LAST UPDATE | 21 Mar 2022
HERE ARE THE major developments on the 26th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Good morning, Tadgh McNally here to keep you up to date on the 26th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s a quick recap of some important events that have occurred over the last day:
Ammonia leak in Sumy due to Russian shelling
Overnight, the mayor of Sumy confirmed that Russian shelling had caused an ammonia leak at a plant in the city.
In the early hours of this morning, Dmytro Zhyvytsky said that there had been a leakage at an ammonia plant in the Sumykhimprom facility which impacted on a radius of 2.5km outside the plant.
The local mayor said on Telegram that people should seek shelter due to the leakage.
Ammonia is lighter than air, therefore shelters, basements and lower floors should be used for protection.
In the hours since the leak was first reported, however, Zhyvystky has since confirmed that the leak has been contained and that only one person was injured.
Our main photo this morning is particularly striking, with a man surveying the damage caused by a Russian strike on a shopping centre in Kyiv early this morning, which left at least six people dead.
Other developments overnight include a rotation of staff working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since the invasion began on 24 February.
This is the first staff rotation since the war broke out, with Ukraine telling the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that staff were able to return home.
IAEA head, Rafael Grossi said that this was “long overdue” but a positive step.
It is a positive -– albeit long overdue –- development that some staff at the Chernobyl NPP have now rotated and returned to their families.
They deserve our full respect and admiration for having worked in these extremely difficult circumstances. They were there for far too long. I sincerely hope that remaining staff from this shift can also rotate soon.
Some of the staff had been on shift since the day before the Russian invasion broke out.
Some footage of the overnight attack on a shopping centre in Kyiv is starting to become available.
The Kyiv Independent has released a short, 20-second clip of the destruction, showing the centre burnt out and smoking.
The front of the centre is gone, while debris litters the surrounding area.
⚡️The video shows the destroyed Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv, following an overnight missile strike.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 21, 2022
According to Prosecutor General's Office, at least eight people were killed.
Video: Proof of war in Ukraine/Telegram pic.twitter.com/GgUosETtCn
Here’s a close-up image of the damage caused at the Kyiv shopping centre.
In the bottom right, you can see some firefighters working to extinguish the smouldering building.
Transport Minister says Ireland will push for further sanctions
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said that Ireland will be pushing for further sanctions against Russia at a meeting between EU foreign affairs and defence ministers today.
Speaking to Morning Ireland, Ryan said that Ireland cannot supply military aid and that a no-fly zone cannot be placed over Ukraine, but he wants to see further pressure placed on Russia through additional sanctions.
We don’t have fighter jets, we can’t enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine but we can and will put further pressure in every way we can on the Russian Government.
He added that one of the best ways to tackle Putin and his regime is to stop sending “hundreds of millions” every day to Russia for oil, gas and coal.
Over 10,000 Ukrainian refugees arrive in Ireland
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said that approximately 10,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Ireland since the war in Ukraine began late last month.
He said that there will be more refugees arriving in the days and weeks ahead and added that more than 20,000 people have pledged to help.
Ukrainian government officials have claimed that there are between 11 and 12 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Ukraine, as over 3 million people flee to European countries.
Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that Russia was destroying the lives of Ukrainians.
3M+ Ukrainians are forced to flee to European countries. In total, 11-12M IDPs are forced to leave their cities being destroyed by Russian artillery. Just be aware of this figure. Russia destroys the lives of millions of people. Is this not a global humanitarian catastrophe yet?
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 21, 2022
Top EU policymaker labels Russian actions in Mariupol as ‘war crime’
In the last few minutes, one of the top EU policymakers, Josep Borrell, has labelled Russian actions in the besieged city of Mariupol as a “massive war crime”.
Ahead of a meeting between EU defence and foreign affairs ministers this morning, Borrell said:
What’s happening now in Mariupol is a massive war crime, destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody.
The Kremlin has poured cold water on hopes of a breakthrough in Ukraine-Russia peace talks this morning.
The Financial Times Moscow bureau chief, Max Seddon, has reported that Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson has said “the degree of progress falls short of what we would like”.
The Kremlin is dampening hopes for a peace deal with Ukraine.
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 21, 2022
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, says "the degree of progress falls short of what we would like and how the dynamic of developments demands of the Ukrainian side" – meaning Russia's ongoing assault on its cities.
He also said that direct talks between Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are unlikely until current negotiations produce results.
Peskov also said that if EU leaders were to introduce an embargo on Russian oil exports, it would have a direct impact on everyone.
As EU foreign and defence ministers meet this morning to discuss further sanctions against Russia, Peskov said that an oil embargo “is a decision that will hit everyone”.
We’ve got some more photos of the destroyed Kyiv shopping centre coming in this morning.
Russia shells residential buildings in coastal city of Odesa
The Kyiv Independent is reporting this morning that Russian warships have launched shelling attacks against residential buildings in Odesa, a port city on the Black Sea.
According to a spokesperson for the Odesa Oblast Military Administration, there were several buildings damaged in the attacks, but no casualties have been reported.
⚡️Russian warships shell residential buildings in Odesa.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 21, 2022
According to Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa Oblast Military Administration, several buildings were damaged. No casualties have been reported yet.
Breaking: New two-night curfew announced in Kyiv
A new curfew has been announced in Kyiv this morning, with mayor Vitali Klitschko saying that it will last from 8pm local time tonight until early Wednesday morning.
In a message on Telegram, Klitschko said that the curfew will begin at 8pm local time tonight (8pm GMT) and last until 7am on Wednesday morning (5am GMT).
This is the second such curfew announced for Kyiv in the space of a week.
Zelenskyy calls for Europe to halt all trade with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Europe to stop all trade with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
In a video address, Zelenskyy made the call for Europe to put further pressure on Russia by completely halting trade with the country.
Please do not sponsor the weapons of war of this country, of Russia. No euros for the occupiers.
Close all of your ports to them. Don’t export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine
Further information on the curfew in Kyiv is available, with all shops, pharmacies and petrol stations set to close for the duration of the curfew.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko said that only vehicles with “special permission” will be permitted to drive around the city.
In news closer to home, the Irish Air Corps last night carried out a neonatal air ambulance from Lublin, Poland to Baldonnel aerodrome.
In a tweet, the Air Corps said that the young Ukrainian was accompanied by their mother and four siblings. They added that they will be able to receive medical treatment and support in Ireland.
Last night 101Sqn & @transport_neo completed a Neonatal air ambulance from Lublin Poland to Baldonnel. The young Ukrainian passenger was also accompanied by his mother & four siblings and they will now receive ongoing medical treatment and support services in Ireland. pic.twitter.com/cBYwFwCLDX
— Irish Air Corps (@IrishAirCorps) March 20, 2022
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney thanked the Air Corps for the flight, saying that they were doing important work.
UN refugee commissioner says over 10 million Ukrainians displaced
The UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) has said that more than 10 million people have been displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Filippo Grandi said that the “devastating” war had displaced over 10 million people, following claims from Ukrainian officials that there were between 11 and 12 million people displaced.
The devastating war in Ukraine has now caused 10 million people to flee, either displaced inside their country, or as refugees abroad. The war has to stop.@FilippoGrandi pic.twitter.com/Yoh3eJ4cR5
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) March 21, 2022
Ukrainian Defence Minister: Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa
Ukrainian officials have said that as Mariupol is continuing to stand against a Russian siege, defenders of the city are playing a significant role in hindering Russia’s advance.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that soldiers in Mariupol have “played a huge role in destroying the enemy’s plans and enhancing our defence”.
Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this.
It comes as Russia sought the surrender of Mariupol to allow civilians access humanitarian corridors in the city, which Ukraine rejected.
‘Extraordinary human misery unfolding in Mariupol’ – Coveney
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said that there is “extraordinary human misery” unfolding in Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities as Russia continue their invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking ahead of the meeting between EU foreign and defence ministers, Coveney said that the EU must show “unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine”.
“We’ve seen another night of shelling and of course we’ve seen the extraordinary human misery continuing to unfold in Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities,” said Coveney.
What you’ll get today from both ministers of foreign affairs and ministers for defence is strong unity and resolve.
Ireland to push for more sanctions – Coveney
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said that Ireland wants to see further sanctions placed on Russia and more efforts to respond to the refugee crisis unfolding in Europe.
“From an Irish perspective, we would like to see the sanctions that have been agreed so far further intensified and added to,” Coveney said.
We would like to see a collective decision to extend the use of the European Peace Facility beyond what has already been agreed.
We would like to see more collective efforts from the European Union to respond to the extraordinary human challenges of mass migration from people fleeing Ukraine into European countries and indeed into Moldova to ensure all European countries are participating and contributing to supporting Ukrainians at their time of need.
Minister @simoncoveney attending the Foreign Affairs Council #FAC in Brussels today. 🇮🇪🇪🇺
— Ireland In The EU (@IrelandRepBru) March 21, 2022
"Today is another important day to show #EU unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression in #Ukraine" pic.twitter.com/ad93Ub5BpO
Here are some of the knock-on concerns from the war for many nations.
More than 80% of Sudan’s wheat imports are at risk after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an aid group warns, exacerbating economic and humanitarian crises that deepened after last year’s military takeover.
Fighting and sanctions have disrupted grain shipments from Russia and Ukraine, which between them account for nearly 30% of global wheat exports, threatening hunger and social upheaval in many countries.
Meanwhile, Russia has gone to court to try shut Facebook down.
Russia’s FSB national security service asked a court to “immediately” ban US tech giant Meta, accusing it of working against Moscow’s interests during its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The court was considering a request by prosecutors to designate Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — as an “extremist” organisation and ban it.
The war risks causing famine in parts of the world because of the two countries’ roles as major agricultural exporters, EU ministers in Brussels warned today.
The European bloc is working on a plan to increase the area of EU land able to be given over to farm production, ease import restrictions on animal feed and looking at more direct aid to EU farmers, agricultural ministers said as they held a meeting.
Ukraine and Russia are among the biggest exporters of farm-grown foodstuffs and fertilisers, notably of wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil.
An excerpt here from a piece published by our colleagues at PA.
Here is journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s account of the siege of Mariupol:
– “The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in.
We had been documenting the siege of the Ukrainian city by Russian troops for more than two weeks and were the only international journalists left in the city. We were reporting inside the hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white scrubs to wear as camouflage.
Suddenly at dawn, a dozen soldiers burst in: “Where are the journalists, for f***’s sake?”
Mstyslav has now been brought to safety.
Russian troops reportedly open fire on protesters in Kherson
Russian troops have opened fire on a demonstration in the southern city of Kherson, according to media reports.
Video footage shows people running and the sound of automatic gunfire during a protest at a large square in the occupied city.
Several people are reported to have been injured.
Kherson is the largest of the cities captured by Russian forces since the invasion began last month.
Warning: Video contains sound of gunfire and other explosions.
‼️#Russian invaders opened fire on the residents of #Kherson, who went to the protest pic.twitter.com/HZsxUeW15W
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 21, 2022
Russian court bans Meta
A Moscow court has banned Facebook and Instagram as “extremist” organisations, after authorities accused US tech giant Meta of tolerating “Russophobia” during the conflict in Ukraine.
The Tverskoi district court said it had agreed to a request from prosecutors for the two social media platforms to be banned for “carrying out extremist activities”, but that Meta’s WhatsApp messenger service would not be prohibited because it is not a public platform.
Russia accuses Biden of endangering ties
Russia summoned the US ambassador in protest after President Joe Biden branded Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, saying he had endangered ties.
“Such statements by the American president, which are not worthy of a high-ranking statesman, have put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture,” the foreign ministry said in a statement this afternoon.
The statement said ambassador John Sullivan had been handed a formal letter of protest over “recent unacceptable statements” made by Biden.
He was warned that “hostile actions taken against Russia would receive a firm and decisive response,” the ministry said.
Biden described Putin as a “war criminal” in remarks to reporters last week, amid heavy fighting in Ukraine after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into the pro-Western country.
Russians urged not to panic buy staple foods
A senior official has said that Russia has plenty of sugar and buckwheat and urged people not to panic buy.
Unprecedented Western sanctions have sparked hectic scenes at supermarkets, with customers bulk-buying long-life essentials such as buckwheat.
“I want to calm our citizens: we are fully self-sufficient when it comes to sugar and buckwheat,” deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko told a government meeting in remarks broadcast on television.
“There is no need to panic-buy these goods. There is enough for everybody. Panic-buying only destabilises the distribution network,” she said.
Images of empty shelves and Russians standing in long lines to buy sugar have circulated on social media in recent days.
Abramchenko said that Russia this year planned to sow more sugar beet and buckwheat.
“This means that the new harvest will ensure the availability of sugar and buckwheat on the shelves of stores, and Russian confectioners and bakers will receive the necessary amount of sugar,” Abramchenko added.
She also said there were no food shortages in Russia, adding that the authorities would ramp up imports of supplies from “friendly countries.”
Ukraine calls on China to play ‘important role’ in ending war
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on China to play an “important role” in efforts to resolve Moscow’s conflict with Kyiv.
“We share Beijing’s position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and call on China as a global power to play an important role in this effort,” Kuleba said on Twitter.
The call came after Kyiv last week urged Beijing to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
For decades, the Ukrainian-Chinese relations have been based on mutual respect, understanding and benefit. We share Beijing’s position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and call on China as a global power to play an important role in this effort.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 21, 2022
China, which shares Russia’s hostilities towards the United States, has stayed silent on Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
Last week, US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that there would be “consequences” if Beijing provided material support to Moscow.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has thanked the countries – including Ireland – that signed a joint statement “on the urgent need to modernize the air defense of Ukraine.”
Parliamentarians of 🇨🇿🇪🇪🇫🇷🇬🇪🇩🇪🇮🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇳🇱🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 signed a joint statement "On the urgent need to modernize the air defense of Ukraine." Today millions of Ukrainians ask to close the sky over 🇺🇦. Thank you for this decision!
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) March 21, 2022
The young Ukrainian girl who went viral for singing Let It Go in a Kyiv bomb shelter performed live on stage at a #TogetherWithUkraine charity concert in Poland, where she now lives with her grandmother and siblings after fleeing Ukraine.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/IBL1tKWtfA
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) March 21, 2022
A young Ukrainian girl who went viral for singing a hit song from the film Frozen in a Kyiv bomb shelter has performed her country’s anthem live on stage at a charity concert in Poland, where she is now a refugee.
Thousands of people waved lights in the darkened stadium as seven-year-old Amellia Anisovych sang yesterday evening.
She wore a traditional Ukrainian embroidered dress and sang in the same clear voice that could be heard in a mobile phone video when she sang Let It Go from the bomb shelter.
Amellia fled to Poland and is now with her grandmother and her brother, but her parents remain in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Russia ends Japan peace talks
Relations between Russia and Japan have ranged from bad to all out war for over 100 years.
The two countries remained in a formal state of war for 11 years after World War II ended and they remain in a dispute over the Kuril Islands.
Now Russia says it is abandoning talks with Japan aimed at signing a formal World War II peace treaty, due to Tokyo’s tough response on Moscow’s military action in Ukraine.
“The Russian side, in the current conditions, does not intend to continue talks with Japan on the peace treaty due to the impossibility of discussing the core document on bilateral relations with a country that has taken an openly hostile position and is striving to cause harm to the interests of our country,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Holocaust survivor dies in Russian bombing
A man who survived four Nazi concentration camps during World War II has been killed by Russian shelling that struck his flat in Kharkiv.
Boris Romantschenko – who was 96 years old – died at home on 18 March after his building was bombed in the heavily shelled eastern city, the Buchenwald Memorial foundation said today, citing information from his son and granddaughter.
“It is with dismay that we have to report the violent death of Boris Romantschenko in the war in Ukraine,” the foundation said in a statement.
Describing him as “a close friend”, the foundation said Romantschenko was committed to educating others about the horrors of the Nazi era and had been vice president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee.
Romantschenko was born into a family of farmers in Bondari, near the Ukrainian city of Sumy, on 20 January, 1926.
Although he was not Jewish, he was taken by German soldiers when he was 16 years old and deported to the German city of Dortmund in 1942 to work as a forced labourer, as part of Nazi intimidation tactics against the Ukrainian population at the time.
A failed escape attempt landed him in the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp in 1943. He also spent time in the camps of Peenemuende, where he was forced to help build V2 rockets, and in Mittelbau-Dora and Bergen-Belsen.
“This is what they call the ‘operation of denazification’,” said the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s widely disbelieved claim that ridding Ukraine of Nazis was one reason for Moscow’s invasion.
“The whole world sees Russia’s cruelty,” Yermak added.
The Buchenwald Memorial said Romantschenko’s death “shows how dangerous the war in Ukraine is, also for concentration camp survivors”.
Carl Bildt from the European Council on Foreign Relations has shared fresh video footage of the aftermath of the bombing of the Retroville shopping mall in the northwest of Kyiv.
A massive 🇷🇺 attack against a shopping center in Kyiv Today. Pure destruction seems to be the objective. pic.twitter.com/zhSr6fdVvQ
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) March 21, 2022
Russia claims bombed mall used to store rocket systems
Russia says that a shopping mall in Kyiv, which was attacked and destroyed overnight killing at least eight people, was used to store rocket systems.
Russia used “precision-guided weaponry” to destroy a store of “multiple-launch rocket systems” and ammunition in a shopping centre in Kyiv, defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told media.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense released this video footage.
🎥 Live monitoring and recording system shows how Ukrainian MLRS uses a shopping centre as shelter to reload missiles ➡️ https://t.co/bOqijwFjXT pic.twitter.com/UmUVUD8tuF
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) March 21, 2022
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine could not fulfil “Russian ultimatums,” claiming Moscow was seeking to “destroy” his country.
“Ukraine cannot fulfil Russian ultimatums. We should be destroyed first, then their ultimatum would be fulfilled,” he told local media.
The Ukrainian president said Moscow wanted Ukraine to “hand over” Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kyiv, adding that neither the people of those cities “or me, as president, can do this.”
A donor conference in Berlin on 5 April aims to help Moldova cope with an influx of Ukrainian refugees.
Moldova’s foreign minister Nicu Popescu said the non-EU nation currently, “we have 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, which represents four percent of our population”.
He explained that some 360,000 refugees had entered Moldova from neighbouring Ukraine, but most had gone on to European Union countries.
But for Moldova – one of Europe’s poorest countries, with a population of 2.6 million – the refugee burden it still faces “is having a big impact on the socio-economic situation,” Popescu said.
Russia ramps up military operations
A Pentagon spokesperson says Russia is boosting its air and sea military operations as it struggles to turn the tide of war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin is “desperate” to increase its momentum in a war in which its troops have grown “frustrated and flummoxed” by a resistance that has shown durability despite being outmanned and outgunned, a senior US defense official said.
President Vladimir Putin’s forces have ramped up their sorties over and near Ukraine, flying more than 300 missions in the past 24 hours, with Kyiv likewise increasing their own air operations in a bid to deny Russia superiority in the skies, the official told reporters.
Few of the operations are dogfights, as Russia’s military tends to fire air-to-ground missiles at Ukrainian targets from Russian or Belarusian skies.
“They’re not venturing very far or for very long into Ukrainian airspace, because the Ukrainians have been defending their airspace with great dexterity,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
One of Russia’s most prominent actresses, Chulpan Khamatova, says she is in exile due to the war in Ukraine.
In an interview broadcast on YouTube, the 46-year-old actress – who is known internationally for her role in “Goodbye Lenin!” – said she has been in Latvia for several weeks.
“I was on holiday when the war started,” she said.
“I thought at the start that I would just wait, then I signed the petition against the war and then it was made clear to me it would be undesirable for me to go back.
“I know I am not a traitor. I love my motherland very much,” Khamatova said.
I’ve previously warned about the potential that Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against the U.S. Today, I’m reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks. https://t.co/wO2jJgg5SJ
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 21, 2022
US President Joe Biden has urged businesses to “harden” their defenses against potential Russian cyberattacks.
In a statement, Biden said that this is a “critical moment” for the US to accelerate improving its cybersecurity.
He has reiterated these warnings based on “evolving intelligence” that the Russian government is “exploring options for potential cyberattacks”.
“Your vigilance and urgency today can prevent or mitigate attacks tomorrow.”
Any deal agreed in peace negotiations with Russia will be submitted to a referendum in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky told a regional Ukrainian media outlet.
“I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you speak of all these changes (in a future accord) and they can be historic… we will come back to a referendum,” Zelensky told the Suspilne news site.
We’re wrapping up our liveblog coverage for today.
These were the main developments as Russia continued its invasion:
Additional reporting by Press Association and AFP
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