Russia-Ukraine war news: Ukraine introduces blackouts in three regions
- Russia fires dozens of drones and missiles at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight.
- At least six people are injured, and power is cut in several central and western regions of Ukraine.
- Russia fires dozens of drones and missiles at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight.
- At least six people are injured, and power is cut in several central and western regions of Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s air force says it has shot down 26 of 39 missiles and 58 of 60 drones over 10 regions.
- Ukraine introduces emergency blackouts in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kirovograd.
Here’s what happened today
We’re closing this live blog soon. Here’s some of what happened today:
- Russia fired dozens of drones and missiles at the country’s energy infrastructure, injuring at least six people, according to Ukraine’s officials.
- Ukraine introduced emergency blackouts in three regions of the country, urging consumers in other regions to limit electricity.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held “sincere and comprehensive talks” with his Indian counterpart during a visit to New Delhi.
- A man was killed and two others injured after a drone crashed into an apartment building in Belgorod, according to the governor of the region.
- US President Joe Biden said Washington would “impose costs” for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use US citizens as “bargaining chips” on the anniversary of the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
- Russia evacuated more than 3,500 children from Belgorod, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region.
- Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said the Ukrainian military would need to mobilise fewer people than initially expected to fend off Russian troops.
Ukraine says Russian troops committed 280 cases of sexual violence
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office says the country’s law enforcement agencies have uncovered 280 cases of sexual violence committed by Russian troops in the war-torn country, including 101 cases concerning violence against men.
“Such figures were made public in the investigative documentary film ‘Investigation.Info’, which tells about the Russian torture centres in Kherson,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Telegram.
“The topic of sexual violence is taboo in society, so I am sincerely grateful to the men who told this story. The committed crimes should be known not only in Ukraine but also in the world,” the statement said, citing the words of the film’s director, Anna Babinets.
The evidence proves that the violence was “systemic”, said Iryna Didenko, deputy head of the department of international legal cooperation of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Photos: Aftermath of Russian missile strike in Kamianske
Russia’s ‘imperialist project depends on Ukraine’: Kuleba
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Russia’s goal is not just to conquer Ukraine but to restore the glory of the Soviet Union, according his interview with the Times of India.
Kuleba did not rule out that Russia could expand its attacks and target NATO members, stressing that “the future of the Russian imperialist project depends on Ukraine.”
“Everyone must understand, that Russia’s strategic goal is not just to conquer Ukraine, but to restore the glory of the Soviet Union on the international arena. Putin even said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century,” Kuleba said.
He added that Moscow does not agree with the independence of the countries of Central Asia because it still considers them as former provinces.
Russia does not ‘intend’ to attend peace summit: Report
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says Russia does not intend to participate in the peace conference, according to the TASS state news agency.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that negotiations with Russia on resolving the war could occur between the first and second summits on Zelenskyy’s “peace formula”.
But Zakharova said, “Russia does not intend to participate in such a conference. Zelenskyy’s formula is nothing but alchemy.”
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Zelenskyy’s peace plan was pointless because it is based on Moscow’s withdrawal from its captured areas and does not include Russia in its summit.
Falling missile debris injures three people in Odesa: Regional leader
Three people have been injured, including two minors, due to falling fragments of Russian missiles that were shot down over the Odesa region, according to the head of the region.
“According to the updated information, as a result of the missile attack on Odesa, three people were injured, they were hospitalised in medical facilities,” Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram.
“Two of them are children aged 15 and 10. People were injured due to falling debris. All injuries are minor, fortunately, there is no threat to life.”
This morning, Russia fired two Kh-59 surface-to-air missiles at Odesa from the Black Sea, which were both shot down.
More on Ukraine’s Dniester hydroelectric station
Ruslan Zaparanyuk, the head of the Chernivtsi regional military administration of Ukraine, has said in a Facebook statement that Ukrainian air defence forces had shot down several missiles near the Dniester hydroelectric power station.
“Fragments of two missiles have already been found,” he said, adding that the blast wave damaged an administrative building.
A water pump was also damaged in the village of Ozhevo, Dniester region, where debris fell.
No one was hurt and the water supply has not been disrupted, according to Zaparanyuk.
Biden slams ‘unjust and illegal’ detention of WSJ reporter in Russia
US President Joe Biden says Washington will “impose costs” for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use US citizens as “bargaining chips”. The statement released by the White House marked the anniversary of the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
“As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release,” Biden said, adding that his detention was “wholly unjust and illegal”.
Top officials in the US Congress from both parties, including Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, also issued a joint statement, calling the journalist’s arrest “baseless” and “unjust”.
Last year, Gershkovich, 32, became the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Ukraine intercepted majority of Russian missiles and drones
The Ukrainian Air Force says that there were 99 missiles and drones involved in last night’s attack, targeting areas right across the country.
Once again, the targets seem to be energy infrastructure. One of the largest providers in the country said at least three of their plants suffered hits.
According to the Ukrainians, the majority of these projectiles were actually intercepted, with the Air Force saying that 84 of them were taken down, but there was structural damage to a number of civilian properties.
The question being asked is: Why now? Why suddenly this huge escalation? An escalation that we haven’t really seen since the winter 2022 and 2023 when we saw energy infrastructure targeted across the country.
Ukrenergo introduces emergency blackouts in three regions
Ukraine is introducing emergency blackouts in three regions of the country, urging consumers in other regions to limit electricity use after Russia’s barrage of attacks on several power plants.
“Ukrenergo’s dispatch centre is forced to apply emergency blackout schedules until the evening in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kirovograd,” the provider, Ukrenergo, said in a statement.
It blamed “the massive Russian attack on Ukrainian power plants overnight” for the measure.
“Consumers in other regions are also asked to consume electricity sparingly and consciously,” it added.
Energy supply restrictions in Kharkiv Oblast and Kryvyi Rih also continue to apply.
Zelenskyy says two hydropower plants attacked by Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kaniv and Dnister hydropower plants were hit overnight by Russian attacks.
“Russian terrorists once again attacked the Ukrainian energy sector,” Zelenksyy wrote on Telegram.
“That night, the Kaniv and Dniester HPPs became the conscious targets of the enemy. The terrorist country wants a repeat of the ecological disaster in the Kherson region.”
He reiterated the need for air defences to repel Russian attacks.
Russian prosecutors seek ‘foreign agent’ label for Queen of Soviet pop Alla Pugacheva
Russian prosecutors have asked the justice ministry to label the queen of Soviet pop music, Alla Pugacheva, as a “foreign agent”, according to the Russian state news agency, RIA.
Pugacheva, 74, a Soviet and post-Soviet icon, criticised Russia’s war on Ukraine.
After the war began, Moscow passed a strict “anti-defamation” law penalising those who spoke out against its military operations in Ukraine.
Pugacheva is one of Russia’s most famous people, known across generations for hits such as the 1982 song, Million Scarlet Roses, and the 1978 film, The Woman who Sings.
Russia calls up 130,000 conscripts in latest draft
Vladimir Tsimlyansky, the deputy head of the Russian General Staff’s main organisational and mobilisation department, says Moscow called up 130,000 conscripts in its army draft late last year, according to the TASS state news agency.
“As before, the conscription campaign paid special attention to staffing scientific and scientific-production units. In interaction with central military command authorities, about 500 personnel were selected and sent for staffing these units,” he said.
Tsimlyansky added that the draft was organised especially in the Republics of Buryatia and North Ossetia-Alania, the Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol, Volgograd, Voronezh, Moscow, Rostov, Sakhalin, Samara, and Chelyabinsk Regions, and the city of Moscow.
“All the citizens sent for military service were provided with the established type of allowances at gathering places. About 200 civil aviation flights, 14 flights by army aircraft and 10 military trains were engaged to send conscripts to military units,” he added.
Putin ‘definitely doesn’t want to negotiate’: Germany’s top diplomat
Civilian killed after drone crashes into Belgorod apartment: Governor
A man has been killed and two others injured after a drone crashed into an apartment building in Belgorod, according to the governor of the region.
“The wife of the deceased man received a closed head injury, lacerations to the face and a superficial burn to the thigh. An ambulance transported the woman to the regional clinical hospital,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
“Another resident independently went to city hospital No. 2 – the man had a shrapnel wound in the lumbar region. Both victims are receiving all the necessary medical care.”
He shared the following photos from the site of the incident:
Russian drone attack kills civilian in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region
A 39-year-old man has been killed after a Russian kamikaze drone hit a civilian car in the Myriv settlement of the Nikopol district in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, according to a local military official.
Serhii Lysak, the head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, also said that another civilian, a 43-year-old man, was also injured in the attack.
Ukraine’s Odesa cries out for promised US air defences
After leaving Odesa largely untouched by the barrages of drones and missiles it has launched against Ukraine this winter, Russia has struck the port city during March as never before in this war.
Odesa is exposed to a wide expanse of open sea, on the other side of which lies the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, from which many of the missiles and drones are launched.
“Drones offer a few minutes’ warning to get to a shelter, but after sirens sound, missiles strike within a minute,” Spyros Boubouras, a member of Odesa’s large Greek community, told Al Jazeera.
“Whenever Ukraine had a successful strike in Crimea, the following week in Odesa was sheer hell.”
Read our full story about Odesa’s front line here.
Ukraine’s top diplomat holds ‘sincere’ talks with Indian counterpart in New Delhi
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he has held “sincere and comprehensive talks” with his Indian counterpart during a visit to New Delhi to discuss their relations, the situation in their regions and global security.
“We paid specific attention to the Peace Formula and next steps on the path of its implementation,” Kuleba wrote on X, speaking of Ukraine’s plan to end the war, which includes a complete withdrawal of Russian forces and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“We also co-chaired the Ukrainian-Indian intergovernmental commission review meeting and agreed to restore the level of cooperation between our countries that existed prior to the full-scale war launched by Russia, as well as identify new promising projects to take our relations to the next level.”
In New Delhi, I had sincere and comprehensive talks with @DrSJaishankar about Ukrainian-Indian bilateral relations, the situation in our regions, and global security.
We paid specific attention to the Peace Formula and next steps on the path of its implementation.
We also… pic.twitter.com/2aLQQBuqAJ
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 29, 2024
Russia captures 25 Ukrainian soldiers during retreat from Avdiivka: Ukraine’s top general
Russia evacuates over 3,500 children from Belgorod: Governor
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, says the evacuations follow a spate of Ukrainian shelling attacks.
“Today, more than 3,500 of our children have arrived and settled in other regions … I am sure that our children will see a lot of new things, meet a lot of friends and these relationships will remain with them for life,” he wrote on Telegram.
On Thursday, the director of Russia’s department of civil defence and population protection at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Oleg Manuylo, said at least 3,000 children were evacuated from the border area amid the shelling.
The authorities of the Belgorod region plan to evacuate more than 9,000 children.
Russia, Ukraine swap dozens of dead soldiers
Russia and Ukraine have swapped the bodies of military servicemen, according to the Russian news agency Kommersant.
According to State Duma member Shamsail Saraliev, the Russian side received 29 bodies while Ukraine received 121 bodies.
“We were given 29 bodies of our dead soldiers,” Saraliev, who is a representative of the parliamentary coordination group on military operations, told Russia’s RBC.
Ukraine reported 107 of the bodies were transferred from Donetsk, 12 bodies from Luhansk and two bodies from the Zaporizhia region.
The last exchange took place on March 15.
Russia’s Defence Ministry hails success of overnight attack on Ukraine
Russia’s Defence Ministry says the Russian army carried out a group strike on Ukrainian energy and air defence facilities with Kinzhal missiles and drones.
France ‘seriously’ considers using spent uranium to bypass Russia
France says it is “seriously” studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is located in Russia.
“The option of carrying out an industrial project to convert reprocessed uranium in France is being seriously examined,” the French Industry and Energy Ministry told the AFP news agency.
“The associated conditions are still being studied,” said the ministry.
The announcement came after French daily Le Monde said that state-owned power utility EDF had no immediate plans to halt uranium trade with Russia as the war entered its third year.
Ukraine receives $1.5bn tranche of World Bank funding
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says Kyiv has received a $1.5bn tranche of funding under a World Bank programme.
He said on X that $984m came from Japan and $516m from the United Kingdom.
“The funds will cover budget spending for social and humanitarian needs and reconstruction. We are grateful to the governments of [Prime Minister Fumio Kishida], [Prime Minister Rishi Sunak], World Bank Group President Ajay Banga and Anna Bjerde for their continued support,” Shmyhal added.
Ukraine has received 1.5 billion dollars from @WorldBank as part of the Development Policy Loan (DPL). 984 million dollars come from Japan and 516 million dollars from the UK. The funds will cover budget spending for social and humanitarian needs and reconstruction. We are…
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) March 29, 2024