March 30, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

On Wednesday, the Russian army continued to conduct a full-scale, armed aggression against Ukraine, while Ukrainian forces continue to conduct a defense operation in the eastern, southeastern, and northeastern directions, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also claims Russian troops have “suffered significant losses” and likely “temporarily gave up the task of blocking Kyiv.”

Russia has “intensified fire and assault operations” in the Donetsk region and “continues to strike air and missile strikes on settlements.”

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims that Russia’s main efforts are focused on taking control of the cities of Popasana, Rubizhne and Mariupol. It also claims that the Russian military is “demoralized” and has “low motivation to take part in hostilities in Ukraine.”

Russian forces are continuing to build up in the area of the Chernobyl power plant, the Shelter Facility, and the exclusion zone in general, according to the latest assessment.

Some background: Yesterday, Moscow claim it would "drastically reduce military activity," but US officials are skeptical of Russia's claims, with the Pentagon cautioning that troop movement near Kyiv is "a repositioning," not a withdrawal.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša said Wednesday that he supports sending the S-300 missile defense systems to Ukraine.  

“Yes, I support this because this is the equipment that Ukraine needs the most," he told CNN's Becky Anderson, but added, “I don’t support speaking a lot about what we are giving them."

Janša also said he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who told him that his government is prepared to propose a referendum to Ukrainians to change the constitution to abandon Ukraine's wish to join NATO. 

“I think they made some kind of pragmatic decision, because after they will win this war, I think that it will be NATO wanting them to join,” Janša said. “When they win this war, the Ukrainian army will be one of the strongest, if not the strongest army on the European continent."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that it’s “not the objective of the UK government” to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from power.   

Speaking to the Liaison Committee of the House of Commons, Johnson was asked by lawmakers if he agreed that the final outcome should not only be “Russians out of Ukraine but Putin out of the Kremlin?” 

Johnson also said sanctions against Russia should be intensified until every Russian boot was out of Ukraine. 

“I certainly don’t think you could expect the G7 to lift sanctions simply because there’s been a ceasefire in Ukraine. That again goes straight into Putin’s playbook. In my view, we should continue to intensify sanctions with a rolling program until every single one of his troops is out of Ukraine,” he said. 

Asked if this included Crimea, Johnson said, “As I said, every single one of his troops is out of Ukraine.” 

Russia troops have attacked nine settlements, damaging at least eight civilian buildings, including houses and shops, according to the National Police of Ukraine. 

Russians fired at the civilian population with “mortars, tanks, artillery, and small arms," and some have been wounded.

The most heavily shelled cities and towns in the region over the past 24 hours have been Mariupol, Marinka, Krasnohorivka, Avdiivka, Vuhledar, Volnovakha, Zalizne, Ocheretyne (Oleksandrivska TG), and Novoselivka-3, according to police. The city of Pokrovsk also came under attack on Wednesday. 

Information about destruction and the victims is still being clarified, police say.

The Donetsk region is one of two breakaway eastern Ukrainian territories, the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.

Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of US European Command, told lawmakers during a congressional hearing Wednesday the US force posture in Europe needs to change.

Wolters, who oversees the US military presence on the European continent, said the US force posture needs to change not only in Eastern Europe but also in “air policing activity” and in “naval maritime groups.”

Wolters also highlighted the eight battalion-sized battle groups the US and NATO are establishing in Eastern European NATO member countries.

“We are in the process of establishing eight very coherent minimum battalion sized battle groups in Eastern Europe that have all of the appropriate enablers that are coupled in with all the air policing assets and all the standing naval maritime groups so that we can more comprehensively defend in the east and do so in the north all the way back to the Atlantic Ocean extending back into the Mediterranean,” Wolters said.

NATO member nations will be a part of building up the force posture in Europe and are committed to changing the force posture from a “rotational” to a “more permanent” presence, Wolters said. 

“They are going to be part of the equation, and they’re very willing to do so to change the presence from a rotational to a more permanent, and I think it will continue to grow, and we’re working very hard with the North Atlantic Council to do that,” Wolters said.

In addition, he said the US has “two centers” with “approximately 100 individuals” that are working to get military assistance and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

Wolters called the system an “iterative process” that is “based off supply and demand.”

“It’s not perfect by any means, but it continues to improve over time, and we’ll continue to iterate, and we’ll make sure that we continue to connect with those interlocutors at the Ukrainian level to make sure they get the right gear as quickly as we possibly can,” Wolters said. 

Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that a "planned regrouping of troops" was underway around Kyiv and Chernihiv, one day after Russian negotiators said Moscow's forces would take steps toward de-escalation around the two cities. 

Ukrainian officials have reported Russian shelling over the past 24 hours around both cities. US officials have been skeptical of Russia's claims of de-escalation, and some observers have suggested Russia's shifting military objectives are meant to conceal setbacks on the battlefield.

Konashenkov claimed that the "main tasks of the Russian armed forces in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions have been completed," adding Russian forces were regrouping in order to "intensify operations in priority areas and, above all, to complete the operation for the complete liberation of Donbas," in Ukraine's east.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for about an hour, according to the White House.

Zelensky tweeted after the call that they "shared assessment of the situation on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid."

In a statement, the White House said Biden told Zelensky the US “intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid” on the call.

The budgetary aid is to help pay salaries, among other things, according to an official.

“The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country,” the White House says, adding Biden also “reviewed the additional sanctions and humanitarian assistance announced last week.”

The call was scheduled for 10:45 a.m. ET (5:45 p.m. in Kyiv) “to discuss our continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.” It began at 11:08 a.m. ET and ended at 12:03 p.m. ET.

The call comes a day after Biden and other US officials voiced extreme caution at signals Russia is scaling back its military operations near Kyiv, suggesting they were waiting to see stronger signs of de-escalation before making an assessment of Moscow's intentions.

"We'll see. I don't read anything into it until I see what their actions are. We'll see if they follow through what they're suggesting," Biden said at the White House Tuesday.

Biden noted that in the meantime, the US will continue to "keep strong the sanctions" and "provide the Ukrainian military with their capacity to defend themselves."

William Hubbard, a US father from Massachusetts, helped his daughter Aislinn, grandson and her boyfriend leave Ukraine to Slovakia in a trek across the wilderness. 

The journey was arduous, she told CNN, and they had their two cats and multiple duffel bags with them.

"It was an eight-hour hike. It was very difficult, up a very steep mountain. We had to find an area that was discreet, and we were lucky that we didn't encounter any military along the way. We were able to get out," Aislinn, 19, said speaking from Austria during an interview on CNN.

The area they crossed was in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains, and Aislinn slid down a muddy hill with her baby at one point.

Her father was in Slovakia tracking their progress through his phone.

Because men 18-60 years old are barred from leaving the country, her boyfriend will not be able to return to Ukraine, she and her father said.

They also had previous issues with documentation for the baby, because he was born at home during the pandemic and did not have a birth certificate.

"This wouldn't have been necessary if the Ukrainians and the [US] State Department would have assisted us in getting the proper paperwork in a timely manner, but they gave us no other alternative but to take the bull by the horns and hatch a plan that would work for us," Hubbard said.

The near-term plan right now, he said, is for Aislinn and her family to go to Prague and stay there to obtain the documentation needed.

The Red Cross warehouse in central Mariupol was hit by at least two military strikes, new satellite images from Maxar Technologies confirm.

On Wednesday, the Azov Battalion — a unit that began as an ultra-nationalist militia but has since integrated into the Ukrainian Armed Forces — claimed on their Telegram channel that the warehouse had been hit by Russian military strikes, posting an image of the larger complex as evidence. 

CNN has obtained a satellite image from Maxar Technologies that confirms the allegation. 

Citing additional imagery it captured, Maxar said the northern end of the warehouse was hit sometime between March 19-22. A second military strike, on the southern end of the building, occurred sometime between March 23-26.

Sensory satellite data from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System also confirmed that a number of explosions were detected in the vicinity on March 20 and every day between March 22-25.

International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson Jason Straziuso told CNN that it is a Red Cross warehouse.

No Red Cross staff have been at the warehouse since March 15, according to Straziuso, and that the organization does not know how the building may have been used since.

"Under international humanitarian law, objects used for humanitarian relief operations must be respected and protected at all times," Straziuso said. "But what we are most concerned by is the overall humanitarian situation in Mariupol and the relentless suffering inflicted on civilians living there. People are trapped with no safe way out of the city, and they are running out of the very basics needed for their survival."

Straziuso said that intense fighting has prevented the Red Cross from bringing any humanitarian aid to the city.

Liudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament commissioner for human rights, called for the “world community to condemn” the shelling of the building. “This is another war crime of the Russian army in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and a gross violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions,” she said.  

There was no information on victims, Denisova added.

CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defence for comment.