battle against fascism, Nazism. Now history is repeating itself." 

About half a million refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine to Poland require support for mental health disorders, and 30,000 are estimated to have severe mental health problems, the World Health Organization’s representative in Poland, Paloma Cuchi, said Tuesday.  

The WHO said its assessment is based on estimates for mental health conditions following armed conflicts. 

Aside from mental and emotional distress, the main problems faced by refugees from Ukraine in reception centers include fever, diarrhea, hypothermia, upper-respiratory tract infections and cardiac arrest, according to the WHO. 

On Tuesday, the WHO reported that there have now been 62 verified attacks on health care sites in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in late February.  

Ukrainians forces have now been trying to take back territory in the last few days that the Russians had gained, according to a senior US defense official, calling them “able and willing” to do so.

The official cited the examples of Ukrainians fighting to take back Kherson, as well as pushing Russian forces from the northeast of Mykolaiv to have to reposition south of the city.

The official cautioned that the US cannot say whether these moves are part of a “larger operational plan” by the Ukrainians or not.

The Ukrainian defense has been “nimble” and “agile,” according to the official.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he is considering issuing vouchers to help middle and low-income families facing rising food prices made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The proposed food vouchers would be similar to the country’s current system of energy vouchers which, among other things, helps pay the electricity and gas bills of roughly 5.8 million low-income households every year, according to data from the French Finance Ministry.

Macron reiterated that France and Europe need to eventually achieve food independence, a key element of his re-election campaign agenda.

The first round of voting for France’s presidential election is scheduled to take place on April 10.

Some background: The Ukrainian government has banned exports on key agricultural goods, including wheat, corn, grains, salt and meat.

Ukraine is one of Europe’s largest suppliers of agricultural produce, per data from the European Commission. Combined, Russia and Ukraine are responsible for almost 30% of global wheat exports, according to Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data analytics firm.

Macron has previously said that both Europe and Africa "will be very profoundly destabilized in food supplies."