Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Vladimir Putin has no immediate plans for peace in Ukraine, so the west needs to brace itself to supply lethal aid to Kyiv for a long time to come, Nato’s secretary general has warned in an interview with the Guardian. The fierce fighting, currently centred around Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, demonstrated Russia was willing “to just throw in thousands and thousands more troops, to take many casualties for minimal gains”, the head of Nato said.
Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks against Ukraine. At least one person has been killed and 33 wounded by a twin Russian missile strike on two residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, according to officials. Footage from a security camera captured the moment the strike hit, causing an explosion and a large plume of smoke to rise from two nine-storey buildings. Residential areas “where ordinary people and children live are being fired at”, said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Russia’s missile attack on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia “certainly could” have been targeted at civilians, the White House has said. A senior Ukrainian official called it “a specific, deliberate strike at a residential building”. “It’s obviously right out of the Russian playbook to target civilian infrastructure and to show no regard for avoiding the targeting of civilians,” said the White House’s national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, adding that the US did not yet have “tactile information specifically about that strike”.
Russian forces launched exploding drones before dawn, killing at least six people in or near a student dormitory in Rzhyshchiv, near Kyiv, officials said. The body of a 40-year-old man was pulled from the rubble on one floor, according to its regional police chief, adding that more than 20 people were taken to hospital. One of the people who died as a result of the strike was “an ambulance driver who came to the call”, according to a report.
Russia’s foreign ministry has warned that Moscow will not leave “unanswered” a UK plan to supply Ukraine with tank shells made with depleted uranium. “This decision will not remain without serious consequences both for Russian-British bilateral relations and at the international level,” it said on Wednesday. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Britain’s decision took the situation to new and dangerous levels.
The UK foreign secretary has said there is no “nuclear escalation” in the country’s decision to supply Ukraine with tanks shells made with depleted uranium. “They are not nuclear munitions. They are purely conventional munitions,” James Cleverly said, a day after Vladimir Putin warned the move would prompt a Russian response, as he accused the west of “beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component”.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said the risk of a nuclear conflict is at its highest level in decades. Russia was committed to keeping the world “safe and free” from the threat of nuclear war, he said, but added later that business could not continue as usual, given that Moscow was now “in a de facto state of open conflict” with Washington.
Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia was a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace”, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has said, as China’s president ended his three-day visit to Moscow. Wang Wenbin reiterated Beijing’s claims that it remained neutral in the Ukraine conflict and said China would “continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian issue”, in an apparent reference to a 12-point “peace” proposal put forward by Beijing.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said China is watching “very carefully” to see how Washington and the world respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If Russia was allowed to attack Ukraine with impunity, it would “open a Pandora’s box” for would-be aggressors and lead to a “world of conflict”, he told lawmakers at a US Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
The International Monetary Fund, the global lender of last resort, has agreed a package of support for Ukraine of $15.6bn (£12.8bn). The loan, the first the Washington-based lender will make to a country at war, could represent one of the biggest tranches of financial support for Ukraine so far. It still needs to be signed off by the IMF’s executive board, a process that should conclude within weeks.
Zelenskiy made a surprise visit on Wednesday to Ukrainian troops near the frontline city of Bakhmut. During his visit, the president heard “reports on the operational situation and the course of hostilities on the frontline”, a statement from his office said. Zelenskiy, dressed in a dark sweatshirt and military khaki trousers, was seen handing out medals to soldiers he said were heroically defending their country’s sovereignty.
There is a possibility that the Russian assault on the town of Bakhmut is losing the limited momentum it had obtained, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update. This could be happening because “some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors”, it said.
The Prince of Wales has travelled to Warsaw as part of a surprise two-day trip to Poland to thank British and Polish troops for their efforts supporting Ukraine, as well as to learn more about how the country has cared for displaced Ukrainian refugees. Prince William became the first member of the royal family to meet troops in Poland during a visit that was kept secret until after his arrival. He will also meet the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, while in the country.
Sweden’s parliament has formally approved a bill to allow the country to join Nato. Sweden and its neighbour Finland applied to join Nato in May 2022, abandoning decades of non-alignment after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The process has been held up by Turkey, which along with Hungary has yet to ratify the memberships. Membership in Nato “is the best way to safeguard Sweden’s security”, the Swedish foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said during the nearly seven-hour debate on Wednesday.
Updated
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has said Nato countries should be “prepared for a long confrontation” in Ukraine.
Writing on Twitter, she urged Nato countries to increase defence spending beyond the 2% threshold, arguing that 2% “must be the floor, not the ceiling”.
Russia has prepared for a long confrontation and so must we. #Estonia has increased its defence budget significantly, it will reach 3% of GDP by 2024.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) March 22, 2023
2% of GDP on defence spending must be the floor, not the ceiling. https://t.co/tx1fFZMo37
Her tweet came after the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said yesterday that only seven of the alliance’s 30 member countries met the current goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence in 2022.
Stoltenberg’s report for the year showed that Greece, the US, Lithuania, Poland, Britain, Estonia and Latvia met that target.
Updated
Nato chief: west must brace to support Ukraine in a long war
Vladimir Putin has no immediate plans for peace in Ukraine, so the west needs to brace itself to supply lethal aid to Kyiv for a long time to come, Nato’s secretary general has warned in an interview with the Guardian.
Jens Stoltenberg said the Russian president was engaged in “a war of attrition”, and said he wanted Nato members to agree to spending 2% of GDP on defence as a minimum at the alliance’s next summit, in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The fierce fighting, currently centred around Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, demonstrated Russia was willing “to just throw in thousands and thousands more troops, to take many casualties for minimal gains”, the head of Nato said.
“President Putin doesn’t plan for peace; he’s planning for more war,” Stoltenberg continued, adding that Russia was increasing military industrial production and “reaching out to authoritarian regimes like Iran or North Korea, and others to try to get more weapons”.
As a result, the US, UK, France, Germany and other western states had be prepared to support Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and spares over a long period. “The need will continue to be there, because this is a war of attrition; this is about industrial capacity to sustain the support,” the secretary general said.
Updated
Prince William has made a surprise visit to Poland and thanked British troops based about an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian border for “defending our freedoms”.
William met British and Polish troops based in Rzeszow, a south-eastern Polish city that has become a hub for shipments of military and humanitarian aid bound for Ukraine as well as a key transit point for refugees from Ukraine.
William told soldiers that their work to keep “an eye on” the situation in Ukraine was “really important”, and said the two-day trip would allow him to personally thank troops and pay tribute to the “inspiring humanity of the Polish people” aiding Ukrainian refugees.
He said:
You’re doing a really important job out here and defending our freedoms is really important, and everyone back home thoroughly supports you.
The heir to the throne is scheduled to meet Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, on Thursday and to talk with young Ukrainians who are working and studying in Poland.
Updated
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said the risk of a nuclear conflict is at its highest level in decades, and that Moscow is in a “de facto state of open conflict” with the US over the war in Ukraine.
Ryabkov, at an event titled A World Without Start: What’s Next? said there was “no question” of Russia restoring the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty with Washington, blaming what he called Washington’s “hostile course” towards Moscow.
He was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying:
I wouldn’t want to dive into a discussion about whether the likelihood of a nuclear conflict is high today, but it is higher than anything we have had for the past few decades, let’s put it that way.
Russia was committed to keeping the world “safe and free” from the threat of nuclear war, he said, but added later that business could not continue as usual, given that Moscow was now “in a de facto state of open conflict” with Washington.
Updated
Russia’s missile attack on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia this morning “certainly could” have been targeted at civilians, the White House has said.
At least one person has been killed and 33 injured by the twin missile strike, officials in Ukraine have said. A senior Ukrainian official called it “a specific, deliberate strike at a residential building”.
The White House national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, told CNN:
It’s obviously right out of the Russian playbook to target civilian infrastructure and to show no regard for avoiding the targeting of civilians. So it absolutely could be.
He added that the US did not yet have “tactile information specifically about that strike”.
Updated
Here’s more from the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who has been speaking at a US Senate appropriations committee hearing.
Blinken was asked by Senator Lindsey Graham if he would encourage European allies to “turn over” Vladimir Putin, after the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president. He replied:
I think anyone who’s a party to the court and has obligations should fulfil their obligations.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 7pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks against Ukraine. At least one person has been killed and 33 wounded by a twin Russian missile strike on two residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, according to officials. Footage from a security camera captured the moment the strike hit, causing an explosion and a large plume of smoke to rise from two nine-storey buildings. Residential areas “where ordinary people and children live are being fired at”, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Russian forces launched exploding drones before dawn, killing at least six people in or near a student dormitory in Rzhyshchiv, near Kyiv, officials said. The body of a 40-year-old man was pulled from the rubble on one floor, according to its regional police chief, adding that more than 20 people were taken to hospital. One of the people who died as a result of the strike was “an ambulance driver who came to the call”, according to a report.
Russia’s foreign ministry has warned Moscow will not leave “unanswered” a UK plan to supply Ukraine with tank shells made with depleted uranium. “This decision will not remain without serious consequences both for Russian-British bilateral relations and at the international level,” it said on Wednesday. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Britain’s decision took the situation to new and dangerous levels.
The UK foreign secretary has said there is no “nuclear escalation” in the country’s decision to supply Ukraine with tanks shells made with depleted uranium. “They are not nuclear munitions, they are purely conventional munitions,” James Cleverly said, a day after Vladimir Putin warned that the move would prompt a Russian response, as he accused the west of “beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component”.
Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia was a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace”, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has said, as China’s president ended his three-day visit to Moscow. Wang Wenbin reiterated Beijing’s claims that it remained neutral in the Ukraine conflict and said China would “continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian issue”, he said, an apparent reference to a 12-point “peace” proposal put forward by Beijing.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said China is watching “very carefully” to see how Washington and the world respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If Russia was allowed to attack Ukraine with impunity, it would “open a Pandora’s box” for would-be aggressors and lead to a “world of conflict”, he told lawmakers at a US senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
The International Monetary Fund, the global lender of last resort, has agreed a package of support for Ukraine of $15.6bn (£12.8bn). The loan, the first the Washington-based lender will make to a country at war, could represent one of the biggest tranches of financial support for Ukraine so far. It still needs to be signed off by the IMF’s executive board, a process that should conclude within weeks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a surprise visit on Wednesday to Ukrainian troops near the frontline city of Bakhmut. During his visit, Zelenskiy “heard “reports on the operational situation and the course of hostilities on the frontline”, a statement from his office said. Zelenskiy, dressed in a dark sweatshirt and military khaki trousers, was seen handing out medals to soldiers he said were heroically defending their country’s sovereignty.
There is a possibility that the Russian assault on the town of Bakhmut is losing the limited momentum it had obtained, the UK’s ministry of defence said in its latest intelligence update. This could be happening because “some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors”, it said.
Sweden’s parliament has formally approved a bill to allow the country to join Nato. Sweden and its neighbour Finland applied to join Nato in May 2022, abandoning decades of non-alignment after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The process has been held up by Turkey, which along with Hungary has yet to ratify the memberships. Membership in Nato “is the best way to safeguard Sweden’s security”, the Swedish foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said during the nearly seven-hour debate on Wednesday.
Russia has deployed coastal defence missile systems to Paramushir, one of the Kuril islands in the north Pacific, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has announced. Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, but does not claim Paramushir. Moscow’s deployment of a division of its Bastion coastal defence missile systems to Paramushir is part of a wider strengthening of Russian defences in its vast far eastern regions, Shoigu said a day after Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Kyiv.
Good afternoon from London. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here to bring you the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.
Updated
During the first few months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the cruise missiles fired by Moscow at its neighbour remained embedded for days at a time in the buildings and streets of the north-eastern province Kharkiv.
Then, one by one, officials working for Ukrainian prosecutors recovered, registered and catalogued them, before moving them to a fenced-off area in an industrial district of Kharkiv city that has become known as the “missile cemetery”. More than 1,000 explosives and the debris of rockets are lined up in rows, covering an area half the size of a football field.
Ukraine’s army calculates that Russia has fired more than 5,000 cruise missiles, in addition to countless artillery rockets, since the war began. A large number have fallen on Kharkiv.
Local authorities say that one day the devices could become part of a museum to remember the atrocities of war. In the meantime, though, they hope the debris can provide information to help bring prosecutions against Russian authorities and soldiers.
“This place was created for collecting evidence of war crimes,” said Dmytro Chubenko, the spokesperson for the Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office.
These devices were all found in Kharkiv city. But it is approximately only half of what they shot at us. These are pieces of evidence that we hope will be used in the international criminal court.
About 95% of all the devices stored in the missile cemetery are parts of multiple launch rocket systems, including Smerch systems that can be used to carry cluster bombs, which were banned by most of the world under a 2008 treaty and have been used by Russia in areas of Ukraine where there were neither military personnel nor military infrastructure.
Sweden formally passes Nato accession bill
Sweden’s parliament has formally approved a bill to allow the country to join Nato.
Lawmakers in the 349-seat Riksdagen voted overwhelmingly - 296 in favour and 37 votes against - for Sweden’s accession to Nato, with 43 members absent.
Membership in Nato “is the best way to safeguard Sweden’s security,” foreign minister Tobias Billström said during the nearly seven-hour debate.
He called it “a historical event” and “one of the most important security policy decisions ever for our country.”
Sweden and its neighbour Finland applied to join Nato in May 2022, abandoning decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The process has been held up by Turkey, which along with Hungary has yet to ratify the memberships. Sweden in particular has faced objections from Turkey, which says Stockholm harbours members of what Turkey considers terrorist groups - a charge Sweden denies.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said last week that his government would move forward with ratifying Finland’s application, paving the way for the country to join the alliance before Sweden. Erdoğan said Sweden still must resolve the Turkish concerns that had delayed action on the joint application.
China watching ‘very carefully’ to see if world stands up to Russian aggression, says Blinken
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said China is watching “very carefully” to see how Washington and the world respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
If Russia was allowed to attack Ukraine with impunity, it would “open a Pandora’s box” for would-be aggressors and lead to a “world of conflict”, he told lawmakers at a US senate appropriations subcommittee hearing.
Blinken, speaking hours after China’s president Xi Jinping returned to Beijing from his state visit to Russia, said:
The stakes in Ukraine go well beyond Ukraine ... I think it has a profound impact in Asia, for example.
Russia’s invasion of its neighbour has led to debates over how the war will affect China’s military thinking regarding Taiwan. Blinken added:
I think if China’s looking at this - and they are looking at it very carefully - they will draw lessons for how the world comes together, or doesn’t, to stand up to this aggression.
China’s political and material support for Russia goes against Washington’s interests, Blinken said, but added that Washington had not yet seen evidence that Beijing is providing Moscow with lethal aid for the conflict.
The International Monetary Fund, the global lender of last resort, has agreed a package of support for Ukraine of $15.6bn (£12.8bn).
The loan, the first the Washington-based lender will make to a country at war, could represent one of the biggest tranches of financial support for Ukraine so far. It still needs to be signed off by the IMF’s executive board, a process that should conclude within weeks.
War had taken a “horrific humanitarian toll” on Ukraine, said Gavin Gray, the IMF’s mission chief for the country, but it also “continues to have a devastating impact on the economy”.
Ukraine’s economic output – GDP – shrank by 30% last year and poverty levels have risen significantly. Pressure on public spending to support the economy and manage its war effort is considerable.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that the number of people injured in the attack on Zaporizhzhia has increased to 31. On its Telegram channel, citing the national police, it writes:
In Zaporizhzhia, the number of people injured by a rocket attack has increased to 31. 27 of them, including three children, were hospitalised.
Updated
There are some official photographs of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visiting the Bakhmut frontline region today, but the one that is causing the biggest stir on social media is a picture that appears to show him stopping for coffee and meeting staff at a petrol station en route.
Донеччина.
— мережа АЗК ОККО (@okkoua) March 22, 2023
Костянтинівка.
Наш президент і наш незламний колектив однієї з двох працюючих заправок у місті.
P.S. Заправили яким треба - Pulls’ом помсти. pic.twitter.com/zZB6zfmEOt
The spiritual head of the world’s Orthodox Christians said on Wednesday that Russia’s powerful Orthodox church shared responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine but that he stood ready to help in Russia’s postwar “spiritual regeneration”.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s comments are a rebuke for Russian Patriarch Kirill, whose vocal support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has splintered the worldwide Orthodox church.
Bartholomew, who in 2019 infuriated Moscow by recognising the newly established Orthodox church of Ukraine, said Russian authorities were using the church as an “instrument for their strategic objectives”.
“The church and the state leadership in Russia cooperated in the crime of aggression and shared the responsibility for the resulting crimes, like the shocking abduction of the Ukrainian children,” Reuters report he told a conference held in Lithuania’s parliament.
Updated
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has returned to Beijing after a state visit to Russia, state broadcaster CCTV has reported.
Russia warns of 'serious consequences' if UK supplies depleted uranium shells to Ukraine
Russia will not leave “unanswered” a UK plan to supply Ukraine with tank shells made with depleted uranium, its foreign ministry has said.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said:
This decision will not remain without serious consequences both for Russian-British bilateral relations and at the international level, where the initial reaction from multilateral structures already indicates the complete rejection of London’s plans. We will not leave such actions unanswered.
It added:
Violating the fundamental norms of international law, London must not forget that it will have to bear full responsibility for this.
Separately, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Britain’s decision took the situation to new and dangerous levels.
Britain’s foreign secretary, James Cleverley, earlier today said there was no “nuclear escalation” in the country’s decision.
Updated
Almost 20 people have been injured by a Russian attack on a residential building in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, officials in Ukraine have said.
Footage from a security camera captured the moment the strike hit, causing an explosion and a large plume of smoke to rise from two nine-storey buildings.
Updated
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it is “deeply concerned” about the situation in Bakhmut and nearby communities around the frontline in eastern Ukraine and the “deep civilian suffering caused by constant military hostilities”.
ICRC staff delivered humanitarian assistance to Kostiantynivka, Chasiv Yar and Selydove, close to the frontline, where they said the extent of destruction was evident. In a statement, it said:
Homes, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure have sustained heavy damage. The humanitarian situation is dire for those who have not fled, and the constant hostilities prevents them from accessing the most basic services.
Most civilians who are able to leave have already been evaluated, but thousands still remained around the frontline, it said. Those are mainly elderly people, or people with disabilities or low mobility, as well as people who refuse to leave their homes or have been displaced from frontline villages.
One resident was quoted as saying:
It is a really difficult situation here; it’s loud and scary. Yesterday a rocket flew over our heads. We are not living but surviving.
Updated
Here are some images we have received of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy making a surprise visit to Ukrainian troops near the frontline city of Bakhmut.
Zelenskiy, dressed in a dark sweatshirt and military khaki trousers, was seen handing out medals to soldiers he said were heroically defending their country’s sovereignty.
Updated
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu said armed forces in the east have received around 400 items of modern military equipment over the past year, including SU-57 jets and anti-aircraft missile systems.
The military capabilities of the eastern military district have “significantly increased”, Shoigu told his country’s top army brass.
He also said the modernisation of Russia’s air defence system would be completed this year.
On the subject of Ukraine, Shoigu said Russian aerospace forces had so far destroyed more than 20,000 Ukrainian military facilities since the start of what Moscow calls its “special military operation”.
The Russian minister’s claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Russia has deployed coastal defence missile systems to Paramushir, one of the Kuril islands in the north Pacific, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has announced.
Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a territorial row that dates to the end of the second world war, when Soviet troops seized them from Japan. Japan does not claim Paramushir.
Moscow’s deployment of a division of its Bastion coastal defence missile systems to Paramushir is part of a wider strengthening of Russian defences in its vast far eastern regions, Reuters cited Shoigu as saying today.
Shoigu, speaking a day after Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Kyiv, told Russia’s top army brass:
To contain Russia and China, the United States is significantly increasing its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthening its political and military links with its allies, continuing to create a new American security architecture in this region.
The Bastion system, which have missiles with a flight range of up to 310 miles (500 km), would bolster Russian security around the Kuril island chain, he added.
The dispute over the islands has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from ever signing a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.
Updated
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has tweeted that he also visited frontline positions in Bakhmut along with President Zelenskiy.
Yermak writes that it was a “great honour” for him to be there “next to our heroic warriors”. He added:
Bakhmut is standing. Defence forces hold the city.
Together with President @ZelenskyyUa and the team visited Bakhmut frontline today. It is a great honor for me to be here, next to our heroic warriors 🇺🇦.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 22, 2023
The President awarded military. Briefed of the current situation. Bakhmut is standing. Defense forces hold the city. pic.twitter.com/38yN3GWTWJ
President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia was a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace”, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has said, as the Chinese leader ended his three-day visit to Moscow.
Wang Wenbin reiterated Beijing’s claims that it remained neutral in the Ukraine conflict and said it had “no selfish motives on the Ukraine issue, has not stood idly by ... or taken the opportunity to profit itself”.
Wang, speaking at a daily briefing, said:
What China has done boils down to one word, that is, to promote peace talks.
China would “continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian issue,” he said, an apparent reference to a 12-point “peace” proposal put forward by Beijing.
The plan, which has been largely dismissed by western leaders, calls for dialogue, respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty, and an end to economic sanctions – but critically does not suggest Russia withdraw its forces.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson also criticised the US for providing military support to Ukraine, accusing Washington of lacking impartiality and of “fanning the flames” of the conflict.
Wang said nothing about the international criminal court (ICC) arrest warrant issued for Vladimir Putin on charges of alleged involvement in abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine.
UK says 'no nuclear escalation' in supplying depleted uranium shells to Ukraine
The UK foreign secretary has said there is no “nuclear escalation” in the country’s decision to supply Ukraine with tanks shells made with depleted uranium.
James Cleverley was responding to Vladimir Putin’s warning that the move would prompt a Russian response, as he accused the west of “beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component.”
Speaking at the launch of the government’s international technology strategy in London, Cleverley said depleted uranium shells were not nuclear munitions. He said:
They are not nuclear munitions, they are purely conventional munitions. And of course, we’ve seen threats from Vladimir Putin every time the UK and our neighbours, friends and allies have sought to support Ukraine in their defence against this brutal, brutal, illegal and unjustified war that Russia has perpetrated against Ukraine.
So there is no nuclear escalation. The only country in the world that is talking about nuclear issues is Russia.
Updated
Zelenskiy visits frontline near Bakhmut - presidency
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has visited frontline military positions near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a statement by his office.
During his visit, Zelenskiy “heard “reports on the operational situation and the course of hostilities on the frontline”, the statement said.
He was also pictured meeting with Ukrainian servicemen, and held a moment of silence in memory of those who had fallen in the war.
Zelenskiy was quoted as saying:
I am honoured to be here today, in the east of our country, in Donbas, and to award our heroes, to thank you, to shake hands. Thank you for protecting the state, sovereignty, the east of Ukraine.
Iuliia Mendel, a former spokesperson for Zelenskiy, shared a video which she said showed the president near Bahkmut:
.@ZelenskyyUa near Bakhmut pic.twitter.com/iVKRDZRwcD
— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) March 22, 2023
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here taking over from Martin Belam to bring you the latest from Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Russia firing at residential areas in Zaporizhzhia 'where children live', says Zelenskiy
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a video that he said shows a Russian missile hitting an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine.
Residential areas “where ordinary people and children live are being fired at”, Zelenskiy writes, adding that this situation cannot become “just another day” in Ukraine or anywhere in the world.
Zelenskiy adds:
The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror faster and protect lives.
Zaporizhzhia. Right now, residential areas where ordinary people and children live are being fired at.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2023
This must not become "just another day" in 🇺🇦 or anywhere else in the world. The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror faster and protect lives. pic.twitter.com/YnocW2yVaU
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, tweeted just earlier that Russian forces were “barraging” Zaporizhzhia.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Four people have been killed overnight in a drone attack on Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region. Seven people were reported wounded, including one child. The strike is reported to have hit a dormitory building and a school. Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, is reporting that one of the people who died as a result of the strike was “an ambulance driver who came to the call”.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A Brink, tweeted in reaction to the attack “After all the talk in Moscow yesterday [between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping], more Russian missiles and more drone attacks on civilians overnight make it perfectly clear how much interest President Putin has in a just peace or an end to the war he started.”
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has said that “Russians are barraging Zaporizhzhia” and that “residential buildings and Khortytsia island are under enemy fire.”
British military intelligence said on Wednesday there is a possibility that the Russian assault on the town of Bakhmut is losing the limited momentum it had obtained. This could be happening because “some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors”, the Ministry of Defence said in its regular bulletin.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, has criticised the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague for its decision to issue arrest warrants for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the children’s rights commissioner Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova over what is claimed to be the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. She cited evacuations of children by the US from Vietnam in the 1970s, and said she was “looking forward” to the ICC taking action against US leadership.
The Russian-backed administration in Sevastopol in Crimea said on Wednesday that it had suspended ferry routes around the port city, shortly after the city’s governor said a Ukrainian drone attack had been repelled by air defences.
The RIA news agency reported that several radio stations were hacked in Crimea, and that “reports of a possible evacuation from the peninsula are false, authorities say”.
The US has offered to sell Slovakia 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters at a two-thirds discount after Bratislava sent its retired MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, the defence minister, Jaroslav Nad, said on Wednesday.
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine for a four-year financing package worth about $15.6bn, offering funds the country needs as it continues to defend against Russia’s invasion. The agreement, which must still be ratified by the IMF’s board, takes into consideration Ukraine’s path to accession to the European Union after the war. The fund said its executive board was expected to discuss approval in the coming weeks.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage.
Updated
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, has issued a long message on Telegram criticising the international criminal court in The Hague for its decision to issue arrest warrants for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the children’s rights commissioner Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova over what is claimed to be the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
In the message Zakharova compares the situation to the US evacuating children from Vietnam in the 1970s in Operation Babylift, and writes: “It is terrible not only that Washington took such a step in 1975, actually depriving thousands of children of their homeland and culture, erasing their national and ethno-social affiliation, but also how the ‘evacuation’ took place. It is known for certain that the babylift operation was carried out very badly.”
She cites a plane crash that occurred during the operation, and says: “I am really, really looking forward to the international criminal court issuing an arrest warrant for the US leadership, the Pentagon and all the ‘humanitarian funds’ involved in this operation.”
Ukrainian officials have continually accused Russia of transporting children from occupied areas of Ukraine, which Russia has denied, saying instead that it has been placing children from institutions in Ukraine to families in Russia.
In her message, Zakharova quotes Lvova-Belova on 20 March saying: “Today, there are 380 children in 19 regions of our country in families. These are children who have been in social institutions for a long time. None of them were separated from their parents … if there are legal representatives, we will immediately do everything to reunite these families.”
Updated
Ukrainian official: 'Russians are barraging Zaporizhzhia'
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has tweeted that Zaporizhzhia is under attack.
Russians are barraging Zaporizhzhia.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 22, 2023
Residential buildings and Khortytsia island are under enemy fire.
Khortytsia island is the largest island on the Dnipro River, and it lies within the boundaries of the city of Zaporizhzhia, through which the river flows.
Zaporizhzhia is one of the partially occupied regions of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed last year.
Updated
In the last few minutes, Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, has carried reports of explosions being heard in Zaporizhzhia and in Kherson.
More details soon …
Death toll in Rzhyshchiv drone strike rises to four
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, is reporting that the death toll in the overnight Russian drone attack on Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region has risen to four. Reports also say that seven people, including a child, were injured. On its official Telegram channel, it writes:
The number of people killed due to drone strikes on Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region has increased to four, the head of the regional police said. The body of a 40-year-old man was recovered from the fifth floor of one of the dormitories damaged by drones.
Suspilne is also carrying a video clip of an interview, and quotes a local teacher named as Tetiana. It reports:
The children and one of the commandants went to the shelter at the beginning of the air raid. They were not in the dormitory building at the time of the attack. According to her, around 3.00am, she heard the sounds of four explosions.
Rzhyshchiv has a population of about 7,000, and is to the south of the capital Kyiv, on the right bank of the Dnipro River as it flows south
Updated
The air alert that has been in place in Ukraine for most of the last two hours has been lifted.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, is reporting that one of the people who died as a result of the strike on Rzhyshchiv overnight was “an ambulance driver who came to the call”. The claim has not been independently verified.
Ukraine’s emergency services have released images from the scene of the drone strike in Rzhyshchiv which has killed three people and left seven, including a child, injured. It was reported that “two dormitories and an educational facility” were hit.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, includes this news in its morning round-up:
In Zhytomyr oblast, three Russian drones were shot down at night, an infrastructure object was damaged, there were no casualties. At night, explosions were also heard in Khmelnytskyi: the anti-aircraft defence was activated, there were no hits in the territory of the community.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Reuters is carrying a little more detail on the overnight drone attack on the Kyiv region which has left three dead and seven wounded.
It reports that the state emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app that two dormitories and an educational facility in the city of Rzhyshchiv had been partially destroyed in the attack.
It said two people had been wounded and one had been rescued but that four people probably remained under the rubble.
Officials said more than 100 workers and 28 vehicles were deployed to the scene, and that the search for survivors was continuing after attacks that the Ukrainian military said involved Iranian-made Shahed drones.
Three killed in overnight drone strikes on Kyiv region
Three people were killed and another seven wounded in overnight Russian drone strikes on the Kyiv region, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday morning.
The Kyiv regional military administration reported on its Telegram channel that a “civilian object” had been damaged and that rescuers were working at the scene.
Reuters reports the Ukrainian military said it had shot down 16 out of 21 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched at Ukraine overnight by Russia.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A Brink, tweeted in reaction to the attack:
After all the talk in Moscow yesterday, more Russian missiles and more drone attacks on civilians overnight make it perfectly clear how much interest President Putin has in a just peace or an end to the war he started.
After all the talk in Moscow yesterday, more Russian missiles and more drone attacks on civilians overnight make it perfectly clear how much interest President Putin has in a just peace or an end to the war he started.
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) March 22, 2023
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, also reported that Kurakhove in Donetsk was shelled four times yesterday. It reports no casualties, but that eight private residences were damaged.
Updated
The US has offered to sell Slovakia 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters at a two-thirds discount after Bratislava sent its retired MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, the defence minister, Jaroslav Nad, said on Wednesday.
Nad said his government still had to approve the deal under which it would pay $340m (£277m) for a package worth more than $1bn.
Reuters reports that Nad posted to Facebook that the deal was offered under the US foreign military financing programme.
Updated
The RIA news agency reports on its Telegram news channel:
Several radio stations have been hacked in Crimea, reports of a possible evacuation from the peninsula are false, authorities say.
Updated
An air alert has been declared in Odesa region in southern Ukraine.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports from Zaporizhzhia: “During the past day, 21 March, the Russian military shelled civilian infrastructure in the area of 20 settlements of the Zaporizhzhia region.”
The claim has not been independently verified.
Zaporizhzhia is one of the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claimed to annex late last year.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleague Martin Belam will be bringing you the latest.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said today that Russia is urging the US not to continue down the path of escalation in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported.
Updated
Russian assault on Bakhmut may be losing momentum, says UK Ministry of Defence
British military intelligence said on Wednesday there is a possibility that the Russian assault on the town of Bakhmut is losing the limited momentum it had obtained.
This could be happening because “some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors”, the Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin. Ukrainian forces on Tuesday had repelled Russian attempts to advance into the centre of the small eastern city of Bakhmut.
(3/3) However, there is a realistic possibility that the Russian assault on the town is losing the limited momentum it had obtained, partially because some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 22, 2023
The Russian-backed administration in Sevastopol said on Wednesday that it had suspended ferry routes around the port city, Reuters reports, shortly after the city’s governor said a Ukrainian drone attack had been repelled by air defences.
Writing on Telegram, Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said that three “objects” had been destroyed, and that there had been no casualties or damage to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is based in Sevastopol.
Reuters could not independently verify Razvozhaev’s claims immediately.
On Tuesday, an explosion in Dzhankoi, in the north of Crimea, was blamed on a Ukrainian drone strike by local officials.
Sevastopol, along with the rest of the Crimean peninsula, was annexed by Russia in 2014, but is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.
There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine.
Updated
Russian navy 'repelled' drone attack on Crimea's Sevastopol port: governor
The Russian navy “repelled” a drone attack on the port of Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea early on Wednesday, the Kremlin-backed governor of the city said.
“The Black Sea Fleet repelled a surface drone attack on Sevastopol,” Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-backed head of Sevastopol, wrote on Telegram.
“They tried to penetrate our bay, our sailors fired at them from small arms. Air defence was also working.”
Updated
Xi has left Moscow
On that note: Xi Jinping has just left Moscow following his two-day summit with Vladimir Putin, AFP reports, citing Russian media.
Xi’s plane left Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after being seen off by a guard of honour who played the Russian and Chinese national anthems, the RIA Novosti news agency said.
⚡️ Xi Jinping’s visit is over. The Chinese leader has left russia.
— FLASH (@Flash_news_ua) March 22, 2023
👉 Follow @Flash_news_ua pic.twitter.com/Mk32YA8nwY
Updated
China is not capable of being impartial mediator, says US
On Tuesday, White House national security council spokesperson John Kirby said the US does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator between Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine.
Speaking in response to Putin welcoming China’s proposals for peace in Ukraine, Kirby offered the most direct criticism yet of China’s aim to be a middleman in efforts to end the war.
“I don’t think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way,” he said.
He noted that China has refrained from criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has continued to buy Russian oil even as the west piles sanctions on Moscow’s energy industry to starve the Kremlin of money to pay for the war.
China, Kirby added, also “keeps parroting the Russian propaganda”.
Kyiv has previously said that any talks would be contingent on the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territory.
Xi, who seeks to play the role of global peacemaker, on Tuesday repeated China’s position that it supported peace talks and said that Beijing has always taken an “objective” and “impartial” view of the conflict. He added that he and Putin have “established close relations and built strategic communication”.
Xi’s statements, which carefully repeated Beijing’s previous position on the war, suggested that the talks provided no major breakthrough in the peace efforts.
Still, Xi’s trip to Moscow, his first state visit since the invasion, has been viewed as a major boost for Putin and provides Moscow with an opportunity to emphasise that it has not been isolated by the global community.
You can read our full story from by colleagues Pjotr Sauer and Helen Davidson here:
Updated
IMF and Ukraine agree to $15.6bn in funding
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine for a four-year financing package worth about $15.6 billion, offering funds the country needs as it continues to defend against Russia’s invasion.
The agreement, which must still be ratified by the IMF’s board, takes into consideration Ukraine’s path to accession to the European Union after the war. The fund said its executive board was expected to discuss approval in the coming weeks.
“The overarching goals of the authorities’ program are to sustain economic and financial stability in circumstances of exceptionally high uncertainty, restore debt sustainability, and support Ukraine’s recovery on the path toward EU accession in the post-war period,” IMF official Gavin Gray said in a statement announcing the agreement.
If approved, as expected, the Ukraine program would be the IMF’s biggest loan to a country involved in an active conflict.
The fund last week changed a rule to allow new loan programs for countries facing “exceptionally high uncertainty”, without naming Ukraine.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan. I’ll be bringing you the latest as it happens.
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine for a four-year financing package worth about $15.6 billion, offering funds the country needs as it continues to defend against Russia’s invasion. If ratified by the IMF board, as expected, the Ukraine program would be the IMF’s biggest loan to a country involved in an active conflict.
And White House national security council spokesperson John Kirby said the US does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator between Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine, in the most direct criticism yet of China’s aim to be a middleman in efforts to end the war.
“I don’t think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way,” he said.
We’ll have more on these two stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have met for a second day of talks at the Kremlin. The Chinese and Russian leaders signed a series of documents on a “strategic cooperation” after what Putin described as “successful and constructive” talks which showed that China-Russian relations were at the “highest point” in “the whole history of our two countries”. The Chinese president’s trip to Moscow has been viewed as a major boost for his strategic partner, Putin.
Xi said China had an “impartial position” on the conflict in Ukraine and that it supported peace and dialogue, Russian state media reported. Xi said talks with his Russian counterpart had been “open and friendly”. Putin, speaking at the joint news conference, said Beijing’s proposal to end the Ukraine conflict could be the basis for a peaceful settlement – when the west is ready for it. Xi has invited Putin to visit China this year.
Japan’s Fumio Kishida met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv during a rare, unannounced visit by the Japanese leader. Kishida toured the town of Bucha, where civilians were killed by Russian forces. Kishida visited a church in the town outside Kyiv on Tuesday and said he was “outraged by the cruelty” as he paid his respects to the victims of Russian atrocities against civilians.
Two Russian strategic bomber planes flew over the Sea of Japan for more than seven hours, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday in a statement released as Kishida’s Ukraine visit started.
Putin has condemned a UK proposal to send ammunition that contains depleted uranium for use in Ukraine. If the UK supplies ammunition with depleted uranium to Ukraine, Russia will be forced to react, the Russian leader warned at his news conference with President Xi. A junior British defence minister said on Monday that the UK could supply “armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium” to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv had suggested to China that it join a Ukrainian peace formula to end Russia’s war in his country. Zelenskiy, speaking during a joint press conference in Kyiv with Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Ukraine was still waiting for an answer from Beijing. He also said he would join an upcoming G7 summit in Japan via video link.
Ukraine is holding its defence of the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut as Russian forces attempted to advance to the city centre, a Ukrainian general has said. There was intense fighting along the eastern frontline, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces, said.
Fifteen children have been returned from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Kherson, as well as their mothers and children’s legal guardians, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said. A total of 308 children have been returned to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, he added, citing the country’s national information bureau.
