March 20, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Helen Regan, Steve George, Ben Church, Luke McGee, Ed Upright, Maureen Chowdhury, Joe Ruiz, Mike Hayes and Amir Vera, CNN

Updated 12:02 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022
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12:02 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

Our live coverage of the war in Ukraine has moved here.

11:35 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

Mariupol rejects Russia's demand to surrender as 5.a.m deadline passes

Civilians trapped in Mariupol are seen on the road on Sunday.
Civilians trapped in Mariupol are seen on the road on Sunday. (Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The Russian issued deadline for Mariupol authorities to surrender the city has now passed with Ukrainians rejecting the terms as a false choice.

The port city of Mariupol, which before the war was home to around 450,000 people, has been under near constant attack from Russian forces since early March with satellite images showing significant destruction to residential areas.

While the Russian ultimatum appeared to offer those who chose to surrender safe passage out of the city, it made no such guarantees for those remaining.

Russia has repeatedly been accused of targeting civilians, with trapped residents describing the onslaught as "hell."

The Russian attacks have led to a total collapse in basic services — with residents unable to access gas, electricity or water. Bodies are being left in the street because there is either no one left to collect them, or it is simply too dangerous to try.

An official in the city said people are scared to leave their underground shelters even to get hold of essentials, meaning they were trying to drink less water and eat less food, only emerging to prepare hot meals.

Bombing of maternity hospital, theater: The city is increasingly bearing the brunt of Russia's fierce assault on the country, with shelling day and night, said Major Denis Prokopenko, from the National Guard Azov Regiment. The assault has included deadly strikes on a maternity ward, and separate bombings of a theater and art school where hundreds of people were sheltering — the losses from which are still unknown as the rescue operations continue. The word "children" was spelled out on two sides of the theater before it was bombed, according to satellite images.

Civilians trapped: For weeks, Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of blocking evacuation corridors that would allow residents a safe escape from the city. Adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andrushenko said on his Telegram channel Sunday said people trying to flee the city in their cars were being shot at by Russian forces. The Ukrainian government said a relief convoy for the besieged city has repeatedly been blocked.

Taken against their will: On Sunday, the Mariupol City Council said residents are being taken to Russia against their will by Russian forces. Captured Mariupol residents were taken to camps where Russian forces checked their phones and documents, then redirected some of the residents to remote cities in Russia, the council said. Russia denied the accusations Saturday.

Why Russia wants to control Mariupol: The city is a strategic port that lies on a stretch of coast connecting the eastern region of Donbas with the Crimea peninsula, both of which have been under Russian control since 2014. Russian forces appear to be trying to take full control of the area to create a land corridor between the two regions, squeezing Mariupol with brutal military force.

"It is impossible to find words that could describe the level of cruelty and cynicism with which the Russian occupiers are destroying the civilian population of the Ukrainian city by the sea. Women, children, and the elderly remain in the enemy's sights. These are completely unarmed peaceful people," the Mariupol city council said last week.
10:20 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

US President Joe Biden will travel to Poland Friday

From CNN’s Nikki Carvajal

US President Joe Biden will travel to Warsaw, Poland on Friday, following his meetings in Brussels, Belgium with NATO allies, G7 and European Union leaders, according to a statement from White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

“The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” Psaki said. 

11:21 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

Shopping center and cars on fire following Russian attack in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district: emergency services

Footage obtained by CNN shows an expolsion in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv on Sunday night.
Footage obtained by CNN shows an expolsion in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv on Sunday night. (CNN)

A shopping center and cars in an adjacent parking lot caught fire following Russian bombardment in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district, Ukraine State Emergency Service said late Sunday.

A total of 63 firefighters and 11 units worked to extinguish the flames that had reached as high as the third and fourth floors of the shopping center, the Emergency Service said. 

The mayor of Kyiv, as well as the city's police, posted images of explosions in the Podilskyi district in Ukraine’s capital on Telegram Sunday.

One person was killed following the explosions, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

 

 

9:48 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

US can further broaden sanctions against Russia, deputy national security adviser says

From CNN’s Arlette Saenz

US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh is speaks at a White House press conference on Feb. 24.
US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh is speaks at a White House press conference on Feb. 24. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

In an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh discussed how America has the ability to expand its sanctions against Russia, including reaching “the commanding heights of the Russian economy.”

“We can broaden our sanctions. Take the measures, take the sanctions we've already applied, apply them in more targets. Apply them to more sectors,” he said.
“More banks, more sectors that we haven't touched.”

Asked what that might entail, Singh said, “Well, the commanding heights of the Russian economy. It's mostly about oil and gas, but there are other sectors too. I don't wanna specify them, but I think (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would know what those are.”

Singh described the impact of sanctions from the US and allies on the Russian economy, saying they’ve prompted Putin to take “some desperate measures.”

“He’s self-isolating his economy. Russia is now on a fast track to a 1980’s-style Soviet living standard. It’s looking into an economic abyss and that is that is the result of Putin's choices and I can see from his reaction, that’s where it’s headed,” Singh said.
“This is Putin’s war. These are Putin sanctions and this is Putin’s hardship he’s putting on the Russian people.”
9:43 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

Ukraine rejects Russian ultimatum that Mariupol surrender by Monday morning. Here's what we know

From CNN's Tim Lister, Andrew Carey, Yulia Shevchenko, Josh Pennington and Olga Voitovych 

The Russian Defense Ministry has presented an ultimatum to the leadership of the besieged city of Mariupol: surrender before dawn on Monday. 

Both the government in Kyiv and the Mariupol city authorities have flatly rejected the Russian terms. 

Here's what we know:

Deadline looms: The Russian Ministry of Defense has called on Mariupol local authoritie to surrender the city to Russian forces by 5 a.m. Moscow Monday (4 a.m. Monday in Mariupol and 10 p.m. ET Sunday), according to Russian state media.

Ukraine rejects deadline: In an interview late Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk rejected Russia’s terms, which were laid out in an eight-page document. 

"There can be no discussion of any surrender or of laying down arms,” she said.  
 “We have already informed the Russian side about it. I wrote: ‘Instead of wasting your time to write an 8-page letter – open the corridor.’ We have informed the UN and the ICRC and are awaiting a response from the international community. This is a conscious manipulation and true hostage taking.” 

On its Facebook page, Mariupol city council also rejected Russian demands, saying “They gave time until the morning to formulate a response. But why wait so long?” There followed an expletive. 

Ceasefire:  The Russian Defense Ministry proposed “to the fighting parties to declare a ceasefire and guarantee its strict observance from 9:30 a.m. Moscow time,” (8:30 a.m. in Mariupol and 2:30 a.m ET).  

It would then open evacuation corridors to the city half-an-hour later, it said.

"All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol,” Russian state media outlet, RIA Novosti, quoted the head of the National Center for Defense Management, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev,Mizintsev as saying. 

Russia blames Ukraine "bandits": In calling on city officials to surrender, RIA Novosti quoted Mizintsev saying "we appeal to the odious bandits, who are responsible for hundreds of lives of innocent people, and now call themselves representatives of the official local authorities, of this unique city Mariupol."

“It is you who now have the right to a historic choice – either you are with your people, or you are with bandits, otherwise the military tribunal that awaits you is only a minor thing that you have already deserved because of the despicable attitude towards your own citizens, as well as the terrible crimes and provocations already arranged by you," Mizintsev said, according to RIA Novosti.

Some context: Mariupol has been under siege for several weeks and has seen some of the worst attacks in the war since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February. These have included deadly strikes on a maternity ward, the bombing of a theater and art school, the losses from which are still unknown as the rescue operations continue.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said Sunday that what Russian forces had done to Mariupol was an “act of terror that will be remembered for centuries”

7:56 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

Kyiv's mayor, police department post images of explosions in the Podilskyi district of Ukraine's capital

From CNN's Claudia Dominguez

The mayor of Kyiv, as well as the city's police, posted images of explosions in the Podilskyi district in Ukraine’s capital on Telegram Sunday.

One person was killed following the explosions, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said late Sunday. Several explosions were heard in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, according to CNN’s team on the ground.

Images from the Kyiv police below:

Fire and smoke seen bellowing after explosions occurred in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv.
Fire and smoke seen bellowing after explosions occurred in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv. (Kyiv Police)

(Kyiv Police)
(Kyiv Police)

6:52 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls Russia's actions in Mariupol "a chapter from WWII"

From CNN's Hande Atay Alam 

Oleg Nikolenko, Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, called Russia's actions in Mariupol on Sunday "a chapter from WWII."

"First they came to destroy the cities, bombing hospitals, theaters, schools, and shelters, killing civilians and children. Then they forcibly relocated the scared, exhausted people to the invader’s land. A chapter from WWII? No – the actions of the Russian army, today in Mariupol," Nikolenko wrote.

The Mariupol City Council said Saturday residents are being taken to Russia against their will by Russian forces.

Russia denied the accusations Saturday.

According to the Russian state media outlet, RIA Novosti, Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev said nearly 60,000 residents of Mariupol have “found themselves in Russia in complete safety.”

9:38 p.m. ET, March 20, 2022

Russian Ministry of Defense calls on Mariupol to surrender by 5 a.m. Moscow time Monday, Russian state media says

From CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, Emmet Lyons, Mariya Knight

People dig a grave for victims killed during Ukraine-Russia conflict, in a the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20.
People dig a grave for victims killed during Ukraine-Russia conflict, in a the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

The Russian Ministry of Defense has called on Mariupol local authorities to surrender the city to Russian forces by 5 a.m. Moscow time Monday (4 a.m. Monday in Mariupol and 10 p.m. ET Sunday), according to Russian state-owned news agency, RIA Novosti.

The news agency said the Ministry of Defense would open humanitarian corridors to the city by 10 a.m. local time Monday (4 a.m. ET Monday) and “wants to receive a written response from Kiev to these proposals before 5:00.”

RIA Novosti attributed its reporting to comments made by the head of the National Center for Defense Management of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev.

“From 10 a.m. to 12 o'clock -- for all armed units of Ukraine and foreign mercenaries is a temporary suspension of fighting along the route agreed with Ukraine. From 12 o'clock, there will be a simultaneous passage of humanitarian convoys with food, medicine and basic necessities,” Mizintsev said.

This latest demand comes as the Mariupol City Council said Saturday residents are being taken to Russia against their will by Russian forces.

"Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents have been taken to Russian territory," the city said in a statement. "The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhny district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing."

Captured Mariupol residents were taken to camps where Russian forces checked their phones and documents, then redirected some of the residents to remote cities in Russia, the statement said, adding the "fate of the others is unknown."

In calling on city officials to surrender, RIA Novosti quoted Mizintsev saying "we appeal to the odious bandits, who are responsible for hundreds of lives of innocent people, and now call themselves representatives of the official local authorities, of this unique city Mariupol."

“It is you who now have the right to a historic choice – either you are with your people, or you are with bandits, otherwise the military tribunal that awaits you is only a minor thing that you have already deserved because of the despicable attitude towards your own citizens, as well as the terrible crimes and provocations already arranged by you," Mizintsev said, according to RIA Novosti.

RIA also reported Mizintsev said nearly 60,000 residents of Mariupol “found themselves in Russia in complete safety.”

This post has been updated