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Summary
It is just before 7am in Ukraine and here is where the crisis currently stands.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said humanitarian corridors failed on Wednesday because “Russian soldiers didn’t stop shelling and didn’t guarantee safety” in a national address late last night. The president called Russia a “terrorist state” and pleaded for more support from the west, including air defence systems, jets, lethal weapons and ammunition.
- Zelenskiy also directly addressed Russians, asking them to question whether the siege of Mariupol is any different from the siege of Leningrad and promising Russian soldiers who lay down their arms a chance to survive.
- Russian forces bombed a theatre and swimming pool complex where civilians were sheltering in the encircled Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, officials said. Mariupol council posted an image of the city’s theatre showing it sustained heavy damage in today’s attack and said casualty numbers were being confirmed. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk regional administration, said that pregnant women and children were sheltering at the pool, calling the attack “pure terrorism”. The word “children” had been written outside the theatre. Zelenskiy said “our hearts are broken” by the strike, and likened the siege of the city to that of Leningrad in the second world war.
- Satellite imagery revealed extensive damage across Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv. The images, taken by US space technology company Maxar Technologies, shows burning homes in a residential area of Chernihiv, Ukraine, as well as artillery impact craters next to a residential area in Kharkiv and a damaged Olympic sports training centre.
- Joe Biden referred to Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal”, his sharpest rebuke yet of the Russian president, after he announced an extra $800m in security assistance to Ukraine, to buy more weapons and military equipment. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Biden’s comments were “unacceptable and unforgivable rhetoric”, according to Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the US Congress to provide more weapons to help his country fight off Russian airstrikes and for further sanctions against Russia, including the withdrawal of all US businesses.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba said that what his country needs from the west is “weapons and sanctions, and the rest will be done by Ukraine” in an interview with CNN.
- The United States committed to more military aid to Ukraine, including long-range missile defence and Switchblade armed drones to better defend against Russian aircraft and armour from a distance.
- Russian forces shot and killed 10 people standing for bread in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, the US embassy in Kyiv said. Ukrainian officials said the attack took place at 10am local time on Wednesday (8am GMT). Russia’s defence ministry denied the report, claiming no Russian soldiers were in Chernihiv.
- The UN security council will meet Thursday at the request of six western nations that sought an open session on Ukraine. The UK’s UN mission tweeted: “Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians. Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine is a threat to us all.” The meeting comes ahead of an expected vote on a Russian humanitarian resolution that has been sharply criticised for making no mention of Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
- Russian forces released the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, the Ukrainian president said. Ukraine’s state services for communications shared a video showing Zelenskiy speaking to Ivan Fedorov following his release. The president said Fedorov was abducted by Russian forces on 11 March who tried to persuade him to collaborate but “our man withstood. He did not give up.”
- China’s ambassador to Ukraine praised Ukraine’s unity and resistance in remarks which appear to contradict the country’s earlier stance. Fan Xianrong said China “will never attack Ukraine” but will support it economically and politically during a meeting with Lviv’s regional military administration, Ukrainian media outlet Ukrinform originally reported.
- British intelligence said set backs for Russian forces has meant its troops are resorting to the use of “older, less precise weapons” which are “less militarily effective and more likely to result in civilian casualties.
