April 1, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russia says it won’t start cutting gas supply to “unfriendly countries” immediately under a new decree requiring payment to be made in rubles from April 1. 

Peskov said that payments for deliveries made today are not due until the end of April or beginning of May. 

“But once again, I repeat that for the nuances, it is better to contact Gazprom,” Peskov said.

According to the new decree published yesterday, Gazprombank would open accounts in the name of Western gas buyers, convert their euros or dollars and then deposit the rubles into another account which would then be used to pay Gazprom.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted Thursday that Berlin will make payments for Russian gas only in euros. “We have looked at the contracts on gas delivery and other deliveries. [The contracts state] that payments are to be made in euros, sometimes in US dollars, but mostly in euros. And I made clear in my conversation with the Russian President that this will remain as it is,” Scholz said in Berlin during a joint news conference with his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer.

The EU’s Economics Commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, told CNN’s Richard Quest on Thursday that this “is an attempt to circumvent European sanctions and to blackmail the European Union.”

Responding to a question, Peskov told reporters Friday that the decision to sell gas for rubles could be reversed in the future but for now the ruble is Russia’s preferred option.

“Absolutely. If other conditions come up. In this case, there is nothing concrete reinforced, but in the current conditions, the ruble is a more preferable and reliable option for us,” he said.

The mayor of Chernihiv said that Russian shelling destroyed the oncology ward of a hospital in the northern Ukrainian city, just days after Russia said it would "drastically reduce" its military assault on Kyiv and Chernihiv.

"Some shells hit the regional hospital direct, and one of the buildings of the hospital, in fact the oncological unit, was completely destroyed. Three people sustained heavy injuries," Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko told CNN's John Berman via a translator.

He also said there is no water or electricity, and the city could run out of food and medicine within a week. The only supplies coming in are being provided by the military and volunteers.

"At the moment, we are going through full humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

He himself caught an acute case of pneumonia, he said, but added that he'll "be fine."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday that a purported strike by Ukrainian helicopters on a fuel depot in the southern Russian city of Belgorod could have a potential negative impact on negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

A fire broke out at a fuel depot in Belgorod, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said on his Telegram channel Friday morning.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod region, accused Ukraine of being behind the blaze without providing further evidence. CNN has not been able to verify this claim.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense told CNN it had no information about the incident. 

Belgorod is close to the northeastern Ukraine-Russia border, beyond which lies the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The Belgorod area was used as a staging ground for Russian before the invasion.

French schools have enrolled 6,783 children from Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24, according to figures released by the French education ministry on Friday.

The children are attending schools spread across every region of mainland France and Corsica, according to the ministry data.

About 61% of the children are age 11 or under, with one in five between ages three and six.

More than 30,000 refugees arrived in France from Ukraine between Feb. 24 and March 25, according to the latest French interior ministry figures. 97% of those refugees were Ukrainian citizens.

Some background: The news comes a day after UNICEF said that two million children have now been forced to flee Ukraine.

More than 1.1 million have arrived in Poland alone, with hundreds of thousands in nearby countries of Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

UNICEF warned of a heightened risk of exploitation and trafficking for children fleeing violence. In an effort to quell those risks, the UN agency is scaling up “Blue Dots,” which are one-stop safe spaces for traveling families. 

More than 100 children have been killed in the conflict, UNICEF added, with more than 130 injured. 

And over 2.5 million children have been internally displaced within Ukraine, according to UNICEF.

CNN's Richard Roth contributed reporting to this post.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday it is sending humanitarian aid from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol in the form of “three cars and nine staff members.”

Speaking at a virtual United Nations briefing on Ukraine, ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson said the teams traveling from Zaporizhzhia are hoping to “assist with the safe passage operation” but added that “this effort has been and remained extremely complex,” with a full plan not “yet in place to ensure that this happens in a safe manner.”

“Today, we remain hopeful we are an action moving towards Mariupol. That is obviously a good thing, but it's not yet clear that this will happen today,” Watson said.

“If and when it does happen, the ICRC his role as a neutral intermediary will be to lead the convoy out from many of Mariupol to another city in Ukraine. We're unable to confirm which city at the moment as this is something the parties must agree to. The latest information we have is that there will be potentially 54 buses, and we can expect many other civilian vehicles,” Watson added.

Watson reiterated that the evacuation from Mariupol -- expected to include thousands of people -- can only take place if specific criteria are fulfilled.

“The details that we insist on cemented in place include the exact safe passage route, its exact start time, and its duration. We have to be certain that the ceasefire holds of course we have to be certain that this humanitarian convoy can safely move through military checkpoints,” Watson said.

Watson went on to address the horrors seen in this conflict in Ukraine, particularly in Mariupol, while stressing the importance that “people be allowed to leave and aid supplied allowed in." 

"The people of Mariupol have suffered weeks of heavy fighting with dwindling water, food and medical supplies," Watson added.

Some background: Residents in the southern port city face a worsening humanitarian situation amid Russian airstrikes, weeks of shelling by Russian forces, and stifled evacuation efforts.

Statistics released by Ukrainian officials on Sunday paint a grim picture of what has come from weeks of destruction in Mariupol.

Some 90% of residential buildings in the city were damaged, the data shows. Of those, 60% were hit directly and 40% were destroyed.

Seven of the city's hospitals -- 90% of its hospital capacity -- were damaged, of which three were destroyed. Also damaged were three maternity hospitals (one destroyed), seven institutes of higher education (three destroyed), and 57 schools and 70 kindergartens, with 23 and 28 destroyed, respectively.

A number of factories were damaged and the city's port sustained damage.

According to those official statistics, up to 140,000 people left the city before it was surrounded, and around 150,000 managed to leave during the blockade. Ukrainian officials claim 30,000 people from Mariupol were deported to Russia.

CNN's Nathan Hodge and Julia Presniakova contributed reporting to this post.

A fire broke out at a fuel depot in Belgorod, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said on his Telegram channel Friday morning.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod region, accused Ukraine of being behind the blaze without providing further evidence.

CNN is unable to verify this claim. 

The fire “engulfed fuel reservoirs,” Russian state media TASS reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Two employees of the depot were injured in the fire but their lives are not in danger, Gladkov said. Residents in the vicinity of the depot are being evacuated, he added.

The emergency services are at the scene fighting the fire, and there is no threat to the population of the city, Gladkov said.

Some 16,000 cubic meters (3.52 million gallons) of fuel are on fire at the depot, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing the emergency services. 

Eight tanks with 2,000 cubic meters of fuel each are on fire and there is a threat of the blaze spreading to another eight tanks, the emergency services said, according to RIA Novosti.

CNN has sought comment from Ukraine regarding reports of a purported strike by Ukrainian helicopters on the fuel storage facility in Belgorod.

Putin informed: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the fire.

“The president was informed about Belgorod," Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. "You know that the Ministry of Emergency Situations was sent there. Steps are being taken to re-organize fuel supply points so that what happened in no case affects the level of supply of all necessary types of fuel.”

The Russian military has claimed air superiority over Ukraine. 

“Air superiority during an operation is an absolute fact," Peskov said. "And as for what happened, it probably should not be us giving out assessments, but our law enforcement agencies.”

On Wednesday, Gladkov said separate explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod region late Tuesday night may have occurred because of a fire, citing preliminary information.

Some context: Belgorod is close to the northeastern Ukraine-Russia border, beyond which lies the major Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The Belgorod area was used as a staging ground for Russian forces shortly before the invasion, and Kharkiv has since been relentlessly shelled and hit with missiles.

Video shows large fire at Russian fuel depot:

Around 2,000 civilians are on evacuation buses heading from the coastal city of Berdyansk to the Ukrainian government-held city of Zaporizhzhia, carrying civilians evacuating from the besieged city of Mariupol. 

"The evacuation convoy left Berdyansk for Zaporizhzhia," Mariupol city council said in a statement on Telegram. "Many private vehicles have joined the 42 buses escorted by Red Cross and SES (State Emergency Service) vehicles. Today we expect the arrival of a record number of Mariupol residents." 

Some background: Russia's ministry of defense said in a statement on Thursday that the Russian military would reopen the evacuation corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday at the request of French and German leaders.

The ministry's announcement came as Ukrainian officials said that humanitarian convoys ran into several issues on Thursday, including Russian troops confiscating aid and blocking buses.

Russian forces had confiscated 14 tons of humanitarian aid from buses bound for Melitopol in southern Ukraine, according to Ukranian minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Vereshchuk said the food and medication was loaded on 12 buses. She added that Russian forces also blocked 45 buses going to Berdyansk on Thursday en route to Mariupol, where about 100,000 civilians remained trapped.

CNN's Nathan Hodge and Hira Humayun contributed reporting to this post.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for intensified military, financial and humanitarian support for Ukraine, while talking to reporters in Tallinn, Estonia.

“Russia must not hope to win,” Le Drian said. “The stakes for us are strategic.”

Le Drian said that France wants to show to partners “on every continent” that “because the Russian war in Ukraine is the negation of the principles and commitments that protect us all, it is everyone’s business.”

He also warned against trusting promises of a reduction in fighting, saying, "We can only judge acts and for the moment we are not there."

He also reiterated calls for Europe to divest from Russian hydrocarbons.

“While we don’t all have the same dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, we will have the same interest in exiting them (in Europe).”

Le Drian has been on a tour of Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania since Wednesday. 

Some background: The minister's comments come two days after he told CNN there has been little progress in Russia-Ukraine talks.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Le Drian said there was “nothing new” and “no breakthrough” in what has been discussed at negotiations in Istanbul.

He added that “the issues are still the same” and that Russian President Putin “still wishes to impose his diktat on Ukraine.”

Le Drian said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “wants some security guarantees to be given to his country and at the moment there is nothing like that in the discussion.” 

At least 153 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion five weeks ago, and more than 245 children have been injured, the country’s general prosecutor's office said in news release Friday. 

Bombing and shelling have also damaged 859 educational institutions, including 83 that have been "completely destroyed," according to the news release. 

The Ukrainian general prosecutor's office said it is still working to establish the total number of child casualties in Mariupol as well as in some areas of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Luhansk regions.