Ukraine is willing to become neutral and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after a Ukrainian negotiator said the next round of face-to-face talks with Russia would be held in Turkey on March 28-30. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our live blog below. All times in Paris time [GMT+1].
05:35 am: Situation in Mariupol ‘catastrophic’
About 170,000 civilians remain trapped in Mariupol without adequate food, water or medicine, as the southern port city is being turned “into dust” by Russian shelling, according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry.
While #Mariupol [is] besieged and bombed, people fight to survive. The humanitarian situation in the city is catastrophic. #Russian Armed Forces is turning the city into dust.
Save Mariupol!#closeUAskyNOW#StandWithUkraine #StopRussianAgression pic.twitter.com/wI21IhKdRn
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) March 28, 2022
04:58 am: Parisians rally in solidarity with Ukraine, demand French retail giant leave Russia
Ukrainian-born Parisians and their supporters took to Place de la République Sunday for a weekly demonstration against Russia’s invasion. They stepped up calls for the France-based Mulliez group, which runs high-profile chains such as Leroy Merlin, Decathlon and Auchan, to close its Russian stores after its owners reiterated that they had no intention of doing so.
4:15 am: Oscars ceremony holds moment of silence for Ukraine
Hollywood A-listers held a moment of silence at Sunday’s Oscars gala to show support for the people of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion, after much speculation about how Tinseltown would handle the issue.
Many were calling on Oscars organisers to do something to acknowledge the situation, but others feared the moment could be perceived as too preachy.
A series of slides appeared on the giant screen at the Dolby Theatre.
“We’d like to have a moment of silence to show our support for the people of Ukraine currently facing invasion, conflict and prejudice within their own borders,” the first one read.
“While film is an important avenue for us to express our humanity in times of conflict, the reality is millions of families in Ukraine need food, medical care, clean water and emergency services. Resources are scarce and we – collectively as a global community – can do more,” the next one read.
“We ask you to support Ukraine in any way you are able #StandWithUkraine”.
03:20 am: Ukraine says Russian forces near Chernobyl could pose new radiation threat
A senior Ukrainian official accused Russia on Sunday of “irresponsible” acts around the occupied Chernobyl power station that could send radiation across much of Europe, and urged the United Nations to dispatch a mission to assess the risks.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram that Russian forces were “militarising” the exclusion zone around the station, site of the world’s worst civil nuclear accident in 1986.
Russian forces, she said, were transporting large amounts of old and badly maintained weapons, creating a risk of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station’s wrecked fourth reactor. She added that Russian forces were preventing firefighters from bringing under control large numbers of fires in the zone.
01:05 am: Biden says he wasn’t calling for regime change in Russia
US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he was not calling for regime change in Russia when he said on Saturday that President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”
“No,” Biden said as he left a church service in Washington when asked by a reporter whether he was calling for regime change in the country.
00:30 am: Germany considers buying Israeli anti-missile shield
Germany is looking at buying an Israeli anti-missile shield system that could also offer protective cover for neighbouring EU states, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday.
“I can reveal to you that that is certainly among the things that we are discussing, and for good reasons,” Scholz told state television channel ARD.
The chancellor’s comments confirmed earlier statements from German parliamentary sources earlier Sunday.
“We must better protect ourselves against the Russian threat,” Andreas Schwarz of the SPD, who sits on the parliamentary budget committee, told Bild daily.
“To do that, we need quickly an anti-missile shield for Germany. The Israeli Arrow 3 system is a good solution,” he added, referring to the long-range missile deterrence weapon.
According to Bild, the system, which costs two billion euros ($2.2 billion), could be operational from 2025.
March 28, 00:22 am: NATO not seeking regime change in Russia, Scholz says
Regime change in Russia is not NATO’s objective, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday, a day after US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a “butcher” who “cannot remain in power”.
It “is not the objective of NATO, nor that of the US president”, Scholz told German state television channel ARD.
“I’ve had the chance to talk at length with him at the White House and we have also discussed these questions,” he added.
The White House moved quickly Saturday to play down Biden’s comments during an impassioned speech in Warsaw.
Scholz’s comments follow remarks earlier Sunday by French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he warned against verbal “escalation” with Putin.
11:48 pm: Ukraine to insist on territorial integrity at next round of talks with Russia, Zelensky says
Ukraine will insist on sovereignty and territorial integrity at the next round of peace negotiations with Russia that are to take place in Turkey, President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Sunday.
“Our priorities in the negotiations are known: sovereignty, territorial integrity of Ukraine are beyond doubt,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “Effective guarantees of security are a must. Obviously, our goal is peace and return to normal life in our country as soon as possible.”
9:45 pm: Zelensky says Russian businessmen offered Ukraine support
Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine had received offers of support from Russian businessmen and that Kyiv would give refuge to anyone who backed his country's fight against Moscow.
During an interview with Russian journalists Zelensky said he had received signals of support from Russian businessmen, including Roman Abramovich.
The Ukrainian leader said the businessmen had told him they wanted to "do something" and "help somehow" to de-escalate Russia's now month-long military assault on Ukraine. "Some said that they were ready to help rebuild the country after the war," Zelensky said during the interview conducted by journalists from several independent Russian media.
9:14 pm: Zelensky says Ukraine seriously considering Russian demand of neutrality
Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia but such a pact would have to be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks aired on Sunday.
Zelensky was speaking to Russian journalists in a 90-minute video call, an interview that Moscow authorities had pre-emptively warned Russian media to refrain from reporting. Zelensky spoke in Russian throughout, as he has done in previous speeches when targeting a Russian audience.
Zelensky said Russia’s invasion had caused the destruction of Russian-speaking cities in Ukraine, and said the damage was worse than the Russian wars in Chechnya.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said Ukraine refused to discuss certain other Russian demands, such as the demilitarisation of the country, and said no peace deal would be possible without a ceasefire and troop withdrawals.
He ruled out trying to recapture all Russian-held territory by force, saying it would lead to a third world war, and said he wanted to reach a “compromise” over the eastern Donbas region, held by Russian-backed forces since 2014.
8:10 pm: Erdogan stresses need for ceasefire in call with Putin
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a telephone call on Sunday that a ceasefire and better humanitarian conditions were needed following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, his office said in a statement.
"Erdogan noted the importance of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, the implementation of peace and the improvement of humanitarian conditions in the region," his office said in a readout of the call.
8:02 pm: Russia restricts access to Germany's Bild website
Russia said it had restricted access to the website of Germany's Bild at the request of prosecutors, a step the Berlin-based tabloid said underscored the integrity of its reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"The blocking of Bild.de by the Russian censors confirms us in our journalistic work for democracy, freedom and human rights," Bild editor-in-chief Johannes Boie said on its website.
"And it encourages us to give Russian citizens even more opportunities to inform themselves with news and facts beyond Russian government propaganda."
7:35 pm: Ukraine warns of escalation in fighting around Mariupol
Ukraine warned of a possible escalation in fighting around the besieged southern port city of Mariupol after Moscow said it was focusing its military resources on capturing the eastern Donbas region.
"This means a potential or sharp deterioration around Mariupol," an adviser to the head of the President's office, Oleksiy Arestovich, said in a video statement.
6:56 pm: Separatist leaders have 'no democratic backing'
Russian forces are currently "carrying out aggressive operations in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions mainly, with the stated aim of taking those regions by force," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported from Kyiv.
"So the idea that the so-called separatist leaders there who were put in place by Russia in 2014 have no democratic backing there [...] could somehow organise referendums and expect people to think that the residents of those regions who have been subject to Russian bombardment and have been hiding in their basements, have been short of food, and have in many cases been forced to flee their homes or the country -- that they would vote to join Russia in a referendum is something that people in the international community would never even think about recognising", Cragg said.
5:51 pm: France says world powers must 'keep talking' to Putin
International powers must keep talking with Russia's President Vladimir Putin until he is ready to end his invasion of Ukraine, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Sunday.
Le Drian told a conference in Doha that Putin had not achieved any of his aims, but that there had to be a ceasefire around the bombarded Ukrainian city of Mariupol before there could be negotiations.
Asked about French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to speak with Putin this week about a ceasefire, Le Drian told the Doha Forum: "We must keep talking with the Russians, we must continue to speak with President Putin precisely because he has not had the results he thought he would."
5:11 pm: Next round of Russia-Ukraine talks to take place in Turkey
The next round of face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held in Turkey on March 28-30, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said on social media.
Ukraine described previous talks with Russia, launched after Russia unleashed an invasion last month, as "very difficult".
5:10 pm: France's Le Drian warns of 'collective guilt' if Mariupol civilians not helped
The French foreign minister said there would be "collective guilt" if nothing was done to help civilians in Mariupol, the Ukrainian city besieged by Russian forces.
"Mariupol is a striking example of a military siege, and military sieges are horrible wars because civil populations are massacred, annihilated. The suffering is terrible," Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Doha Forum international conference.
"This is why there needs to be at least one moment when the civilian population can breathe," he said, adding that this was what French President Emmanuel Macron was working to secure.
4:49 pm: Kyiv says Russia could divide Ukraine like Korea
Ukraine said that Russia, whose troops have been slowly advancing towards the capital Kyiv, may aim to divide the country in two, just like North and South Korea.
Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence, said in a statement on social media that the strategy could result from President Vladimir Putin's failure to "capture Kyiv and remove Ukraine's government".
"There are reasons to believe that he may try to impose a separation line between the occupied and unoccupied regions of our country. In fact, it will be an attempt to set up South and North Koreas in Ukraine," Budanov said.
4:08 pm: Ukrainian civilian death toll reaches 1,119, UN says
The United Nations human rights office said on Sunday that 1,119 civilians had so far been killed and 1,790 wounded since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
Some 15 girls and 32 boys, as well as 52 additional children whose sex is as yet unknown, were among the dead, the United Nations said in a statement that covered the period between the start of the war on February 24 and midnight on March 26.
The true casualty figures are expected to be considerably higher, the world body said, with reports delayed in some regions where intense hostilities are going on, while many reports still require corroboration.
4:05 pm: Red Cross denies it conducted forced evacuations of Ukrainians to Russia
The International Committee of the Red Cross has denied accusations that it helped organise or carry out forced evacuations of Ukrainians to Russia.
"The ICRC does not ever help organize or carry out forced evacuations. This applies everywhere we work. We would not support any operation that would go against people's will and our principles," the Geneva-based humanitarian organisation said in a statement published late Saturday.
The statement appears to be a response to accusations by Roman Rukomeda, a Ukrainian political analyst who spoke to the Euractiv online media on Saturday. Rukomeda said "there is evidence of strange behaviour by the International Committee of the Red Cross and its head, who announced the decision to open an office in Russian Rostov to assist Russian terrorists in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian citizens".
3:46 pm: UN says 3.8 million have fled Ukraine
More than 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion a month ago, UN figures showed Sunday, but the flow of refugees has slowed down markedly.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said 3,821,049 Ukrainians had fled the country -- an increase of 48,450 from Saturday's figures.
Around 90 percent of them are women and children, it added. Of those who have left, 2.2 million have fled for neighbouring Poland, while more than half a million have made it to Romania.
3:21 pm: 'Pressure in Kyiv has eased'
"I think the pressure in Kyiv has eased," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from the Ukrainian capital.
"We can't in any way talk about normal life returning. Kyiv is very highly militarised; there are checkpoints everywhere, soldiers everywhere. I was just asked by the police, for example, to turn my camera around so that no residential buildings could be seen in the shot when I was doing my live. There is still tension. But there's a growing confidence that this city will not be taken; that the Russians will just not be able to take Kyiv, that the armed forces have fought off Russian advances in satellite towns around Kyiv."
3:10 pm: Turkey backs unity, sovereignty of Ukraine, Al Jazeera reports
Turkey supports the unity and sovereignty of Ukraine, Turkish presidency spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Al Jazeera TV.
Kalin told the Qatari TV channel that war in Ukraine was not justified but channels of communication with Russia must be kept open.
"Turkey is trying to end the war in Ukraine through dialogue with Moscow and Kyiv," he said.
3:02 pm: Ukraine urges boycott of French retailer Auchan
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a global boycott of French retail giant Auchan, with pressure mounting on international brands to quit Russia over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
"Apparently, job losses in Russia are more important than the loss of life in Ukraine. If Auchan ignores 139 Ukrainian children murdered during this month of Russian invasion, let us ignore Auchan and all their products," he wrote on Twitter.
2:47 pm: Pope Francis condemns 'barbarous' war
Pope Francis condemned the "cruel and senseless" war in Ukraine, where "barbarous" acts were "destroying the future".
"More than a month has gone by since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, of the beginning of this cruel and senseless war," the pope said at the end of the Angelus prayer. "War does not devastate the present only, but the future of a society as well," he continued, pointing to the fact that one in two Ukrainian children have been displaced.
2:37 pm: Ukraine says Russian referendum in occupied territory would have no legal basis
Ukraine said Russia holding a referendum in occupied Ukrainian territory would have no legal basis and would face a strong response from the international community, deepening its global isolation.
"All fake referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legal validity," Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement to Reuters. "Instead, Russia will facе an even stronger response from the international community, further deepening its global isolation."
2:20 pm: Ukraine rebel region says may vote on joining Russia
The head of Ukraine's Lugansk separatist region said it may hold a referendum on becoming part of Russia, after Moscow sent troops into its pro-Western neighbour.
"I think that in the near future a referendum will be held on the territory of the republic, during which the people will... express their opinion on joining the Russian Federation," Russian news agencies quoted Leonid Pasechnik as saying. "I am sure this will be the case," he continued.
1:47 pm: Refugee centre in Poland's Przemysl takes steps to prevent human trafficking
Staff at a refugee centre in the Polish town of Przemysl are now asking refugees and volunteers to sign in to a register. Volunteers who offer to provide refugees with a lift must provide passport details and driving licence numbers to insure they are more traceable. FRANCE 24's Ellen Gainsford reports.
1:38 pm: Macron warns against escalation 'in words or actions' with Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday warned against verbal "escalation" with Moscow, after US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "butcher" over his invasion of Ukraine.
Macron told broadcaster France 3 that he saw his task as "achieving first a ceasefire and then the total withdrawal of (Russian) troops by diplomatic means".
"If we want to do that, we can't escalate either in words or actions."
12:10 pm: 'Russian case must be heard, one way or the other,' Turkey presidential spokesman says
Turkey and other states must still talk to Russia to help end the war in Ukraine, Turkey's presidential spokesman said on Sunday, adding that Kyiv needed more support to defend itself.
"If everybody burns bridges with Russia then who is going to talk to them at the end of the day," Ibrahim Kalin told the Doha international forum. "Ukrainians need to be supported by every means possible so they can defend themselves ... but the Russian case must be heard, one way or the other."
11:40 am: Russia trying to split Ukraine in two, Ukraine military intelligence says
Russia is trying to split Ukraine in two to create a Moscow-controlled region after failing to take over the whole country, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence said on Sunday.
"In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine," Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement, adding that Ukraine would soon launch guerrilla warfare in Russian-occupied territory.
11:20 am: Children who have fled homes in Ukraine face trauma of rapid departures
Children who along with family members have fled homes in Ukraine are facing trauma resulting from their rapid departures, along with the need for safe shelter. UNICEF France Director General Ann Avril told FRANCE 24.
10:32 am: 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in France
Some 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in France, with half of them travelling through the country to other places such as Spain, French Housing Minister Emmanuelle Wargon said Sunday.
Wargon told Franceinfo radio the government was preparing to welcome 100,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
France has been granting temporary European Union stay permits to the refugees, which allows them to have access to schools and to work in the country.
10:07 am: ‘Mom, war [has] started’: Ukrainian parent describes flight to Poland with her family
Ukrainian professor Zakhida Adylova left the city of Lviv in western Ukraine with her 75-year-old mother and 11-year-old daughter for Poland. It was not the first time she and her daughter had left home because of war: They fled Crimea in 2014 after the arrival of Russian forces.
8:44 am: Ukraine and Russia agree two civilian evacuation corridors
Ukraine and Russia have agreed two corridors to evacuate civilians from frontline areas on Sunday, including allowing people to leave by private car from the southern city of Mariupol, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
8:38 am: Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces continued northwest of Kyiv
Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces continued in the northwest suburbs of Kyiv on Saturday, and Ukraine's military command said Russian forces were "grouping together" southwest of the capital. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports.
8:19 am: Russia destroying fuel and food storage depots, Ukrainian interior ministry advisor says
Russia has started destroying Ukrainian fuel and food storage depots, meaning the government will have to disperse the stocks of both in the near future, Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said on Sunday.
Speaking on local television, Denysenko also said Russia was bringing forces to the Ukrainian border on rotation, and could make new attempts to advance in its invasion of Ukraine.
8:18 am: Ukraine asks Red Cross not to open office in Russia near border
Ukraine has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross not to open a planned office in Russia's Rostov-on-Don, saying it would legitimise Moscow's so-called "humanitarian corridors" and the abduction and forced deportation of Ukrainians.
The head of the ICRC said on Thursday after his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that agreement between the Russian and Ukrainian armies was needed before civilians could be evacuated properly from war-torn Ukraine.
Russian media reported that Red Cross chief Peter Maurer asked Russia to facilitate the opening of a Red Cross office in Rostov-on-Don.
Mykhailo Radutskyi, chairman of the public health committee in Ukraine's parliament, appealed to the Red Cross to change its plans.
"The Committee calls on the International Committee of the Red Cross that it would not legitimise 'humanitarian corridors' on the territory of the Russian Federation as well as that it would not support the abduction of Ukrainians and its forced deportation," Radutskyi said in a statement.
Rostov-on-Don is the largest Russian city on Ukraine's eastern border and administrative capital of the Rostov region, and it has been used by Russia for temporary accommodation camps for people transported out of the war zone.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
