March 29, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

By Rhea Mogul, Joshua Berlinger, Ed Upright, Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Maureen Chowdhury and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 2:17 a.m. ET, March 30, 2023
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7:04 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Today is the deadline for clergy from pro-Russian Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave Kyiv cave monastery 

From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London and Olga Voitovych in Kyiv 

A delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church branch loyal to Moscow, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 20.
A delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church branch loyal to Moscow, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 20. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Wednesday marks the deadline for clergy from the pro-Russian Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to leave a historic cave monastery complex in Kyiv.

The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is home to the UOC, a branch of Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine that has been traditionally loyal to Patriarch Kirill — the leader of the Russian church. Kirill is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a supporter of his war on Ukraine. In May 2022, the UOC cut ties with Moscow and declared “full independence.”

But in November last year, the Ukrainian Security Service said it raided the monastery to counter suspected “subversive activities of [the] Russian special services” in the country.

On March 10, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Informational Police said it had notified the UOC that their 2013 agreement allowing the free use of the building was being terminated, and that the UOC must vacate by March 29. The ministry cited a working group's conclusion that the monastery “violated terms of the agreement on the use of state property.”

In a statement, the UOC said, “there is no information about legal grounds for such actions," and that the group's conclusion were "drawn up, apparently, with bias and with brutal violation of legal rules.”

People hold placards reading "Moscow priests get away from Ukraine!", right, and "Moscow shaman get away from holy Lavra!" as they rally at the entrance to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 28.
People hold placards reading "Moscow priests get away from Ukraine!", right, and "Moscow shaman get away from holy Lavra!" as they rally at the entrance to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 28. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

Video and images shared by the church on social media on Wednesday show hundreds of worshippers gathered to pray on their knees “for the saving of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra”.

The Lavra was founded in the 11th century. As well as being a place of pilgrimage, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also one of the most popular tourist attractions in Kyiv.

6:25 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

The comeback of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev

From CNN's Riley Zhang and Jessie Yeung in Hong Kong

Russian conductor Valery Gergiev performs with The Munich Philharmonic orchestra on the stage of Grand Palace Hall during the Enescu Festival 2021, in Bucharest, Romania, on September 6, 2021.
Russian conductor Valery Gergiev performs with The Munich Philharmonic orchestra on the stage of Grand Palace Hall during the Enescu Festival 2021, in Bucharest, Romania, on September 6, 2021. (Robert Ghement/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Valery Gergiev, the star Russian conductor fired in Germany last year for his refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, was given a warm welcome in China this week as he started a three-day performance at the country’s top art center.

“It is like coming home,” Gergiev said at a news conference Monday night, according to state-run tabloid Global Times, before his first performance at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

His show with Russia’s Mariinsky Orchestra marks the first time an overseas group has performed in China since the country resumed accepting foreign artists this month, according to Chinese state media.

Gergiev, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was dismissed as the chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic last March, shortly after Russia’s invasion began.

In a statement at the time, Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said he had asked Gergiev to “clearly and unambiguously” distance himself from the war. “That’s not what he did,” he said.

Read more here:

5:48 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Residents of Melitopol were woken up by powerful blasts, local media says

From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London

Residents of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol were woken up by "powerful blasts in the north of the city" in the early hours of Wednesday morning, local Ukrainian media outlet RIA Melitopol reported.

RIA Melitopol said on the encrypted messaging app Telegram that there were about 10 strikes and people reported seeing a "glow" near a local airfield.

"The occupiers no longer deny that these are strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine rather than their own air defense," it added.

RIA Melitopol's report comes as Russia-backed officials in the city said it was shelled by Ukrainian forces. Melitopol's exiled Ukrainian mayor, Ivan Fedorov, said the city's northern and western districts were without electricity after "explosions."

No casualties have been reported.

7:06 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

IAEA chief arrives at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, state operator says

From CNN's Sarah Dean in London and Olga Voitovych in Kyiv

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi is seen on his way to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, on March 29.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi is seen on his way to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, on March 29. (International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Press Service/Reuters)

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has arrived at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), according to Ukraine's state nuclear power plant operator Energoatom.

It is the second time that Grossi has visited the nuclear power plant since it was occupied by Russian forces.  

“This time, Rafael Grossi plans to see how the situation at ZNPP has changed, talk to the nuclear workers who operate it, and also guarantee the rotation of members of the Agency's permanent mission, which has been working at Zaporizhzhia NPP since September 2022,” Energoatom said on Telegram.

Grossi told CNN earlier Wednesday that military action is increasing around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia has said it is ready to discuss the safety situation at the plant with international observers after President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of "radiation blackmail."

On Monday, Grossi met with Zelensky, who was visiting the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions. Zelensky thanked Grossi for his support in his nightly address.

CNN's Anna Chernova contributed reporting.

5:54 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Russia is committed to preventing nuclear war, top security official in Moscow says

From CNN’s Anna Chernova and Allegra Goodwin 

Russia is committed to preventing nuclear war and confrontation between nuclear-armed powers, the Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said Wednesday, according to Russian state media TASS. 

"(Russia) is convinced of the need to prevent any military confrontation between countries possessing nuclear weapons,” Patrushev said during a meeting in New Delhi, according to TASS.

Patrushev said Russia would continue fighting in Ukraine until all of Moscow's goals are met. He also warned that “the provocative behavior of the West in the context of the crisis in Ukraine can lead to catastrophic consequences."

Patrushev specifically cited the "steadily increasing military assistance to Ukraine from the United States and other Western states."

Nuclear weapons potentially on the move: Patrushev's comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that the Kremlin plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbor. US President Joe Biden called those comments "worrying" and "disturbing" yesterday.

5:30 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

The impossible choices faced by Ukrainians with disabilities

From CNN's Ivana Kottasová and Yulia Kesaieva

The war in Ukraine has put a huge strain on the country's healthcare system and has had a particularly devastating impact on people living with intellectual disabilities and their families. Their conditions are often invisible to the general public and remain widely misunderstood in Ukraine. 

The community was suffering from a chronic shortage of support services even before the Russian invasion began last February. With resources diverted towards the war effort, the few that did exist are struggling to cope.

“I have been told by officials that care and support for people with intellectual disabilities and their families is ‘a luxury’ during wartime. So, we will have to wait until after the war to have this luxury,” said Raisa Kravchenko, the president of the All Ukrainian NGO Coalition for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities.

Read the full article here:

4:27 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Melitopol mayor says "several explosions" were heard in the city

From CNN’s Sarah Dean

Mayor of Ukrainian city of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov during a press conference after the Sakharov Prize award ceremony, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on December 14.
Mayor of Ukrainian city of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov during a press conference after the Sakharov Prize award ceremony, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on December 14. (Julien Warnand/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The Ukrainian mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said explosions were heard in the southern city early Wednesday after Russia-backed officials reported shelling by Kyiv's forces.

Several explosions were heard across the districts of the city simultaneously,” Fedorov, who is not in Melitopol, said on Telegram.

Earlier, Russia-backed officials said Ukrainian forces shelled a locomotive depot in the city early Wednesday, causing damage to infrastructure and power supply suspensions. Fedorov said power was lost in Melitopol's northern and western districts as well as some surrounding villages.

No casualties were reported.

Melitopol is a hub for Russian occupying forces, located approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front lines.

This post has been updated with additional information.

3:12 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Ukraine says it shot down a Russian bomber aircraft near Bakhmut

From CNN’s Olga Voitovych

Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile units have shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber near the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The aircraft was destroyed around 1:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, the ministry said.

CNN cannot independently verify the claim. 

The report comes as Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said the country will defend Bakhmut “as long as we need it in terms of military defense tasks."

“We are defending Bakhmut as devotedly as any other settlement. The use of our forces and means is determined not by political expediency, but by the resources needed to repel the enemy and perform combat missions in this area,” Maliar said on Telegram. “The battle for Bakhmut is not an apocalypse. This is another heroic page in the war against the Russian Federation by the powerful Ukrainian army.”

Frontline situation: Russian forces control access to both Bakhmut and the nearby town of Avdiivka on three sides. They have made marginal gains in recent weeks but have been unable to encircle Ukrainian troops in either place. Most of the eastern front lines have changed little in the first three months of the year.

3:54 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

Russia-backed official says Melitopol lost power supply after Ukrainian shelling

From CNN's Olga Voitovych

The power supply was disconnected in the occupied city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine after it was shelled by Ukrainian forces early Wednesday, a Russia-appointed official.

"Today around 5:30 a.m. (local), a series of explosions sounded in the city of Melitopol… As a result of the shelling by Kyiv… power supply facilities were damaged. The power supply was suspended in Melitopol and some nearby settlements," Vladimir Rogov, a member of the council of the pro-Russian military-civilian administration in the Zaporizhzhia region, said on Telegram. 
"According to preliminary reports, the shelling came from HIMARS, and there were no casualties. Emergency services are carrying out restoration work," Rogov added.

Melitopol is a hub for Russian occupying forces, located approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front lines.

Earlier in the day, the Melitopol city administration reported damage to infrastructure following shelling of a locomotive depot, but no casualties.