March 15, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The UK government has announced a fresh round of sanctions on Russia, including banning the export of luxury goods to Russia and tariffs on Russian goods worth more than $1 billion.

The UK will also deny Russia and Belarus access to its most favored nation trading tariff for hundreds of their exports, effectively depriving both countries from key benefits of their World Trade Organization membership.

The additional 35% tariff on Russian goods will be applied to imports including vodka, steel, works of art and fur.

"Our new tariffs will further isolate the Russian economy from global trade, ensuring it does not benefit from the rules-based international system it does not respect," UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The government says it will release details of the export ban at a later date, but said previous bans had included items like high end fashion, art and luxury vehicles.

The full list of Russian goods facing import tariffs is: Iron, steel, fertilizers, wood, tires, railway containers, cement, copper, aluminum, silver, lead, iron ore, residue/food waste products, beverages, spirits and vinegar (this includes vodka), glass and glassware, cereals, oil seeds, paper and paperboard, machinery, works of art, antiques, fur skins and artificial fur, ships and white fish.

A strike against a TV tower near the city of Rivne in northwestern Ukraine on Monday killed at least 19 people and injured nine others, the head of Rivne regional administration Vitalii Koval said Tuesday. 

"The rescue mission is still underway and as of 8:30 a.m. [Tuesday] we have 19 dead and nine injured. We continue to clear the debris. This is not a final number, we need several more hours to clear the entire area," he said. 

The tower was hit at 5:20 a.m. local time on Monday and authorities had initially reported no casualties from the strike. 

Despite the hit, Koval said radio and television broadcasting has continued in the region. "We now have free access to satellite broadcasting in the whole Rivne region. We have restored the broadcasting signal to the cable network," he said.

Multiple TV towers across Ukraine have been targeted by Russian forces in recent weeks, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Vynarivka in the Kyiv region.

A 35-hour curfew will be imposed in Kyiv on Tuesday evening, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on his official Telegram channel.

The curfew will come into effect at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and will last until 7 a.m. on Thursday. Curfew is currently in place in Kyiv, but only during night time, between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Residents will be prohibited from leaving their homes without special permits during the curfew, Klitschko said, adding that people will still be able to leave to go into bomb shelters.

"I ask all [residents of Kyiv] to prepare for the fact that they will have to stay at home or, in case of an emergency, in a shelter, for two days," Klitschko said.

Two people were killed in shelling of a residential area in western Kyiv early Tuesday morning, according to Ukraine Emergency Services. 

At least four residential buildings across the Ukrainian capital were hit by strikes early Tuesday, according to the emergency services.

The prime minsters of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have departed on a train bound for Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The train with the leaders on board departed before 9 a.m. local time, the head of the chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Michal Dworczyk, said Tuesday. The train took off from Poland, a press officer for the Czech government told CNN. 

Traveling to the Ukrainian capital is Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki and his deputy Jarosław Kaczyński, Slovenia's Janez Janša and the Czech Republic's Petr Fiala.

The purpose of the visit is "to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a broad package of support for the Ukrainian state and society," a government spokesperson said.

They said the trip had been organized in agreement with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and added that the international community would be informed about the delegation visit through international organizations, including the United Nations.

Morawiecki said he and the other leaders were going to Kyiv to "show Ukrainians our solidarity" and denounced "Putin's criminal aggression against Ukraine."

Two Russian missiles hit Dnipro airport in the east of Ukraine overnight, putting the runway out of use and damaging the terminal building, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration.

"The destruction is on a large scale and will take a long time to re-build," the statement on Reznichenko’s Facebook page said.

The statement made no reference to any casualties.

Around 350,000 people are still trapped in Mariupol, the city in southeastern Ukraine that has been besieged by Russian troops since March 1, a local official said.

"Considering there are 540,000 residents and around 150,000 people evacuated in the first three days when it was still safe to do so, we estimate around 350,000 people to be stuck in Mariupol," Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the Mariupol mayor, said on Ukrainian television Monday.

Multiple official attempts to establish safe corridors and evacuate civilians from Mariupol have failed in recent days. A large convoy of humanitarian aid that was meant to arrive on Sunday has still not reached the city as of Monday, according to officials.

Speaking about civilian casualties, Andriushchenko said the numbers obtained from the police and compiled by medical facilities were likely inaccurate. He said that, as of Sunday, 1,800 people were confirmed to have been killed.

Speaking on Monday, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser in President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, said that the Russian bombardment of Mariupol has caused more than 2,500 deaths.

European finance ministers have formally approved a fourth package of sanctions targeting more than 600 Russian nationals, in what French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called a “historical decision."

It is the “fastest, strongest package of sanctions ever adopted by the European Union in its history," the ministers said.

The names of the Russian individuals and entities included in the new round of sanctions were not disclosed.

The sanctions were expanded to include, “key oligarchs, lobbyist and propagandists pushing the Kremlin’s narrative on the situation in Ukraine as well as key companies in the aviation, military and dual use, shipbuilding and machine building sectors,” the European Council said in a statement.

When asked if there would be further sanctions, Le Maire said: “I can confirm to you what (French President) Emmanuel Macron said last week, all options remain on the table.”

Two people were killed in shelling of a residential area in western Kyiv early Tuesday morning, according to Ukraine Emergency Services. 

A 16-story apartment building in the Sviatoshynskyi district was significantly damaged by shelling and a subsequent fire.

Two people were found dead at the scene and 46 were rescued from the building, the emergency services said.

A separate strike caused minor damage to a nine-story building in the same district, the emergency services said. 

At least four residential buildings across the Ukrainian capital were hit by strikes early Tuesday, including the two in Sviatoshynskyi, according to the emergency services.

The residential areas in the east, north and west of the city center were hit by shelling within an hour of each other. 

Leaders from three European countries will travel to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal on Tuesday, according to the Polish government.

In a statement Tuesday, the Polish Prime Minister's office said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša would visit the Ukrainian capital as representatives of the European Council.