Ukrainian forces say they regained control of Makariv, west of Kyiv
From CNN's Irene Nasser
A residential building destroyed by a Russian shelling attack is seen in Makariv, Ukraine, on March 16. (Mohammad Javad Abjoushak/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images/FILE)
After days of fighting, Ukrainian forces have regained control of Makariv, a town 30 miles west of Kyiv, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.
The “state flag of Ukraine was raised over the city of Makariv” as the Russians retreated, the post said.
CNN could not confirm the claim by the Ukraine forces.
Makariv had sustained significant damage from ongoing Russian airstrikes. CNN verified the authenticity of photos posted to social media on March 12 that showed major damage to apartment complexes, schools and a medical facility.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly claimed it is not targeting civilians.
Read more about the destruction seen in Makariv here.
1:21 a.m. ET, March 22, 2022
Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Brazil since start of invasion, police say
From CNN’s Camilo Rocha and Sahar Akbarzai
Nearly 900 Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion have entered Brazil as of March 17, according to the Brazilian Federal Police.
Of those 894 refugees, 28 people have so far applied to remain in Brazil, the police said.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed an executive order on March 3 allowing Ukrainian citizens to stay in Brazil for up to 90 days without a visa and establishing 180-day humanitarian visas for Ukrainians.
Ukrainians are then able to apply for longer-term Brazilian visas.
Some context: Since the start of the invasion, Bolsonaro has avoided condemning or sanctioning Russia, and chief of staff Ciro Nogueira declared shortly after that "Brazil's position is one of neutrality, of balance."
Brazil votedin favor of a resolution that condemned Russia at the UN General Assembly on March 2. But the country's ambassador at the UN, Ronaldo Costa Filho, said there were caveats and that the resolution could not be seen as a green light for the indiscriminate use of sanctions or weapons.
12:42 a.m. ET, March 22, 2022
"They were just killing us": Family describes horror of life in Mariupol under attack by Russian forces
From CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton, Ivan Watson, Khrystyna Bondarenko and Tom Booth
Tania and Dmytro Shvets escaped from Mariupol on March 18. (CNN)
Dmytro and Tania Shvets spent the first 23 days of the war hiding in their cellar in Mariupol with their 7-year-old daughter, Vlada, and their parents. The family managed to escape the besieged Ukrainian city on Thursday, but their parents stayed behind.
Having fled northeast to the central city of Dnipro, Tania told CNN that Russia's bombardment has effectively wiped Mariupol off the map, and it's only a matter of time before other cities in Ukraine face the same fate.
"There is no longer any city there. There is no longer a city of Mariupol ... there isn't a single residential building left. Only 10% of the people are left there. Just retirees without money or (those without) cars who can't escape (and) people who can't walk," Tania said from the relative safety of a temporary shelter in Dnipro.
"We did not bathe for three weeks, (we) went to the toilet on a bucket and in a bag," Tania wrote in a diary she updated each day from her underground hiding place. She shared her diary entries with CNN.
The family rarely left the cellar unless it was absolutely necessary to survive — leaving only to find food and water, and once to help bury neighbors killed by Russian artillery while waiting in line for food.
"The problem is that in our city, we didn't have anything. No mobile connection. No internet connection. Everything was cut. The gas supply, the water supply. The lights," Dmytro told CNN. "We were cooking outside, making the fire. Taking wood from the parks. Because there was no other option to survive — sharing food with our neighbors, our relatives."
The couple said it felt like Russian forces were targeting groups of civilians waiting in line for food, water, or at a pharmacy.
"They were just killing us. If we gathered together in a group to find water, they just shot at us," Tania said.
Meanwhile, a Russian tabloid published, then later removed, a report that Russia's Defense Ministry had recorded the deaths of nearly 10,000 military members during the invasion.
Here's the latest on Russia's invasion of Ukraine:
People's vote: TheUkrainian President said any constitutional changes that relate to security guarantees in the country would need to be determined through a referendum. Zelensky said he has not met with Russian negotiators during recent peace talks but told his delegation that any significant compromise would require a people's vote.
Flooding and fires: New satellite images show fires from military strikes and growing flooding from the Irpin River. The images, taken Monday, also show Russian artillery positions west of the Russian-held Antonov Air Base northwest of Kyiv. CNN previously reported that a dam along the Dnieper River was flooding the Irpin River basin and its tributaries. The Irpin River is critical to the Russian advance toward Kyiv; if the Russians cannot cross it, they can't take Kyiv from the west.
Holocaust survivor killed in Russian strike: Boris Romanchenko, 96, survived four Nazi concentration camps, but his life was ended Friday by a Russian strike on Kharkiv, according to the Buchenwald memorial institute. In a series of tweets, the institute said that according to his granddaughter, Romanchenko was living in an apartment block in Kharkiv that was hit during a Russian attack.
Biden warns of cyber threats: The US President urged private sector partners to immediately harden their cyber defenses, pointing to “evolving intelligence” indicating “the potential that Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States.” While pledging his administration would “continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt, and if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure,” Biden acknowledged, “the federal government can’t defend against this threat alone.”
US demands consular access in Russia: US Ambassador John Sullivan met with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday and demanded "consular access to all US citizen detainees in Russia, including those in pre-trial detention," according to the US Embassy in Moscow. The demand comes as WNBA player Brittney Griner and former US Marines Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed are being detained in Russia.
8:31 a.m. ET, March 22, 2022
Zelensky says Ukraine must hold referendum for any constitutional changes
From CNN's Hande Atay Alam and Yulia Shevchenko
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said any constitutional changes that relate to security guarantees in the country would need to be decided through a referendum and not by him alone.
The President made the comments during an interview with Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne News on Monday.
"It is a long process which will be decided by the parliament and by the Ukrainian people," he said.
Some context: It comes as delegates from Ukraine and Russia have held a series of peace talks. Zelensky said he has not met with Russian negotiators but told his delegation that any significant compromise would require a referendum.
"I explained to our negotiators at the talks that when one is talking about changes — and these changes may be of historic importance — there is no other way around it, we will have to hold a referendum," he said. "The people will have to speak up and respond to this or that form of compromise you have mentioned. And what they (the compromises) will be is the subject of our talks and understanding between Ukraine and Russia."
When a Suspilne reporter asked about the limit of the compromise Ukraine would go for, Zelensky said: "I think that without this meeting you cannot truly understand what they are really prepared to do in order to stop the war and what they are prepared to do if we are not ready for this or that compromise."
"The issue of the occupied territories is important for us. But I am certain that a solution will not come at this meeting," he said.
Here's the background to the "occupied territories:" In early 2014, mass protests in Kyiv known as Euromaidan forced out a Russia-friendly president after he refused to sign an EU association agreement. Russia responded by annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and fomenting a separatist rebellion in Ukraine's east, which seized control of part of the Donbas region. In late February ahead of the invasion, Putin recognized the two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent states.
9:31 p.m. ET, March 21, 2022
Damaged buildings and Irpin River flooding seen in new satellite images
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
Russian artillery positions west of the Russian-held Antonov Air Base. (Maxar Technologies)
New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show fires from military strikes and growing flooding from the Irpin River.
The images, taken on Monday, also show Russian artillery positions west of the Russian-held Antonov Air Base northwest of the capital, Kyiv. Those positions match similar scenes at other Russian artillery positions — earthen berms have been constructed around them.
Damage from Russian military strikes in Irpin. (Maxar Technologies)
Damage from Russian military strikes are also seen across Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, in the satellite images. Two distinct fires are seen in central Irpin near a complex of city government and apartment buildings.
Two other fires can also be seen in another satellite image among a group of buildings near a school in the city and a residential area near a lake.
Flooding from the Irpin River. (Maxar Technologies)
An additional satellite image shows growing floodwaters from the Irpin River.
CNN previously reported that a dam along the Dnieper River was flooding the Irpin River basin and its tributaries. The Irpin River is critical to the Russian advance toward Kyiv; if the Russians cannot cross it, they can't take Kyiv from the west.
It's unclear how the dam began flooding the Irpin River basin: whether the gates were opened on purpose by the Ukrainians to flood the area, or it was hit by a military strike.
8:38 p.m. ET, March 21, 2022
Russian artillery positions, tanks and vehicles seen in new satellite images from Mariupol
From CNN’s Paul P. Murphy
Russian military vehicles and tanks seen on the streets of the "left bank" neighborhood in Mariupol. (Maxar Technologies)
Russian military vehicles, including artillery positions, in Mariupol are seen in new satellite images from Maxar Technologies. The images were taken on March 19.
One of the images shows Russian military vehicles and tanks on the streets of the "left bank" neighborhood in Mariupol — the day Russian-backed separatists took control of government buildings.
Russian military artillery positions northeast of Mariupol. (Maxar Technologies)
Additional imagery shows Russian military artillery positions northeast of Mariupol and smoke rising from burning apartment buildings.
Smoke rises from burning apartment buildings. (Maxar Technologies)
8:14 p.m. ET, March 21, 2022
The theater was supposed to be a safe haven. Missiles ripped it apart
From CNN's Eliza Mackintosh and Oleksandra Ochman
When Serhii woke up to news reports that a bomb had flattened Mariupol's Drama Theater, where hundreds of people had been sheltering, he couldn't breathe.
His wife and their two daughters were inside.
A day before the attack, the 56-year-old editor, who lives in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, received a panicked call from his 30-year-old daughter.
He hadn't heard from her since March 1, when Russian forces intensified their siege of Mariupol, the strategic port city, launching a relentless barrage of rockets and bombs from land, sky and sea.
As electricity and internet service went out, Mariupol was largely cut off from the outside world. Serhii, who asked that only his first name be used for security reasons, waited desperately for any update from his girls.
Zelensky: Mariupol is being "reduced to ashes," but the city will "survive"
From CNN's Olena Mankovska and Sugam Pokharel
Multiple buildings burn amid Russian strikes on Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20. (Planet Labs PBC/AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address released Monday that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is being “reduced to ashes” by Russia's military aggression, but added that the city will “survive.”
Mariupol, which before the war was home to around 450,000 people, has been under near constant attack from Russian forces since early March with satellite images showing significant destruction to residential areas.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that “what's happening Mariupol is a massive war crime.”
Zelensky in his address went on to again urge Ukrainians to “do everything you can to defend our country, to save our people.”
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in late February, “we are seeing more and more [Ukrainian] heroes. Once ordinary Ukrainians, and now true fighters,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader also said that ordinary citizens in Ukraine are “rising” to the point that Russia “doesn’t believe that this is the reality,” and added, "we will make Russia believe.”
“Fight, keep on fighting, and help,” he urged Ukrainians.
