Ukraine: What happened today, Wednesday, March 23?
A woman reacts as she stands inside a burnt house hit by Russian Grad rockets in Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district. Picture: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images
One month has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine and there have been no major breakthroughs on the battlefield or the negotiating table.
A barrage of strikes on cities have wreaked destruction across Ukraine over the past four weeks, but Russian forces appeared stalled outside key cities in the face of fiercer-than-expected Ukrainian resistance.
Nato estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the war started Februay 24.
On Wednesday, the capital city of Kyiv shook with Russian shelling that sparked fires in high-rise buildings, injuring four people. In Kyiv’s suburbs, artillery fire thundered as Ukrainian forces battled to hold back the Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden and key allies are meeting this week to discuss new sanctions against Russia and more military aid for Ukraine.
Here are some key things to know about today's developments:
The capital of Kyiv is still under fire. A barrage of shelling rocked the city on Wednesday, with rockets slamming into a shopping mall and high-rise buildings in the districts of Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi.
Destruction was extensive and fires from the shelling injured four residents, city officials said.
From a public park in Kyiv, mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian bombardment had so far killed 264 civilians in the capital, including four children. As he spoke to reporters, explosions and loud gunfire echoed across the city.
Russian forces were also bombing the ancient city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, the governor said Wednesday, destroying a bridge that had been critical for evacuations and aid deliveries.
Chernihiv residents are without clean water and gas for cooking and heating, city officials said.
On the capital’s western outskirts, Ukrainian troops were trying to strike back at stalled Russian forces.
Ukrainian forces managed on Tuesday to retake the suburban city of Makariv, allowing them to claw back a key highway and block Russian troops from surrounding Kyiv from the northwest.
Ukrainian forces also have wrested back areas to the northwest and the northeast of the city, the Kyiv mayor said.
The Biden administration has made a formal determination that Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine and said it would work with others to prosecute offenders.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the US government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.”
He made the announcement as he travelled to Brussels with President Joe Biden for an emergency summit of Nato leaders.
The assessment was based on a “careful review” of public and intelligence sources since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, he said.
America’s top diplomat said the US would share that information with allies, partners and international institutions tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nato leaders are set to agree to station more forces in eastern Europe to deter Russia from invading any member of their ranks and to send equipment to Ukraine to help it defend against chemical or biological attacks, the organisation’s top civilian official said on Wednesday.
Nato estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where ferocious fighting by the country’s fast-moving defenders has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought.
A senior Nato military official said the alliance’s estimate was based on information from Ukrainian officials, what Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by Nato.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said four new battlegroups, which usually number between 1,000-1,500 troops, are being set up in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Mr Stoltenberg said the forces will remain in place “as long as necessary”.
European countries' dependence on Russian gas to heat their homes and power their economies has been thrown into the spotlight since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
European countries' dependence on Russian gas to heat their homes and power their economies has been thrown into the spotlight since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24 and the subsequent imposition of Western sanctions aimed at isolating Russia economically.
With the financial noose tightening and the European Union split on whether to sanction Russia's energy sector, Putin hit back with a clear message - if you want our gas, buy our currency.
Russian gas accounts for some 40% of Europe's total consumption and EU gas imports from Russia have fluctuated between €200 million to €800 million a day so far this year.
The possibility a change of currency could throw that trade into disarray sent some European wholesale gas prices up to 30% higher on Wednesday.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, has become a vivid symbol of the war’s savage destruction.
Some 100,000 people remain trapped inside the city, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
They are subject to relentless Russian bombardment from the sea and skies, and they are struggling to survive without heat, food or clean water.
Zelenskyy accused the Russians of seizing a humanitarian convoy that was trying to get desperately needed food and other supplies into the city. He said the drivers were taken captive.
Zelenskyy said what’s happening in Mariupol is “inhumane.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation as a “living hell.”
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