In a national address just before 2am local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has provided a more optimistic view of the positions of Ukraine and Russia at upcoming peace talks.
Meetings continue. I am told that the positions at the negotiations sound more realistic.
However, more time is still needed for decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine.”
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It is day 21 of Russia’s war on its neighbour. Here is where the situation currently stands:
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a late-night national address where he confirmed meetings between Ukrainian and Russian officials continue, adding that “the positions at negotiations are more realistic now”.
However, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said there are “fundamental contradictions” in talks aimed at ending Russia’s military attack but there is “certainly room for compromise.”
Addressing Russian citizens, Zelenskiy said the war would end in “disgrace, poverty, year-long isolation [and] a brutal repressive system”. “If you stay in your posts, if you don’t speak out against the war, the international community will strip you off of everything you have earned over the years. They are working on it,” he said.
EU leaders vowed support for Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv. The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia arrived in the capital earlier on Tuesday in a show of support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who briefed them on the war with Russia. Poland’s Kaczyński called for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, with Czech prime minister Petr Fiala saying: “You are not alone. Our countries stand with you. Europe stands with your country”.
Nato is set to tell its military commanders on Wednesday to draw up plans for new ways to deter Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including more troops and missile defences in eastern Europe, officials and diplomats said. Ukrainian minster for defence, Oleksii Reznikov, is expected to plead for more weapons from individual Nato countries, according to a Reuters report.
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, a White House official said as reported by Reuters news agency.
The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution late Tuesday night condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, a rare show of unity in the deeply divided Congress.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken predicted there will be an independent Ukraine “a lot longer than there’s going to be a Vladimir Putin,” in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
A series of Russian strikes hit a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv on Tuesday morning, igniting a huge fire and prompting a frantic rescue effort in a 15-storey apartment building. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said five people were killed in the airstrikes.
Russian forces have reportedly taken patients and medical staff of a hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol hostage. According to the BBC, the city’s deputy mayor Sergei Orlov said there were 400 people in the hospital and the Russian army were “using our patients and doctors like hostages”.
About 2,000 cars were able to leave Mariupol, according to local authorities.
A woman who interrupted a live news programme on Russian state TV last night to protest against the war in Ukraine has been fined 30,000 roubles (£215) by a Russian court. Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian television producer, was found guilty of flouting protest legislation, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.
The UK is to impose sanctions on 370 more Russian individuals, including more than 50 oligarchs and their families with a combined net worth of £100bn. More than 1,000 individuals and entities have now been targeted with sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine, with fresh measures announced against key Kremlin spokespeople and political allies of Putin, including the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Boris Johnson will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday to ask the Gulf states to produce more oil and help the UK reduce dependence on Russian oil.
More than 100,000 people in the UK have offered homes to Ukrainian refugees in the first 24 hours of a government scheme that allows families and individuals to bring them to the UK.
As usual, for any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at samantha.lock@theguardian.com
The Guardian keeps you up to the minute on the crisis in Ukraine with a global perspective and from our team around the world and around the clock. Thank you for reading and please do stay tuned.
Street scenes in Ukraine show anti-tank hedgehogs scattered across the historical district of Odesa while apartment buildings are seen in ruins from the aftermath of Russian missile attacks in Kyiv.
Sandbags seen lining the entrance to buildings protect infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Anti-tank hedgehogs are pictured at the historical part of Odesa Photograph: Viacheslav Onyshchenko/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
A man walks past sandbags protecting the entrance of a cafe in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro Photograph: Emre Caylak/AFP/Getty Images
A family examines the destruction at their apartment building where an intercepted Russian rocket hit in Kyiv Photograph: Seth Sidney Berry/ZUMA Press Wire Service/REX/Shutterstock
Here is a look at how some of the UK papers have covered the day’s developments in Ukraine:
On the topic of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, an inquiry into the granting of his Portuguese citizenship has led to the opening of disciplinary proceedings against employees involved in the process, Lusa news agency reported on Tuesday.
The Russian billionaire was granted Portuguese citizenship in April 2021 based on a law offering naturalisation to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian peninsula during the mediaeval Inquisition.
There is little known history of Sephardic Jews in Russia, although Abramovich is a common surname of Ashkenazi Jewish origin.
An inquiry into the granting of Roman Abramovich’s Portuguese citizenship has led to the opening of disciplinary proceedings against employees involved in the process Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters
The inquiry by the Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN), which provides nationality and passport services, was launched in January amid criticism from some activists, commentators and politicians who said the law must be reviewed as they believed it was being used by Russian oligarchs to get a foothold in the EU.
IRN, which did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment, told Lusa that, following the initial investigation, disciplinary proceedings were opened but said details of it were confidential.
It did not say on how many employees were targeted.
A second inquiry into the granting of citizenship to Abramovich was opened in January by the Portuguese prosecutor’s office and his citizenship could be stripped depending on its outcome.
A rabbi responsible for issuing a document needed to obtain citizenship was reportedly arrested last week.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich sat at the top table of English football for nearly two decades after buying Chelsea in 2003. But as David Conn explains, the issues that led to sanctions being imposed on him last week by the government have been in plain view for years
His transformed the club from perennial underachievers to a major force in European football that has since won every major tournament the continent offers. But right from day one, as the Guardian’s investigative reporter David Conn tells Nosheen Iqbal, there have been questions about the origins of his wealth – as well as his closeness to the Kremlin.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich was last week placed on a list of individuals to have sanctions imposed upon them by the UK government, meaning that all his assets in Britain were frozen – including Chelsea FC. With the club now in crisis and up for sale, Conn looks back on what the Abramovich era has meant for English football, and why the authorities are only taking action now.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has predicted there will be an independent Ukraine “a lot longer than there’s going to be a Vladimir Putin,” as the Russian president continues his unprovoked invasion.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Blinken said:
First of all, there’s going to be a Ukraine, an independent Ukraine a lot longer than there’s going to be Vladimir Putin.
One way or the other, Ukraine will be there and at some point Putin won’t.”
Blinken said the US is trying to prevent as much death and destruction as possible right now.
The real question is how much death and destruction is wrought by Russia’s aggression in the meantime, and that’s what we’re working as hard as we can to limit, to stop, to put an end to the war of choice that Russia is committing.
We’re doing that through the support we’re providing Ukraine every single day. We’re doing that by the pressure we’re exerting against Russia every single day.”
The Ukrainian military has just released its daily operational report, claiming Russian military leadership has approved the “early release” of cadets to fight in combat against Ukraine.
According to the report released by Ukraine’s ministry of defence, Russia is having trouble providing its troops with ammunition and “has lost (completely destroyed, or lost ammunition) 40% of units involved in operations on the territory of Ukraine”.
“The worst situation remains in the area of Mariupol, where the opponent tries to block the city in the western and eastern outskirts of the city,” military officials from the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine added.
Anti-tank hedgehogs are pictured in the historic port city of Odessa which is under threat of bombardment from Russian forces Photograph: Viacheslav Onyshchenko/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
Nato is set to tell its military commanders on Wednesday to draw up plans for new ways to deter Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including more troops and missile defences in eastern Europe, officials and diplomats said.
Defence ministers will order the military advice at Nato headquarters, just over a week before allied leaders, including US President Joe Biden, gather in Brussels on 24 March, according to a report from Reuters.
Ministers will also hear from their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, who is expected to plead for more weapons from individual Nato countries, as Russian attacks on Ukraine’s cities continue and the Russian military seeks control of Kyiv.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday:
We need to reset our military posture for this new reality.
Ministers will start an important discussion on concrete measures to reinforce our security for the longer term, in all domains.”
While at least 10 of Nato’s biggest allies, including the United States, Britain and France, have deployed more troops, ships and warplanes to its eastern flank, and put more on stand-by, the alliance must still consider how to face up to a new security situation in Europe over the medium term.
The Ukrainian parliament convened on Tuesday to pass laws on economic innovation and fiscal policy relaxation aimed at saving jobs and allowing Ukrainians to continue working wherever it’s possible, Zelenskiy has confirmed.
We introduced 0% excise duty and 7% VAT on fuel in order to stabilise prices and ensure continuous supplies. The regulation of business has been simplified. We reduced the activity of regulatory bodies so that there were no inspections for businesses that are working within the Ukrainian law and don’t violate consumer rights.
A new law is also giving guarantees to members of the territorial defence and volunteers. They will be recognised as combat veterans. We approved a decision to continue the martial law to effectively defend our country.”
More images of the destruction in Kyiv have emerged.
Ukraine’s state emergency services also published footage of rescue operations, describing 13 fires throughout the city caused by the shelling on Tuesday.
Residential buildings shelled in the Svyatoshyno district of Kyiv, Ukraine Photograph: Ukrinform/News Pictures/REX/Shutterstock
Smoke comes out of the windows in a residential building shelled by the Russian troops Photograph: Ukrinform/News Pictures/REX/Shutterstock
The United Nations has said that since the war in Ukraine started on 24 February, every day 70,000 children in Ukraine have become refugees.
“That is equivalent to 55 children fleeing the country every minute, according to UNICEF — nearly one every second,” said a UN spokesman.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva:
Since February 24, scores of children have been killed in Ukraine. Many more have been injured and more than 1.5 million children have fled the country.
Putting this last statistic another way, on average, every day in Ukraine from the start of the war, more than 75,000 children have become refugees. Every day.
This last number is particularly shocking. Every single minute, 55 children have fled their country.
That is, a Ukrainian child has become a refugee almost every single second since the start of the war.
This refugee crisis is in terms of speed and scale, unprecedented since the Second World War, and is showing no signs of slowing down.”
More from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s late-night national address:
The third week is coming to an end. We all want peace. We all want victory. And there’s a feeling that just a little bit longer and we will achieve what we, Ukrainians, are entitled to by right.
Zelenskiy added that meetings between Ukrainian and Russian officials continue.
Meetings continue. I’m being reported that the positions at negotiations are more realistic now. However, we need more time to make sure that the decision is in the interests of Ukraine.
The president said Russia has lost masses of equipment, soldiers and Russian generals.
Many Russian conscripts have been killed. There are tens of officers among killed invaders, and one more general was killed today. The occupants committed new and apparent war crimes, shelled on peaceful cities, civilian infrastructure.
The number of rockets used by Russia against Ukraine has already exceeded 900. There are so many air bombs that it’s impossible to count them.”
Zelenskiy addressed Russians in his latest video address: “Citizens of Russia, any of you who has had access to truthful information might have already realised how this war will end for your country: with disgrace, poverty, year-long isolation, a brutal repressive system” Photograph: Telegram
Addressing Russian citizens, Zelenskiy switched to Russian:
Citizens of Russia, any of you who has had access to truthful information might have already realised how this war will end for your country: with disgrace, poverty, year-long isolation, a brutal repressive system that will treat Russian citizens as inhumanely as you, occupants, treated Ukrainians. What will come next depends on your actions.
I want to address Russian officials and everyone who is involved with the incumbent government. If you stay in your posts, if you don’t speak out against the war, the international community will strip you off of everything you have earned over the years. They are working on it. This includes propaganda, the fourth estate in Russia. If you continue working for propaganda, you put yourself at a bigger risk than you face if you just resign: the risk of sanctions and international tribunal for the propaganda of aggressive war, for justification of war crimes. Quit your jobs. Several months without a job is better than a whole life under international prosecution.”
Zelenskiy continued in Ukrainian:
So everyone, who stands with us, receives gratitude not only from us but from the entire world. Everyone who stands with us has a chance to become a real hero.”
Zelenskiy also thanked Canadians for their support and US President Biden for the new US$ 13.6 billion support package. “We see it as the first step towards the restoration of our country,” he added.
The president remained optimistic that on Wednesday there will be a long-awaited evacuation of people from Izyum in Kharkiv region.
“A humanitarian corridor has been agreed on. In the past 24 hours, we managed to evacuate 28,893 Ukrainian from Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. Out of them, 20,000 were able to leave Mariupol, for now, on their private cars.”
“Ukrainian humanitarian aid is being blocked by the Russian soldiers en route to the city. But we won’t give up on trying to save our people and our city.”
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, a White House official said as reported by Reuters news agency.
The administration last week announced $200 million in security aid for Ukraine bringing he total available funds approved during Biden’s presidency to $2 billion.
We will have more on this story as it develops.
The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, a rare show of unity in the deeply divided Congress.
The resolution, introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and backed by senators of both parties, encouraged the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and other nations to target the Russian military in any investigation of war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters quotes Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote:
All of us in this chamber joined together, with Democrats and Republicans, to say that Vladimir Putin cannot escape accountability for the atrocities committed against the Ukrainian people.”
The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal Photograph: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia arrived in Kyiv earlier on Tuesday in a show of support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who briefed them on the war with Russia.
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and deputy prime minister Jarosław Kaczyński, their Czech counterpart Petr Fiala and Slovenia’s Janez Janša made the perilous train journey to Kyiv which is close to being encircled by Russian forces. They are the first western visitors to the city since the war began three weeks ago.
‘You are not alone’: Three EU country leaders meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv – video
Poland’s Kaczyński called for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. The EU leaders thanked the Ukrainians for defending “fundamental European values” and sent a message of reassurance, with Fiala saying: “You are not alone. Our countries stand with you. Europe stands with your country”.
Zelenskiy expressed gratitude for their visit, calling it a “powerful testimony of support” and telling reporters:“with allies like this we will win this war”.
There are “fundamental contradictions” in talks aimed at ending Russia’s military attack on Ukraine but compromise is possible, a member of the Ukrainian delegation and presidential aide has said.
Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted late Tuesday night:
We’ll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise.”
Talks resumed Tuesday, with both sides having signalled progress.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the Russians “have already begun to understand that they will not achieve anything by war” and called Monday’s talks “pretty good”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday at a press conference that “talks are now continuing on giving Ukraine neutral military status, in the context of security guarantees for all participants in this process”, as well as on “demilitarising Ukraine”, the Interfax news agency reported.
Lavrov is set to meet his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss the Ukraine conflict, the Russian ministry said.
Михайло Подоляк(@Podolyak_M)
We’ll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise. During the break, work in subgroups will be continued…
The aftermath of Russian missile strikes at residential districts in Kyiv can be seen in the photos below.
Russian troops intensified their attacks on the Ukrainian capital with a series of powerful explosions rocking residential districts on Tuesday.
Ukrainian police inspect the site of a Russian bombing attack in front of a destroyed apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday 15 March Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI/REX/Shutterstock
Damage to an apartment complex is seen after the apartment complex was struck by artillery shells in Kyiv, Ukraine Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI/REX/Shutterstock
People clear debris at the site of a missile strike at an apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI/REX/Shutterstock
In a national address just before 2am local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has provided a more optimistic view of the positions of Ukraine and Russia at upcoming peace talks.
Meetings continue. I am told that the positions at the negotiations sound more realistic.
However, more time is still needed for decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine.”
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