March 15, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has moved here.

Ukrainians are not only fighting for their homeland but also defending “fundamental European values,” Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša said Tuesday.

Janša spoke in Kyiv after meeting with Ukraine’s President and Prime Minister, along with the Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic and Poland.

Janša said European leaders are aware the most important thing is to help Ukraine with weapons but also stressed the country was part of the European family.

“Ukraine is a European country, every path in Ukraine is European. We will do everything in our power,” he said, adding “these paths” could lead to European Union membership.

Janša said Slovenia strongly supported candidate status for Ukraine at the EU, saying it is “a message to those who invaded Ukraine that you’re part of our family and that our families are prepared to defend Ukraine and to support Ukraine.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will discuss increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia with leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to a news release from 10 Downing Street.

Johnson’s one-day visit to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh is part of the United Kingdom’s efforts to ensure coordinated international action on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The leaders are expected to discuss “efforts to improve energy security and reduce volatility in energy and food prices,” the news release said.

Johnson will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in the UAE before traveling to Riyadh to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Some context: The UK recently announced it would phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year. And that the government would work with companies to support them in finding alternative supplies. 

The oil market has been stretched incredibly thin, with few producers willing — or able — to replace Russian barrels banned by the United States and shunned by others.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are major oil producing nations. The UAE recently said it wants to increase oil production and will encourage the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel to ramp up supply.

The Downing Street statement said Johnson is “focused on diversifying the UK’s energy supply.”

“The world must wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons and starve Putin’s addiction to oil and gas,” Johnson will say, according to the release.

Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov will address the NATO defense ministers meeting Wednesday, according to a senior US defense official.

His remarks have been previously recorded, the official said.

The meeting in Brussels will focus on comparing assessments of the crisis in Ukraine with other NATO allies and partners and how NATO sees “where Russia’s military operations are,” according to the official.

Ministers will also examine what this invasion means not just now, but also “thinking about the implications for the strategic environment and the security environment for the Transatlantic Alliance going forward,” the official added.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is in the Belgian capital and will attend the meeting.

The Ukrainian military destroyed a number of Russian military helicopters at the Kherson International Airport Tuesday, new satellite images from Planet Labs show.

A large black plume of smoke is seen rising from the airport in the satellite image, with a number of helicopters on fire.

It’s the most destructive known strike the Ukrainian military has conducted against Russian helicopters during the war, with at least three Russian helicopters seen on fire, or destroyed, at the airport.

Military vehicles seen near the airport have also been hit. 

Another image, taken by a drone hovering above the nearby village of Komyshany, also shows the large plume of smoke rising from the airport. 

CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of the image.

The military strike at the airport was picked up by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), which tracks large fires around the world. 

According to the sensory data collected by FIRMS, the military strike occurred around 1:42 p.m. local time.

On Monday, satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed a number of Russian military helicopters on the tarmac at Kherson’s International Airport. Dozens of military vehicles are also seen in the surrounding area. 

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine, a US official said.

That would bring the total pledged to $1 billion in the past week and $2 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration. 

The new package will include antitank missiles, according to officials familiar with the plans. But it will stop short of the no-fly zone or fighter jets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said are needed to sustain Ukraine’s fight against Russia. 

Explosions were heard overnight in Kyiv’s suburbs as air raid sirens once again blared in the Ukrainian capital, according to a CNN team on the ground.

The blasts began after nightfall following Mayor Vitali Klitschko’s imposition of an extended curfew.

The 35-hour curfew runs from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Thursday local time.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that the “main goal” of the Polish, Slovenian and Czech prime ministers’ visit to Kyiv was to tell Ukrainians they are “not alone” in their fight against the Russian invasion.

Speaking alongside his counterparts, Fiala called Tuesday’s opportunity to have an in-person discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “something really special.”

“The main goal of our visit and the main message of our mission is to say to our Ukrainian friends that they are not alone. That Europe stands with you,” Fiala told the news conference.

He said he wanted to assure Ukrainians that we are “hosting your wives and children” and providing them with “refuge” in the Czech Republic.  

The Czech Republic has now taken in 250,000 refugees, according to the prime minister. 

“We admire your courage, and we will continue to provide more aid and support,” he concluded.

US President Joe Biden will unveil a new package of military assistance for Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles, as soon as Wednesday following an address to the US Congress by Ukrainian President Zelensky, according to officials familiar with the plans.  

The new assistance will stop short of the no-fly zone or fighter jets Zelensky has said are necessary to sustain Ukraine’s fight against Russia. 

But the new aid will include more of the defensive weapons the US has already been providing, including Javelins and Stingers. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported the new announcement of assistance.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are still negotiating how to revoke Russia’s permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status, after a provision that would do as much was scrapped from the bill that banned Russian energy imports last week. 

A plan to revoke Russia’s PNTR status was included in the bipartisan deal negotiated by the four corners of Congress but was pulled out of the legislation at the last minute when the White House asked Congress to narrow the scope of the legislation.

Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas, told CNN on Tuesday, “there’s still discussions ongoing on Congress’ role.”

Brady said the discussions revolve around what role Congress will play in making trade decisions going forward and maintaining the stake Congress has in those decisions.

“So, since this is a legislative change, the disapproval resolution is important to keep Congress’s role in the decision on when to you know, restore those permanent normal trade relations,” Brady said.

“I’m hopeful we can conclude that but right now, we don’t have the final text yet,” he said.

But Brady was still hopeful that a conclusion could be reached by the end of the week.

US President Joe Biden is confronting a daily deluge of pressure from lawmakers on Capitol Hill to do more — and act faster — to help Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin intensifies his bloody attacks across the country.

Those calls are poised to only grow louder on Wednesday after members of Congress hear fresh pleas for assistance directly from one man who is hunkered down in Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky is set to deliver a rare wartime speech to Congress in the morning, less than two weeks after the Ukrainian leader held a virtual meeting with US lawmakers. He is widely expected to use Wednesday’s address — as he has in speeches to other friendly governments — to make an impassioned appeal yet again to the US for more help, including for certain kinds of military assistance that the Biden administration has already come out against.

Lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill told CNN that they expect the next major round of deliberations in Washington on how to best aid Ukraine’s fight against Russia will, in no small part, hinge on what exactly Zelensky asks for when he speaks to Congress.

The speech comes as some on Capitol Hill are losing patience with the administration’s pace and its unwillingness — for now — to go as far as Zelensky has wanted in supplying fighter jets and imposing a no-fly zone over the country. Those two things are likely to be among the things the Ukrainian leader asks for in Wednesday’s speech, but the administration has ruled them out over concerns of how Putin would interpret those moves.

While the US government has largely responded to the war with a bipartisan support of Ukraine, patience is starting to wear thin for some lawmakers — including high-ranking Republicans who had been wary of criticizing the administration’s response until now. Biden and his administration have not responded as quickly as some in Congress would like as the President aims to keep American allies united in their response to the crisis.

“Everything Congress has asked to do, (the administration) has originally said no. And then later on, they say yes after our allies do it,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It’s slow. It’s excruciating.”

“We’re going to be hearing from Zelensky. So, I think depending upon what we hear then, and depending upon what action the White House takes next, we’ll see,” said Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who is one of many lawmakers who have advocated for sending fighter jets and other military machinery to Ukrainian forces. “In areas where we believe we need to push harder — and where we’re hearing from back home that we need to push harder — we’re going to express that to the White House.”

One chief of staff to a member of the House put it bluntly when asked which issue their boss was likely to public push for next: “(Zelensky’s) address to Congress will shape a lot of that,” they said.

Read more here.

As war rages in Ukraine, and refugees flee to nearby European countries, many individuals eventually hope to return.

In Poland, CNN’s Ed Lavandera found a train shuttling Ukrainians in both directions — some arriving, seeking safety, and others returning to their war-torn nation.

Mostly, reported Lavandera, it has been men returning to Ukraine. But on this day, the train platform featured many women, each feeling a sense of duty as their country fights to survive.

“Ukraine is equally important for men and women,” Tatiyana Veremychenko told Lavandera. “We’re the real Ukrainians, women have the strength and will and the heart as well.”

Another woman, Irina Orel, told Lavandera that while she is nervous about returning to Ukraine she admits to becoming numb to the violence.

“I’m anxious … but the feeling has become dull over time,” she said. “I just want to be next to my family.”

In a sense, said Orel, returning home is a way of standing up and fighting for her country.

“We have all become united during this time. Each one doing what they can to help our military. Women are doing it and men as well,” she said.

Mariia Halligan, yet another woman Lavandera met waiting for transport to Ukraine, spoke of a certain duty to fight what she’s labeling “Russian terrorists.”

“If you know what you need to do, it’s impossible to feel nervous over something like this,” Halligan said. “If I have to do this, I will do it. For my country, for my relatives, for my friends.”

As for the growing number of women Lavandera spotted, Halligan noted a certain role to be played for those not physically engaging in combat.

“I’m not man, I can’t kill, I’m woman. And my work keep balance, and help, and be kind, and care about relatives, family, friends. All we care,” she said.

“Now I feel that all Ukrainians [are] my relatives,” she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine “truly trusts” its partners and is “100% assured” that a positive outcome will be reached following a meeting with the Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky thanked Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala for their “wonderful support” of Ukraine when “so many other ambassadors have left Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion.” 

“Most important, is that we truly trust these leaders. When we are talking about the security guarantees, about our future in the European Union, or when we talk about the sanctions policy, we are 100% assured that whatever we are discussing, whatever we talk about, this will reach a positive outcome for our country,” the Ukrainian president said. 

He continued that with “friends like this” Ukraine “can win.”

The three European leaders — who said they were representing the European Council at the Kyiv meeting — traveled to the Ukrainian capital by train.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has dropped his clearest hint yet that he does not expect his country to join NATO anytime soon. 

In comments made in an address by video-link to leaders of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force on Tuesday, Zelensky appeared to shift further away from what until recently had been seen as a key Ukrainian ambition. 

“For years we have been hearing about how the door is supposedly open [to NATO membership] but now we hear that we cannot enter. And it is true, and it must be acknowledged,” he said. 

“I am glad that our people are beginning to understand this and rely on themselves and on our partners who assist us,” he added. 

Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, and its status as a NATO partner — seen as a step on the way to eventual full membership — was among the reasons Vladimir Putin gave for launching what he called Russia’s “special military operation” against its southern neighbor. 

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken called it a “reflection of reality” for Zelensky to signal today that he will not join NATO anytime soon.

“I don’t think that’s a concession. I think first of all it’s a reflection of reality that even before this aggression by Russia, Ukraine was not going to get into NATO tomorrow. All the more reason why as we’ve seen when Putin was saying that their concerns about Ukraine centered on its admission to NATO, that was wrong. That was a lie,” Blinken said.

Blinken said that Putin has demonstrated that this war in Ukraine is about “denying Ukraine its independent existence.”

Blinken called the US support for Ukraine “extraordinary” and said that support will continue “to make sure that Ukraine has the means to defend itself.”

Blinken would not detail what consequences China would face if they provide military or economic support to China but he said the US has “made very clear that is not something we are going to face sitting down.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there will be an independent Ukraine for “a lot longer” than there is going to be a Vladimir Putin, during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“First of all, there’s going to be a Ukraine, an independent Ukraine a lot longer than there’s going to be a Vladimir Putin. One way or the other, Ukraine will be there and at some point Putin won’t,” Blinken said. 

Blinken said the US is trying to prevent as much death and destruction as possible right now.

“The real question is how much death and destruction is wrought by Russia’s aggression in the meantime, and that’s what we’re working as hard as we can to limit, to stop, to put an end to the war of choice that Russia is committing,” Blinken said. “We’re doing that through the support we’re providing Ukraine every single day. We’re doing that by the pressure we’re exerting against Russia every single day.”

Blinken said his hope is that the death and destruction can be ended “sooner rather than later.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to deliver a virtual address Wednesday to members of US Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the remarks earlier this week, saying that “as war rages on in Ukraine, it is with great respect and admiration for the Ukrainian people that we invite all Members of the House and Senate” to attend the virtual address at 9 a.m. ET.

There is widespread bipartisan support among US lawmakers for aid to Ukraine, and just last week, Congress approved an emergency aid package with $13.6 billion in humanitarian, defensive and economic assistance to the embattled country. US President Joe Biden signed the bill into law Tuesday.

According to a new letter sent to the Biden administration on Tuesday, top House and Senate Republicans are also calling on the administration to provide Ukraine with Soviet and Russian-made air defense systems to help defend against Russia’s invasion.

Zelensky recently pressed Biden during their latest call for more sanctions to further squeeze Russia, CNN learned. According to multiple sources familiar with the call, Zelensky specifically asked Biden for further efforts to cut off Russia from international trade and to continue targeting the Russian elite, as the US has continued to add more oligarchs and their families to its sanctions list. Zelensky also mentioned closing off Russia’s access to international waterways during the call.

In their letter to lawmakers, Pelosi and Schumer reaffirmed US support for Ukraine amid the war.

“The Congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine as they face (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s cruel and diabolical aggression, and to passing legislation to cripple and isolate the Russian economy as well as deliver humanitarian, security and economic assistance to Ukraine,” they wrote.

The two top congressional Democrats said they “look forward to the privilege of welcoming” Zelensky’s address to Congress and “to convey our support to the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend democracy.”

In a separate speech Wednesday: Biden plans to detail US assistance to Ukraine, hours after Ukraine’s president is expected to lay out new requests for help in his speech to Congress. 

Zelensky is likely to make fresh calls for steps like a no-fly zone and help acquiring fighter jets in his address to lawmakers. Biden has rejected those steps as potentially dragging the US into conflict with Russia, suggesting it could begin World War III.

But he is intent on demonstrating the support the US is providing, and will detail it in a speech on Wednesday, the White House says.

Biden referenced the speech in remarks on Tuesday: “I’ll have much more to say about this tomorrow,” he said when signing a spending bill.

Speaking on CNN, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Biden would talk “about the security assistance that we have provided, that we are providing, it’s just unparalleled in amounts. Anti-tank, anti-aircraft, anti-armor, all kinds of support that the Ukrainians have asked for.”

Europe’s efforts to transition off Russian natural gas are underway and they are being supported by deliveries of liquefied natural gas from the United States, EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson told CNN’s Richard Quest.

“LNG deliveries have already increased significantly, and particularly from the United States,” she said.

“This has helped us this winter and we do have also good contacts with other reliable partners,” she added.

More background: The EU formally approved on Tuesday a new barrage of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which include bans on investments in the Russian energy sector, luxury goods exports and imports of steel products from Russia.

The European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that the sanctions included “a far-reaching ban on new investment across the Russian energy sector with limited exceptions for civil nuclear energy and the transport of certain energy products back to the EU.”

According to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, nearly 29,000 civilians in the war-torn nation were evacuated through evacuation corridors on Tuesday.

In a video statement, Iryna Vereshchuk said most of them — 20,000 — left the besieged city of Mariupol. Of the 4,000 cars that left the city, 570 have already arrived in the  southeastern city of Zaporizhia, senior government official Kirill Timoshenko said on his Telegram channel.

Vereshchuk said another 8,533 people were evacuated from cities and towns in the Sumy region, while 320 wards and employees of a hospital were evacuated from the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the Prime Ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia to a meeting in Kyiv.

Zelensky posted a two-minute video of the meeting on his Telegram channel, saying: “Your visit to Kyiv at this difficult time for Ukraine is a strong sign of support. We really appreciate it.”

The three European leaders — who said they were representing the European Council at the Kyiv meeting — traveled to the Ukrainian capital by train.

US and European officials are currently discussing potential announcements for Western leaders to make at next week’s NATO summit in Brussels, according to people familiar with the plans, though as of right now there is no agreement on “deliverables” to come from the crisis talks.

US President Joe Biden hopes to use the session to illustrate western unity amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and having a major announcement could help underscore cooperation among the allies. 

But one European official said the discussions haven’t yet settled on a single decision or takeaway for the summit to produce. 

Major items that Ukraine wants, like establishing a no-fly zone or providing fighter jets, appear for now off the table.

That means any announcement coming out of the meetings would likely focus more on ramping up smaller-scale assistance that’s already being provided, financial aid or new sanctions on Russia.

“I want to tell our commander-in-chief to stop terror acts in Ukraine because when we come back we’ll rise against him.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has given orders to commit crimes. It’s not just to demilitarize Ukraine or defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but now cities of peaceful civilians are being destroyed.”

“The crimes that we committed; we all will be judged.”

These are the voices of Russian prisoners of war now held by Ukraine.

Nearly a dozen have appeared in news conferences held by the Ukrainian authorities, just a few of the 600 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says have been captured.

Their public appearances may be questionable under the Geneva Conventions, which forbid states from causing unnecessary humiliation to prisoners of war. And it is possible that they felt pressure to express views sympathetic to those of their captors.

But three captured Russian air force pilots who spoke to CNN did not suggest they were speaking under duress.

Read the full report here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the effectiveness of NATO’s Article 5 provision, calling it “weak,” during an address Tuesday. His comments came as key cities in Ukraine, including around Kyiv and Mariupol, reported extensive damage and dire situations.

Here’s a catch up of key developments that took place today:

On the ground: Fatalities were reported after shelling hit buildings in residential areas across Kyiv on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian authorities and new satellite images show widespread destruction across Ukraine, including damaged houses in a village near Kyiv.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, smoldering homes could be seen, where more than 2,500 civilians have died, Ukrainian officials estimate.

Captive situation in Mariupol: A Ukrainian official has accused Russian troops of holding people captive at a Mariupol hospital on Tuesday.  

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Head of Donetsk regional administration, said doctors and patients were being held against their will in the Mariupol regional intensive care hospital, also referred to as Hospital No. 2.  

Sergei Orlov, deputy mayor of Mariupol, said Russian forces are “destroying” the besieged Ukrainian city and that patients in a hospital were used as captives.

“There are a lot of fights on our streets, and the situation yesterday was terrible,” he told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga.

Evacuation corridors: US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said there are reports of cars leaving Mariupol, noting that if this is in fact the beginning of an evacuation corridor, such a development would be a “step forward.”

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine: Talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have ended for the day and will resume Wednesday, according to Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak. He noted the negotiation process has been “very difficult and viscous.” “There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise,” he said in a tweet.

Prime ministers from Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic arrive in Ukraine: The prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic arrived by train on Tuesday in Kyiv to meet with Zelensky and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The prime ministers arrived in the city on behalf of the EU council, Shmyal said on Twitter, praising the “courage of true friends.”

Zelensky to address US Congress on Wednesday: The Ukrainian president is set to deliver a virtual address to the US Congress tomorrow. The address by Zelensky comes amid Russia’s ongoing unprovoked and deadly invasion of the country and as Ukraine continues to press the United States for more assistance as it fights back.

US President Joe Biden to deliver his own address on Wednesday after signing into a law a massive aid package for Ukraine: Biden plans to detail US assistance to Ukraine in a speech on Wednesday, hours after Ukraine’s president is expected to lay out new requests for help in a speech to Congress, the White House said.

A massive spending bill was signed into law by Biden Tuesday, which will provide a, one-time, $13.6 billion infusion of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as it fights back against Russia’s invasion.

Biden is also is set to travel to Europe next week for an extraordinary meeting of NATO and show of US support for Ukraine, the White House has confirmed. Biden will join NATO world leaders in person in Brussels, Belgium, next Thursday, March 24. 

Here’s a look at the Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $186 million in additional humanitarian assistance to support Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people due to the war in Ukraine.

“The United States is providing over $186 million in additional humanitarian assistance to support internally displaced persons and the more than three million refugees affected by Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified war in Ukraine. This will provide further support for humanitarian organizations responding to the crisis and complement the generosity of the neighboring countries that are welcoming and supporting refugees,” Blinken said.

Blinken added, the US “commends the hospitality of the neighboring countries that are hosting those fleeing Ukraine.” The additional US financial support will go to backing the basic necessities that the refugees need, and will be channeled through humanitarian organizations on the ground, he said.

“The additional humanitarian assistance for refugees in Ukraine’s neighboring countries supports the provision of food, safe drinking water, protection, accessible shelter, and emergency health care through the support of our international and non-governmental partners. This funding will also help victims of this conflict maintain contact with family members who have been separated and promote family reunification when possible,” Blinken said.

He also reiterated the need for the safe passage of humanitarian support into the country.

“We call for an immediate end to Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine and for Russia to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access in Ukraine and safe passage for those who seek to leave the cities where they are trapped. Humanitarian aid deliveries must be allowed to continue without interference, and humanitarian workers must have safe passage to deliver aid and assistance to those in need,” Blinken said.

CNN has reported Biden administration is considering expediting the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees with US ties, including family already living in the US. State Department spokesperson Ned Price would not comment on any efforts to expedite that process during the department briefing on Tuesday.

Ukraine has informed the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has reconnected to the national electricity grid after losing on site power last Wednesday. 

“Ukrainian specialist teams succeeded on the weekend to repair one of two damaged lines linking the plant to the power network,” the IAEA said Tuesday.

As of Monday, the site has been receiving all required power from the repaired line, enabling the staff to switch off the emergency diesel generators they were relying on since March 9, it said in a statement.

Since Russian troops took control of the nuclear plant on Feb. 24, the plants’ 211 technical personnel and guards haven’t been able to leave, meaning they have been “in effect living there for the past three weeks,” according to the watchdog.  

The Ukrainian regulator told the IAEA that the information it received regarding Chernobyl was “controlled by the Russian military forces” and that consequently it could not “always provide detailed answers to all” questions posed.

The Ukrainian regulator also told the IAEA that staff at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, “confirmed reports that the Russian military had detonated unexploded munitions left on the site following events on 4 March,” the news release said. 

Staff were not informed before the detonations took place, the watchdog said, adding that the “regulator has in recent days told the IAEA about ongoing work to detect and dispose of unexploded munitions found at the damaged training center and elsewhere at the nuclear power plant.”

“The episode apart. What this indicates is that the situation is extremely volatile, extremely fragile. What you have there is a site containing six nuclear reactors, which is under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. The operators are the Ukrainian operators. But of course, this leads to possibilities of friction,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned in an interview with France 24.

In Ukraine, there have been “several situations” where “basic security guidelines or norms” have been “compromised, if not completely violated” over the past week, Grossi said.

The Ukrainian regulator told the IAEA that “eight of the country’s 15 reactors remained operating, including two at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, three at Rivne, one at Khmelnytskyy, and two at South Ukraine,” adding that the “radiation levels at all nuclear power plants are in the normal range.”

According to a new letter sent to the Biden administration on Tuesday, top House and Senate Republicans are calling on the administration to provide Ukraine with Soviet and Russian-made air defense systems to help defend against Russia’s invasion.

The unclassified letter does not specify which air defense system should be provided, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the US to help it acquire both S-300 air defense systems and MiG-29 fighter jets.

The State Department has been working to identify which countries currently have the Soviet-made S-300 air defense systems and is currently examining how they could be transferred to Ukraine, sources told CNN on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Zelensky will give a virtual speech before the House and Senate in which he’s expected to renew his requests for more weapons, as well as a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

The lawmakers said that the new $3 billion in funding Congress approved in an emergency supplement should be used to deliver the military aid to the Ukrainians and also help reimburse US allies who have provided equipment and depleted their own stocks. 

In addition to the strategic and tactical air defense systems, the Republicans are pushing the Biden administration to immediately deliver additional Stinger anti-air missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles to the Ukrainians.

On Monday, CNN reported that the Biden administration’s $200 million aid package announced this past weekend includes funding for both Stingers and Javelins.

The GOP lawmakers also pressed the Biden administration to reconsider its position on transferring Polish MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, arguing that the Biden administration reached a “flawed conclusion” when it decided that such a step would be escalatory.

Last week, the Pentagon said it was opposed to Poland’s proposal to transfer jets to Ukraine via the United States because it could escalate tensions with Russia, arguing also that the jets wouldn’t make a major difference in Ukraine’s fight because it’s not currently flying many aircrafts.

In addition to the air defense systems and MiG jets, Republican lawmakers are calling on the Defense and State Departments to deliver a host of other weapons and additional aid to Ukraine, including:

Additionally, the letter urges, the administration should begin to engage with industry leaders in the near term to ramp up production of non-lethal military equipment.

That equipment includes, but is not limited to:

 The letter was signed by the following six Republicans:

Talks with Russia finished for the day and will resume on Wednesday, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak tweeted on Tuesday.

“We’ll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise. During the break, work in subgroups will be continued,” he said of where thing stand in the talks.

The fourth round of talks between the two sides began on Monday before being “paused” until Tuesday.

According to a senior US defense official, Russian forces have now fired more than 950 missiles since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. 

Both Russian forces and Ukrainian forces have approximately 90% of their combat power “available to them,” the official added. 

The US “continues to assess limited to no progress by Russian ground forces in achieving their objectives,” the official said, noting that Russian forces have not advanced closer to the capital city of Kyiv.

The US estimates that Russian forces are “still about 15-20 kilometers to the northwest and about 20-30 kilometers to the east” of Kyiv, the official said. 

In the last 24 hours, security assistance from the US and other nations “continues” to arrive in Ukraine. The shipments that arrived within the last 24 hours “did include weapons,” the official added.

These comments were given to reporters on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s flight from Washington, DC, to Brussels. Austin is traveling to Brussels to attend the NATO Defense Ministerial.

A massive spending bill signed into law by US President Joe Biden Tuesday provides for a one-time $13.6 billion infusion of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as it fights back against Russia’s invasion.

The amount of money the legislation includes for Ukraine increased during last-minute negotiations, growing from the $10 billion the White House had asked for earlier in the month.

The Ukraine aid is attached to an appropriations law that sets spending limits for the federal government for fiscal year 2022, which started in October. Lawmakers have haggled over the full-year appropriations bill for months and have passed three stopgap funding bills to keep the government operating in the meantime.

The text of the 2,741-page bill was released last week and Congress passed the legislation before a Friday deadline, avoiding a government shutdown.

How it’s going to be spent:

Military aid: About $6.5 billion, roughly half of the aid package, will go to the US Department of Defense so it can deploy troops to the region and send defense equipment to Ukraine, according to a summary of the bill provided by the House Appropriations Committee.

The US has deployed thousands of troops throughout Europe, both before and during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO, is a line that the US and its Western allies have not been willing to cross.

Humanitarian aid: More than $4 billion will provide humanitarian support for refugees fleeing Ukraine and people displaced within Ukraine, as well as provide emergency food assistance, health care and urgent support for vulnerable communities inside the region, according to a fact sheet provided by the House Appropriations Committee.

Economic aid: The package will provide nearly $1.8 billion to help respond to the economic needs in Ukraine and neighboring countries, such as cybersecurity and energy issues.

The law also calls for $25 million for the US Agency for Global Media, an independent federal agency, to combat disinformation in news broadcasts abroad. Another $120 million will help support local Ukraine activists and journalists and promote accountability for Russian human rights violations.

Read more about the aid package here.

The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Tuesday announced further sanctions against Russian and Belarusian citizens, including Putin’s “key political allies and propagandists.”

The sanctioning of 370 further individuals and entities brings the total number of those sanctioned since the Russian invasion of Ukraine to over 1000, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCO) spokesperson told CNN.

Of the newly sanctioned individuals, 51 are oligarchs and their family members, according to the FCO. In total, the nine oligarchs sanctioned Tuesday under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act have a combined estimated worth of more than $130 billion (£100 billion), the FCO said, citing Forbes data.

The key political allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin sanctioned reportedly include Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov and Russian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova were also included in the latest round of sanctions.

“We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin — from major oligarchs, to his Prime Minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation. We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine,” Truss said. The UK is working closely with its allies and will keep “increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off funding for the Russian war machine,” Truss added.

The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans. All those sanctioned had previously been targeted by the United States, European Union, Canada or Australia, a spokesperson said.

US President Joe Biden plans to detail US assistance to Ukraine in a speech on Wednesday, hours after Ukraine’s president is expected to lay out new requests for help in a speech to Congress.

President Volodomyr Zelensky is likely to make fresh calls for steps like a no-fly zone and help acquiring fighter jets in his address to lawmakers. Biden has rejected those steps as potentially dragging the US into conflict with Russia, suggesting it could begin World War III.

But he is intent on demonstrating the support the US is providing, and will detail it in a speech on Wednesday, the White House says. 

Biden referenced the speech in remarks on Tuesday: “I’ll have much more to say about this tomorrow,” he said when signing a spending bill.

Speaking on CNN, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Biden would talk “about the security assistance that we have provided, that we are providing, it’s just unparalleled in amounts. Anti-tank, anti-aircraft, anti-armor, all kinds of support that the Ukrainians have asked for.”

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said there are reports of cars leaving Mariupol, noting that if this is in fact the beginning of an evacuation corridor, such a development would be a “step forward.”

“There are reports today that some cars have been let out of Mariupol, and that there are other cars waiting to leave Mariupol, and if indeed this is the beginning of humanitarian corridor to allow people to escape a city where they have been deprived by the Russians of food and water and medicine, and no electricity in a very cold time of year, then this will be a step forward,” Sherman said on CNN.

“But we have a long way to go. The United States wants to do everything we can to support the Ukrainian people and to impose consequences on Vladimir Putin who has done this — this premeditated, unjust and unprovoked war of choice to invade Ukraine,” she added.

Over the weekend, Sherman said there were signs that the Russians were beginning to be interested in serious negotiations, but she rolled back those comments on Tuesday.

She also pointed to her remarks over the weekend where she described Putin’s current focus being on the war itself.

“At the end of that paragraph on Sunday, I also said so far, Vladimir Putin has not shown any sign but that he wants to continue this war of carnage. So, unfortunately, I think any of those little signs have disappeared,” Sherman said, adding that getting cars out of Mariupol would be a positive step forward.

In remarks ahead of Tuesday’s omnibus funding bill signing, US President Joe Biden touted funding allocated to assist Ukraine in defending itself against Russia’s invasion, boasting “with this new security funding and the drawdown authorities this bill, we’re moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country.” 

“With this bill, we’re going to send a message to the American people — a strong message that Democrats and Republicans can actually come together and get something done…to fill our most basic responsibilities, to keep the government open and running for the American people, serving the American people, investing in your communities, and investing in American people will do it in a fiscally responsible way,” Biden boasted. “This bill also includes historic funding, $13.6 billion dollars to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact on surrounding countries,” he said.

Russia’s invasion has “united people all across America, united our two parties in Congress, and united the freedom loving world to act with urgency and resolve that we’re doing right now, that you provided me the ability to do,” the president said, acknowledging the lawmakers in the room. “I want to thank Congressional leadership for working so quickly to make sure we have the resources we need — economic, humanitarian, and security to continue our forceful response to this crisis.” 

The Senate passed the omnibus spending bill late Thursday on a bipartisan vote of 68-31 — of the $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine, money is set aside for humanitarian, defense and economic assistance. The bill also includes provisions for sanctions enforcement.

Breakdown of funding: The emergency aid package sets aside $4 billion to help refugees who have fled or were displaced within the country and it increases the President’s authority for defense equipment transfer to Ukraine and other allied nations to $3 billion, according to a fact sheet from the House Appropriations Committee.

In Tuesday’s remarks, Biden touted a record $1.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine over the past year, acknowledging that while it’s been “exceedingly difficult to get supplies in Ukraine while the Russian onslaught continues… we’re managing to get supplies in Ukraine regularly thanks to the bravery of so many frontline workers who are still at their posts.”

The Prime Ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have arrived by train in Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The prime ministers arrived in the city on behalf of the EU council, Shmyal said on Twitter, praising the “courage of true friends.”

The leaders would discuss “support of Ukraine and strengthening sanctions against the Russian aggression,” he added.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also tweeted pictures the show him in conversation with the other visiting prime ministers.

“It is here, in war-torn Kyiv, that history is being made. It is here, that freedom fights against the world of tyranny. It is here that the future of us all hangs in the balance. EU supports UA, which can count on the help of its friends - we brought this message to Kyiv today,” he said.

One day after France and Mexico said they were going to seek United Nations General Assembly approval of a humanitarian resolution on Ukraine, the Russian ambassador disclosed Moscow was submitting its own resolution to the UN Security Council. Russia had objected to the initial draft resolution in the Security Council, where it has veto power.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said that “the chances are still there” for Russia to agree to a humanitarian resolution, adding that their conditions will “call for negotiated ceasefire, evacuation of civilians, the respect of international humanitarian and human rights law, condemnation of attacks against civilians and civilian objects safe and unhindered passage and unhindered humanitarian assistance.”

When pressed on details of resolution conditions, Nebenzia said Russia would also call for the demilitarization of Ukraine, no future threats from that country toward Russia and that Ukraine not join NATO.

Nebenzia also said Russian President Vladimir Putin will stop the assault on Ukraine “when the goals of the special military operations are achieved.”

Ireland’s Ambassador to the UN Geraldine Byrne Nason said that she has not yet seen any proposals from Russia but remains focused on the main issue at hand: providing humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians. 

Nason said she is willing to work with her Russian colleagues “on all aspects of the text” of the draft resolution to be presented to the UN General Assembly. 

“The important thing is right now I think that we saw the result in the General Assembly where you have no veto and where you have the broad body of opinion calling this war in Ukraine for what it is, an active aggression by the Russian federation and calling for humanitarian support for the people in Ukraine,” Nason said.

Pope Francis will hold an extraordinary prayer called a “consecration” for Russia and Ukraine next week, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.

The prayer is unique because it is connected to a belief in a 1917 prophecy of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, in which it is claimed she said that the consecration of Russia would usher in a period of world peace.

“Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated,” the prophecy reads.

The Catholic Church holds that Mary asked for prayers for the “conversion of Russia,” in particular for the “consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart,” saying that if this is done, “Russia will be converted and there will be peace.”

This special request of the Virgin Mary is known as the Third Secret of Fatima, for the name of the town in Portugal where she is said to have appeared to three children in 1917.

John Paul II was devoted to the Virgin of Fatima, as he believed she saved him from being killed during an assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima.

On March 25, 1984, John Paul II consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but did not specifically mention Russia, leading some to suggest that the consecration had not been done properly.

Pope Francis will perform the consecration in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same date as John Paul II did, March 25, according to the Vatican statement.

On the same day, Cardinal Krajewski, the papal almoner, will perform the consecration in Fatima, the statement says.

The Pope has so far refrained from calling on Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to condemn the war, and he has not publicly condemned Putin or Russia by name, despite his fervent appeals for an end to the war. Other Catholic Church officials, however, have not been so reticent.

Here’s what else religious leaders have said about the war:

Russian President Vladimir Putin presents flowers to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of his enthronement in Moscow on February 1, 2020.

Related article In Putin's vision for the world, a medieval narrative resurfaces

In an address on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his call to close Ukrainian airspace after a night of air alarms heard “almost all over” the country. 

“Each of the more than 800 Russian missiles that have hit our country is an answer to a long-standing question about NATO — whether the doors of the alliance are really open for Ukraine,” Zelensky said while speaking from his office Tuesday afternoon. “If they were open, if it was honest, we would not have to convince the alliance for 20 days to close the skies over Ukraine, to close from the death being brought by the Russian Air Force. But …they don’t hear or don’t want to hear us yet.”

He went on to call out NATO’s Article 5, the principle of collective defense, “weak” as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. 

“Some states of alliance have intimidated themselves, saying that they can’t answer. That they cannot collide with Russian missiles and planes in the Ukrainian sky. Because this, they say, will lead to escalation, will lead to the Third World War. … And what will they say if Russia goes further to Europe, attacking other countries? I am sure the same thing they say to Ukraine. Article 5 of the NATO treaty has never been as weak as it is now. This is just our opinion,” he said.

Some background: Article 5 is the principle that an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members. It’s been a cornerstone of the 30-member alliance since it was founded in 1949 as a counterweight to the Soviet Union.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that there will be an extraordinary summit on March 24 in Brussels to “address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our strong support for Ukraine, and further strengthening NATO’s deterrence & defense.” US President Joe Biden announced he will travel to Brussels for the meeting. 

Zelensky added that evacuation corridors from the cities of Sumy, Trostyanets, Lebedyn, Shostka and Konotop were “partially opened today,” but Russian forces “did not stop the shelling and disrupted the work of humanitarian corridors in the Kyiv region.” 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday that despite repeated requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House still does not support instituting a no-fly zone over Ukraine or supplying the Ukrainian Air Force with new fighter aircrafts.

“I would note that [the Pentagon] said that adding aircrafts to the Ukrainian inventory is not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force, relative to Russian capabilities,” Psaki told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during Tuesday’s press briefing. “And the assessment was that the transfer of these planes may be mistaken as escalatory, as we said, and could result in a significant Russian reaction, but that is the risk assessment that was done, that risk assessment hasn’t changed.”

On the topic of a no-fly zone, Psaki said Biden “has to look at decisions that are made through the prism of what is in our national security interests and global security interests, and he continues to believe that a no-fly zone would be escalatory, could prompt a war with Russia.” 

“I don’t believe there’s a lot of advocates calling for that at this point in time from Capitol Hill, but we certainly understand and recognize that is still a call from President Zelensky,” she added.

Zelensky is scheduled to virtually address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. In remarks Tuesday to Canada’s House of Commons, the Ukrainian president requested further military assistance and urged Canada to support closing Ukraine’s airspace from Russian military aircrafts.

“I would say that without knowing what he’s going to say tomorrow, we certainly are familiar with what the asks have been,” Psaki acknowledged Tuesday. “We have provided our own assessment of what does make sense and doesn’t make sense.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to say if US President Joe Biden will travel to Poland, as has been reported by some outlets, when he visits Europe for a NATO summit next Thursday. 

“We’re still working through the final details of the trip and what it may look like, but I don’t have any more details at this point in time,” Psaki told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. She said the President’s objective “is to meet, in person, face-to-face with his European counterparts, and talk about and assess where we are at this point in the conflict, in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.”

“We’ve been incredibly aligned to date — that doesn’t happen by accident,” she added. “The President’s a big believer in face-to-face diplomacy, so it’s an opportunity to do exactly that.”

Psaki declined to detail if Biden would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying there’s “nothing on the table at this point in time.”

“But the real focus right now is to meet with NATO partners in Brussels. If there are additional steps, we’ll share all those details with all of you,” she said.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, two Nigerian students who have since returned home after fleeing Russia’s invasion of the country have described their traumatic escape.

Adetomiwa Adeniyi, 24, and Amamchim Steve-Ajufo, 17, were both studying medicine in Ukraine before Russian troops invaded. The Nigerian government has been evacuating its citizens escaping the war in Ukraine, and more than 1,500 of them have been flown back home, according to the authorities.

Adeniyi and Steve-Ajufo were among Nigerian students recently evacuated by the government.

The pair crossed into neighboring Romania through the Ukrainian border. The experience, they said, was harrowing and unfamiliar.

“There were three lines: one seemingly for the Ukrainians, one for the Indians, and one for Africans. I wondered why it was like that since we were all trying to get out,” Adeniyi told CNN’s Zain Asher.

“If you were Ukrainian…or white, it was almost as though you had a fast track to the gate (of the border to Romania). I lost the hope that I’ll be able to cross,” he added.

Several people CNN spoke with in recent days — mainly African and Indian students schooling in Ukraine — complained of difficulty crossing the Ukraine border to bordering nations.

Others said they had experienced racist treatment by Ukrainian security forces and border officials who reportedly prioritized Ukrainian refugees and “showed prejudice against foreign students.”

Steve-Ajufo said she was ordered back to the queue meant for Africans by Ukrainian border officials when she was seen standing among Ukrainians.

“I accidentally went to the Ukrainian line and instantly I was told to return to my side. I cried a whole lot. The border officials kept screaming ‘go back, go back!.’ I was so tired and cold, and I did not understand what was going on. I wanted to give up several times but I kept reminding myself of my mum,” the 17-year-old medical student said.

Adeniyi and Steve-Ajufo were eventually able to cross into the Romanian capital of Bucharest, where they were flown back to Nigeria in a chartered flight provided by the Nigerian government.

The young Nigerian students, however, told CNN that Ukraine had become their home, and they were devastated to leave the Eastern European country now under siege by Russian forces.

“It (Ukraine) is my home. I’ve almost spent six years there,” Adeniyi told CNN.

According to Steve-Ajufo, her home (Ukraine) has been “snatched” from her.

“It breaks my heart,” she says. “Anytime I think about it or see news that somewhere else (in Ukraine) has been bombed or someone else has died, I’m angry that my home was snatched from me. I’m traumatized,” she told CNN.

Ukraine is home to many foreign students who opt to study there because it is more affordable than other western nations. The country also has a strong reputation for medical courses.

Around 4,000 Nigerian students study in Ukraine with most of them studying medicine, according to the Nigerian President’s office.

Watch more of their story here.

Russia has imposed sanctions against US President Joe Biden, his son, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, other US officials, and “individuals associated with them,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“In response to a series of unprecedented sanctions prohibiting, among other things, entry into the United States for top officials of the Russian Federation, from March 15 of this year, the Russian ‘stop list’ includes on the basis of reciprocity President J. Biden, Secretary of State A. Blinken, Secretary of Defense L. Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff M. Milley, as well as a number of department heads and prominent US figures,” the statement read.

The statement went on to explain that this retaliation step was “an inevitable consequence of the extremely Russophobic course taken by the current US Administration, which, in a desperate attempt to maintain American hegemony, has relied, discarding all decency, on the frontal constricting of Russia.”

“At the same time, we do not refuse to maintain official relations if they meet our national interests, and, if necessary, we will solve problems arising from the status of persons who appear on the ‘black list’ in order to organize high-level contacts,” the statement continues.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday addressed Russia’s recent sanctions against top US officials, suggesting the restrictions will not have much of an impact on their intended targets. 

“(I)t won’t surprise any of you that none of us are planning tourist trips to Russia, none of us have bank accounts that we won’t be able to access, so we will forge ahead,” Psaki told reporters during the White House press briefing when asked about the sanctions’ impact.  

Psaki also noted that Russia’s statement on the sanctions omitted that “President Biden is a ‘Junior,’” joking that “they may have sanctioned his dad, may he rest in peace.”

Here is a list of people included in Russia’s “stop list”:

The statement announces more sanctions will follow to expand the list by including “top US officials, military officials, lawmakers, businessmen, experts, and media people who are Russophobic or contribute to inciting hatred towards Russia and the introduction of restrictive measures.”

Russian government and its banking and other institutions will collectively carry out these sanctions, it added.

Russia will withdraw from the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog based in Strasbourg, France, as of March 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Council of Europe, whose brief is to uphold human rights and the rule of law and is separate from the European Union, had suspended Russia’s membership on Feb. 25, the day after it invaded Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry’s statement noted this suspension in its reasoning and claimed that the NATO and EU members are turning the Council of Europe “into an instrument of anti-Russian policy.”

On March 15, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, was given a notice of the withdrawal, the statement added.

Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who held an anti-war protest on live state TV, told media she was questioned by authorities for over 14 hours and wasn’t allowed legal counsel.

Ovsyannikova was found guilty on Tuesday of an administrative offense by a Moscow court for a video statement that called for Russians to protest.

She had recorded it prior to appearing with an anti-war poster on Channel One.

“Those were indeed very difficult days of my life. I literally spent two days with no sleep. The questioning lasted over 14 hours, I wasn’t allowed to contact my relatives or friends, I wasn’t provided with any legal assistance. So I am in quite a difficult position,” Ovsyannikova told the media following a court hearing.

Sergei Orlov, deputy mayor of Mariupol, said Russian forces are “destroying” the besieged Ukrainian city and that patients in a hospital were used as captives.

“There are a lot of fights on our streets, and the situation yesterday was terrible,” he told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga.

“They’re destroying the city. For example, yesterday, we counted 22 aircraft which were bombing our city, and at least 100 bombs they used to bomb our city. The damage is awful,” he said.

Orlov said a hospital in the city was overtaken by Russian troops, who used doctors and patients as captives, which he labeled a “war crime.”

“The biggest hospital in the 17th district of our cities is captured by Russian troops and the Russian army used doctors and patients as hostages in this building. We do not have any access to them,” he said.

A Ukrainian official has also accused Russian troops of holding people captive at the hospital on Tuesday. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional administration, said doctors and patients were being held against their will in the Mariupol regional intensive care hospital, also referred to as Hospital No. 2.  

While 2,000 cars were able to get out of Mariupol on Tuesday, according to the city council, Orlov said between 350,000-400,000 people are still in the city.

A large convoy of humanitarian aid that was supposed to arrive on Sunday had still not reached the city as of Tuesday morning, according to officials.

There are shortages of water and food in the city, Orlov said.

View drone video of the destruction in Mariupol here:

US President Joe Biden is set to travel to Europe next week for an extraordinary meeting and show of US support for Ukraine, the White House has confirmed. 

Biden will join NATO world leaders in person in Brussels, Belgium, next Thursday, March 24. 

 The US mission to NATO shared the news on Twitter earlier on Tuesday.

“The President will travel to Brussels, Belgium, later this month, where he will join the extraordinary NATO Summit on March 24 to discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, as well as to refer reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our NATO allies,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at Tuesday’s press briefing, confirming the tweet from NATO. 

Psaki continued, “He will also join a scheduled European Council summit to discuss our shared concerns about Ukraine, including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence and address other challenges related to the conflict.”

The visit will mark a quickly-arranged and critical meeting with key allies amid Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine as NATO attempts to curb Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing aggression. 

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he had convened a leaders summit.

“I have convened an extraordinary Summit on 24 March at #NATO HQ. We will address #Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine, our strong support for Ukraine, and further strengthening NATO’s deterrence & defence. At this critical time, North America & Europe must continue to stand together,” Stoltenberg said on Twitter.

The trip follows a visit to Europe last week by US Vice President Kamala Harris. 

CNN’s Lindsay Isaac contributed reporting to this post.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has written a letter to Pope Francis asking him to visit the city, according to Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni.

Klitschko wrote to Francis on March 8, saying that the Pope’s presence in Kyiv “is key for saving lives and paving the path to peace in our city, country and beyond.”

Klitschko also suggested a joint video conference with President Zelensky if the Pope were not able to personally make the visit.

The Vatican spokesperson acknowledged receipt of the letter but did not say whether the Pope would visit Kyiv or participate in a video conference.

The spokesperson said that Francis was “close to the suffering of the city and its people, to those who had to flee and to those working in the city’s administration.”

The Pope has also appealed for an end to the war and has offered the Vatican’s assistance in mediation.

A Ukrainian official has accused Russian troops of holding people captive at a Mariupol hospital on Tuesday.  

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Head of Donetsk regional administration, said doctors and patients were being held against their will in the Mariupol regional intensive care hospital, also referred to as Hospital No. 2.  

In a statement posted on his official Telegram channel, Kyrylenko said one of the hospital employees managed to pass on information about what was happening.  

“It is impossible to get out of the hospital. They shoot hard, we sit in the basement. Cars have not been able to drive to the hospital for two days. High-rise buildings around us are burning … the Russians have rushed 400 people from neighboring buildings to our hospital. We can’t leave,” Kyrylenko said, quoting the employee of the hospital.  

Kyrylenko said the hospital was “practically destroyed” several days ago, but that its staff and patients stayed in the basement where the patients continued to be treated.

“I appeal to international human rights organizations to respond to these vicious violations of the norms and customs of war, to these egregious crimes against humanity. Russia and every citizen involved in crimes in Ukraine must be punished,” he said.  

President Zelensky addressed the Canadian parliament on Tuesday, reiterating his global call to close air space over Ukraine and implement tougher sanctions against Russia and Russian officials.

Fresh sanctions imposed by and on Russians: Russia announced sanctions against US President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, US officials and other associated individuals. It also banned Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand from entering the country.

Canada imposed new restrictions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US targeted 11 Russian military leaders – some of whom have been involved in suppressing Russian protesters and dissent in occupied areas of Ukraine — with sanctions on Tuesday, in addition to new sanctions from the Treasury Department.

The UK and the EU also announced sanctions against Russia. More than 600 Russian nationals are being targeted in the EU’s sanctions. The UK’s sanctions include banning the export of luxury goods to Russia and tariffs on goods worth more than $1 billion.

An update on the protest on Russian state media broadcast: A lawyer for the Russian television editor who held up an anti-war sign during a live broadcast on Monday confirmed to CNN that they have found Marina Ovsyannikova and she is in Moscow court. A photo showing Ovsyannikova and one of her lawyers, Anton Gashinsky, was published on Telegram this afternoon. Dmitry Zakhvatov and other lawyers had been trying to locate the Channel One editor since her protest on Monday.

Refugee crisis: More than three million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday.

Kyiv under attack: At least four buildings in residential areas of Kyiv were hit by strikes early Tuesday morning, killing four people. 

Despite 2,500 civilians leaving, thousands are still trapped in Mariupol: An estimated 2,000 private cars have been able to leave the besieged city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine on Tuesday, Mariupol’s city council said in a statement. The departures took place despite the ongoing failure to formally establish safe corridors to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, which has been besieged since March 1. 

Further casualties: A strike in northwestern Ukraine on Monday killed at least 19 people, officials said Tuesday, after having initially reported no casualties. The strike hit a TV tower near the city of Rivne and officials said the area was still being cleared.

Zelensky to meet EU leaders: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Slovenia’s Janez Janša and the Czech Republic’s Petr Fiala are heading to Kyiv from Poland to meet Zelensky and confirm the EU’s “unequivocal support” and “present a broad package of support.”

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, told US lawmakers on Tuesday that “very small groups of people” are “trying” to make their way to Ukraine from Syria to fight alongside Russian forces as foreign fighters.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the US has seen evidence that Russia is trying to recruit foreign fighters from the Middle East to fight alongside their forces in Ukraine previously. 

Russia has banned Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand from entering the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted on Tuesday.

These individuals, as of March 15, are on a “black list,” the tweet explains.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is “very closely monitoring Ukraine’s airspace and the border areas,” following recent incidents in Ukraine.

When asked about the Russian airstrike that killed dozens on Sunday near the Polish border, and what consequences there would be if Russian missiles entered NATO territory accidentally or on purpose, Stoltenberg said: “Our main responsibility is to protect and defend all NATO allies, so one billion people in 30 different countries.”

There is “always a risk for incidents and accidents,” when there is fighting going on close to NATO borders, he warned.

NATO, he stressed, would make “every effort to prevent such incidents and accidents and if they happen to make sure that they don’t spiral out of control and create really dangerous situations.”

The secretary general also said that, “NATO’s integrated air and missile defense tracked the flight path of an object which entered Romanian airspace on Sunday.” 

In response, a “Romanian fighter aircraft scrambled immediately to investigate and the Romanian authorities and NATO are reviewing this incident.”

NATO is also reviewing last week’s drone crash in Croatia. With more military activity by planes and drones in the air, there is an increased risk of accidents, he added.

Read more about NATO and their members here.

The Czech Republic has seen 161,091 Ukrainian refugees apply for special long-term visas since the start of the Russian invasion in late February, according to the Czech Ministry of the Interior, citing Monday’s figures.

More than 11,000 refugees registered with Czech authorities on Monday. That number dropped slightly below the seven-day average of 12,428. With 86,966 new arrivals, more than half of the Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic registered in the past week.

As Ukrainians are not required visas for entry to the Czech Republic, the number of refugees in the country is likely to be considerably higher.

Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky asked Canadian lawmakers to imagine how they would personally react to an invasion of the country’s own cities in a speech before Canada’s Parliament on Tuesday.

“Can you only imagine that on 4:00 a.m., you start hearing bomb explosions, severe explosions? Can you imagine hearing you, your children, hear all of these severe explosions? Bombing of airport? Bombing of Ottawa airport? Tens of other cities of your wonderful country — can you imagine that?” he said.

Further, he asked them to imagine the attacks on Mariupol in southeast Ukraine in terms of a personal city.

“Imagine someone is laying siege to Vancouver. Can you just imagine that for a second? All these people who are left in such city. That is exactly the situation that the city of Mariupol is suffering right now,” he said. “And they are left without heat or hydro or without means of communicating, almost without food, without water.”

He continued the analogy: “Can you imagine the famous CN Tower in Toronto, if it was hit by Russian bombs? Of course I don’t wish this on anyone, but this is our reality in which we live.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his global call to close the airspace over Ukraine and for Canada and global allies to increase their efforts of implementing sanctions.

“I know you support Ukraine. We’ve been friends with you … but also I would like you to understand and I would like you to feel this, what we feel every day. We want to live and we want to be victorious. We want to prevail for the sake of life,” Zelensky said in an address via video to Canada’s parliament.  

“Can you imagine when you called your friends, your friendly nation, and you ask, ‘Please close the sky, close the airspace, please stop the bombing.’ How many more missiles have to fall on our cities until you make this happen? And they … express their deep concerns about the situation. When we talked with our partners, they said, ‘Please, hold on, hold on a little longer,’” he said. 

Zelensky also said he has not heard a clear answer on becoming a NATO member.

“You’ve offered your help, your assistance, at our earliest request, you supply us with the military assistance, with humanitarian assistance, you imposed severe sanctions, serious sanctions. At the same time, we see that unfortunately, they did not bring the end to the war,” he added.

Zelensky said “you all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine and by doing that, to protect Europe from Russian threat.”

Pierre Zakrzewski, a longtime Fox News photojournalist, was killed while reporting in Ukraine, the network said on Tuesday.

“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share the news this morning regarding our beloved cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski,” Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott wrote to employees Tuesday morning. “Pierre was killed in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine.”

He had been reporting from Ukraine since February and was with correspondent Benjamin Hall “when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire,” Scott said.

Zakrzewski was a veteran war photojournalist who had “covered nearly every internal story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria,” Scott said.

“His talents were vast and there wasn’t a role that he didn’t jump in to help with in the field — from photographer to engineer to editor to producer — and he did it all under immense pressure with tremendous skill,” Scott said. “He was profoundly committed to telling the story and his bravery, professionalism and work ethic were renowned among journalists at every media outlet.”

“He was wildly popular — everyone in the media industry who has covered a foreign story knew and respected Pierre,” Scott added.

Scott said it was a “heartbreaking day for Fox News Media and for all journalists risking their lives to deliver the news.”

Meanwhile, Hall remains in the hospital in Ukraine, she told colleagues.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, said a Ukrainian journalist, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, was also killed in the incident.

Fox has not yet confirmed that Kuvshynova was working with the Fox team.

The news of Zakrzewski’s death comes days after Brent Renaud, an award-winning American journalist, was killed in the Ukrainian town of Irpin.

Andriy Nebitov, the head of the Kyiv region police, said that Russian forces shot Renaud, adding that “the occupants cynically kill even journalists of international media, who’ve been trying to tell the truth about atrocities of Russian military in Ukraine.”

Another journalist, Juan Arredondo, was also wounded in Ukraine on Sunday.

Press freedom groups have denounced the violence journalists are facing while covering the war. The Committee to Protect Journalists, after the death of Renaud, called on Russian forces to “stop all violence against journalists and other civilians at once.”

Canadian lawmakers gave a long standing ovation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before he addressed them via video on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed Zelensky and applauded his courage as Russia invades Ukraine, saying, “Your courage and the courage of your people inspires us all.”

“You’re defending the right of Ukrainians to choose their own future, and in doing so, you’re defending the values that form the pillars of all free democratic countries — freedom, human rights, justice, truth international order,” Trudeau said.

Earlier today, Canada imposed new sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including restrictions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported President Vladimir Putin’s choice to invade the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly announced in a statement Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is currently addressing Canada’s parliament via video.

Zelensky described the current situation in Ukraine, saying via a translator, “Every night is a horrible night. Russians are shelling from all kinds of artillery, from tanks. They’re hitting civilian infrastructure, they hit buildings. Can you imagine that there is a fire starting at the nuclear power plant? And that’s exactly what happened in our country. Each city, they are marching through, they’re taking down Ukrainian flags. Can you imagine someone taking down your Canadian flags in Montreal and other Canadian cities?”

Earlier today, Canada imposed new sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including restrictions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported President Vladimir Putin’s choice to invade the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly announced in a statement Tuesday.

The Biden administration targeted 11 Russian military leaders – some of whom have been involved in suppressing Russian protesters and dissent in occupied areas of Ukraine — with sanctions on Tuesday, in addition to new sanctions from the Treasury Department, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced. 

Blinken said that “the Russian government has intensified a crackdown against its own citizens’ freedom of expression, including for members of the press, as well as freedom of association and peaceful assembly. Today in Russia, those who provide factual reporting on the invasion or criticize Putin face criminal charges.”

This action comes as the National Guard of Russia “has cracked down on Russian citizens who have taken to the streets to protest their government’s brutal campaign in Ukraine,” Blinken said, adding that the list of Russian military officials hit includes Viktor Zolotov, the head of the National Guard.

“In addition, Zolotov’s troops are responsible for suppressing dissent in occupied areas of Ukraine. More broadly, the designation of these 11 senior Russian defense leaders continues our imposition of severe costs on Russia’s Ministry of Defense as it pursues its brutal military invasion of Ukraine, which has led to unnecessary casualties and suffering, including the deaths of children,” Blinken said.

“The world has been transfixed as Russia has perpetrated a premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine. Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine has resulted in widespread human suffering and casualties, including the deaths of innocent civilians, including children. Today, the Department of State is continuing to impose severe costs on Russian military leaders,” according to the State Department. 

The State Department also announced new visa restrictions on 38 current and former Russian government officials believed to be involved in suppressing dissent in Russia and abroad; new sanctions on two of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) officers; visa restrictions on six individuals involved in attacks on Chechen dissidents living in Europe; and visa restrictions on 25 individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Belarus.

Global health officials have warned that there will be a rise of Covid-19 in Ukraine tied to Russia’s invasion, but doctors also worry about a surge in other infectious diseases too: polio, cholera and measles. Doctors without borders also claimed that Ukraine is facing an insulin shortage.

Before the war, Ukraine had low vaccination rates against those diseases, Kate White, an emergency program manager for Doctors Without Borders, told CNN on Tuesday.

“In terms of what we call vaccine-preventable diseases, the status in Ukraine was that the population was not vaccinated to the extent which you would get herd immunity like you would in many other European countries or in the US,” White told CNN.

“Given that that was your baseline, and then now we have a situation where that system or routine immunization is no longer functioning because the health system has been disrupted — and then on top of that, you have the overall public health situation, so many cities where lack of access to health care is compromised, some places where they no longer have the water supply that they used to, they don’t have electricity, there’s issues with sanitation — so, all of these risk factors pile up on top of each other, which means that there is an increased risk,” White said, referring to diseases like polio, cholera and measles.

“There was a polio outbreak in Ukraine last year,” White said. “Ukraine was the last country within Europe to have a cholera outbreak in 2011, and that was in Mariupol. And as you are probably aware, Mariupol right now has significant issues around water and sanitation and an inability to do your basic kind of daily activities around hygiene.”

The city of Mariupol remains a major site of Russian attacks and damage.

“There’s also a risk of measles,” White said. “The baseline vaccination status was not particularly high.”

White added that she has heard of some physicians and volunteers testing positive for Covid-19 while in Ukraine, but “testing capacity is minimal right now.”

Last week, officials at the World Health Organization said that as the pandemic continues, Russia’s invasion will impact the spread of coronavirus.

“Certainly, there’ll be a rise in Covid-19 within the population within Ukraine, without a doubt, because not testing, without access to treatment, with vaccinations stopped, and there’s already low vaccination — I think about 34% or 35% vaccination rate before the conflict,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said in a news briefing last week. “So, there are many people who still remain vulnerable to infection.”

Additionally, the organization claimed that Ukraine is facing an insulin shortage.

In a statement, the World Health Organization lists insulin as one of the many medications it is supplying to Ukraine.

According to the International Diabetes Foundation, there are over 2.3 million people with diabetes in Ukraine, making up 7.1% of the population. 

NATO is concerned that Russia might use chemical weapons in a “false flag” operation in Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

Moscow’s “absurd” claims about biological labs and chemical weapon is part of a “long list of lies,” which causes worry about the possibility of such an attack, the NATO chief warned.

“They claimed they did not plan to invade Ukraine but they did. They claimed that they were withdrawing their troops, but then sent in even more. They claim to be protecting civilians, but they are killing civilians,” he said while speaking at a press conference in Brussels, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal” invasion of Ukraine is “causing death and destruction every day.” 

“It has shocked the world and shaken the international order,” he added.

NATO defense ministers will hold a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

Here’s why is this under discussion: US President Joe Biden warned on Friday that Russia will pay a “severe price” if the country uses chemical weapons in Ukraine. While the US has so far not presented any evidence that Russia plans to use chemical weapons in Ukraine, the White House — most notably, press secretary Jen Psaki — has warned that the weapons could be used in the conflict. In a tweet, she also noted Russia’s “long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons.”

The US government previously found that the Russian government used chemical weapons in both the 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and in 2018 against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in England.

Read more here.

More than three million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday. 

The organization, a United Nations agency, said that 157,000 of those who have left the country were foreign nationals. 

Poland was by far the biggest recipient of refugees from Ukraine. As of Sunday, more than 1.7 million people arrived from Ukraine to Poland, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The United States applied new sanctions Tuesday on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has allied with Russia in its war in Ukraine.

A number of other Russians, including a Russian judge, were also targeted with sanctions for human rights abuses, according to the US Treasury Department.

The sanctions were applied to Lukashenko as well as his wife, Halina. They would block their property and interests in the United States and prohibit Americans from engaging in transactions with them.

“Today’s designations demonstrate the United States will continue to impose concrete and significant consequences for those who engage in corruption or are connected to gross violations of human rights,” Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Andrea Gacki said. “We condemn Russia’s attacks on humanitarian corridors in Ukraine and call on Russia to cease its unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine.”

The US previously applied sanctions to members of Lukashenko’s family in December after a migrant crisis on Belarus’s border with Poland, which led to accusations of human rights abuses.

The US has also targeted Belarus with sanctions previously for its role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including extending export control policies to Belarus and preventing diversion of tech and software to Russia through the country.

In addition to the Lukashenkos, the US targeted four individuals involved in the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in suspicious circumstances in 2009.

While 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in late February, men between 18 and 60 years old have been banned from leaving.

Many of those who have stayed behind have joined the armed forces, but there are some who are not able to do so. The Territorial Defense Forces — the mostly volunteer branch of the Ukraine military — has received so many applications on the first day after the invasion, it had to start turning volunteers away.

Some of those volunteers who are not able to join are now on duty taking care of pets, flowers, houses and property left behind.

Volodymir Hrynivetsky’s wife and kids left Odessa, while he has stayed behind. He has keys to four apartments that belong to his friends and relative, and he says he’s never been busier.

Hrynivetsky visits the homes to water the plants and look after the animals that live in the communal yards. He’s taking care of supplies and is in constant communication with the relatives.

The daily rhythm of his life is very different now, and for the first time in decades, he has far more space for himself than he wants.

Officials in France and Germany offered their support for Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV editor who held up an anti-war sign during a live broadcast Monday. Her lawyer had not been able to locate her for some time after the protest, but a photo showing her and a lawyer was published on Telegram on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron offered protection to Ovsyannikova in a press conference Tuesday.

“France strongly condemns any imprisonment of a journalist as well as any manipulation, and obviously we are going to launch diplomatic steps aimed at offering protection either at the embassy or an asylum protection to your colleague,” Macron said at a Ukrainian refugee center in the French region of Maine-et-Loire, about 300 kilometers southwest of Paris.

Macron also said he will address the issue directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their next call. 

“In any case I hope that we can have full clarity as soon as possible about her personal situation and her ability to continue her work,” Macron added.

In addition, German Minister of Finance Christian Lindner offered his support in a post on Twitter.

“My respect for Marina Ovsyannikova. She has courage and is a fighter against propaganda and Putin’s war. Thank you. CL,” he wrote.

Ukrainian authorities have detained a “hacker” that was allegedly helping the Russian military send commands and instructions via mobile phone networks to its troops, Ukraine’s SBU security service said Tuesday.

The suspect, whom the SBU did not identify, was accused of being on “thousands” of phone calls to Russian officials, including senior military officials, and of sending text messages to Ukrainian officials suggesting that they surrender.

The battle for communication networks in Ukraine is ongoing as the Russian military continues to shell the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Hackers last week caused outages at a Ukrainian internet service provider Triolan, which has customers in major cities. Triolan blamed “the enemy,” a reference to Russia, but did not provide evidence supporting that claim.

A lawyer for the Russian television editor who held up an anti-war sign during a live broadcast on Monday confirmed to CNN that they have found Marina Ovsyannikova and she is in Moscow court.

A photo showing Ovsyannikova and one of her lawyers, Anton Gashinsky, was published on Telegram this afternoon. 

Dmitry Zakhvatov and other lawyers had been trying to locate the Channel One editor since her protest on Monday.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misspelled Marina Ovsyannikova’s name.

Talks with Russia are ongoing, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak said in a brief message on Twitter on Tuesday.

“Consultations on the main negotiation platform renewed. General regulation matters, ceasefire, withdrawal of troops from the territory of the country,” he tweeted.

The update comes after a fourth round of talks between the two sides began on Monday before being “paused” until Tuesday.

The Russian delegation said later Monday that talks are now happening “daily,” state media reported.

An estimated 2,000 private cars have been able to leave the besieged city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine on Tuesday, Mariupol’s city council said in a statement.

A further 2,000 vehicles were parked up on the main route out of the city as of 2 p.m. local time still waiting to leave, the statement added. 

The departures took place despite the ongoing failure to formally establish safe corridors to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, which has been besieged since March 1. 

A large convoy of humanitarian aid that was supposed to arrive on Sunday had still not reached the city as of Tuesday morning, according to officials.

In a message posted on its official Telegram channel, the city council advised residents to travel west along the coast to Mangush and Berdyansk and then continue northwest to Tokmak, Vasylivka and Zaporizhzhia.  

The council advised people to remove messaging apps and photos from their phones ahead of the journey, to refrain from taking any photographs during the trip and avoid driving during the night.  

On Monday, around 160 private cars managed to leave the city, the council said, adding that by 10 a.m. local time, about 300 Mariupol residents made it to Zaporizhzhia, where they had received assistance. 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told leaders of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force almost 100 children have been killed in Russian attacks on his country since the start of the invasion almost three weeks ago.

CNN cannot independently verify these casualty figures.

Zelensky made the comment as he called into question foreign companies’ commitment to a long-term boycott of Russia.  

“Some companies say they have left, but they are just waiting for the moment they can return to the Russian market. They don’t care about 97 children; up to now, 97 children have been killed here,” Zelensky told the leaders by video link.

A Russian presenter for the pro-Kremlin NTV channel Lilia Gildeeva “no longer works” for the channel, state news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday, citing the press office of the channel.

NTV refused to comment when contacted by CNN. CNN has attempted to contact Gildeeva for comment. The reason for her resignation has not been disclosed. 

The Telegram channel for popular Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov reported Gildeeva told him in an interview that she had resigned and left the country.

“At first I left [the country], I was afraid that they wouldn’t just let me go, then I submitted my resignation,” Varlamov quoted her as saying. 

The Varlamov channel on Telegram reported she had worked at NTV since 2006.

Canada is imposing new sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including restrictions on 15 Russian officials who enabled and supported President Vladimir Putin’s choice to invade the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly announced in a statement Tuesday.

The new measures seek to apply additional pressure on Putin to reverse course and align with measures taken by Canada’s international partners. According to Global Affairs Canada, the sanctions demonstrate a global commitment to impose sweeping economic measures on the Russian leadership to weaken its ability to wage war on Ukraine.

“Canada will not relent in its support of Ukraine and its people. President Putin made the choice to [further] his illegal and unjustifiable invasion, and he can also make the choice to end it by immediately ending the senseless violence and withdrawing his forces. Canada will not hesitate to take further action should the Russian leadership fail to change course,” Joly said in the release.

Spanish authorities have seized a $140 million yacht “of one of the principal oligarchs” of Russia, in the port of Barcelona, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said late Monday in a televised interview. They did not name the oligarch. 

“We have seized – the technical term is provisionally immobilized – a yacht of one of the principal oligarchs,” Sanchez told Spain’s La Sexta TV. “We are talking about a yacht that we estimate has a value of $140 million. … It is 85 meters (279 feet) long.”  

The yacht is named “Valerie,” and Spanish authorities want to determine if it is owned or controlled by a person or company sanctioned by the European Union due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Spain’s Transport Ministry said in a statement.  

This is the first “provisional immobilization” of a yacht related to the EU sanctions against Russia, carried out by the Merchant Marine Directorate, an agency of the Transport Ministry, the statement said.  

The superyacht was ready to sail away from Barcelona’s port, where it was docked at the installations of MB92, a company that does repairs and maintenance of superyachts, the ministry statement said.  

Sanchez said that Spain will contact intelligence services and economic departments of allied countries in the European Union and elsewhere to try to pinpoint the yacht’s ownership.  

“It’s complex because these are people who have intermediary companies,” Sanchez said, referring to the oligarchs. But he added “there will be more.”  

The Transport Ministry said: “If, as suspected, the ship is the property of a person or company included in the list of (Russia) sanctions by the European Council, then the superyacht will be immobilized until further order.”  

Authorities on Tuesday also provisionally seized a second yacht to determine if its owner is subject to the latest European Union sanctions against Russia, according to the ministry.

Officials at the port of Palma de Mallorca on Tuesday retained the second yacht, “Lady Anastasia,” less than 24 hours after officials provisionally seized the first superyacht. 

Both sail under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 

The “Lady Anastasia” is 48 meters (157 feet) long.

The Ukrainian oblast of Vinnytsia has had two weeks to prepare their community for a potential Russian invasion.

While many Ukrainians join the defense force and many others flee the country, those who remain are prepared to defend their motherland. Officials here are trying to keep life as normal as possible, encouraging restaurants and stores to remain open.

Walking around, CNN saw government buildings stacked high with sandbags, road signs with colorful language denouncing Russian occupation, and many checkpoints. And yet, there are still people out in the streets, eating at cafes, and going about their life.

“If we don’t keep economy, we don’t keep army,” Vladyslav Kryveshko, the district’s head, told CNN. “We must do this.”

He said the community has had some time to prepare, work on humanitarian aid and strengthen its defenses while other regions in the country get hit.

On the ground, CNN saw a warehouse owner housing truckloads full of humanitarian aid sent from all over Europe, former police and firemen manning the village checkpoint around the clock — all preparing in case of Russian attack.

In his message to the world, he said Ukrainians really need a no-fly zone over the country.

“I want to say thank you to the rest of the world. But I also want to say that we need help,” he said. “Please, we need to close the skies.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified that the preparations are happening in the city of Vinnytsia. They are happening in the oblast of Vinnytsia.

Four people were killed when a 16-story building in Sviatoshynskyi, a residential area of western Kyiv, was shelled early Tuesday morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Ukraine’s state emergency services had initially reported two people died in the strike.

A separate hit on another building in the same district caused minor damage, the emergency services said. 

At least four buildings in residential areas across the Ukrainian capital — to the east, north and west of the city center — were hit by Russian attacks within the space of an hour Tuesday morning.

Two residents of the 16-story building that was hit told CNN they were woken up by a strong blow that caused their bed to shake. The couple — Elena and her husband Vadim — tried to escape, but realized they could not use the stairs because of thick smoke.  

The couple said they ended up being evacuated through the fire escape by emergency services. Their dog was rescued four hours later, they told CNN, when Vadim was able to return to the apartment with firefighters.  

Another resident, Galina Borisovna, 70, who lives on the 10th floor, told CNN she had decided to spend the whole night in the shelter — a decision that likely saved her life.  

“When I left [the shelter], I realized I had lost everything. My one-room apartment has burned down completely,” she told CNN.

At least four buildings in residential areas of Kyiv were hit by strikes early Tuesday morning, killing two people. In the besieged city of Mariupol, more than 2,500 civilians have died, Ukrainian officials estimate, and those who remain have no electricity, water or heat.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed his calls for other countries to come to Ukraine’s aid ahead of meetings with the Polish, Slovenian and Czech prime ministers, who are acting as European Union representatives.

The war in Ukraine, paired with the sanctions against Russia, pose a threat to the German economy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a joint press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II. 

“We must understand very well that this Ukraine war also brings challenges for us regarding economic consequences of the sanctions,” Scholz said on Tuesday in Berlin. Some countries are expressing concerns about food security because of delivery shortfalls from Russia and Ukraine, Scholz said.

“We have to make sure that our economy goes well through these difficult times,” he added.

Germany has the largest economy in Europe.

Scholz and King Abdullah condemned the war in Ukraine and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin “to stop all combat operations immediately and withdraw his invasion troops.” Scholz reiterated the willingness for talks to end the war.

“A recession is becoming more and more likely,” warned economic research institute ZEW on its website on Tuesday. The war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia are significantly dampening the economic outlook for Germany,” it said. 

The institute marked the “biggest drop in economic expectations ever” for Germany. The ZEW started monitoring Germany’s economic development in December 1991. 

One person was killed and another seriously injured after multiple strikes hit the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Kharkiv regional administration, said Tuesday.  

Syniehubov said there were 65 instances of shelling against the city on Monday alone. He said fighting was going on in Izium, Balaklia and Dergachi, three towns in the region of Kharkiv. 

Meanwhile, 600 residential buildings in the city had been destroyed in Russian attacks since the start of the war, Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said Monday, adding that the houses cannot be repaired.   

“People actually lost their homes,” he said. “Fifty schools and a number of medical institutions, including maternity hospitals, were also bombed in Kharkiv.”

Elsewhere, Volodymyr Matsokin, the deputy mayor of Izium, said his city has been “under siege for two weeks, without water, without electricity, heat, food, medicine, communication.”

“The situation is no better than in Mariupol. We have received information that those who survived the shelling are dying of disease and lack of medicine. There is no one to bury the dead,” he said, adding the city urgently needs humanitarian aid.  

A lawyer for the Russian TV editor who held up an anti-war sign during a live broadcast on Monday still does not know where she is, he told CNN on Tuesday.

Dmitry Zakhvatov has been trying to locate Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova since her protest on Monday, he told CNN.

Zakhvatov confirmed to CNN that Ovsyannikova is the woman seen on air holding the sign and that she is an editor for the channel. 

“Stop the war. Do not believe propaganda they tell you lies here,” the sign read, concluding in English: “Russians against war.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the protest as “hooliganism.”

“As far as this lady is concerned, this is hooliganism,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call Tuesday, adding that authorities are already handling her case.

“The channel and those who are in charge are dealing with it,” he added. “It’s not an issue on [the Kremlin] agenda.”

Hooliganism is a criminal offense in Russia.

Asked about possible criminal charges against Ovsyannikova, Peskov shied away from the question, referring to the “responsibility” that state TV channels bear.

“There are certain departments that deal with this,” Peskov said. “The live broadcast of any TV channel and especially those who work there hold a special responsibility.”

The Investigative Committee — a top Russian law enforcement agency — launched a pre-investigation check against Ovsyannikova on “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces,” Russian state news agency TASS reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed source.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed leaders of the UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) via video on Tuesday, warning: “We all are the targets of Russia and therefore everything will go against Europe if Ukraine won’t stand, so I’d like you to help yourself by helping us.”

On the 20th day of the war in Ukraine, Zelensky said “we are doing our best to get the jet fighters and the missile defense systems” the country needs.

“We want to have reliable guarantees for us and therefore for you,” he told the meeting in London, hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The leaders of Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway also attended.

“We can still stop the killing of people and that is something we can do together — stop the destruction of democracy and do it now on our land or else they will also come to you,” he warned.

In his appeal for assistance, he added that Russian propagandists “keep saying the Ukraine war is only the beginning … they are fear-mongering and other European countries will come, they are saying this now, and they are mentioning many of you who are listening to me right now.”

The Group of Twenty (G20) forum is “not a proper place to discuss political and security issues such as Ukraine,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters Tuesday.

“The G20 is the main forum for international economic cooperation, and it is not a proper place to discuss political and security issues such as Ukraine,” Zhao said, responding to a question about the Indonesian government’s alleged plans to leave the Ukraine crisis off the G20 summit’s agenda.

What is the G20? It’s an intergovernmental forum comprised of the world’s largest economies – including Russia, China, and the US. It’s due to hold its next leaders’ summit in October on the Indonesian island of Bali.

In addition to the leaders’ summit, special events are organized throughout the year, including working groups, Sherpa meetings and ministerial meetings.

In February, Russia’s imminent invasion of Ukraine dominated talks among G20 finance ministers in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, with leaders warning of the economic fallout which would stem from any conflict.

The map below shows the areas that Russian forces have occupied in Ukraine, as of March 14, since the invasion began on Feb. 24.

“Almost all” of the Russian advances in Ukraine “remain stalled,” a senior US defense official said Monday during a background briefing with reporters, but missile attacks have continued across the country.

Russian forces moving on Kyiv, including the convoy to the north, have not appreciably progressed over the weekend, said the official, though the US does see Russia trying to “flow in forces behind the advance elements” moving to the north of Kyiv.

It comes as a fourth round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are on “pause” until Tuesday, according to Ukraine’s negotiator.

The UK government has announced a fresh round of sanctions on Russia, including banning the export of luxury goods to Russia and tariffs on Russian goods worth more than $1 billion.

The UK will also deny Russia and Belarus access to its most favored nation trading tariff for hundreds of their exports, effectively depriving both countries from key benefits of their World Trade Organization membership.

The additional 35% tariff on Russian goods will be applied to imports including vodka, steel, works of art and fur.

“Our new tariffs will further isolate the Russian economy from global trade, ensuring it does not benefit from the rules-based international system it does not respect,” UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The government says it will release details of the export ban at a later date, but said previous bans had included items like high end fashion, art and luxury vehicles.

The full list of Russian goods facing import tariffs is: Iron, steel, fertilizers, wood, tires, railway containers, cement, copper, aluminum, silver, lead, iron ore, residue/food waste products, beverages, spirits and vinegar (this includes vodka), glass and glassware, cereals, oil seeds, paper and paperboard, machinery, works of art, antiques, fur skins and artificial fur, ships and white fish.

A strike against a TV tower near the city of Rivne in northwestern Ukraine on Monday killed at least 19 people and injured nine others, the head of Rivne regional administration Vitalii Koval said Tuesday. 

“The rescue mission is still underway and as of 8:30 a.m. [Tuesday] we have 19 dead and nine injured. We continue to clear the debris. This is not a final number, we need several more hours to clear the entire area,” he said. 

The tower was hit at 5:20 a.m. local time on Monday and authorities had initially reported no casualties from the strike. 

Despite the hit, Koval said radio and television broadcasting has continued in the region. “We now have free access to satellite broadcasting in the whole Rivne region. We have restored the broadcasting signal to the cable network,” he said.

Multiple TV towers across Ukraine have been targeted by Russian forces in recent weeks, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Vynarivka in the Kyiv region.

A 35-hour curfew will be imposed in Kyiv on Tuesday evening, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on his official Telegram channel.

The curfew will come into effect at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and will last until 7 a.m. on Thursday. Curfew is currently in place in Kyiv, but only during night time, between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Residents will be prohibited from leaving their homes without special permits during the curfew, Klitschko said, adding that people will still be able to leave to go into bomb shelters.

“I ask all [residents of Kyiv] to prepare for the fact that they will have to stay at home or, in case of an emergency, in a shelter, for two days,” Klitschko said.

Two people were killed in shelling of a residential area in western Kyiv early Tuesday morning, according to Ukraine Emergency Services. 

At least four residential buildings across the Ukrainian capital were hit by strikes early Tuesday, according to the emergency services.

The prime minsters of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have departed on a train bound for Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The train with the leaders on board departed before 9 a.m. local time, the head of the chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Michal Dworczyk, said Tuesday. The train took off from Poland, a press officer for the Czech government told CNN. 

Traveling to the Ukrainian capital is Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki and his deputy Jarosław Kaczyński, Slovenia’s Janez Janša and the Czech Republic’s Petr Fiala.

The purpose of the visit is “to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a broad package of support for the Ukrainian state and society,” a government spokesperson said.

They said the trip had been organized in agreement with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and added that the international community would be informed about the delegation visit through international organizations, including the United Nations.

“At such breakthrough times for the world, it is our duty to be where history is forged; because it is not about us, but about the future of our children who deserve to live in a world free from tyranny,” Morawiecki said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Morawiecki said he and the other leaders were going to Kyiv to “show Ukrainians our solidarity” and denounced “Putin’s criminal aggression against Ukraine.”

Two Russian missiles hit Dnipro airport in the east of Ukraine overnight, putting the runway out of use and damaging the terminal building, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration.

“The destruction is on a large scale and will take a long time to re-build,” the statement on Reznichenko’s Facebook page said.

The statement made no reference to any casualties.

Around 350,000 people are still trapped in Mariupol, the city in southeastern Ukraine that has been besieged by Russian troops since March 1, a local official said.

“Considering there are 540,000 residents and around 150,000 people evacuated in the first three days when it was still safe to do so, we estimate around 350,000 people to be stuck in Mariupol,” Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the Mariupol mayor, said on Ukrainian television Monday.

Multiple official attempts to establish safe corridors and evacuate civilians from Mariupol have failed in recent days. A large convoy of humanitarian aid that was meant to arrive on Sunday has still not reached the city as of Monday, according to officials.

“Most of the people are staying in the basements and shelters in inhumane conditions. With no food, no water, no electricity, no heating,” he said, adding that people were melting snow and dismantling the heating system to get water to drink.

Speaking about civilian casualties, Andriushchenko said the numbers obtained from the police and compiled by medical facilities were likely inaccurate. He said that, as of Sunday, 1,800 people were confirmed to have been killed.

Speaking on Monday, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said that the Russian bombardment of Mariupol has caused more than 2,500 deaths.

European finance ministers have formally approved a fourth package of sanctions targeting more than 600 Russian nationals, in what French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called a “historical decision.”

It is the “fastest, strongest package of sanctions ever adopted by the European Union in its history,” the ministers said.

The names of the Russian individuals and entities included in the new round of sanctions were not disclosed.

“You will have a new ban on some exportation like luxury goods and we will withdraw to the Russian state, the most favored nation clause within the World Trade Organization, which will allow us — all the 27 member states — to increase the level of trade tariffs on all Russian goods,” Le Maire said. 

The sanctions were expanded to include, “key oligarchs, lobbyist and propagandists pushing the Kremlin’s narrative on the situation in Ukraine as well as key companies in the aviation, military and dual use, shipbuilding and machine building sectors,” the European Council said in a statement.

When asked if there would be further sanctions, Le Maire said: “I can confirm to you what (French President) Emmanuel Macron said last week, all options remain on the table.”

Two people were killed in shelling of a residential area in western Kyiv early Tuesday morning, according to Ukraine Emergency Services. 

A 16-story apartment building in the Sviatoshynskyi district was significantly damaged by shelling and a subsequent fire.

Two people were found dead at the scene and 46 were rescued from the building, the emergency services said.

A separate strike caused minor damage to a nine-story building in the same district, the emergency services said. 

At least four residential buildings across the Ukrainian capital were hit by strikes early Tuesday, including the two in Sviatoshynskyi, according to the emergency services.

The residential areas in the east, north and west of the city center were hit by shelling within an hour of each other. 

Leaders from three European countries will travel to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal on Tuesday, according to the Polish government.

In a statement Tuesday, the Polish Prime Minister’s office said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša would visit the Ukrainian capital as representatives of the European Council.

“The visit is organized in consultation with the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen,” the statement said.
“The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The aim of this visit is also to present a broad package of support for Ukraine and Ukrainians.”

Two buildings in residential areas of Kyiv were hit by separate strikes early Tuesday morning, according to Ukrainian emergency services.  

A private home in Osokorky — a district east of the city center — was hit by shelling just before 6 a.m. local time Tuesday, the emergency services said in a statement.

A fire broke out in the two-story building but was put out shortly afterwards. No casualties were reported.  

Shortly after the strike in Osokorky, a 10-story apartment building in Podil — north of the city center — was hit in another strike, causing a fire in the first five floors of the building.

One person was taken to hospital, the emergency services said.  

Japan will freeze the assets of 17 more Russians, the country’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement Tuesday.

Targets of the new sanctions include Russian billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk’s family members, lawmakers from Russia’s Parliament and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, according to the ministry.

The latest move brings the total number of Russians targeted by Japan’s asset freezes to 61.

With much of the world economy repudiating Russia after President Vladimir Putin’s invaders stormed into Ukraine, the country is on the cusp of a default on its foreign obligations.

The West’s economic blockade and sanctions of an unprecedented scale are clearly having an effect.

Needing help: Russia has sought economic and military help from China, which has stayed notably aloof during the Ukraine invasion, according to conversations CNN had with two US officials. It’s not clear whether China intends to provide Russia with that assistance, and both countries denied that Russia had made the request.

Here, have rubles: Russia is threatening to repay foreign creditors from “countries that are unfriendly” in badly devalued rubles, according to a report from CNN’s Charles Riley. Either nonpayment or payment in rubles for more than $117 million in interest payments on dollar-denominated government bonds due Wednesday would mean Russia had defaulted on its debt.

Potentially seizing what remains: Separately, Moscow is threatening the growing list of companies pulling out of Russia, saying their assets could be seized by the state. The Russian Embassy in the US on Sunday dismissed reports Moscow could seize assets of Western companies as “pure fiction.”

The only way this really ends: The question will ultimately be whether Russians are willing to accept their new status as global pariahs and give up the Western comforts some had grown used to. Putin is obviously willing to accept these things.

Read the full analysis:

The headquarters of Bank Rossii, Russia's central bank, in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

Related article Analysis: Here's how we know sanctions are hurting Russia

NASA said Monday that NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will return from the International Space Station later this month aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as previously planned.

The space agency sought to reaffirm Monday that it’s still working closely with Russian space agency Rocosmos on the International Space Station, despite mounting geopolitical tensions.

Vande Hei, who launched to the ISS in April 2021, is slated to make his return trip on March 30.

He’ll land aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan, as is customary. NASA officials did not say there would be any significant changes to plans to get Vande Hei back to the United States after he lands.

Joint operations between NASA and Roscosmos at the Russian facilities at Baikonur, Kazakhstan “continue to go well,” Joel Montalbano, the manager of NASA’s International Space Station program, said, “I can tell you for sure Mark [Vande Hei] is coming home” on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Some context: For nearly a decade, Russia’s Soyuz vehicles had been the only means of getting astronauts to and from the space station.

It comes after Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin made several fiery social media posts directed at the US, including a heavily edited, partially animated video that appeared to threaten that Russian astronauts would abandon Vande Hei in space. 

Read the full story:

iss066e081677 (Nov. 23, 2021) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei sets up hardware inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox for the InSPACE-4 space physics experiment. Results from InSPACE-4, or Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Ellipsoids, could provide insight into how to harness nanoparticles to fabricate and manufacture new materials for Earth and space applications. GMT327_11_47_For Huntsville_Matthias Maurer_1169_INSPACE-4 hardware setup in MSG

Related article NASA says American aboard International Space Station will come back on Russian rocket 'for sure'

President Joe Biden’s choices and challenges on Ukraine were already extremely tough. As the war’s horror mounts, they are about to get even more excruciating.

Since Russia launched its onslaught last month, Biden has sought to punish and isolate President Vladimir Putin and to mitigate the slaughter of civilians by providing defensive weapons to the Kyiv government. But he’s also calibrated his actions to avoid being dragged into a dangerous direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia while finessing his own delicate political situation at home.

As Putin escalates his assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gets more desperate and the civilian toll becomes more appalling by the day, Biden’s balancing act becomes much harder.

The political heat on the President, after a period of unusual unity in Washington, is also about to rise. That will especially be the case if, as appears increasingly likely, the rest of the world is forced to watch an inhumane Russian siege and bombardment of Kyiv.

In a big Washington moment on Wednesday, Zelensky will deliver a virtual address to Congress. If his recent speech to the UK parliament, which drew Churchillian comparisons, is any guide, it will be a searing and inspiring rallying cry for lawmakers. If the Ukrainian President includes last-ditch pleas for fighter jets and a no-fly zone over his country, which Biden scotched on the grounds they could trigger war with Moscow, he will create extreme domestic pressure on the President.

Biden’s problem is that after unleashing full-bore economic warfare on Russia with extraordinarily tough sanctions, there are now limits to the steps he can take to significantly turn up pressure on Putin without risking a direct military or cyber conflict. Some of the President’s critics in Congress and in parts of the foreign policy establishment, including in his own party, argue that he’s been too cautious.

Read the full analysis:

President Joe Biden speaks at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference, Monday, March 14, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Related article Analysis: Putin's inhumanity sharpens Biden's historic dilemma

Two very loud explosions were heard from central Kyiv around 5 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to CNN’s team on the ground in the Ukrainian capital.

There were heavy explosions in Kyiv Monday and an apartment block in one of the city’s suburbs was hit with a deadly strike. In the besieged city of Mariupol, more than 2,500 civilians have died, Ukrainian officials estimate, and those who remain are without electricity, water and heat.

Meanwhile, a fourth round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were put on “pause” until Tuesday, according to Ukraine’s negotiator who noted that “negotiations continue.”

Here’s the latest on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

The Ukrainian military has conducted an artillery strike on a Russian military position in the outskirts of Kyiv, new video published Monday shows. 

The video was taken by a drone and shows the Russian military position in a forest.

The Ukrainian military did not say where the video was filmed but CNN has geolocated the clip to a grove of trees just east of the village of Ozera, northwest of Kyiv.

It’s unclear when the barrage occurred but NASA satellite sensory data from the Fire Information for Resource Management System indicates that several explosions took place around the area on March 11.

As the camera zooms out, the artillery barrage is seen hitting the grove of trees. The village of Ozera and the northern end of the runway at Antonov Air Base is visible.

The villages of Ozera and Moschun — 2 miles (3 kilometers) east across the Irpin River — have been significantly damaged by military strikes.

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies are helping to shed light on the areas impacted by military strikes across Ukraine.

Just 24 miles (39 kilometers) northwest of central Kyiv, the satellite images show that nearly every single house in the northwestern side of the village of Moschun has sustained significant damage.

Fires are still burning in some of the houses while the fields surrounding the village are also scorched.

The photos, taken on Monday, also show damage across Mariupol. The satellite images are offering the only look at the latest destruction in the city.

Mariupol’s Regional Intensive Care Hospital in the city’s Zhovteneyvi neighborhood has a hole in the southern facade of the building, while debris is also scattered outside. 

It’s unclear which side is responsible for the damage at the hospital. Nearby the hospital building, a number of apartment complexes appear to have been significantly affected with one seeming to have suffered noticeable fire damage.

Roughly a mile south, in the Primorskyi neighborhood, a number of homes are seen smoldering after an apparent military strike. Nearby apartment complexes have also sustained damage, while additional homes in a residential area in the city’s center are also affected.

The thunder of explosions occasionally rattles the basement that has become the temporary home to 21 babies of foreign parents born to Ukrainian surrogates.

The BioTexCom Center for Human Reproduction surrogacy center in Kyiv was moved to the concrete bunker on the first day of the Russian invasion nearly three weeks ago, to protect the babies from any incoming fire.

But located just over 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Irpin, a suburb that has been a target of a Russian onslaught, it is still far from safe — making it difficult for the new parents, who are in countries such as Canada, Italy and China, to collect the babies.

On Monday morning, a 30-year-old surrogate arrived at the makeshift clinic with the baby boy she delivered in hospital a week earlier. She was unable to hold back her tears as she handed baby Laurence over to the staff.

“It is even harder that he is in a place where there is shelling,” said the surrogate, who only wanted to use her first name, Victoria. “And when will his parents get to take him away because of it? It’s really hard.”

Baby Laurence’s biological parents, who provided both the sperm and the egg for the pregnancy, live abroad. But it’s unclear when they will be able to collect their son.

Read the full story:

Surrogate babies at the BioTexCom Center for Human Production in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

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Russia is facing new forms of resistance in the cities it has seized in Ukraine, where attempts to abduct and replace political leaders have been met with legal pushback and defiant public protests.

Russian troops have detained the mayors of at least two regions, Ukrainian officials say, replacing one with a pro-Kremlin opposition member. Lawmakers in a third Russian-occupied city say the groundwork is being laid for a political coup.

Despite overcoming significant Ukrainian military resistance to occupy the territories, attempts to oust local leaders have led to new difficulties for Moscow.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has opened a treason investigation into Galina Danilchenko, the newly installed mayor of Russian-occupied Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine, after the city’s elected mayor, Ivan Fedorov, was arrested by armed men on Friday.

The move follows a plea on Sunday by the city’s lawmakers for a criminal investigation of Danilchenko over what they called “the high crime of treason, for attempting to set up an occupying government in Melitopol.”

The city council accused Danilchenko — who is a former member of the city council, according to the Zaporizhzhia regional administration’s website — of dissolving the city government and transferring its powers to a People’s Deputies Committee.

Danilchenko declared herself the local leader and immediately said in a televised address Sunday that “Russian TV channels” would begin broadcasting in the city, which has been occupied by Russia since the first days of the invasion.

Her ascension was met by angry protests on Saturday, when several hundred people demonstrated outside the city hall, chanting “Freedom for the Mayor” and “Fedorov.”

The Russian-backed regional prosecutor of Luhansk, a separatist-controlled region nearly 300 miles from Melitopol, claimed the rationale for Fedorov’s arrest was that he had committed terrorism offenses.

Read more:

Related article Russia is trying to install pro-Kremlin officials in occupied cities, but Ukrainians are fighting back

An anti-war protester holding a sign interrupted one of Russia’s major state television broadcast news shows on Monday.

“NO WAR. Stop the war. Do not believe propaganda they tell you lies here,” the sign reads. 

“Russians against war,” the last line of the sign says in English.

See the moment:

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What we know about the protester: The woman holding the sign is an employee of the channel, according to OVD-Info, an independent human rights protest-monitoring group.

On its Telegram channel, OVD-Info reported that the employee is Maria Ovsyannikova. Friends of Ovsyannikova told OVD-Info that she was at the Ostankino Police Department in Moscow.

Ovsyannikova’s lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, told CNN he is unable to find his client, despite reports she is in the police station.

Russian state news agency TASS confirmed OVD-Info’s reporting, citing a source, and added that she could face prosecution.

OVD-Info also obtained a video purportedly made by Ovsyannikova before she interrupted the news broadcast.

“What is happening now in Ukraine is a crime, and Russia is the aggressor country, and the responsibility for this aggression lies on the conscience of only one person. This man is (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” Ovsyannikova says in the video, noting that her father is Ukrainian, and her mother is Russian. 

“Unfortunately, for the past few years, I have been working on Channel One and doing Kremlin propaganda, and now I am very ashamed of it,” she says. “It’s a shame that I allowed to speak lies from the TV screens, ashamed that I allowed to zombify Russian people.”

Videos of the interruption were posted on social media shortly after it aired. CNN obtained the video from a live feed from Russia Channel One VK’s profile. 

Within minutes, that live feed was removed.

See more:

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