Russia-Ukraine war updates: Moscow says troops captured Tonenke village
These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war for Thursday, March 21, 2024.
This live page is now closed.
This live page is now closed.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry says its forces have captured the village of Tonenke in eastern Ukraine, 8.5km (5.2 miles) west of Avdiivka.
- The Kremlin says Russia would take retaliatory measures in its own interests and use every legal mechanism at its disposal if the EU used profits from frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine.
- European Union national leaders will discuss a plan to use billions of euros in profits from frozen Russian financial assets to buy arms for Ukraine as they try to bolster Kyiv in its fight against Moscow’s invasion.
- Russia has launched a wave of missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, wounding at least 13 people and damaging several buildings, according to local officials.
- Russia has handed over six Ukrainian children to Ukraine with the mediation of Qatar, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Here’s what happened today
We’re closing this live blog soon. Here’s a recap of some of the day’s key events:
- The Polish foreign minister says Poland will contribute logistically and financially to a Czech-led plan to boost ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
- Russia’s FSB security service arrests four people for plotting “terrorist attacks”.
- At least one person is killed and four injured in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, a local official says.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry says its forces have captured the village of Tonenke in eastern Ukraine, 8.5km (5.2 miles) west of Avdiivka.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls on Western nations to show the “political will” to help Kyiv after Russia’s latest attack on the capital.
- State Duma Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy says Russian servicemen would eliminate any French soldiers coming to Ukraine, the state news agency TASS reports.
Zelenskyy spoke to Greece’s Mitsotakis about defence cooperation
Zelenskyy has also shared details about the call with his Greek counterpart that we reported earlier.
On X, the Ukrainian leader said they spoke about the “implementation of our agreements” made in Odesa and “our ongoing defense cooperation, particularly in terms of strengthening our air defense”.
“On March 6th in Odesa, Prime Minister Mitsotakis could witness firsthand the importance of reliably protecting our skies. Additionally, I briefed him on the Russian strike on Kyiv this morning. We also agreed to speed up work on a bilateral security agreement based on the G7 Vilnius Declaration,” Zelenskyy wrote.
I spoke with Greek Prime Minister @KMitsotakis about the implementation of our agreements reached during his recent visit to Ukraine, as well as our ongoing defense cooperation, particularly in terms of strengthening our air defense.
On March 6th in Odesa, Prime Minister… pic.twitter.com/iWH5JHSmYM
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 21, 2024
Greek PM Mitsotakis says Kyiv making ‘steady progress’ to EU membership
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says he spoke to Zelenskyy in advance of today’s EU leaders meeting and promised that Greece will continue to support Ukraine.
“My visit to Odessa impressed upon me even more the urgency of stepping up our assistance. I am glad to see Ukraine making steady progress towards EU membership,” Mitsotakis wrote on X.
I spoke with @ZelenskyyUa ahead of today's #EUCO discussions on Ukraine. Greece will continue to support Ukraine. My visit to Odessa impressed upon me even more the urgency of stepping up our assistance. I am glad to see Ukraine making steady progress towards EU membership.
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) March 21, 2024
Russian defence minister says artillery production increased significantly
Russia’s defence minister says artillery shell production rose by nearly 2.5 times in the past year as Moscow races to rearm faster than the West can supply Ukraine.
Sergei Shoigu said orders to expand artillery production had been successful much earlier than planned, and praised workers for working round-the-clock during a meeting with weapons manufacturers.
“After the start of operation of the new facilities, the volume of production actually increased by almost 2.5 times,” Shoigu was quoted as saying by his ministry.
“If we talk about the manufacture of artillery ammunition, the volume of production of components for this ammunition has been increased almost 22 times; 75 percent of components are being restored,” he said.
He suggested that there were more ambitious targets for this year, but did not elaborate.
Several Russian prisons to close as inmates fight in the war: Report
Authorities in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region plan to close several prisons this year amid a decline in inmate numbers due to the recruitment of convicts for the war, the Kommersant newspaper reported
The newspaper cited Mark Denisov, Krasnoyarsk’s regional human rights commissioner, as saying at least two local prisons would be closed due to “a large one-time reduction in the number of convicts in the context of the special military operation [in Ukraine]”.
Once the war began in 2022, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, would tour penal colonies, offering prisoners a pardon if they survived six months at the front.
Following a short-lived mutiny, Prigozhin, who said he had recruited 50,000 prisoners for Wagner, was killed in a plane crash.
Russia’s Defence Ministry has since continued recruiting convicts from prisons for its own Storm-Z formations.
Russian official says French soldiers in Ukraine would be ‘killed’
State Duma Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy said Russian servicemen will eliminate all French soldiers coming to Ukraine, the state news agency TASS reported.
“We will kill all French soldiers who will come to the territory of Ukraine. All of them,” he told the BFMTV channel.
Tolstoy highlighted that 147 out of 367 French mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine earlier had been killed.
The official’s comments come after Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin said earlier this week that France was preparing to send a military contingent of about 2,000 soldiers to Ukraine, which the French Ministry of Armed Forces denied.
Anti-Kremlin fighters say they are still operating inside Russia: Report
Three Ukrainian-backed paramilitary groups that purport to be made up of Russians opposed to the Kremlin say their forces were continuing their cross-border attacks following a week of raids, the Reuters news agency reported.
The groups launched incursions from northern Ukraine last week into the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod, claiming to have entered several villages on the Russian side of the border.
“The operation, even right now, is continuing. We will talk about our losses after it’s conclusion,” Denis Kapustin, leader of one of the groups, the right-wing Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), told a news conference in response to a question about the unit’s losses.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield claims.
Russian officials have made vague references to “Ukrainian terrorists” in their comments about the groups’ recent attacks. They have previously cast the groups as puppets of Ukraine’s military and the US Central Intelligence Agency.
In case you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed on some of the latest developments.
- At least one person has been killed and four others injured in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, a local official said.
- A Russian court has rejected a lawsuit from the mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, alleging he had received inadequate medical care in the Arctic penal colony where he died.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says EU countries should decide to use windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons and ammunition for Ukraine.
- Hungary’s foreign minister says Budapest will not join a Czech-led ammunition initiative to procure and send weapons to Ukraine.
- The Kremlin says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is welcome to visit Russia and that a meeting with Putin will happen.
In photos: Aftermath of Russian missile attack on Kyiv
Poland to contribute to Czech-led ammunition plan to Ukraine
The Polish foreign minister says Poland will contribute logistically and financially to a Czech-led plan to boost ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
“We are very happy to contribute, not only financially but to a very efficient logistical operation so that the ammunition can get to where it’s needed on the front,” Radoslaw Sikorski told a news conference in Prague.
Earlier this month, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the ammunition initiative had raised enough money to purchase the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells.
Last week, Czech officials said the first deliveries should reach Ukraine by June at the latest.
Russia’s FSB security service arrests four people for plotting ‘terrorist attacks’
Two people were arrested in the Moscow-held Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and arrests were also made in the Russian Belgorod region and the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Russia said the two arrested in Mariupol had made public statements in support of Ukraine, while the others were planning “terrorist attacks” against military sites inside Russia.
The FSB said the two arrested there had “published videos and comments on social media” supporting Kyiv and praising last year’s attack on the Kerch Bridge, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
They face seven years in prison on charges of “justifying terrorism”.
The FSB also said it had arrested one person in the Belgorod border region who was planning a “terrorist attack” against Russian army sites and working with the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, a pro-Ukrainian militia.
Ukraine’s Mykolaiv targeted by Russian missile attack
At least one person has been killed and four others injured in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, a local official said.
While it was not immediately clear what was being targeted, the regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, said rescue work was continuing at the site.
The city mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, added that a ballistic missile was used, and residential buildings were not damaged.
The afternoon raid on the southern region follows a massive overnight attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding area.
Navalny’s widow says lawsuit thrown out for ‘one reason’
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, has commented on the Russian court’s decision to reject a lawsuit that Navalny has received inadequate medical care at the Artic penal colony.
“The court dismissed the case. There is only one reason – at the trial they had to provide documents and videos about what happened on February 16,” Navalnaya wrote on X.
Earlier, a Navalny ally said the court rejected the lawsuit because he had not made the complaint himself.
Key events on day 756 of the war
It’s day 756 of the Russia-Ukraine war, and these are some of the main developments:
- At least five people were killed and eight injured after a Russian missile hit an industrial area in Kharkiv.
- Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu told senior generals that the country’s soldiers “continue to squeeze the enemy out of their positions” in eastern Ukraine.
- Visiting Kyiv, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan insisted that a major US aid package that Republicans have been blocking for months would “get to Ukraine”.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held separate phone calls with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed strengthening ties with both.
You can find a full list of our key events here.
NATO military chief says Ukraine’s allies should not be ‘pessimistic’
“Ukraine needs even more support. And you need it now. Time in Ukraine is not measured in days, weeks or months. It is measured in human lives,” Military Committee Chief Rob Bauer told the Kyiv Security Forum during a NATO military delegation’s first official visit to Kyiv.
“While the world may have been overly optimistic in 2023, we should not make the same mistake becoming overly pessimistic in 2024,” he added.
Bauer hailed Ukraine’s resilience and ability to adjust quickly during the war.
He also met with Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskii to discuss the current combat situation.
Syrskii said on Facebook that ammunition supplies and air defences were discussed.
Russian court rejects lawsuit from Navalny’s mother
A Russian court has rejected a lawsuit from the mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, alleging he had received inadequate medical care in the Arctic penal colony where he died.
Ivan Zhdanov, a former aide to Navalny, said the court in the small town of Labytnangi near the penal colony had rejected the suit on the grounds that Navalny himself must be the plaintiff.
“Alexey filed lawsuits many times for failure to provide medical care in the colonies,” Zhdanov wrote on the Telegram app.
“Now that he has been killed, they deny his family’s claim with mocking language.”
Russian prison authorities said Navalny, 47, had fallen unconscious and died on February 16 after a walk outside the so-called “Polar Wolf” prison.
German Chancellor says EU should decide to use Russian assets
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says EU countries should decide to use windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons and ammunition for Ukraine.
“These should first of all be used to buy the weapons and ammunition that Ukraine needs to defend itself,” Scholz said before an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.
Scholz added he was optimistic about the leaders uniting on the subject.
“I am quite sure that we are sending a very clear signal to Putin here. He has made a miscalculation if he believes that we are not able to support Ukraine for as long as it is necessary. And the use of windfall profits is a small but important component,” he said.
Hungary ‘has not and will not’ deliver weapons to Kyiv, official says
Hungary’s foreign minister says Budapest will not join a Czech-led ammunition initiative to procure and send weapons to Ukraine.
“Hungary has not and will not deliver any weapons to Ukraine. We don’t take part in any common actions which end up in joint weapon deliveries,” Peter Szijjarto said at a news conference in Prague.
Russia expels Spanish journalist
Spain’s El Mundo daily reports that one of its journalists has been expelled from Russia, calling it an attack on press freedom.
On Wednesday, Xavier Colas, who had been working in Moscow for 12 years, was given 24 hours to leave Russia because he had not obtained a work visa, which Moscow refused to renew, the report said.
El Mundo wrote that an official notified Colas of this decision and threatened him with unspecified “problems” if he did not leave before his work visa expired.
In recent months, police officers visited the Spanish journalist at his home and asked him to “stop covering demonstrations by the wives of Russian soldiers”, which they said are “one of the few visible signs of discontent with the war” in Ukraine.
A ‘renewed sense of urgency’ for Ukraine
It’s been more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and it is still very much a priority for EU leaders.
They are looking to try and step up military support for Kyiv, we expect them to sign off on a new military aid package worth more than $5bn.
They’re also encouraging member states to sign their own bilateral deals with Kyiv; we saw that, for example, recently in France, where member states could help supply Kyiv with the things it needs, like ammunition and air defence systems.
There’s no doubt there is a real renewed sense of urgency among EU leaders when it comes to Ukraine, not only because of the recent re-election of Putin but also over the uncertainty of support for Ukraine from the United States.
There is a sense the EU really needs to be, on what some EU leaders are calling a “war footing”, and that’s why EU leaders will also be talking about things like trying to bolster their own defence capabilities and trying to fuel their own defence and armament industries.
Deadly Russian attack rocks Odesa; Ukraine vows to defeat ‘lunatic’ Putin
Russian forces’ creeping momentum has continued for a fifth week after the fall of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine as the Russian command moved reservists from other parts of the front to press its advantage.
The villages of Tonenke and Nevelske, west of Avdiivka, fell to the Russian advance by Saturday.
In the same area, Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed Orlivka three days later, and Russian forces seemed to be swallowing the village of Berdychi street by street.
“The enemy concentrated its main efforts in the Avdiivka direction and for several days in a row has been trying to break through the defence of our troops, defended by three brigades,” said Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyii.
Read more here.
‘Thunderous explosions’ ring out across Kyiv
This is said to have been the largest such missile strike on the Kyiv region in a month and a half.
Early Thursday morning, the air raid sirens started to sound and just before dawn we got the first of these thunderous explosions ringing out across the capital as missiles were being intercepted, air defences got to work and missiles started falling down, or bits of those missiles as they were intercepted.
The authorities believe around 31 missiles in total were launched by the Russians, two of them are said to have been Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, the rest are also said to have been cruise missiles launched from strategic bombers.
People took shelter in air raid shelters and also in the metro system as they have done in the past.
India’s Modi ‘has open invitation’ to visit Russia
The Kremlin says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is welcome to visit Russia and that a meeting with President Vladimir Putin would take place, though details were still to be worked out.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a report that Putin had invited Modi to visit Russia.
“This has yet to be agreed through diplomatic channels,” Peskov told reporters.
“Of course, the prime minister of India has an open invitation to visit our country.”
Kremlin says Russia will retaliate if EU agrees to use frozen assets
The Kremlin said Russia would take retaliatory measures in its own interests and use every legal mechanism at its disposal if the EU used profits from frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made the comments ahead of a meeting of EU leaders on the proposal.
“Naturally, we will use all possible judicial mechanisms, those that are available now, and all those that become available in the future,” Peskov told reporters.
“And on the basis of reciprocity we will not retaliate in kind, but choose different methods in a way that corresponds to our own interests,” he said.