March 9, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

A senior official in the Kyiv region says lines of vehicles stretch for miles as people try to escape fighting in districts to the north and northwest of Kyiv.

Konstantin Usov, the deputy chairman of the Kyiv Regional administration, speaking from an assembly point to the west of Kyiv, said that the evacuation was underway, after a day in which thousands of people tried to use so-called "green corridors" agreed by Russia and Ukraine to escape widespread destruction north of the capital.

"Unfortunately, people could not leave all the cities today," Usov said, long after darkness fell.

He added, "We try to let all cars go as early as possible, as soon as possible. There is a filtration, selection. We are checking the documents so that Russian saboteurs do not pass under the guise of evacuees. Difficult work, unfortunately, we are 100% beyond curfew. "

Curfew in the Kyiv region begins at 8 p.m. local time. 

"We continue to feed people, continue to heat them, give them tea," Usov said.

Former professional boxer and brother of Kyiv’s mayor, Wladimir Klitschko said his “heart is bleeding” following the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday.

“My heart is bleeding,” the former Hall of Famer said in a video posted to Facebook.

Following the bombing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage.”

The city council in Mariupol in southern Ukraine posted video of a devastated children's and maternity hospital in the city and accused Russian forces of dropping several bombs on it from the air. The Donetsk region police say that according to preliminary information, 17 people were injured.

“Look at these images there, the concrete and real result of Putin’s special operations, so to speak. When he does not take the lives of these angels, he kills their parents, grandparents and destroys their homes and schools,” Klitschko said.

Klitschko said “to attack Children is to attack life, civilization itself,” and urged people to “stop Putin’s war now.”

Ukrainian troops are engaging in firefights with Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Voznesensk, over 50 miles north of Mykolaiv, a video posted to social media shows. 

CNN has geolocated, and verified the authenticity of the video. 

In the video, a number of Ukrainian military troops are seen on the southern side of Voznesensk near market. The soldiers are seen armed with shoulder-fired missiles and the sound of gunfire is heard. 

Suddenly, an explosion is seen and heard near the side of the building where at least two Ukrainian troops are seen taking cover. As the camera suddenly backs away, one of the soldiers is seen falling back. It's unclear if any soldiers were injured in the explosion. 

Continued fighting in Voznesensk is notable given that the Russian military have yet to defeat Ukrainian forces in Mykolaiv, 50 miles to the south. It suggests that some of the Russian military is bypassing the intense exchanges in Mykolaiv and attempting to advance further north.

Russian Central Bank will not resume trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange on Thursday, March 10 in the stock market section, with the exception of "Redemption: Direct Orders" mode with settlements in rubles, the bank announced on its website on Wednesday.

The foreign currency market will reopen at 10 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), forgoing the morning session, it added.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Putin’s “unprovoked invasion of Ukraine” has “already killed and injured innocent people” and forced more than 1.5 million people to “flee their country."

Austin was speaking ahead of a bilateral meeting with Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Austin also thanked Finland for sending aid to Ukraine amid the crisis.

The two leaders are meeting a week after US President Joe Biden met with Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö at the White House last week.

Austin said the two would discuss “strengthening” the bilateral relationship between the US and Finland and “starting a new process of bilateral defense cooperation including space and irregular warfare.”

Kaikkonen said the crisis in Ukraine is not a European crisis, it’s a “global crisis.”

“The war in Ukraine has profound implications for European security, for EU, for NATO, for Finland. But as both of our Presidents have stressed, this is not a European crisis, this is a global crisis,” Kaikkonen said. “In these troubling times, Finland stands ready to work together with the United States.”

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has called for a “new model” of investigative efforts to tackle alleged war crimes in Ukraine. 

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Venediktova thanked 39 countries that reportedly joined Ukraine’s appeal to the International Court of Justice against Russia. 

Venediktova also called for a special tribunal to be created for the “unprecedented” crisis in Ukraine. 

Venediktova announced her office had already launched criminal investigations into “encroachment of territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and waging an aggressive war” and issued warnings to 40 individuals that are part of Russia’s political elite.   

The prosecutor general said her office also “took action against those who incited war and provoked further atrocities in Ukrainian territory”. 

A warning was reportedly issued to a number of people she called Russian “propagandists,” including several Russian celebrities who Venediktova described as Putin supporters. 

Venediktova also unveiled a new government portal where the public can report war crimes they witness in Ukraine: warcrimes.gov.ua. 

Two officials in the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine say that about 1,300 civilians there have been killed since the Russian invasion began.

The city was first shelled in the opening days of the conflict and has been under siege for almost a week.

"We will fight for everyone," he added.

Earlier Wednesday, Mariupol's Deputy Mayor, Sergei Orlov, said that at least 1,207 victims of shelling had been confirmed through Tuesday. 

"Really we can't calculate how many deaths we have — I mean three to four times more. We are not even able to count how many people on the streets have been killed by bombing and artillery," Orlov told CNN.

To help alleviate some of the stress and emotions that millions of refugees may be experiencing after fleeing Ukraine, strangers in Polish communities are helping strangers get settled with basic necessities in a place that may not feel anything like home.

Hundreds of thousands of children are among two million refugees who have fled Ukraine, since the Russian invasion began. Most of those who have fled have gone to Poland, to Ukraine's west, with large numbers also entering Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia. The journey, in many cases, lasts several days and they arrive with next to nothing.

Strollers, carriers, jackets, toys, stuffed animals, diapers, even walkers for the elderly, have filled the area alongside the railway.

Dozens of volunteers with yellow vests, speaking multiple languages, are helping the refugees any way they can.

And help isn't just available in the form of physical supplies — some people have been holding up signs, offering rides to different places across Europe and volunteers are helping refugees find a place to stay.

Read the full report here.

The Constitutional Court of Russia announced it has withdrawn from the Conference of Constitutional Courts of Europe (CECC) as of March 5, the court said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.

Russian state media said that the Russian Constitutional Court’s withdrawal comes after the CECC chairman emailed ballots on March 4 to all members of the organization members to vote on terminating or suspending the Russian Constitutional Court's membership and associated membership of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus.

The statement went on to say the CECC efforts are also because the Russian Constitutional Court has “not clearly expressed their disapproval of the Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine, therefore, no efficient loyal cooperation can be expected any longer between the CECC and the Russian Constitutional Court.”

"Taking into account the foregoing and reaffirming its commitment to the goals and values for which the Conference of European Constitutional Courts was originally formed, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, under the circumstances, considers its further participation in the Conference of European Constitutional Courts impossible and declares its withdrawal from it from March 5, 2022,” according to the statement.

The Constitutional Court of Russia emphasized that it can exercise its powers only within the procedural framework outlined by the constitution.