March 21, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Helen Regan, Travis Caldwell, Amy Woodyatt, George Ramsay and Hafsa Khalil, CNN

Updated 12:23 a.m. ET, March 22, 2022
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11:39 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

Neither side is backing down in the conflict, senior NATO official says

From CNN's Natasha Bertrand

Ukrainian servicemen are seen at an explosion site of a shopping center on March 21 in Kyiv.
Ukrainian servicemen are seen at an explosion site of a shopping center on March 21 in Kyiv. (Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)

A senior NATO intelligence official said on Monday that signs are pointing to a stalemate emerging in Russia’s war on Ukraine, with Russian ground forces remaining stalled and Russian combat aircraft unable to achieve air superiority over Ukraine.

“If we are not in a stalemate already, we are rapidly approaching one,” the official told reporters during a briefing at NATO headquarters. “And it's quite a thing to say when you consider the disparity in strength when this fight began.” 

“You don't get to this point if you didn't make a series of mistakes,” the official added.

The official noted a stalemate is particularly dangerous, however, given how Russia has resorted to using less precise, more brutal weaponry against civilian targets since its campaign stalled. 

“Will Ukrainians give up? No. And they have been very clear they will not give up,” the official said. “So what happens when you have these two forces running on each other in this way?” 

Russia is not backing down either, despite their losses, the official said. In the last few days Russian forces have continued to assemble reinforcements and attempt to improve the logistical support in both Kyiv and the southern operational directions, the official said. The Belarusian government, meanwhile, is “preparing the environment to justify a Belarussian offensive against Ukraine,” the official added. Ukrainian officials have been warning publicly that Belarus might join the war.

It remains NATO’s assessment that Russia’s top goal is still to capture the Ukrainian capital and force a change of government there, as well as force Ukraine to adopt a neutral position with NATO and demilitarize. “I don’t think [Putin] has backed off any of his goals,” the official said. 

11:03 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

96-year-old Holocaust survivor killed by Russian strike, memorial institute says

From Tim Lister, Victoria Butenko and Olga Voitovych

Boris Romanchenko, 96, survived four Nazi concentration camps, but his life was ended last Friday by a Russian strike on Kharkiv, according to the Buchenwald memorial institute.

The institute said in a series of tweets that according to his grand-daughter, Romanchenko was living in an apartment block in Kharkiv that was hit during a Russian attack.

The group said Romanchenko had survived the concentration camps at Buchenwald, Peenemünde, Dora and Bergen-Belsen during World War II. It said it was "stunned" by news of his death.

Romanchenko worked "intensively on the memory of Nazi crimes and was vice-president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee," the institute said.

In 2012, Romanchenko attended an event recalling the liberation of Buchenwald, where he read an oath devoted to "creating a new world where peace and freedom reign,” the memorial said.

In 2018, a Kharkiv newspaper reported on his visit to Buchenwald on the 73rd anniversary of the camp’s liberation by US forces, saying, “The event was attended by the last surviving Buchenwald prisoners from Ukraine and Belarus — Borys Romanchenko from Kharkiv, Oleksandr Bychok from Kyiv and Andriy Moiseenko from Minsk.”

11:00 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

It's 5 p.m. in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know

From CNN staff

A new curfew will go into effect in Kyiv starting Monday at 8 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, shelling has continued in the capital this morning and at least eight people were reported killed in an attack on a shopping center.

Here are more headlines from today in the Russia-Ukraine conflict:

  • Russian military says it carried out cruise missile strikes against targets: Russian forces fired air-launched cruise missiles early Monday at what Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson, described as a Ukrainian military training center in Nova Lyubomyrka, in Ukraine's northwestern Rivne oblast. In a statement, Konashenkov claimed the strike inflicted dozens of casualties. CNN could not verify any of those claims. Separately, Konashenkov said cruise missiles also destroyed an ammunition depot and the headquarters of a mechanized brigade near the western village of Selets, without providing additional details. 
  • Air pollution elevated in Kyiv following attack on shopping center: The Kyiv mayor said Monday that air pollution had been detected in the capital following the Russian strike on a shopping center in the city's Podil district, which killed eight people. In a statement on Telegram, Klitschko said the fires resulting from the strike burned down a shopping center and damaged six apartment buildings, leaving three of them unfit for habitation. Meanwhile, the premises of two schools and two kindergartens were damaged, he said.
  • The latest on Mariupol: Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the defenders of Mariupol had played a "huge role in destroying the enemy's plans," as he gave an update in which he claimed Russian forces were stalled elsewhere but acknowledged a "difficult situation" nationwide. By confronting so much Russian firepower in Mariupol, Reznikov said on Facebook, "so many tens of thousands of lives throughout Ukraine were saved. Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa. Everyone must understand this." Ukraine rejected an ultimatum to surrender the besieged city of Mariupol after a Russian deadline set at 5 a.m. Moscow time (10 a.m. ET) Monday passed.
  • Zelensky's appeal to Germany: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an appeal to Germany to save the capital city of Kyiv, in a televised address to the nation on Monday. Kyiv, used to be called a “new Berlin,” similar in its spirit of “openness, emotion, freedom in the squares, sincerity of the people, clubs and parties,” Zelensky said. “Now Kyiv is closed. It is silent in anticipation of a new air raid siren that will force people into shelters.” Zelensky played a 20-second clip of an air raid siren, calling it a sound Ukrainians have been hearing "for hours, days and weeks." 
  • More aid for Ukraine: German Finance Minister Annalena Baerbock said the European Union will increase financial aid and delivery of weapons to Ukraine. "We will increase financial means for the purchase of military goods to 1 billion euros, in order to make clear, we stand with full solidarity on Ukraine's side, we stand for the protection of the civil population in Ukraine," Baerbock told reporters.
11:05 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

US sees increased Russian naval activity in northern Black Sea, senior US defense official says

From CNN's Michael Conte

The US has seen increased Russian naval activity in the northern Black Sea, according to a senior US defense official.

The official said that the US believes some of the shelling around the Ukrainian city of Odesa has been coming from these warships, but that there is still not an indication of an imminent amphibious assault against Odesa.

Russia has more than a dozen warships in the northern Black Sea, including amphibious ships, surface combatants, a minesweeper, and patrol boats, according to the official.

Some more context: The Defense Department assesses that the Russians are “near desperate” to gain any momentum in their invasion, which is why they are increasing their long-range missile and artillery bombardments that have made the war even more dangerous for civilians.

The official noted that Russian forces “haven’t achieved anything” of what the US assesses to be their objective of controlling population centers, having only taken Melitopol, Berdyansk and Kherson since the start of the invasion, and having not taken Kharkiv or Mariupol and having not made any progress towards Kyiv since last week.

However, the long-range bombardments have only hardened the Ukrainian resistance, increasing the frustration of the Russian forces, according to the official.

It is also possible that Russia is trying to gain momentum simply to increase their leverage in negotiations with Ukraine, because they do not appear to have a lot of leverage now, the official said.

11:24 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

Here's where Ukrainians fleeing their homes have gone

From CNN's George Ramsay

People arrive at a train station in Przemysl, Poland, from Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 20.
People arrive at a train station in Przemysl, Poland, from Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 20. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

At least 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine following Russia's invasion less than a month ago, the head of the United Nations' refugee agency said Sunday.

That figure accounts for almost a quarter of the country's population, which was calculated at 44 million by the World Bank in 2020.

Of those who have left their homes, the majority — 6.48 million as of March 16, according to figures provided by the International Organization for Migration on Friday — have been internally displaced since the conflict began on Feb. 24.

Others have sought refuge in neighboring countries, including Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Russia and Belarus.

In the first three weeks of the conflict, two million people arrived in Poland from Ukraine, according to the UN, while more than a million went to other neighboring countries.

Raouf Mazou, the UNHCR assistant commissioner, said last week that he estimated 490,000 Ukrainians had fled to Romania, 350,000 to Moldova, 280,000 to Hungary, and 228,000 to Slovakia.

Read more about this here.

10:31 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

Zelensky calls out Nestlé over ties to Russia

From CNN’s Matt Egan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is displayed on a giant screen after delivering a live voice message in front of the Swiss House of Parliament in Bern, Switzerland, on March 19.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is displayed on a giant screen after delivering a live voice message in front of the Swiss House of Parliament in Bern, Switzerland, on March 19. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling out Nestlé for the Swiss company’s continued relationship with Russia.

"'Good food. Good life.' This is the slogan of Nestlé. Your company that refuses to leave Russia,” Zelensky said on Saturday during an address to the people of Switzerland. “Even now — when there are threats from Russia to other European countries. Not only to us. When there is even nuclear blackmail from Russia.”

Nestlé, the world’s largest food-and-beverage company and the maker of Gerber, KitKat and Dreyer’s ice cream, defended itself by pointing out that it has made sweeping changes since Russia invaded Ukraine.

“We have significantly scaled back (our) activities in Russia: we have stopped all imports and exports from Russia, except for essential products,” a Nestlé spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “We no longer make investments or advertise our products. We do not make a profit from our remaining activities.”

Nestlé employs more than 7,000 people in Russia, most of whom are locals, the company has previously said.

“The fact that we, like other food companies, supply the population with important food does not mean that we simply continue as before,” Nestlé said. “We are still one of the few active food companies in Ukraine and sometimes even manage to distribute food in Kharkiv.”

The Swiss company announced on March 11 that it suspended exports of its products out of Russia except for essential foods like baby food. Nestlé also said it stopped importing Nespresso and other products into Russia, except for essential foods such as baby food, cereal, tailored nutrition and therapeutic pet foods.

Nestlé said at the time it is “shocked and deeply saddened by the invasion of Ukraine” and the company stands with the international community in calling for peace and the restoration of security and stability.  

Last week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal criticized Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider for the company’s continued presence in Russia.

“Unfortunately, he shows no understanding,” Shmyhal wrote on Twitter after saying he spoke to the Nestlé CEO. “Paying taxes to the budget of a terrorist country means killing defenseless children & mothers. Hope that Nestlé will change its mind soon.”

9:36 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

EU will ramp up financial support for military supplies for Ukraine

From Inke Kappeler in Berlin and Nina Avramova in London

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, center, pictured before a Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on March 21.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, center, pictured before a Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on March 21. (Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The European Union will increase financial aid and delivery of weapons to Ukraine, German Finance Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday ahead of a special Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

"We will increase financial means for the purchase of military goods to 1 billion euros, in order to make clear, we stand with full solidarity on Ukraine's side, we stand for the protection of the civil population in Ukraine," Baerbock told journalists.

Germany will also ensure that weapons sales from German producers will be carried out as quickly as possible. "Ukraine needs further weapons," she said, without providing any further details due to security concerns.

"This is about life and death, we are in the middle of a war and therefore absolute caution is needed about stating which weapons are to be delivered and where," Baerbock added.

"We are experiencing the Russian government continuing to escalate its rhetoric with regard to nuclear weapons as well as NATO territory," she said. 

Baerbock also pointed out that the alliance must prevent the war spreading to other countries. "We have a responsibility towards Ukrainians, but we also have a responsibility towards 450 million Europeans and those that are NATO members," she added. "We cannot take the responsibility that there will be more acts of war in other countries."

"We work on consequently closing sanction loopholes," she said. "Those who benefit from this war“ must be sanctioned, including their family members, Baerbock said. 

9:06 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

Before-and-after photos show scale of devastation at Kyiv shopping center after Russian attack

A Russian attack on a shopping center in the Podilskyi district of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv left at least eight people dead, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General.

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

Here's a look at before-and-after images of the shopping center:

Retroville shopping center in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Retroville shopping center in Kyiv, Ukraine. (www.colliers.com)

An aerial view of the Retroville shopping center after a Russian shelling attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 21.
An aerial view of the Retroville shopping center after a Russian shelling attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 21. (Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

8:53 a.m. ET, March 21, 2022

White House will meet today with oil and banking CEOs on Russia's invasion of Ukraine

From CNN’s Matt Egan

The CEOs of ExxonMobil, JPMorgan, Bank of America and other major companies are scheduled to meet with top Biden officials at the White House on Monday to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a White House official told CNN.

The off-the-record briefing will be hosted by the National Economic Council and National Security Council and will led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and other senior officials, the White House official said.

The meeting comes as the war in Ukraine, and the West’s punishing sanctions on Moscow, cast a shadow over the world economy. Supply disruptions impacting food, energy and other commodities threaten to exacerbate a 40-year high in inflation.

The summit will include business leaders from a cross-section of the economy, the White House official said, including the CEOs of oil producer ConocoPhillips, refinery giant Marathon Petroleum, clean energy company Invenergy, banking leader JPMorgan, manufacturers Dow and US Steel and food-and-agriculture firms Land O’Lakes and Cargill.

The briefing will include White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the official said. 

Separately, US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with leaders of Corporate America on Monday evening at the Business Roundtable’s Washington office. 

That Business Roundtable meeting will focus on the US response to Russia’s war with Ukraine, the administration’s plans to lower costs for families, efforts to boost hiring and tackle the climate crisis, the White House said.