March 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Volunteers fill sand bags at a beach in Odesa, Ukraine, on March 16.

The US has observed “increased naval activity” in the northern Black Sea from Russian forces there, a senior US defense official told reporters on Wednesday. 

The shelling is not in Odesa, but near Odesa, the official said. The shelling, the US believes, is coming from Russian warships in the Black Sea, the official added.

“We believe these are again from Russian warships in the Black Sea,” the official added. “There does appear to be naval shelling in places near Odesa.”

President Biden speaks during an event at the White House on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden called President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” on Wednesday as Russia intensifies its attack on Ukraine.

“I think he is a war criminal,” Biden said. 

Some more context: Biden’s designation reflects a shift from the administration’s previous stance. Officials, including Biden, had previously stopped short of saying war crimes were being committed in Ukraine, citing ongoing investigations into whether that term could be used.

But officials have been clear they believe atrocities are underway and that the intentional targeting of civilians would constitute war crimes.

“The President’s remarks speak for themselves,” press secretary Jen Psaki said afterward. She said Biden was “speaking from the heart.”

She said the ongoing investigation at the State Department into war crimes was still underway. 

“There is a legal process that continues to — is underway, continues to be underway at the State Department. That’s a process that they would have any updates on.”

When pressed on this by a reporter later in the briefing, Psaki said, “He was answering a direct question that was asked and responding to what he has seen on television. We have all seen barbaric acts, horrific acts by a foreign dictator in a country that is threatening and taking the lives of civilians — impacting hospitals, women who are pregnant, journalists, others and I think he was answering a direct question.”

Biden initially said “no” when asked whether Putin was a war criminal, but returned to a group of reporters immediately to clarify what had been asked. When asked again whether Putin was a war criminal, he answered in the affirmative.

Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov.

The Ukrainian government says it has staged a rescue of the mayor of the southern city of Melitopol, who was detained by armed men in the Russian-occupied city on March 11.

Another video showed a smiling Zelensky speaking on the phone to someone identified by his office as Fedorov.

More background: Russian troops gained control of Melitopol on Feb. 26. On March 11, armed men detained the elected mayor Fedorov and later that day the prosecutor’s office for the Russian-backed separatist Luhansk region accused him on terrorism charges.

Since then, newly installed mayor Galina Danilchenko has ordered the broadcasting of Russian television channels and attempted to dissolve the city council and instead create a People’s Committee.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general opened a treason investigation into Danilchenko on March 13.

Slovakia has preliminarily agreed to provide Ukraine with a key Soviet-era air defense system to help defend against Russian airstrikes, according to three sources familiar with the matter, but the US and NATO are still grappling with how to backfill that country’s own defensive capabilities and the transfer is not yet assured. 

According to two of the sources, Slovakia, one of three NATO allies that have the defense systems in question, wants assurances that the systems will be replaced immediately. 

If a country provided its S-300s, the supplying country is likely to receive the US-made Patriot air defense missile system to backfill the capability it would be giving up, according to two other sources familiar with the negotiations. 

Germany and the Netherlands have already publicly announced that they are sending Patriots to Slovakia. But integrating a new, complex air defense system into a country’s existing military architecture, as well as training its forces to use it, can take time, one source familiar with the matter cautioned. 

The push to get more S-300s into the hands of the Ukrainians comes as Congress has been pressing the Biden administration to help Ukraine obtain the air defense system. Lawmakers in both parties, who heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech Wednesday morning, have urged the US needed to do more to help Ukraine obtain the weapons it’s seeking, particularly after the administration opposed a plan last week to provide Ukraine with Polish MiG-29 jets.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, hinted publicly on Wednesday that the US had made progress in getting Ukraine access to additional S-300s, an anti-aircraft weapon system that congressional sources say Ukraine is already operating effectively against Russia’s assault.

“I’ve been pushing hard for this,” McCaul told CNN’s Jim Sciutto. “I’m proud to say they do have S-300s going in now.”

An aide to McCaul later said he was referring to S-300 systems that have been owned and operated by Ukraine for years. Those systems are already in the country.

More background: CNN previously reported that the State Department has been working to identify which countries currently have S-300s and determine how they could be transferred to Ukraine. 

CNN reported earlier Wednesday that other Soviet era air defense systems including the SA8 have already been sent into Ukraine. 

“People talk about a no-fly zone, they can create their own if we give them the military equipment and weapons,” McCaul noted.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to travel to Slovakia later this week after participating in the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels.

“At the request of President Zelensky, we have identified and are helping Ukraine acquire additional longer range anti-aircraft systems and the munitions for those systems,” US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday as part of remarks detailing new security assistance. 

Some US allies have also been extremely leery of making their contributions to Ukraine public, multiple sources told CNN. Bulgaria and Greece also have more the modern S-300 systems in question. Greece’s system is a different model than those currently operated by Ukraine, raising questions of whether additional training would be needed for it to be useful.

The State Department and the Slovakian Embassy in Washington declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the National Security Council and the Defense Department for comment. 

Carrying just his passport, a plastic bag and a telephone number written on his hand, an 11-year-old boy travelled from Zaporizhzhya in Ukraine to Slovakia, a journey of more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers).

“I am very grateful that they saved the life of my child,” said his mother, Yulia Pisetskaya in a video message posted on Facebook, adding “in your small country, there are people with big hearts.”

“I am a widow and I have more children. I want to thank the Slovak customs and volunteers who took care of my son and helped him cross the border. I am grateful you have saved my child’s life. Next to my town is a nuclear power plant that the Russians are shooting at. I couldn’t leave my mother — she can’t move on her own,” she continued.

The Drama Theater in Mariupol where hundreds were taking refuge sustained heavy damage in a bombing Wednesday.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional administration which includes Mariupol, said Russian forces are trying to “physically destroy Mariupol and the people of Mariupol, which have been a symbol of our resistance” after a theater sustained heavy damage in an apparent bombing.

Kyrylenko said they launched an air strike on the “Drama Theater” and “the Neptune” swimming pool.

“According to preliminary data, several hundred Mariupol residents were hiding in the Drama Theater. Their fate is unknown, as the entrance to the bomb shelter is blocked by rubble,” he said.

“The Russians are already lying, [saying] that the headquarters of the Azov Regiment was there. But they themselves are well aware that there were only civilians,” he continued on Facebook.

The Azov Battalion is an ultra-nationalist militia that has since been integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces.

It is currently impossible to determine the number of casualties of these shellings and the extent of the destruction as well.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague has ordered Moscow to immediately stop its invasion of Ukraine, saying there is no evidence to support its justification of the war.

During a hearing Wednesday, the court ruled there was no evidence to support Russian claims that Ukraine was committing genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, whereby Moscow has justified its invasion of Ukraine.

The Court also called for other forces supported or controlled by Moscow to cease their military operations, and for Russia to refrain from aggravating or extending the dispute.

Ukraine filed a dispute on Feb. 26 against Russia on the basis of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It asked the ICJ to deliberate on Russian claims that Ukraine was committing genocide in the Donbas.

The hearing took place in the Peace Palace in The Hague, where presiding Judge Joan E. Donoghue read out the Court’s order. The preliminary decision was confirmed by a 13-2 vote. A Russian and a Chinese judge were the two to vote against the decision.

“The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is taking place in Ukraine,” Donoghue said. “The court is profoundly concerned about the use of force by the Russian Federation in Ukraine which raises very serious issues of international law.”

ICJ rulings are considered binding, though the court lacks an enforcement mechanism. 

Russia boycotted a previous ICJ hearing on March 7.

The World Health Organization slammed the unprecedented numbers of attacks on global health care systems Wednesday. 

“This issue is more important than bricks and mortar. This isn’t just about the destruction of buildings,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said while discussing Ukraine.

Ryan said that attacks on health care, encompassing workers and facilities, means health systems are “becoming a target.” 

“We’re only a very short part into this year, we have never seen, globally, never seen this rate of attacks on health care,” Ryan said. “Health is becoming a target in these situations; it’s becoming part of the strategy and tactics of war. It is entirely, entirely unacceptable. It is against international humanitarian law.”

Of the 89 attacks on health systems around the world this year so far, 43 have been in Ukraine, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

The Ukrainian health system is “teetering on the brink,” warned Ryan. 

WHO is working with its partners to get emergency medical teams on the ground in Ukraine, but officials said they are concerned the emergency medical teams will get attacked or bombed. 

“How can you do that in all conscience if the very infrastructure that those people will go into support is being under direct attack?” Ryan said. 

The Drama Theater in Mariupol where officials say hundreds were taking refuge sustained heavy damage in a bombing Wednesday.

The Mariupol City Council has posted an image of the Ukrainian city’s theater — where hundreds of people are said to have taken shelter — after it sustained heavy damage in a bombing Wednesday.

CNN has geolocated the image and confirmed it is of the theater. Videos showed a fire raging in the theater’s ruins.

The city council said that Russian forces had “purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol. The plane dropped a bomb on a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding.”

It said casualty numbers were still being confirmed.

“It is impossible to find words that could describe the level of cruelty and cynicism with which the Russian occupiers are destroying the civilian population of the Ukrainian city by the sea. Women, children, and the elderly remain in the enemy’s sights. These are completely unarmed peaceful people,” it said.

Separately, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to mayor of Mariupol, said the theater’s shelter was “the largest in number and size shelter in the city center.”

“According to preliminary data, more than a 1,000 people were hiding there. The number of dead and injured is unknown. The probability of getting there to dismantle the rubble is low due to constant shelling and bombing of the city,” he said.

The Ukrainians put together an extensive list of requested military and technological assistance they are still requesting to share with the US government on Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the list.

The list is organized based on levels of necessity, ranging from urgent needs to low priority, the sources said. 

Included in the top priority section are: anti-aircraft systems including the S300 and Stinger missiles and launchers, anti-tank weapons, including American-made Javelins, different kinds of artillery ammunition, planes, armored vehicles and helicopters, sources said.

The list also includes highly-advanced US drones — called Switchblade systems — which can be flown remotely and blow up targets miles away. These weapons were added to the list after the Ukrainians consulted with congressional partners over the weekend on a draft of the list. The US would have to provide training for the Ukrainian troops if the US gives them those weapons, but the sources said that could be done remotely. 

Beyond weaponry Ukraine’s asks also include: radar stations, automated control for anti-aircraft systems, radios, medical kits and body armor.

The key is that the Ukrainians need secure communications systems that the Russians cannot get into, the sources said. The US has previously provide Ukraine with that kind of communications technology and is poised to provide more of that support, the officials said.

US President Joe Biden signs legislative action to provide security aid and support to Ukraine.

President Biden announced $800 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine during remarks from the White House on Wednesday. This brings the total to $1 billion in aid announced in just the last week.

The package of military assistance will include anti-tank missiles and more of the defensive weapons that the US has already been providing, including Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, officials familiar with the plans said. The assistance, however, will stop short of the no-fly zone or fighter jets that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said are necessary to sustain Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

“These are direct transfers of equipment from our Department of Defense to the Ukrainian military to help them as they fight against this invasion. I thank the Congress for appropriating these funds,” Biden said.

Biden went on to detail what is in the package and how it will be used.

“This new package, on its own, is going to provide unprecedented assistance to Ukraine. It includes; 800 anti-aircraft systems to make sure the Ukrainian military can continue to stop the plans and helicopters that have been attacking their people and to defend their Ukrainian airspace,” Biden continued.

Biden added, that the aid will also include drones, “which demonstrates our commitment to sending our must cutting edge systems to Ukraine for its defense.”

Biden noted that security assistance will be in partnership with allies.

“And we’re not doing this alone. Our allies and partners have stepped up to provide significant shipments of security assistance and will continue to help facilitate these deliveries as well. The United States and our allies and partners are fully committed to surging weapons of assistance to the Ukrainians. More will be coming as we source additional stocks of equipment that we’re ready to transfer,” he said.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Kevin Liptak, Phil Mattingly and Paul LeBlanc contributed reporting to this post.

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US President Joe Biden warned “this could be a long and difficult battle” after announcing an additional $800 million in security aid for Ukraine.

“The American people will be steadfast in our support [to] the people of Ukraine in the face of Putin’s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations. We are united in our abhorrence of Putin’s depraved onslaught, and we’re going to continue to have their backs as they fight for their freedom, their democracy, their very survival,” he said in remarks from the White House.

He also pledged to keep up sanctions on Russia.

“We will support Ukraine’s economy with direct financial assistance. Together with our allies and partners, we will keep up the pressure in Putin’s crumbling economy, isolating him on the global stage. That’s our goal. Make Putin pay the price, weaken his position while strengthening the hand of the Ukrainians on the battlefield and at the negotiating table,” he said.

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US President Joe Biden opened his remarks this afternoon by thanking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his “passionate message” to Congress earlier today.

Biden went on to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “inflicting appalling, appalling devastation on Ukraine” with the bombing of apartment buildings, maternity wards, and hospitals.

Biden’s remarks are ongoing.

US President Joe Biden is speaking at the White House and is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, a White House official told CNN, bringing the total to $1 billion announced in just the last week.

Biden’s remarks come shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Congress for help directly Wednesday, telling US lawmakers “we need you right now” as he invoked tragedies in American history like the attack on Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attack.

Zelensky addressed Biden directly in the historic speech, “You are the leader of your grand nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace,” he said at the conclusion of his remarks, which were met with a standing ovation from lawmakers.

The package of military assistance Biden is expected to announce will include anti-tank missiles and more of the defensive weapons that the US has already been providing, including Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, officials familiar with the plans said.

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

The $800 million in security assistance comes from the massive spending bill the President signed into law on Tuesday, which includes $13.6 billion total in new aid to Ukraine.

CNN’s Clare Foran contributed reporting to this post.

Read more about Biden’s expected announcement here.

The Russian state television journalist who took a dramatic stand against President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine during a live broadcast says it was “impossible to stay silent” and that she wants the world to know that many Russians are against the invasion.

Marina Ovsyannikova told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday that many Russian journalists see a disconnect between reality and what is presented on the country’s television channels, and that even her mother has been “brainwashed” by state propaganda.

On Monday, the network editor appeared behind a news anchor holding a sign that said: “NO WAR.” Ovsyannikova told CNN on Wednesday that she was compelled to act by memories of airstrikes during Russia’s conflict in Chechnya, where she lived as a young girl.

“I worry about Russian soldiers … I think they really don’t understand why they have to do this, why they [are] fighting,” she told Amanpour.

On Tuesday, Ovsyannikova was found guilty by a district court in Moscow of organizing an “unauthorized public event.” The “administrative offense” carries a fine of 30,000 rubles (about $280). A lawyer who had formerly been representing Ovsyannikova told CNN that the administrative charge was based solely on a video statement that she recorded prior to appearing with an anti-war poster on Channel One.

The Kremlin has described her actions as “hooliganism,” a criminal offense in Russia.

Ovsyannikova told CNN that she initially planned to stand back from the cameras during her protest, but then realized she would need to be close to the news anchor to ensure that her poster was seen by viewers.

She was “afraid until the last minute,” she added.

In the video statement recorded before her public protest, Ovsyannikova blamed Putin for the war.

“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 Vladimir Putin,” Ovsyannikova said.

“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 said in the video. “It’s a shame that I allowed to speak lies from the TV screens, ashamed that I allowed to zombify Russian people.”

“I am ashamed that we kept silent in 2014, when all this was just beginning,” she says, a reference to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with counterparts in Europe and Asia today to formally launch a multilateral task force that seeks to take action against the assets of Russian oligarchs.

The task force, which will draw upon the ministries of justice, home or finance in member jurisdiction, will work to “collect and share information to take concrete actions, including sanctions, asset freezing, civil and criminal asset seizure, and criminal prosecution,” the Justice Department said in a release Wednesday.

The effort will combine with the KleptoCapture task force, a new unit within the Justice Department announced by Garland earlier this month to help enforce sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs, targeting their yachts, jets, real estate and other assets.

That task force will include prosecutors and federal agents and experts in money laundering, tax enforcement and national security investigations from the FBI, the IRS, the US Marshals Service, and the US Postal Inspection Service, and will be run out of the office of Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

In an exclusive interview in Lviv, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he has come to Ukraine because he has reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes have been committed in the conflict between Russia and its southern neighbor. 

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, there have been numerous incidents of residential buildings being hit by Russian rockets and artillery fire. Among the most deadly was a strike on the city of Chernihiv when Russian fire hit an apartment complex around midday on March 4. Video geolocated by CNN shows at least five explosions during the attack. Emergency services said they had pulled 33 bodies from the rubble of damaged buildings by the early evening. Regional authorities said there were no military facilities nearby, though Russia insists it does not deliberately target civilians. 

In his CNN interview, Khan also said that indictments could be served on anyone regardless of military rank or civilian role.  

“There’s no immunity for any official position … [If] you’re a foot soldier in a civilian area in urban warfare, you don’t have a license to rape or attack children or terrorize. And if you’re a field commander or if you’re a battlefield commander doing aerial strikes, or targeting decisions or you’re a civilian superior, under the Rome statute, there is responsibility,” Khan said. 

More background: US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said last Thursday that actions committed by Russia against the Ukrainian people constitute war crimes, marking the first time a senior US official has directly accused Moscow of war crimes since last month’s attack on Ukraine began.

Other Biden administration officials have not gone as far as to declare outright that Russia has committed war crimes — violations of international laws of armed conflict — and instead have pointed to “credible reports” that such crimes have been carried out and their support for investigations into Moscow’s actions.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday referenced “atrocities” committed by the Russians and said that the UN should investigate the allegations of Russian war crimes.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Sonnet Swire and Jeremy Herb contributed reporting to this post. 

Russia’s Patriarch Kirill discussed the situation in Ukraine with Pope Francis on Wednesday, the Russian Orthodox Church said in a statement.

“A detailed discussion of the situation in Ukraine took place. Particular attention was paid to the humanitarian aspects of the current crisis and the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church to overcome its consequences. The parties stressed the exceptional importance of the ongoing negotiation process, expressing their hope for the soonest achievement of a just peace,” the statement read.

“Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill also discussed a number of issues of bilateral cooperation,” the statement concludes.

Some context: The Pope has made appeals for peace during the war, met with Moscow’s ambassador to the Vatican at the Russian embassy, and will hold an extraordinary prayer called a “consecration” for Russia and Ukraine next week.

Patriarch Kirill said last week that the conflict is an extension of a fundamental culture clash between the wider Russian world and Western liberal values, exemplified by expressions of gay pride. Experts say that Kirill’s comments offer important insights into Putin’s larger spiritual vision of a return to a Russian Empire, in which the Orthodox religion plays a pivotal role.

Three days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Kirill said in a speech: “We must not let dark and hostile external forces laugh at us, we must do everything to maintain peace between our peoples and at the same time protect our common historical fatherland from all outside actions that can destroy this unity.”

Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova works with Fox journalist Trey Yingst and cameraperson Pierre Zakrzewski in this undated photo taken in Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is “looking very hard” at whether Russia is intentionally targeting journalists in Ukraine.

At least three journalists have been killed covering the war in Ukraine in the past several days — Pierre Zakrzewski, Oleksandra Kuvshynova and Brent Renaud – and at least two have been severely injured.

“We are looking very hard at the targeting that the Russian forces are doing, including whether they are deliberately, intentionally targeting civilians, journalists or anyone else,” he said in an interview with NPR that aired Wednedsday.

American journalist Brent Renaud.

Blinken said that the world is “seeing journalists in the crossfire, people doing their jobs to bring the truth to the world.”

“We’ve seen a Fox team that has had two of its members killed, one injured — someone I know very well,” Blinken said. “This is Ben Hall. He’s someone who travels with me when I travel around the world. Someone I have great, great affection for, who’s a tremendous reporter who asks me a lot of tough questions every place we go.”

“I’m very much hoping and praying that he’ll be back on the job as soon as possible. But meanwhile, two of his colleagues lost their lives. And another very prominent filmmaker lost his life just the other day,” Blinken said.

NATO nations are united in backing the alliance’s position that it will not establish a no-fly zone in Ukraine despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s repeated calls for one, the organization’s chief said.

There will be “no deployment of air or ground capabilities in Ukraine and that is the united position of our allies,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday at a news conference in Brussels.

Ministers discussed the issue at a meeting of foreign ministers on Tuesday, the secretary general said, adding that the alliance is adamant not to escalate the war with Russia.

US President Joe Biden is set to travel to Europe next week to participate in a NATO summit on March 24 and will also join a European Council meeting, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

NATO’s Stoltenberg spoke to CNN following Zelensky’s address:

An evacuation convoy from the town of Enerhodar in the middle of the country came under fire while traveling towards the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian authorities say.

A convoy of more than 70 vehicles left soon after 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET), Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov said.

But five hours later, the convoy was hit by artillery fire as it passed near the town of Stepnohirsk, according to the regional administration.

“Artillery of enemy forces fired on a convoy of civilians near Stepnohirsk moving along the highway towards Zaporizhzhia,” Oleksandr Starukh, head of Zaporizhzhia region administration, informed on his Telegram channel. “There are no dead. It is currently known there are five wounded, including one child in serious condition.”

He added, “Currently, the injured child is undergoing a complex operation with the remote involvement of specialists from the Okhmatdyt Clinic. A fire broke out in the field along the route as a result of the shelling.”

Enerhodar was occupied by the Russians on March 4. They hold the nearby nuclear power station.

In remarks on Wednesday, Biden is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, a White House official told CNN, bringing the total to $1 billion announced in just the last week.

The $800 million in security assistance comes from the massive spending bill the President signed into law on Tuesday, which includes $13.6 billion total in new aid to Ukraine.

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 Council of Europe (CoE), a France-based pan-European human rights organization, said on Wednesday it has excluded Russia from its members after 26 years of membership.

The decision follows an opinion adopted Tuesday by the CoE’s Parliamentary Assembly which considered that “the Russian Federation can no longer be a member State of the Organisation,” per the statement.

The Council of Europe said Russia’s “unjustified and unprovoked aggression” of Ukraine led to the decision of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly to initiate the procedure of expulsion of the Russian Federation.

What Russia and Ukraine are saying: The Russian Foreign Ministry responded it would withdraw from the pan-European structure, arguing it adopted a “discriminatory decision” to suspend the country’s representation on Feb. 25.

In a speech to the chamber Monday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal asked for Russia to be ousted from the Council of Europe, saying Ukraine was “on fire.”

Distinct from the European Union, the Council of Europe has 46 member states and is also an official United Nations Observer. It is also a parent structure to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Russia joined the Council of Europe on 28 February 1996.

“Through their actions in Ukraine the Russian authorities deprive the Russian people of the benefit of the most advanced human rights protection system in the world, including the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and our vast convention system,” a Council’s statement read Tuesday.

The Biden administration is continuing to develop sanctions targeting top Russian officials and those in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, with plans to ramp up the number of targets in the coming days and weeks, according to multiple US officials.

The process has been ongoing and has taken into account specific suggestions of targets provided by top Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, the officials said. In a call with US President Joe Biden last week, Zelensky laid out a more specific range of targets for individual sanctions, one of the officials said. The administration is currently working to address those requested targets. 

Zelensky, in virtual remarks to Congress, went further today when he requested the US impose sanctions on all Russian politicians who continue to support the government.

While some Zelensky requests, including the implementation of a no-fly zone, remain off the table for Biden, the sanctions are viewed by the administration as a tool they can readily deploy.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US has slapped sanctions on dozens of top Russian officials and oligarchs, as well as their family members. 

Biden also signed off on targeting Putin directly with individual sanctions, in coordination with the EU and UK. 

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke Wednesday with his Russian counterpart, the White House said.

The call between Sullivan and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev marks the highest-level known contact between the US and Russia in weeks.

Sullivan reiterated “the United States’ firm and clear opposition to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” according to a statement.

“Mr. Sullivan clearly laid out the United States’ commitment to continue imposing costs on Russia, to support the defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank, in continued full coordination with our Allies and partners. Mr. Sullivan told General Patrushev that if Russia is serious about diplomacy then Moscow should stop attacking Ukrainian cities and towns. Mr. Sullivan also warned General Patrushev about the consequences and implications of any possible Russian decision to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine,” the statement continued.

At least 10 people queueing for bread were killed when Russian forces shelled the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Wednesday, according to the head of the regional administration, Vyacheslav Chaus.

Video geolocated by CNN shows what appear to be lifeless bodies on the ground, but the images of the bodies had been blurred. 

It also showed someone being carried to a vehicle close by. It is not clear whether the individual was alive.

Chaus said the attack was indicative of Russia’s use of indirect fire against civilians. 

“This is not the first such incoming shell [in the city], nor is it the first shelling of civilians by the enemy. The Russians are shelling and destroying mostly civilian infrastructure in the city of Chernihiv and other cities in the region,” he said while speaking on Ukrainian television. 

Chernihiv is surrounded by Russian forces and has seen repeated shelling over the last week, much of it hitting residential areas. 

Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov refuted US embassy claims that Russian troops killed civilians in the bread line in Chernihiv.

“Today, video footage of civilians who died in Chernihiv, who were allegedly shot by Russian servicemen, was distributed on all propaganda resources of the Kyiv regime. It was indicated that all the dead allegedly stood in line for bread. I would like to emphasize that there were no Russian servicemen in Chernihiv,” Konashenkov said in a video message Wednesday. 

“All Russian troops are outside of Chernihiv,” he said.

NATO has tried unsuccessfully to connect with Russia via a deconfliction hotline and written letters as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spread further west toward NATO territory, senior NATO military officials said on Wednesday. 

“We are trying to communicate with them of course,” one of the officials told reporters in a briefing at NATO headquarters. “But it requires two [sides] to communicate.” 

The US also has a separate deconfliction hotline with Russia that it has tested and has determined is functioning but has not yet used in practice, officials have said. 

The officials’ comments followed Russia’s attacks on a Ukrainian military base earlier this week just 10 miles from the Polish border, which raised concerns about the conflict potentially spilling over into a NATO member country. 

The current assessment of NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander of Europe Gen. Tod Wolters, the officials said, is that “currently there is no threat to NATO as such. Not a deliberate threat by Russia. Russia is occupied for the time being with Ukraine.”

But there are of course risks, the officials added, which is why there are now discussions about moving NATO’s defensive systems further east. 

NATO’s supreme allied commander currently has command and control over some 40,000 soldiers, the official said, as well as hundreds of aircraft and more than 200 ships at sea. 

Asked about Poland’s call on Wednesday to send NATO forces into Ukraine on a “peacekeeping” mission, the NATO military officials suggested such a plan would be untenable.

“We are looking at two nation states that are in a war. If they agree on a reliable and robust peace settlement, I do not necessarily see a need for a peacekeeping mission,” one of the officials said. “And if you are looking at the other version of ‘peacekeeping,’ which is actually ‘peace enforcement,’ I mean, that is war with Russia.” 

“We would then have to ‘protect,’” the official explained, “and then shoot, and then kill and then destroy.”

US House minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, third left,, Representative Steny Hoyer, center, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi listen as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addresses the US Congress on March 16 at the US Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium, in Washington, DC.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks to lawmakers was “quite remarkable” and that they’re “grateful” he was thankful for aid. 

She acknowledged his repeated calls for the West to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine but didn’t elaborate. 

She said the House of Representatives is working on legislation in the next couple of days, but she did not elaborate and didn’t answer any more questions.  

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Zelensky’s address to Congress an “incredibly effective speech” and said “the message to President Biden is that he needs to step up his game.” This largely mirrored reaction from GOP senators after the speech and differed from Democrats who defended Biden’s handling as effective and forward leaning.  

GOP Rep. Mike McCaul, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, got very emotional about the video that was played during Zelensky’s address, saying, “We need to help Ukraine, give them everything they need to fight this war, and the video we saw was very reminiscent of Nazi Germany. … And history will judge us. What did you do? What did you do when the bombing started? When the maternity hospitals were bombed and the pregnant women were taken out — blood, children, what did you do?”

Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of GOP leadership, told CNN he is concerned about setting up a no-fly zone. 

“I mean, any time you put American pilots and American planes in the sky, with Russian pilots and planes in the sky, you’re really taking a chance that we may engage at a level that I don’t think we’re prepared to,” Blunt said.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly also raised concerns about imposing a no-fly zone — and he was skeptical of the idea of transferring aircrafts to Ukraine, suggesting it would not be an effective use of resources. He’s open to more sanctions and providing more defense systems such as surface to air missiles. Kelly, who is up for reelection, also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal” and said that US President Joe Biden should “absolutely” call him that. “Call it what is,” he said.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said “much more effective tools” are anti-tanks, anti-aircraft missiles and Stinger missiles.

GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus who stationed in Kyiv during his time as an FBI agent, supports a limited no-fly zone. He said there are other ways to enforce it besides shooting down planes, such as through technology like electro-magnetic pulse and sonar radar.

“We’ve got to support a humanitarian no-fly zone,” said Fitzpatrick. “Otherwise, the only other outcome is slaughtering innocent people.”

GOP Sen. Rick Scott, a member of leadership, went further on a no-fly zone than most in his party, saying in a statement: “President Biden needs to make a decision TODAY: either give Ukraine access to the planes and anti-aircraft defense systems it needs to defend itself, or enforce a no-fly zone to close Ukrainian skies to Russian attacks.”

An inhabitant of a village north of Kyiv told CNN what life is like caught between opposing Russian and Ukrainian forces engaged in heavy attacks against each other for more than a week.

Vitaly Kryshtal said his village of Nemeshaevo, some 20 miles north-west of Kyiv, was “now between two fires.” Thousands of people remained trapped in the area, with opposing troops on both sides.

“Explosions sound non-stop, every two or three minutes. Often shells fly into people’s yards,” Kryshtal said. People were only able to leave shelters for a few minutes a day.

“One day recently it seemed that the shooting stopped for 15 minutes and I could go outside to cook on a fire,” he said. “But as soon as I got out, a new shootout began, I had to run back to my basement.”

Kryshtal said people were having to rely on old recipes for preserving food. He was using his grandmother’s recipes to stay alive because cooking food outside had become impossible.

Some 1,200 people were evacuated from the area on March 12, but thousands more remain.

CNN’s Dana Bash said the goal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to US lawmakers and Americans “was to make it impossible for them not to help.” 

Bash said that Zelensky deliberately referenced American heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., plus events like Pearl Harbor and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and then spoke in English directly addressing US President Joe Biden, after showing a video of attacks in Ukraine.

“Not only … are those indelible in American history and in our psyche, what were they? They were attacks from the sky. … And what he’s trying to do is to bring it home,” she said.

Zelensky has repeatedly called for a no-fly zone since Russia’s invasion in Ukraine began.

Zelensky delivered similar video addresses to the parliaments of the UK and Canada.

Watch here:

Capitol staffer handed out Ukraine-US flag pins to lawmakers attending Zelensky's address at the Capitol on March 16.

Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky’s virtual address, most US lawmakers were seen wearing a pin with the US and Ukraine flag that were handed out by a Capitol Hill staffer.

The speech was attended by Democratic and Republican members of the US House and Senate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addresses the US Congress on March 16 at the US Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium, in Washington, DC.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky received another standing ovation as he finished his remarks to bipartisan members of the US House and Senate. He also received a standing ovation before he spoke.

The historic speech given as a virtual address comes as the United States is under pressure from Ukraine to supply more military assistance to the embattled country as it fights back against Russia’s deadly attack.

Zelensky also delivered similar addresses to the UK and Canadian parliaments.

Members of the US Congress listen during a virtual address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (on screen) on March 16, 2022, at the US Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium, in Washington, DC.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky directly addressed US President Joe Biden in his speech to Congress, calling on him to be “the leader of peace.”

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In a powerful closing to his virtual address to the US Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky switched from Ukrainian to English and said that being the leader of the world and the leader of peace means fighting for the life of people of the world and for their “right to die when your time comes.”

Ukrainians are defending Ukraine and the values of Europe and the world, he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky virtually addresses the US Congress on March 16, at the US Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium, in Washington, DC.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the United States to “do more” during what is “the darkest time” for his country.

Zelensky said the US should sanction all Russian politicians “who remain in their offices and do not cut ties with those who are against Ukraine.”

“All American companies must leave Russia from their market, leave their market immediately, because it is flooded with our blood. Ladies and gentlemen, members of Congress, please take the lead, if you have companies in your districts who finance the Russian military machine leaving business in Russia, you should put pressure. I’m asking to make sure that the Russians do not receive a single penny that they use to destroy people in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

He also said there needs to be “new institutions, new alliances” to stop the war.

“We propose to create an association … a union of responsible countries that have the strength and consciousness to stop conflicts immediately, provide all the necessary assistance in 24 hours, if necessary, even weapons, if necessary, sanctions, humanitarian support, political support, finances, everything you need to keep the peace and quickly save the world, to save lives,” he said.

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Urainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine in his virtual address to the United States Congress Wednesday, but offered alternatives in case this request could not be fulfilled.

He urged that aircrafts that the US already has need to be in the Ukrainian skies, defending Ukraine as Russia’s invasion of the country continues.

“Aircraft that can help Ukraine, help Europe, and, you know that they exist, and you have them. But they are on Earth, not in the Ukrainian sky. They do not defend our people,” he added.

Invoking the famous Martin Luther King speech, he said:

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made references to Mount Rushmore, the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in his pitch to American lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday.

“I remember your national memorial in Rushmore, the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America as it is today, democracy, independence, freedom and care for everyone, for every person, for everyone who works diligently, who lives honestly, who respects the law,” he continued.

Zelensky also asked lawmakers to remember the attacks of Pearl Harbor in World War II and on the World Trade Center in 2001 in considering his request for help.

“Remember Pearl Harbor, the terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you. Just remember it. Remember September 11th, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked, attacked from air,” he said.

“Just like nobody else expected it, you could not stop it. Our country experienced the same every day.”

Zelensky also invoked the famous words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in asking for military help: “I have a dream, these words are known to each of you today I can say. I have a need, I need to protect our sky. I need your decision, your help, which means exactly the same, the same you feel when you hear the words ‘I have a dream.’ “

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky shows a video at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is showing a graphic video now showing fighting in his country and attacks by Russian forces as part of his address to US Congress.

Earlier in this remarks, Zelensky reiterated his calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine and lauded the bravery of the Ukrainian people.

The video ended with a slate that said “close the sky over Ukraine.”

During Zelensky’s video presentation, the pool could hear a pin drop in the room. A few members took videos with their phones. The audio on the video was low in the room. Not overpowering but soft and emotional. 

Ukrainian-American GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz did not sit but stood in the back of the room throughout the speech. During the video, she was very emotional. 

Late in the speech GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn walked up next to the press pool and was seen watching the video.

Pool reporters inside the hall contributed reporting to this post.

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In his virtual address to members of US Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his calls for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Lawmakers of both parties have said they are wary of a no-fly zone at this time because they think it could pit the US directly against Russia in the skies over Ukraine.

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

What is a no-fly zone? A no-fly zone is an area where certain aircraft cannot fly for any number of reasons. In the context of a conflict such as the one in Ukraine, it would probably mean a zone in which Russian planes were not allowed to fly, to prevent them from carrying out airstrikes against Ukraine.

NATO has imposed no-fly zones in non-member countries before, including Bosnia and Libya. However, it is always a controversial move because it means getting semi-involved in a conflict without fully committing ground forces.

What would happen if NATO imposed a no-fly zone? The problem with military no-fly zones is that they have to be enforced by military power. If a Russian aircraft flew into a NATO no-fly zone, then NATO forces would have to take action against that aircraft. Those measures could include shooting the plane from the sky. That would, in Russia’s eyes, be an act of war by NATO and would likely escalate the conflict.

Why hasn’t NATO imposed a no-fly zone? Neither Ukraine nor Russia is a member of NATO. Russia President Vladimir Putin clearly sees NATO as a direct threat to his authority and has recently criticized its expansion toward Russia, using it as justification for his invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, NATO is extremely reluctant to become directly involved in the Ukraine conflict with a rival nuclear power. While it supports Ukraine’s resistance and recognizes Putin’s actions as an invasion of a sovereign nation, the alliance is simply not prepared to do anything that could be interpreted as a direct act of war on Russia and risk an escalation that could lead to the use of nuclear weapons.

Read more about the no-fly zone here.

CNN’s Clare Foran and Ted Barrett contributed reporting to this post.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky opened his address to Congress by lauding the bravery of the Ukrainian people and saying the “destiny” of his country is being decided right now amid the Russia invasion.

The capital city of Kyiv is “under missile and air strikes from Russian troops every day. But it doesn’t give up, Zelensky, addressing Congress virtually, said via a translator.

He said his country is “in the worst war since World War II.”

“Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided. The destiny of our people where the Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy. Russia has attacked not just us, not just our land, not just our cities, it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values,” he said.

Watch Zelensky’s remarks:

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received a standing ovation from United States lawmakers ahead of his virtual address to the US Congress.

He’s addressing members now.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is delivering a virtual address via video to members of the US House and Senate.

The remarks come as the United States is under pressure from Ukraine to supply more military assistance to the embattled country.

What we expect he will say: Zelensky is expected to call for the US to help enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine — to protect civilians — and provide fighter aircraft that the Ukrainians can use to defend themselves.

These two controversial options divide lawmakers, with Republicans more hawkish about giving Ukraine jets, but some Democrats — and the White House — concerned Russia could consider such a move an escalation and potentially draw America into war.

While there is widespread bipartisan support for aid to Ukraine, many lawmakers also believe the US should be careful not to be drawn into any kind of direct, armed conflict with Russia.

US President Joe Biden plans to detail US assistance to Ukraine in a speech of his own later in the day Wednesday.

Russian warships in the Black Sea have shelled the Ukrainian coast in areas close to the key southern city of Odesa, according to Ukraine’s armed forces. 

According to a statement posted on the armed forces’ Facebook page, the villages of Lebedivka, Sanzheika, Zatoka and Bilenke, which all lie about 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) south of the port city, have been shelled in the last 24 hours. 

Odesa is Ukraine’s third largest city and regarded as a key target of Russia’s campaign. 

An amphibious assault is seen as a probable part of any move to take the city and increased shelling of targets along the coast will increase fears that such an assault could be imminent.

The US House Radio and TV Gallery just informed reporters inside the room on Capitol Hill that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will play a video during his virtual remarks.

They will extend the program by about three minutes. But the video will not conclude his remarks. He will continue to speak after the video concludes. 

The room is filling in now with US lawmakers. It’s more than half full now. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been speaking with the Ukrainian ambassador near the front of the room for at least five minutes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will deliver a speech soon to members of the US Congress, marking a rare moment for the Eastern European leader to address American lawmakers as his country continues to fight against the Russian invasion.

Zelensky’s remarks will take place the day after US President Joe Biden signed a massive spending bill into law, which includes more than $13 billion in Ukraine aid.

Zelensky, who remains in Ukraine, will address members of Congress at 9 a.m. ET. Here’s what to watch for:

Read more about the speech here.

A handout photo shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 16 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

It’s been almost three weeks since Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February. If you’re just joining us, here are the latest developments in the conflict:

Fifteen flights of military shipment, including 90 tons of ammunition and Javelin missile systems for Ukraine armed forces arrive in Ukraine on February 11.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to ask Congress for further military aid to his country, the US and its NATO allies are already sending several surface-to-air missiles systems to Ukraine to aid in its defense.

According to a senior US official, these additional systems include the Soviet-era SA-8, SA-10, SA-12 and SA-14 mobile air defense systems. 

These systems have a lower altitude range than the S-300 system, which Ukraine has requested. However, they have a range higher than the Stinger shoulder-fired missiles previously supplied to Ukraine, giving them the capability to hit cruise missiles.

The systems have been sourced from NATO partner nations and are “on the way,” according to this senior US official. It is not clear at this time how these systems will be backfilled to the providing country. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Moscow, Russia, on March 16,

The talks between Russia and Ukraine are difficult, but there is hope for reaching a compromise, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

“The negotiations are difficult for obvious reasons, but nonetheless there is a certain hope for reaching a compromise,” Lavrov said in a televised interview to Russian media outlet RBK broadcast live by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lavrov also said negotiations are underway on humanitarian issues, on the situation on the ground in terms of hostilities, and on political settlement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed suggestions he is ready to surrender as a “childish provocation,” after a fake banner appeared on a Ukrainian newscast saying the president was calling on his people to lay down their weapons. 

According to Ukrainian government officials, the fake banner appeared on the Ukraine 24 news channel after a Russian hack. 

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the country’s government rejects the idea floated by Russia that Ukraine should adopt a Swedish or Austrian model of neutrality.

Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine was now in a state of war with Russia, and the security model “can only be Ukrainian” with “legally verified security guarantees. And no other models or options.”

The Kremlin said Wednesday “demilitarization” of Ukraine could be a compromise for Russia, suggesting a Swedish or Austrian model of a state.

“This is an option currently discussed and which could really be seen a compromise,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a regular conference call with journalists.

The head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, earlier spoke about an Austrian or Swedish version of a neutral state in Ukraine with refusal to deploy foreign bases or enter the bloc, but at the same time with the presence of its own armed forces.

Podolyak said: “Ukraine has never been a militaristic state that attacks or plans to attack its neighbors …That is why today Ukraine wants to have a really strong pool of allies with clearly defined security guarantees.”

He also repeated the demand for a no-fly zone over Ukraine that would include both aircraft and missiles.

CNN’s Sarah Dean contributed reporting to this post.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference on March 16 in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan will revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” (MFN) trade status in response to its invasion of Ukraine, the country’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a news conference on Wednesday.

As a member of the World Trade Organization, Russia is treated as a MFN, which gives it equal access to all the WTO members’ markets and guarantees equal tariffs.

Japan’s latest move follows President Joe Biden’s announcement Friday that the US, along with G7 nations and the European Union, intended to revoke Russia’s MFN status. 

Kishida said Tokyo would further expand the scope of asset freezes against Russian oligarchs close to the Putin administration, prevent Russia from using digital currencies to avert sanctions and ban imports of specific products from the country. 

Tokyo will also work with G7 nations to prevent Moscow from tapping loans from the International Monetary Fund, Kishida said.

Japan will also collaborate with international aid agencies to deliver food and medicine to Ukrainians, he continued, adding that the country had started accepting evacuees from Ukraine and called on the public’s support.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t spoken to US counterpart Joe Biden since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, but contact between the two leaders can resume if necessary, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

“If necessary, contacts [between Biden and Putin] can resume,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on his regular conference call.

“Imposing sanctions on [top US officials] does not mean stopping contacts,” Peskov added.

On Tuesday, Russia sanctioned top US officials, including Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in response to sanctions from the US.

A TV tower in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia has been hit by Russian rocket fire, knocking out the city’s broadcasting facilities, according to a statement from Ukraine’s state communications service.

There are no reports of any casualties. A CNN team in the area report hearing aircraft and two explosions at around 4 a.m. local time.

It is the latest in a series of communications towers to be hit by Russian forces, including structures in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Vynarivka and most recently in the northwestern city of Rivne.

Authorities in Rivne now say 21 people were killed in the strike that targeted the TV tower there.

Wednesday’s strike is the second significant targeting of Vinnytisa since the war began. Ten days ago, Russian missiles destroyed Vinnytsia’s airport.

Oil pumping jacks in a Rosneft Oil Co. oilfield in the Udmurt Republic in Russia, on November 20, 2020.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is warning that potential large-scale disruptions to Russian oil production is “threatening to create a global oil supply shock.”

This comes in light of tough sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and as buyers increasingly avoid Russian oil purchases.

“We estimate that from April, 3 mb/d (million barrels per day) of Russian oil output could be shut in as sanctions take hold and buyers shun exports,” the IEA said in its oil market report.

“OPEC+ [the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] is, for now, sticking to its agreement to increase supply by modest monthly amounts. Only Saudi Arabia and the UAE hold substantial spare capacity that could immediately help to offset a Russian shortfall.”

OPEC has been facing calls to ramp up production amid soaring energy prices. In its last meeting, the organization agreed to stick to their current plan of gradually increasing output by just 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) per month. It meets again on March 31.

“Surging commodity prices and international sanctions levied against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine are expected to appreciably depress global economic growth,” the IEA said, which cut its 2022 global oil demand outlook by 1.3 million barrels per day.

It warned that the industry is faced “with what could turn into the biggest supply crisis in decades.”

“Russia is the world’s largest oil exporter, shipping 8 mb/d of crude and refined oil products to customers across the globe,” it noted.

A crowdfunding campaign aiming to raise money for weapons for Ukraine has raised over $30 million from more than 100,000 supporters since it was launched last month, according to the Czech Ministry of Defense.

The campaign is coordinated by the Czech government with the money going to the Embassy of Ukraine in Prague.

The Czech government said it has made available $185 million worth of military supplies that can be purchased with the money from the crowdfunding campaign.

“Arms, military equipment and ammunitions urgently needed by the Ukrainian military and the Territorial Defense Force to fill depleted stockpiles are part of the offer,” the ministry said.

“Heavy military systems and ammunitions of ‘Eastern’ design are under consideration for delivery to Ukraine as well.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson inspects the Guard of Honor as he arrives at Abu Dhabi airport for his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on March 16.

The United Kingdom is to set out its new national energy strategy next week amid “global uncertainty” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking Wednesday in Abu Dhabi as part of a trip which will see him visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Johnson stressed the need to “be prepared” when faced with knock on price increases.

Next week, the UK government will set out its national energy strategy, according to Johnson, which will see a “massive jump forward on renewables, more nuclear” and a more effective use of UK hydrocarbons.

The prime minister said he is not only visiting the UAE and Saudi Arabia due to its oil reserves, adding that they are “some of the biggest investors here in the Gulf, in UK renewables in our wind farms.”

The UK needs “to double the pace of our construction of wind farms,” the prime minister stressed.

“When we look at the dependency that the West in particular has built up on Putin’s hydrocarbons, on Putin’s oil and gas. We can see what a mistake that was because he has been able to blackmail the West, to hold Western economies to ransom,” Johnson remarked.

Evacuees from Mariupol are seen in the parking lot of a shopping center on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 15.

The central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has come under Russian fire for the first time, according to officials in the regional administration.

Oleksandr Starukh, the head of Zaporizhzhia regional administration, said on his Telegram channel that the railway station and the area around the botanical garden were struck. No casualties had been recorded.

Separately, the southern command of the Ukrainian armed forces said the damage had probably been done by two missiles, but one had not exploded.

Zaporizhzhia is the destination for thousands of people leaving Mariupol, the besieged city on Ukraine’s southern coast.

As of 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday, regional authorities said 3,207 vehicles had reached Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol. Shelter had been provided for more than 3,000 people.

This image released by the Fox News Channel shows cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski while on assignment with colleagues, the Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan and Jerusalem-based senior producer Yonat Friling, background right, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

France and Ireland have paid tribute to Pierre Zakrzewski, a dual-citizenship Franco-Irish photojournalist killed in Ukraine while on assignment for Fox News network.

Irish President Michael Higgins “offered his deepest sympathies to the family of Pierre Zakrzewski” in a statement released late Tuesday.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, meanwhile, said in a tweet Tuesday that he condemned “this indiscriminate and immoral war by Russia on Ukraine.”

French Foreign affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also paid his respects, saying in a Wednesday statement that “it is with great emotion that I learned of the death in Ukraine of the Franco-Irish journalist Pierre Zakrzewski and the Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova.”

“I send my deepest condolences to his family, to the family of Oleksandra Kuvshynova and to their loved ones, and stand by them in the face of this tragedy” the statement adds.

Some context: Zakrzewski, 55, and Kuvshynova, 24, were killed in an attack while reporting near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday. Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was also seriously injured and hospitalized in the attack.

The deaths come as journalists working in Ukraine increasingly find themselves coming under fire. Brent Renaud, an award-winning American documentarian, was killed on Sunday in an attack that also injured journalist Juan Arredondo. A Sky News team released footage earlier this month showing them being violently ambushed.

Russia’s negotiating position in talks with Ukraine is becoming “more realistic,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

Speaking in a televised message, Zelensky stressed the need for his country to “keep fighting,” but struck a more positive note on negotiations.

Zelensky emphasized the importance of persevering with the talks as “any war must end in agreement,” but added that “we need more time to achieve decisions that serve the interests of Ukraine.”

Talks between the two countries are set to pick up again on Wednesday after winding down on Tuesday evening, according to the Ukrainian delegation.

However, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian negotiating delegation, said the country’s objectives in negotiations with Ukraine have not changed since talks between the two sides began.

Medinsky, a presidential aide, said Moscow wants a “peaceful, free, independent and neutral” Ukraine, as quoted by state media RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

“The goal of Russia in these negotiations is exactly the same as the goal of Russia which was set at the very beginning of the special military operation,” he said.

Medinsky added that the Russia-Ukraine talks are ongoing, but are “difficult” and “slow.”

“Of course, we would like it all to happen much faster, this is such a sincere desire of the Russian side. We want to come to peace as soon as possible,” he said.

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

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, and their words appear to chime with other Russian prisoners of war speaking following their captures – that this is not a war they want to be fighting.

CNN’s interview with the three Russian captives revealed that they had deep disquiet about their mission and the suffering of Ukrainian civilians, while they also had harsh words for their commander-in-chief, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read the full story here:

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from a Russian tank destroyed by the Ukrainian forces on the side of a road in Lugansk region on February 26, 2022. - Russia on February 26 ordered its troops to advance in Ukraine "from all directions" as the Ukrainian capital Kyiv imposed a blanket curfew and officials reported 198 civilian deaths. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov / AFP) (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article 'We all will be judged.' Russian prisoners of war voice disquiet, shame over war in Ukraine

A handout photo shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivering an address on March 16 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will deliver a virtual address Wednesday to members of Congress.

It comes amid Russia’s ongoing unprovoked and deadly invasion of Ukraine and as Kyiv presses the United States for more assistance in its defense.

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.

In addition to that, Zelensky recently pressed President Joe Biden during their latest call for more sanctions to further squeeze Russia, CNN has learned.

What Zelensky wants: 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.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Annie Grayer and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski visits Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 15.

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called for an international peacekeeping mission to be sent to Ukraine following a meeting Tuesday with the leaders of Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine in Kyiv.

On Wednesday, NATO’s defense ministers meet in Brussels. 

As he arrived at NATO’s headquarters in the Belgian capital Wednesday, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said while details must be looked at before a decision can be made on peacekeeping forces, “we have to continue to show — in action — our support to Ukraine and its freedoms and not just talk.”

More than 3,000 cars transporting evacuees from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol have arrived in Zaporizhzhia, the head of the regional administration, Oleksandr Starukh, said on his Telegram channel.

Among the arrivals given shelter in the city were 772 children, he said.

Tuesday saw a significant increase in the number of cars able to make it out of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian forces since March 1.

The city council advised residents looking to leave to travel west along the coast to Mangush and Berdyansk and then continue northwest to Tokmak, Vasylivka and Zaporizhzhia.  

Zaporizhzhia attacked: Separately, Starukh said Russian forces had targeted two sites in Zaporizhzhia, including the city’s railway station. He said these were the first civilian sites to be hit in the city, but there were no reports of any casualties.

Rescuers work next to an apartment building that was hit by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 16.

A 12-story residential building near central Kyiv was hit by Russian shelling early Wednesday, setting off fires on several floors, according to a statement from Ukraine’s state emergency services.

The building in Shevchenkivskyi district is located just a few kilometers from the center of the Ukrainian capital.

Initial information indicated two people were injured in the shelling. Rescue workers evacuated 37 people from the building, the statement said.

A neighboring nine-story building was also damaged in the attack, the statement added.

This color infrared satellite image shows fires burning in eastern Mariupol, Ukraine on March 14.

Conditions in Mariupol are “unbearable” and “just hell,” residents who fled the besieged city in southeastern Ukraine told CNN, as shocking drone footage and satellite photos show the utter devastation wrought by the Russian bombardment.

Here’s what we know about the situation:

Read more about Mariupol here.

Rarely in modern times has a political leader matched his moment so bravely.

But a tangible note of desperation is now lacing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inspirational rhetoric as he pleads for a more direct Western intervention to save Ukraine as merciless Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops lay waste to cities and bombard civilians.

The measures the warrior President says his country needs to survive — like NATO-enforced no-fly zones and Soviet-era jets from ex-Warsaw Pact states that are now part of the West — are seen by the Biden administration as a step too far because they could drag the US into a dangerous escalation with its nuclear-armed rival.

Zelensky’s heartrending daily appeals, alongside the horrifying images of civilian casualties, are making it impossible to ignore the torment of Ukraine and its people.

If the worst happens and he ends up being killed and Ukraine falls, addresses like the one to US lawmakers will stand as an indictment of Putin’s barbarism and of a global system that was unable to stop it.

Read the full analysis:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a virtual address to Congress by video at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

Related article Analysis: Zelensky to appeal to Americans as Russia intensifies bombardments

Pakistan sent two C-130 planes of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine Tuesday night, according to Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Speaking at Noor Khan Airbase in the Pakistani capital as the planes departed, Qureshi said the aid was sent at the request of the Ukrainian Embassy in Islamabad.

The aid includes tents, blankets, sleeping bags, generators, soap, hand wash, medicine and canned food.

Pakistan “wishes for the situation to settle down through dialogue and diplomacy,” Qureshi said, adding the aid is being sent on the basis of Pakistan’s “long history of good relations with Ukraine.”

Some context: Pakistan has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine — abstaining from a vote of the UN General Assembly on March 2.

Pakistan’s United Nations ambassador Munir Akram said at the time the country was “deeply concerned” by the war in Ukraine and “repeatedly stressed the need for de-escalation, renewed negotiations.”

The heads of various foreign missions in Pakistan — including the EU, the US, the UK, Norway and Japan — previously issued a joint letter urging Islamabad to condemn Russia’s invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has done more to unify Western Europe than almost any event since the end of World War II.

Nations that were neutral have provided arms for Ukrainians; governments that had for years missed their NATO defense spending obligations have made spectacular U-turns; and countries that had deep economic ties to Russia have gone further in breaking the link than anyone had seriously envisaged little over a month ago.

The fate of the three Nordic nations that sit on the Scandinavian Peninsula — Norway, Sweden and Finland — has been brought into sharp focus by the crisis due to their unique relationship with each other, the rest of Europe and Russia.  

It’s these last two facts that have played a significant role in the major rethink of European security over the past three weeks: How can you have a policy of non-confrontation when you also simultaneously share an open land mass with Russia? 

But that policy appears to be changing: Active conversations, once viewed by Sweden and Finland as a risky act of provocation against Russia, are now taking place in both countries about joining NATO. And, along with their neighbor Norway, both are throwing non-confrontation out the window.  

Read the full analysis here.

Faced with “continued personnel losses” in Ukraine, the Russian military is calling up reinforcements from across the entire country, according to the latest public intelligence assessment released Tuesday by the UK Ministry of Defence. 

The UK ministry said Russia was redeploying forces from as far away as “its Eastern Military District, Pacific Fleet and Armenia” and was increasingly tapping other sources of fighters such as “private military companies, Syrians, and other mercenaries.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and attendees applaud after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed them by video link during a meeting of the the Joint Expeditionary Force, in London, Tuesday, March 15.

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

Here’s why Zelensky’s comments are significant:

Read the full story here.

New satellite image shows the destruction of Russian helicopters at an airport in Kherson while survivors and drone footage reveal the scale of devastation in the southern city of Mariupol.

Here’s the latest:

There is a sole train line that runs between Ukraine and the station in the border town of Przemysl, Poland. The trains that go back and forth are a faded blue and yellow, the national colors of the besieged country.

The scene on Platform Five looked different this week. Thousands of refugees were still coming off the trains from Ukraine, mostly women and children looking for safety as Russian forces step up their attacks.

But the people waiting for the journey back across the border were no longer almost entirely male. This line was perhaps half full of women queuing to get back to the war zone.

Mariia Halligan told CNN she’s going to her home city of Kyiv to be with her family and Canadian husband to fight, in her words, “Russian terrorists.”

She clutched a paper heart, made for her in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag by Polish children, who hoped it would be a good luck talisman.

Every woman in the line on this cool, cloudy day had their own reasons for returning to their country at war. But one theme seemed to connect almost every woman waiting to board the train. They view returning home to a war zone as an act of symbolic resistance to Russian aggressors.

Their faces looked determined, and the line was quieter than the emotional rush of people fleeing into Poland.

Read the full story:

General shot of women waiting to go back to Ukraine - 0:21-0:26

Related article Ukrainian women who escaped their country now go back to help fight the invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will deliver a virtual address Wednesday to US members of Congress, as Ukraine continues to press the United States for more assistance in its fight against Russia’s unprovoked and deadly ongoing invasion.

Zelensky will appear via video conference and be introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she gavels in the session. He is expected to speak for approximately 15 minutes.

Zelensky’s remarks are set to air live at 9 a.m. ET.

Watch it here: A livestream of Zelensky’s speech to Congress will be featured on CNN.com without requiring a login. CNN’s special coverage of the speech will stream live for pay TV subscribers only via CNNgo (CNN.com/go and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TV and Android TV) and on the CNN mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Zelensky is likely to make fresh calls for steps like a no-fly zone and help acquiring fighter jets in his address to lawmakers.

President Joe Biden has so far rejected those steps as potentially dragging the US into conflict with Russia, but, according to the White House, the President is intent on demonstrating the support the US is providing and will detail it in a separate speech later Wednesday.

According to a US official, Biden is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine, bringing the total pledged to $2 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration. 

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Clare Floran and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

A satellite image shows a plume of smoke rising from the Kherson International Airport on Tuesday, March 15. When zoomed in, the images show a number of helicopters on fire.

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.

In a zoomed-in portion of the image, helicopters can be seen burning.

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. 

A large plume of smoke rises from the airport.

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.

A satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows a number of Russian military helicopters sitting on the tarmac at the airport on Monday.

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. 

The Prime Ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic reaffirmed their support for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion during a meeting Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in the capital, Kyiv.

Following the meeting, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for the European Union to “very quickly” grant Ukraine candidate status.

He also emphasized Poland, which shares a 310-mile (500-kilometer) border with Ukraine, would try to help Ukraine organize its defenses.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said having an in-person discussion with Zelensky was “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 said.

Fiala said he wanted to assure Ukrainians 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, who said they will “continue to provide more aid and support.”

Zelensky thanked the EU leaders for their “wonderful support” when “so many other ambassadors have left Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion.”

Read more:

From left to right: Slovenia's PM Janez Janša, Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish deputy PM Jarosław Kaczyński, and Czech PM Petr Fiala study a map of Ukraine in a wood-panelled room in an undisclosed location in Kyiv.

Related article EU leaders arrive in Kyiv for meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky

Conditions in Mariupol are “unbearable” and “just hell,” residents who fled the besieged city in southeastern Ukraine have told CNN, as shocking drone footage and satellite photos emerged showing the utter devastation wrought by the Russian bombardment.

Mariupol city council said on Tuesday that an estimated 2,000 private cars have been able to leave the city, and a further 2,000 vehicles are parked on the main route out of Mariupol as of 2 p.m. local time Tuesday.

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.

As many as 2,500 civilians have died in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials estimate. About 350,000 people are trapped in the city, with officials warning those who remain are without electricity, water and heat.

Two women who managed to escape to the Zaporizhzhia region, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) away, on Monday told CNN about conditions in Mariupol and the frightening journey out.

Lidiia, who did not give her surname due to safety concerns, told CNN that she decided to leave Mariupol after Russian bombardments started hitting closer to her home.

She said she had spent two weeks in a basement with about 60 other people, adding she only left occasionally to retrieve items from her apartment.

Read more:

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows smoke rising from damaged residential buildings following an explosion, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Mariupol, Ukraine March 14, 2022 in this still image taken from a drone footage obtained from social media. Azov regiment press service/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY./File Photo

Related article The scale of Mariupol's destruction is revealed in drone footage and satellite photos