Russian invasion day 22: 30,000 civilians have fled city, say Mariupol officials

UK to deploy Sky Sabre missile system in Poland

The request was reportedly made by the Polish government, the UK government said.

The development comes as the US announced it would be sending defence equipment worth $800 million to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

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Watch|  Gravitas - Russia intensifies aerial attacks

Kosovo seeks Biden's support to join NATO: Report

In a letter sent to Biden, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani reportedly said the country's "membership in NATO has become an imperative".

The Balkan nation had declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

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Report claim JP Morgan Chase has received a debt payment from the Central Bank of Russia. The funds have been sent to Citigroup, reports said.
 

City officials said at least 30,000 civilians have fled Mariupol amid Russian shelling. Reports say the city is low on water, food and electricity.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in a message on Telegram said "thousand volunteers from the Chechen republic heading to take part in the special operation of denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine".

Meanwhile, Russia said it regrets the "bitter" decision by the European Space Agency to suspend a Russian-European mission to land a rover on Mars over the Ukraine offensive.

Russian forces continued to bomb Mariupol as Ukraine said more than 2,000 people have died so far in the city. 

Reports claimed at least 20,000 people have been able to flee via humanitarian corridors over the past few days to territory under Ukrainian control. 

According to reports, at least 21 people were killed and 25 injured amid Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine.

News agency AFP quoting regional prosecutors said artillery fire hit a school and a cultural centre in the town of Merefa outside Kharkiv.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city has been the scene of intense Russian airstrikes in recent weeks.

US has pledged support for NATO ally Slovakia amid the Ukraine's war with Russia.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country wants Turkey to be among countries offering security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal with Russia to end the war.

A Russian-European mission to land a rover on Mars has been suspended due to sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, the European Space Agency said.

"We deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine," the agency added.

The European Commission condemned the Russian attack on a theater in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol where more than 1,000 people were present.

EU Commission spokesman Peter Stano called the Russian siege "inhuman" and "reprehensible", arguing it constituted "serious and grave violation of international humanitarian law."

Watch: What lies ahead in Russia-Ukraine war? What are the people in Ukraine feeling?

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said Britain will deploy its latest medium-range missile defence system in Poland.

Britain will deploy the Sky Sabre system.

"As a NATO ally and a very old ally, Britain stands by Poland as Poland carries much of the burden of the consequences of this war," Wallace said.

Wallace however did not say when the system will be deployed or for how long. 

US President Joe Biden will speak Friday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about issues including Russia's war in Ukraine, the White House said.

"Unfortunately we're still facing the same Russian logic - making maximalist demands, wanting Ukraine to surrender and intensifying siege warfare," French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said as the war continues in Ukraine.

"Just as in Grozny (in Chechnya) and Aleppo (in Syria), there are three typical elements -- indiscriminate bombardment, so-called humanitarian 'corridors' designed to allow them to accuse the other side of failing to respect them, and talks with no objective other than pretending that they are negotiating," the French foreign minister said.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch is urging Ukraine to stop posting videos of captured Russian prisoners. Ukraine had earlier paraded captured Russian soldiers before the media at news conferences in Kyiv.

"Such treatment of prisoners of war violates protections under the Geneva Conventions intended to ensure dignified treatment of captured combatants on all sides," Human Rights Watch said.

Russia announced on Thursday that it paid interest on foreign debt due this week.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that a payment order worth $117.2 million "was executed".

Watch: NATO rejects Ukraine 'Peace Mission'

As the war with Ukraine entered the 22nd day on Thursday, Russia rejected an order by the UN's top court for Russia to suspend the military offensive in Ukraine.

"We cannot take this decision into account," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia says it made debt interest payment, avoiding default

Russia's finance ministry said Thursday it had carried out interest payments on two foreign bonds following fears Moscow may default on its debt after facing unprecedented Western sanctions over Ukraine. 

"The payment order... worth $117.2 million due on March 15 was sent to a correspondent bank account on March 14 and was executed," the ministry said in a statement.

Zelensky urges Germany to tear down new Russian 'Wall' in Europe

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Germany in an emotional video address before parliament Thursday to help destroy a new "Wall" Russia was erecting in Europe.

"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelensky told MPs.

"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he implored German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's Cold War appeal in Berlin.

During his video address before the Bundestag lower house, Zelensky said: "Following the 8 years of war in Donbass, Russia has been shelling our buildings. Whatever beautiful that we have-Schools, parks."

"Some of the requests have been late. We are talking about this concerning trend. Every new bomb falling in Ukraine. You cannot stop supporting."

"We have been telling you that some large scale preps were taking place for large scale war."

"We have been asking what does Ukraine have to do to join NATO. We were never told. At this point we are told that it's not possible." 

"Sanctions not sufficient to end war."

"Thousands being attacked. Starving of water, food basic facilities. Thousands of civilian infrastructure attacked." 

UNHCR: More than 1.8M Ukrainian refugees in Poland

More than three-million Ukrainians have fled their country since the Russian invasion began on February 24.

Well over a half - or 1.8 million - have crossed into Poland, while others have found shelter in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.

In response, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has been bringing more aid workers and assistance into Poland, as well as coordinating with local and international partners to better manage joint efforts to help the new arrivals, Matthew Saltmarsh, UNHCR spokesman said. 

German deputies gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a standing ovation Thursday ahead of a video address he was due to give before the Bundestag lower house.

One day after a searing appeal for help before the US Congress, Zelensky was expected to ask Berlin for further military and financial assistance.

Indian judge at the ICJ, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, voted against Russia in Ukraine invasion case. The nomination of Justice Bhandari to the ICJ was done on the support of the government and various missions over a period of time. Click Here to read full story

Dmitry Medvedev says...

Russia has the might to put enemies led by the United States in their place and Moscow will foil the West's Russophobic plot to tear Russia apart, one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Thursday.

Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012 and is now deputy secretary of Russia's security council, said the United States had stoked "disgusting" Russophobia in an attempt to force Russia on its knees and then rip it apart.

"It will not work - Russia has the might to put all of our brash enemies in their place," Medvedev said.

One killed in new Kyiv strike

One person was killed and three injured when debris from a downed rocket hit a Kyiv apartment block Thursday, as Russian forces press in on the capital, emergency services said.

Russian troops trying to encircle Kyiv have launched early morning strikes on the city for several successive days, putting traumatised residents further on edge.

Rescuers evacuated 30 people from the 16-storey building in eastern Darnitsky district after it was struck at 5:02 am (0302 GMT), the State Emergency Services of Ukraine said.

The upper edge of the Soviet-style block was partially wrecked and an apartment on the top floor was destroyed, AFP journalists at the scene said.

Watch | World court orders Russia to immediately halt invasion of Ukraine

Watch | Over 2,500 civilians killed in Russian attacks on Mariupol

Watch | Gravitas: Ukraine war triggers global food crisis

Watch | Gravitas: Ukraine invasion: Is the peace deal possible?

Ten killed in bread queue 

Ukraine says 10 people were killed after coming under fire while queueing for bread in the northern city of Chernigiv.

Mariupol theatre hit

Authorities in the besieged port city of Mariupol said that Russian forces bombed a theatre where "hundreds" of civilians were taking shelter.

The building was clearly marked "children" according to aerial photos. The death toll is not yet known.

Mayor of Ukraine city released by Russians

In the latest development, the mayor of Ukraine's southern city of Melitopol has been released, the Ukrainian authorities said on March 16, days after Kyiv said he was abducted by invading Russian forces.

According to the Ukrainian president and parliament, mayor Ivan Fedorov was abducted on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying Melitopol, a city halfway between Mariupol and Kherson, because he "refused to cooperate with the enemy".

On Wednesday a video posted on Telegram showed President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking to him on the phone and telling him he was "happy to hear the voice of a man alive".

Fedorov replies he is "much better". "Thank you for not abandoning me. I will need one or two days to recover and then I will be at your disposal to contribute to our victory," he says.

Biden's comments on Putin 'unacceptable and unforgivable'

US President Joe Biden's reference to Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal" over his military operation in Ukraine is "unacceptable and unforgivable," the Kremlin said Wednesday.

"We believe such rhetoric to be unacceptable and unforgivable on the part of the head of a state, whose bombs have killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world," said Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the state news agencies TASS and Ria Novosti.

Biden brands Putin 'a war criminal'

President Joe Biden labelled Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" on Wednesday after watching harrowing TV footage of the invasion of Ukraine, triggering an immediate angry riposte from Russia.

It was the first time Biden has used the phrase to describe Putin, and the US president then deepened his attack, tweeting that Putin was "inflicting appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine -- bombing apartment buildings and maternity wards."

Referring to reports that Russian troops took hostage doctors and patients in a Mariupol hospital, Biden said that "these are atrocities. It is an outrage to the world."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was "speaking from his heart" after seeing images on television of "barbaric actions by a brutal dictator."

Russian shelling kills five, including children

Five people, including three children, were killed when Russian forces shelled a residential building in the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, emergency officials said Wednesday.

Emergency workers recovered the five bodies from under the rubble of a multi-storey apartment building, Ukraine's emergencies ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

Defence officials posted on Telegram a photo of the building, whose windows were blown out. The photo showed three emergency workers standing on a heap of rubble, while a third one climbs a ladder apparently to inspect what's inside.

Chernihiv, a city located north of the capital Kyiv and close to the border with Moscow's ally Belarus, has been heavily shelled by Russian air forces since Russia launched the offensive on February 24.

French prosecutors have opened a war crime probe into the death of Franco-Irish Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski who was shot near Kyiv while covering the war in Ukraine, an official statement said Wednesday.

The probe by France's specialised anti-terror prosecutors will investigate possible charges of causing "deliberate harm to a person protected by international law" and a "deliberate attack against a civilian who was not taking part in hostilities."

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New weapons aid to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden announced $1 billion in new security help and the deployment of longer-range weapons and drones to Ukraine on March 16 -- assuring the ally of America's "unprecedented" support in its war with Russia.

The cash, approved as Russian forces close in on Ukraine's besieged capital Kyiv, includes $200 million allocated over the weekend and $800 million in new funds from an aid package approved last week by Congress.

"These are direct transfers of equipment from our Department of Defense to the Ukrainian military to help them as they fight against this invasion," said Biden, who also announced US help for Ukraine to acquire "additional longer-range anti-aircraft systems."

ICJ tells Moscow to halt Ukraine invasion

The UN's top court on March 16 ordered Russia to suspend its invasion of Ukraine, saying it was "profoundly concerned" by Moscow's use of force.

Kyiv hailed the verdict as a "complete victory" saying it will continue to pursue the case "until Ukrainian people can go back to normal life."

The International Court of Justice judgement comes as Moscow's forces remained in place around major cities including the Ukrainian capital and the UN said more than three million people have fled the fighting.

Russia's Patriarch Kirill discusses Ukraine conflict with Archbishop of Canterbury

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, discussed the Ukraine conflict with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Wednesday, the Russian church said in a statement.

"A detailed discussion of the critical situation in Ukraine took place," the Russian church said, adding that the pair discussed "the humanitarian aspect" of the crisis. Earlier on Wednesday, Patriarch Kirill spoke with Pope Francis. 

Russia blocks access to news channel BBC

Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor on March 16 blocked access to the BBC's main news website, with Moscow's foreign ministry warning of more retaliatory measures against the media. 

"I think this is only the beginning of retaliatory measures to the information war unleashed by the West against Russia," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. 

Roskomnadzor listed the BBC News website as blocked in Russia. The website of the BBC's Russian service was also blocked. 

WHO on attacks on Ukraine health system

The World Health Organization said Wednesday (March 16) that healthcare facilities and personnel globally were being attacked at an unprecedented rate -- in particular in the conflict in Ukraine.

"We've never seen globally... this rate of attacks on healthcare," the WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.

"Health is becoming a target," he lamented. "It is becoming part of the strategy and tactics of war."

Hello, 

As the Russia and Ukraine conflict has entered Day 22 on Thursday (March 17), follow WION's blog to get the latest update on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

WION is also bringing reports from ground zero. Stay tuned!