March 31, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov decried US sanctions targeting the Russian technology sector as “illegal” on Thursday, after the US Treasury Department announced the move as part of a crackdown on sanctions evasion by Russia.

In response to a question on Facebook, Antonov wrote the Biden administration was showing its “uncompromising attitude” as it expanded its “illegal sanction lists.”

Some context: The US Treasury Department said on Thursday it was sanctioning “21 entities and 13 individuals as part of its crackdown on the Kremlin’s sanctions evasion networks and technology companies, which are instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.”

The agency has also determined “that sanctions apply to the aerospace, marine, and electronics sectors of the Russian Federation,” meaning that the US can “impose sanctions on any individual or entity determined to operate or have operated in any of those sectors.”

The US and its allies have imposed a raft of sanctions on Russian officials and entities since Moscow launched its attack on Ukraine.

Evacuees from the Mariupol region arrive at reception center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on March 31.

Russian forces said they?will reopen?the evacuation corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday. According to Ukrainian authorities, the convoys ran into several issues on Thursday, including Russian troops confiscating aid and blocking buses.

Here’s what we know:

Aid confiscated, buses stopped:

Evacuations:

Russia is redeploying some of its forces from the country of Georgia to reinforce its invasion of Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Thursday.?

Why Georgia? Russian troops have been stationed in Georgia following Russia’s 2008?invasion of the former Soviet republic on its southwestern border.?

Some context: The British intelligence update comes just days after Moscow said it would scale back its military assault on Kyiv and Chernihiv. In an address Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky said?Russian troops are concentrating in the eastern Donbas region for new attacks and the Ukrainians are “ready for this.”

Focus on Donbas: In a briefing Thursday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said a “small number” of Russian troops are?“beginning to reposition”?but it is not exactly clear where they are going. The Russians want to “reprioritize” their operations in the Donbas area, Kirby added.

He said the US does not “see any indication that they are going to be sent home,” adding the best assessment the US has is the troops will probably be repositioned into Belarus to be “refit, resupplied and used elsewhere in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he removed two top Ukrainian generals, calling them “antiheroes” in his nightly address posted to social media on Thursday night.

The generals — former chief of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine, Naumov Andriy Olehovych, and the former head of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region, Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych — have been stripped of their rank.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a video posted on Facebook on Thursday March 31.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the situation in southern Ukraine and Donbas “remains extremely difficult” as Russia continues to prioritize military operations in the separatist controlled region.

Speaking in a video posted on social media on Thursday, Zelensky said Russian forces are “trying to?figure out how to consolidate their presence there.”

In the Donbas region, the besieged southern city of Mariupol and in the direction of northeastern city of Kharkiv, “Russian troops are accumulating the potential for strikes,” Zelensky warned.

This echoes the remarks of a senior US defense official on Thursday who said that the Donbas is one of the four areas where Russia is focusing current airstrikes.

On Thursday evening, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said it is “clear the Russians want to reprioritize their operations in the?Donbas?area.”

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,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.

Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s commitment to “do everything we can to stop the invaders.”

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola will be the first leader of an EU institution to travel to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.

No details of the trip or the president’s agenda in Ukraine have been shared prior to the visit “due to security concerns,” a European Parliament official told CNN.?

In a speech on Monday, Metsola called it?“important for the European Parliament to support Ukraine’s aspiration to be a candidate country for accession.”?

On Thursday,?Metsola?posted a photo of herself saying: “On my way to Kyiv.”?

Khrystyna Pavluchenko tends to her newborn daughter, Adelina.

Khrystyna Pavluchenko strokes the tiny hand of her newborn, Adelina. She had anticipated the profound joy of becoming a mother for the first time — but not the guilt.

“(That’s) because I left,” Pavluchenko says, choking on tears, as her hours-old child sleeps in the crib next to her hospital bed in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

“I didn’t want to leave. I had to.”

On Feb. 24, when the Russian invasion began, Pavluchenko, then eight months pregnant, was jostled awake at 6 a.m. Air raid sirens blared through her hometown of Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in western Ukraine. The first Russian missiles were on the way.

Pavluchenko recounts the manic push to escape over the next 72 hours. Her husband, medically ineligible to serve in the Ukrainian military, was already in Poland.

She was desperate to stay behind with her parents, grandparents and extended family.

But they all insisted, “Go to Poland.”

So, reluctantly, she began to plan her dangerous escape from Ukraine.

“Missiles are flying. Where they might hit next, no one knows,” she recalls.

Adelina Pavluchenko was born in Warsaw, Poland after her mother fled the war in Ukraine.

Pavluchenko raced to pack with that in mind. Anything she could imagine she needed for her unborn child had to fit in a bag that she could wheel across the border on foot, once her bus reached the border.

That was the same fear Polish customs officers had when they saw her. They quickly called an ambulance.

She was whisked to a nearby hospital and eventually to Inflancka Specialist Hospital in Warsaw, where psychiatrist Magda Dutsch is treating Ukrainian women.

At least 197 Ukrainian children have been born in Polish hospitals since the war began, according to Poland’s Ministry of Health. When she fled, Pavluchenko had no idea that so many other Ukrainian women were in a similar situation.

To her, she felt utterly alone.

Tatiana Mikhailuk survived an attack in her hometown of Buchad before being diagnosed with cervical cancer in Poland.

“A second war”: In another section of the hospital sits Tatiana Mikhailuk, 58, is who is also one of Dutsch’s patients.

From her hospital bed, Mikhailuk tells the harrowing story of her escape from a town outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. As a missile flew overhead, Mikhailuk fled her home with her granddaughter in her arms.

Explosions had already blown out all the windows of her apartment building. As she and her husband drove with their grandchildren out of Buchad, an hour north of Kyiv, something exploded on the left side of the road.

“We were crying and praying the whole time,” says Mikhailuk.

They made it out just in time.

Two days later, Russian missiles would destroy the bridges into their suburb.

Mikhailuk had survived the attack at home. But once she crossed the Polish border, she began hemorrhaging blood.

Doctors at Inflancka Specialist Hospital diagnosed her with cervical cancer and performed emergency surgery.

She adds, “I’m grateful to Dr. Khrystyna,” another Ukrainian refugee, who is sitting in the corner of the room while we speak with her.

Khrystyna isn’t sure how to describe what title we should use to refer to her.

At home in Lviv, Ukraine, she is a licensed gynecologist. But in Poland, her official title is “secretary.”

“I’m helping,” Khrystyna, who asked CNN to not reveal her last name. explains.

On Feb. 24, Khrystyna’s husband sent her a text message saying, “Pack your stuff and leave. The war began.”

Like so many other Ukrainian women at the hospital, she ran, taking her young son with her.

Read more here.

Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushin leads one of the special force units looking for Russian infiltrators still present in the town.

A child’s doll lies curb side, covered in dirt and debris, in the war-torn?Kyiv?suburb of Irpin.

There’s not a sign of the child who owned it, or of any of the residents of the building next to it, which was shattered to pieces after taking a direct hit from?Russian?artillery.

This is what Irpin — or what’s left of it — looks like, just a couple of days after Ukrainian forces took it back from Russian control.

The area is still extremely dangerous and remains off limits to civilians. As fighting continues in the nearby areas of Bucha and Hostomel, Irpin is still well within range for Russian artillery.

CNN was granted rare access to the city by Ukrainian forces on Thursday.

We snake our way to Irpin through dirt roads in the middle of the forest that separates the suburb from Kyiv at breakneck speed.

“It’s safer this way,” Andriy, the 29-year-old Ukrainian soldier driving us explains. “It’s the best way of avoiding Russian artillery.”

Across the Irpin river, the destruction caused by a month of confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian forces is everywhere. There are few unbroken windows, fallen trees in nearly every corner and no shortage of broken down or destroyed military equipment. Most of it is Russian.

Ivan Boyko, 66, says he's had to move to a bomb shelter because its not safe to remain at home.

The majority of the town’s residents have fled, but Ivan Boyko decided to stay. He sent most of his family away, to safety, opting to endure the inferno of the Russian offensive.

“I am 66 years old, I’m not afraid anymore,” he says.

Despite staying in Irpin, Boyko has been forced to move out of his house and into a bomb shelter because of all the intense shelling.

“It’s impossible to go home,” he explains. “Every night and day they shoot. It’s scary to go out.”

Read the full report here.

Evacuees from the Mariupol region arrive at reception center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on March 31.

Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, said Thursday that 1,458 people reached Zaporizhzhia in their own cars today, with 631 of them coming from Mariupol and 827 coming from the towns of Berdiansk, Enerhodar, Melitopol, Polohy, Huliapole and Vasylivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Forty-five buses were going to Berdiansk on Thursday en route to Mariupol and that Russian forces did not let them into?Berdiansk, she said.

“600 people came out from?(Berdiansk)?to the buses and tomorrow morning should leave for Zaporizhzhia.?Over 30 buses are staying at the entrance to Berdiansk city?(in advance of going on to)?Mariupol and?(then back to)?Berdiansk?(to finally deliver)?residents to Zaporizhzhia,” Vereshchuk added.

Twelve buses full of humanitarian aid went to Melitopol on Thursday, but the?14?tons of food and medications they were carrying were confiscated by Russian forces, according to Vereshchuk.

Russia will reopen the evacuation corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday, April 1, at the request of French and German leaders, the Russian ministry of defense on Thursday said.

Paolo Gentiloni,?the EU commissioner?for?economy,?says the European Union “will not be blackmailed by Moscow” after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut off natural gas supplies to “unfriendly countries” unless they pay in rubles.?

Gentiloni told CNN’s Richard Quest that existing contracts do not include an obligation to pay in rubles and that they must be respected.?

U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat, 82nd Airborne Division prepare to train with their Polish Allies in Nowa Deba, Poland on March 3.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has decided that US military members deployed to Poland who are part of the 82nd?Airborne will stay in position there for “a while longer,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday.

The Harry S. Truman carrier strike group in the Mediterranean will also stay in place, Kirby added.

CNN previously reported these deployments would be extended, according to two US defense officials.

Both groups were deployed to Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. About 7,000 troops and their support elements from the 82nd?Airborne are stationed in Poland as a part of this deployment, according to the Pentagon. The carrier’s aircraft have been flying in support of US and NATO efforts to bolster the eastern flank of NATO in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kirby stressed both the 82nd?Airborne and the Truman carrier strike group have not been deployed “for that long,” only for about “eight to six weeks,” he said.?

Kirby said the “security environment in Europe is going to be different,” no matter when the war in Ukraine ends, and the Department of Defense doesn’t know what that looks like yet.

There are “no plans” for US President Joe Biden to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Thursday, adding that any conversation would require “serious de-escalation” from the Russians in Ukraine and setting a high bar for reengagement between the two leaders.

Biden last spoke to Putin over the phone on Feb. 12, less than two weeks before Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.??

The US Commerce Department will be adding 120 Russian and Belarusian entities to its “Entity List,” a US trade restriction list, in the “coming days,” according to White House?communications?director Kate Bedingfield.?

Bedingfield noted that being added to the list means these companies or entities “can no longer get US cutting edge technology without a license, which will in most, if not all, of these cases be denied.”

She added: “The power of these restrictions will compound over time as Russia draws down any remaining stockpiles. For example, spare parts for certain planes and tanks. We will continue to impose unprecedented costs strengthen Ukraine’s hand and make Putin’s word choice, a strategic failure.”

Earlier on Thursday, the United States targeted members of the Russian technology sector in a crackdown on sanctions evasion.?

Empty baby strollers are seen during The price of War demonstration in Rynok Square in Lviv, Ukraine on March 18, to draw attention to the deaths of Ukrainian children.

At least 148 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion five weeks ago, the country’s defense ministry said in a?tweet?on Thursday.

It said that some 1,370 Russian missiles have been fired at Ukraine since the start of the war, adding that Russia has so far “destroyed” 15 Ukrainian airports.?

More than 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes due to the war, the ministry’s tweet also stated.

A child sits in a car after arriving in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine with a a shrapnel-damaged car after fleeing from Mariupol on March 30.

The Russian military will reopen the evacuation corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday, April 1 at the request of French and German leaders, according to a statement from the Russia’s ministry of defense on Thursday.

The ministry said that “at the personal requests of the President of France E. Macron and the Federal Chancellor of Germany O. Scholz to the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin from 10:00 (Moscow time) on April 1, 2022” the Russian armed forces will reopen the corridor with an intermediate point in Berdiansk.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo speaks prior to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky statement during a plenary session of the Chamber at the Federal Parliament in Brussels on Thursday March 31.

If you are catching up on the latest developments in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, here’s what you should know:

From Mariupol: Denis Pushilin, the head?of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic,?has ordered the formation of a city administration for the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to a decree published on the DPR head’s website on Thursday, Russian state news agency TASS reported Thursday.

The city is within the boundaries of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The city was under Ukrainian government control before the war, but the Russian government — which recognized the independence of the DPR in late February — considers the entire region to belong to the separatist republic.

Meanwhile, the?evacuation corridor?in Mariupol agreed by Ukrainian and Russian officials, announced on Thursday, is “insufficient” to allow the rescue of civilians “in the right conditions,” France said.

Rubles for Russian gas: According to a newly signed decree, gas buyers from “unfriendly countries” will need to open and pay from ruble accounts in Russian banks, President Vladimir Putin announced. France, Germany and the UK made statements to say they will not pay for Russian gas in rubles.

Russia withdraws from Chernobyl: The site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 and its surrounding territory fell into the hands of Russian troops in the first week of the war in Ukraine. But in a Telegram post made on Thursday, Energoatom, the state enterprise overseeing Ukraine’s nuclear power plants,?said that Russian troops announced their intention to leave and hand over control to Ukrainian personnel. The US is also seeing Russian forces “drawing down” from Chernobyl and from the north and northwest of Kyiv, a senior US defense official told reporters Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the Belgian government to help with “weapons, sanctions, membership of the European Union,” adding, “maybe soon the future will pay you back.” By the end of Thursday, Zelensky will have addressed 17 global parliaments in a bid to drum up support during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NATO secretary-general says Russian troops “are not withdrawing but repositioning”:?Speaking at a news conference in Brussels for the secretary general’s 2021 Annual Report, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that according to intelligence, “Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region. At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities … we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering,” Stoltenberg said.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that “half a dozen” shipments of security assistance for Ukraine has already “flowed into the region” from the $800 million package US President Joe Biden signed on March 16, during a briefing on Thursday.

“I can tell you that things aren’t sitting long at these intermediate staging shipment sites before they’re getting picked up by convoys and getting taken into Ukraine, so four days is pretty quick,” he added.

Kirby estimated it will likely take “a couple of weeks” to complete shipments from the $800 million package.

“We don’t think it’s going to take very long to complete the $800 dollar package, getting it all filled out, we really don’t think that’s going to take long at all, couple of weeks probably,” he said.

The shipments are not all solely weapons. They are a mixture of “weapons systems” and then “support and sustainment items” which includes “food, body armor, helmets small arms and ammunition, medical and first aid kits,” Kirby said.

Some weapons systems, like Javelins and Stingers, have been in these first few packages to Ukraine, Kirby added.

“In these first half a dozen or so, there have been weapons systems, there have been Javelins, there have been Stingers, that have gone in as well as medical supplies and body armor and small arms and ammunition,” he said.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace speaks with reporters during a press conference at the Ministry of Defense in London on March 21.

Britain and its allies will send more lethal aid to Kyiv, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced on Thursday?following an international donor conference for Ukraine.??

The defense secretary then name-checked the United States as “being at the forefront” of the aid effort.??

What Ukraine needs is “more long-range artillery,” Wallace said, as the Russian army digs in and starts?“to pound the city’s artilleries.”?

The war-torn country is “predominantly” looking for equipment to defend its coastline due to “Russian activity down there,” Wallace said, alongside protective vehicles and anti-air missiles.??

The reputation of the “great army of Russia” has been trashed by recent losses, the defense secretary said.??

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has now got to live with the consequences not only of what he’s doing to Ukraine, but he’s also got to live with the consequences of what he’s done to his own army,” Wallace continued.??

Wallace said Russia’s decision to regroup, reinforce and move towards the east of country are familiar tactics from the country’s playbook.??

“So, what we’ve certainly seen is their first efforts have been rebutted in many areas, but in other parts, they will now seek to move towards the east and the south and see what more they can do. And that’s why it’s really important to keep up inventory,” he added.??

The US State Department has “seen reports of US citizens being singled out and detained by the Russian military in Ukraine, and when evacuating through … Russian occupied territory or to Russia or Belarus,” spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing Thursday.

“In terms of Russia, we’ve spoken of a few of these cases, we’re just not going to put a number on it,” he added.

Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed, and Brittney Griner are US citizens known to be detained in Russia. Price reiterated Thursday that consular access had been granted for Griner, and said that “there has been limited additional progress in terms of other detained Americans.”

Earlier this week, the State Department reissued its travel advisories for Russia and Ukraine to warn Americans that they may be singled out for detention by Russian officials.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby speaks during a news briefing on Thursday March 31.

A “small number” of Russian troops are “beginning to reposition,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during a news briefing on Thursday.

“The best assessment that” the US has is that the troops “are going to reposition probably into Belarus to be refit, resupplied and used elsewhere in Ukraine,” he said.

The US has seen some Russian troops departing from the Chernobyl plant facility in Ukraine, Kirby added. Those troops are “leaving to the north to go back again towards Belarus,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, Energoatom, the state enterprise overseeing Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, said Russian?forces have withdrawn from?Chernobyl.

“It was confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the Exclusion Zone, marched in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus,” said Energoatom in a statement published on Telegram.

In late February, during the first week of the war, the plant and its surrounding territory fell into the hands of Russian troops.

Russian troops announced on Thursday their intention to leave and hand over control to Ukrainian personnel, said Energoatom.

CNN’s Nathan Hodge contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored transporter through a Russian position recently overran by Ukrainian forces near Kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday, March 31.

It’s been more than a month since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and?the impact of the conflict is being felt nationwide.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour traveled to the outskirts of Kyiv, seeing the humanitarian crisis firsthand.?Villagers line up, awaiting simple handouts, like bread. One woman tells Amanpour she barely survived the initial onslaught.?

Four days into the war, Ukrainian defenders stopped a Russian advance. As Amanpour traveled along a riverbank “littered with?their skeletons,” she ultimately found a veteran fighter, a 40-year-old man who proudly detailed how he and others fought off incoming tanks.

“We all here have one role, to?keep the enemy off our land,” he?said. “[The Russian soldiers] didn’t see us, they didn’t?know we were here, so they just?started to work on houses, so I?took the tank in my sights and I?fired a rocket. And goodbye to?him.”

Another Ukrainian soldier spoke confidently of his fellow fighters, saying they “are trained better” than the Russians.

“We have stronger morale and?spirit because we’re at home.?They are afraid, but they go?because they’re made to,” he added.

Having fought in the first Russian invasion — in 2014 — the soldier boasted of experience and Ukrainian pride.

“I’m almost sure?the Russians are regrouping and?not retreating,” he told Amanpour. “Besides, we are preparing?ourselves to go forward.?We’re not preparing just to?defend here.”

An old woman in the village told Amanpour that the current conflict with Russia is sadly not unique.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour?met with some of the Ukrainian resistence. Here’s what they told her:

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03:10 - Source: cnn

Chief of French military intelligence, Gen. Eric Vidaud is seen speaking during a special operations seminar in southwestern France on July 1, 2021.

The chief of French military intelligence, Gen. Eric Vidaud, was told to step down from his post partly for “failing to anticipate” the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a military source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

The source added that Ukraine was not the “only reason” for his departure but that “an internal reorganization of the Directorate of Military Intelligence” was also behind the decision.?

Asked what went wrong with Vidaud’s assessment in Ukraine, the source referred to comments made by the Chief of Staff Gen. Thierry Burkhard to the French newspaper Le Monde on March 6 where he recognized shortcomings in the French intelligence assessment of the situation on the ground.?

“The Americans said the Russians were going to invade and they were right,” said Burkhard to the French newspaper, while “our services rather thought that the invasion of Ukraine would have a huge cost and that the Russians had other options.”

According to the AFP news agency, Alexandre Papaemmanuel, an intelligence expert and professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, said France was aware that its own intelligence had failed on this occasion. But Papaemmanuel said that Vidaud’s Directorate of Military Intelligence isn’t the only branch of the security services to take the blame.?

Le Monde reported that other entities, such as the powerful foreign intelligence service the General Directorate for External Security, had sidelined the DRM. And a military source told AFP that the DRM’s main role was to provide intelligence on operations, not on intentions.

Its services had concluded that Russia “had the means to invade Ukraine and what happened showed that it was right,” the source said.

President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on Thursday.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said there’s some indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is?self-isolating and punishing some of his advisers, but added that the US doesn’t have much hard evidence to say that with certainty.?

When CNN’s MJ Lee asked the President how badly the Russian president is being misinformed by his advisers, Biden responded:

“But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time, because we don’t have that much hard evidence,” he added.?

US government officials have expressed confidence this week in the intelligence?assessment indicating Putin was being led astray by military advisers on the success of the Russian military’s performance during the war, which has gone on for more than a month.

Biden also noted that he is “skeptical” that Putin will withdraw all of his forces from around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.??

“Thus far there is no clear evidence that he’s pulling all of his forces out of Kyiv,” Biden said. “There’s also evidence that he is beefing up his troops down in the Donbas area. Depending on your view of Putin, I’m a little skeptical.”?

He added,?“I don’t know the answer, but it appears so far that he has not pulled all of – the idea he’s pulling of his troops out from around Kyiv and moving south, there’s no evidence that he’s done that,”?Biden?told reporters following remarks on the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.?

Biden, however, added that there is evidence Putin is “beefing up” his forces in the Donbas area of Ukraine.

What Moscow is saying: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday before Biden spoke that Moscow finds it worrisome that the US allegedly lacks understanding of Moscow’s decision-making process, Russian state news agency TASS reported.??

Dismissing comments from the US on Wednesday that Putin is being?misinformed by his advisers,?the?Kremlin said it regrets that its style of work remains unclear to Washington, and such “misunderstanding” results in “careless decisions that have very bad consequences,” Peskov said, according to TASS.??

CNN’s Zahra Ullah?contributed reporting to this post.

A bus convoy for the evacuation of civilians was moving toward Mariupol, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration said Thursday.

However, it was unclear when the vehicles would reach the besieged city, the official revealed.

Kyrylenko noted that shelling had intensified elsewhere in the region, particularly along the frontline.

“We are conducting some fortification of positions in the south and north directions in order to not just withstand the enemy,, but to defeat them. But now I see not just regrouping of the enemy — this is my subjective opinion — but it seems to me, based on the information that I receive, that there might be more professional servicemen coming in for the enemy to succeed at least in some directions. From what we see, looks like they are re-formatting their groups and relocating their troops in the Donetsk region suburbs.”

The Russian military has said it will be refocusing its military efforts in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

US Navy intelligence specialist Lt Cdr Nichoas Lowe sits in his Boeing EA-18G Growler aircraft on the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman as it cruises the Mediterranean Sea on March 17.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved a plan to extend the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean through the summer as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, according to two US defense officials.?

The carrier’s aircraft have been flying in support of US and NATO efforts to bolster the eastern flank of NATO in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The carrier deployed from the US East Coast in December and is now expected to be in the region possibly through August, one of the officials said. A typical carrier deployment is six months. Three Navy warships that are part of the Truman overall strike group are also being extended.?

The extension comes as the Pentagon is now grappling with how to eventually rotate the units it has sent to Europe due to the invasion. It is expected that the 82nd?Airborne Division troop in Europe could be the next to be extended, because their rapid response capabilities are considered vital.

In February, the US Army extended a brigade combat team of about 4,000 soldiers that had already been on a rotational deployment to Germany for an additional 60 days.?

Raisa Makhnovets, 73, and her mother Yevhenia Khomenko, 94, in their Sacramento family's home.

Even as the bombs began to fall, Yevhenia Khomenko didn’t want to leave her home in?Kyiv, Ukraine. “I would rather die there,” the 94-year-old said. But eventually, it became too much, and her daughter convinced her to leave the home she had known her entire life.

When Khomenko was a child, she lived through the Great Famine of Ukraine — one that killed millions, driven by Josef Stalin. Years later, she fled her home during World War II as her country was targeted by Adolf Hitler. She’s now had to flee once more over an invasion prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian attacks have reminded Khomenko of the bombing, shooting and violence during World War II, she told CNN.

The bombs then, as they are now, were unpredictable, and she recalled running anywhere to escape them. Khomenko returned to Kyiv after World War II to help rebuild the city’s main square, she said. Now, she’s worried the city may never be the same — and that, given her age, she may never return.

Her 73-year-old daughter, Raisa Makhnovets, is also worried about that fate. Through tears, she told CNN how difficult it was to persuade her mother to leave Kyiv, and how their attempts to do so quickly became a “horror movie.”

They had no other family in the city, and first spent two days in a bomb shelter before trying to flee the country by train. The station was overrun with others trying to do the same.

Makhnovets said it took roughly 20 hours to get from Kyiv to Lviv, in the western part of Ukraine, and then out of the country altogether. She and her mother were then able to fly to the United States on a visa they had obtained years ago. They reunited in Sacramento with five generations of their family, as a great great grandmother and a great grandmother.

In Sacramento, Khomenko noted the peace in the California air.

Her feelings now are familiar to those from a lifetime ago, Khomenko said, but in her youth, she didn’t really understand war in the way she does now.

She then told CNN, “I wish you a good life and to not have to endure what we’ve had to. I hope for friendship between us and all peoples.”

Read more here.

President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on Thursday.

US President Joe Biden tied the increase in US gas prices directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, repeatedly calling it “Putin’s price hike.”

In remarks from the White House, Biden said gas in the US is averaging about $4.20 or $4.22 per gallon, up from $3.30 at the beginning of the year.

Earlier today, the White House said that Biden would be announcing an unprecedented release of oil from US reserves and taking steps to punish oil companies for not increasing production from unused leases on federal land.

“Our prices are?rising because of Putin’s?action.?There isn’t enough supply.?And the bottom line is if we?want lower gas prices, we need?to have more oil supply right?now,” he added.

“This is a wartime bridge to?increase oil supply until?production ramps up later this?year, and it is by far the?largest release of our national?reserve in our history,” he said.

Biden said he coordinated the release of oil with allies and partners around the world.

“Already, we have commitments?from other countries to release?tens of millions of additional barrels into the market. Together, our combined efforts will supply well over a million barrels a day,” he said. “Nations coming together to deny?Putin the ability to weaponize?his energy resources against?American families and families?and democracies around the?world.”

Watch US President Joe Biden explain why “Putin’s price hike is hitting Americans at the pump”:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/75f68b53-ee3a-42f2-bd05-4232f5f0cb87.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/75f68b53-ee3a-42f2-bd05-4232f5f0cb87.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2022-03-31T18:52:50.442Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="Biden Putin gas DLE vpx" data-first-publish-slug="Biden Putin gas DLE vpx" data-video-tags="" data-details="">

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03:41 - Source: cnn

The?evacuation corridor?in Mariupol agreed by Ukrainian and Russian officials, announced on Thursday, is “insufficient” to allow the rescue of civilians “in the right conditions,” the Elysee Palace said.

French President Emmanuel Macron had been working with Turkey and Greece to organize the evacuation of the remaining civilians in the Mariupol. An Elysee source told CNN on March 29 that some 170,000 civilians remained trapped in the city.??

Russia announced Thursday that it has blocked the European Union’s “top leadership” from entering the country, in a reciprocal move against the bloc sanctioning Russian citizens and companies.?

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said that “on the basis of reciprocity” it is “expanding significantly the list of representatives of EU Member States and institutions who will be denied entry to the Russian Federation.”??

No individuals were named in either the Russian or English language versions of the statement. CNN has reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for a list of the individuals’ names.??

The foreign ministry said that the so-called Russian “blacklist” also includes “high-level officials including government and parliament members of some EU Member States, public and media figures who are personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inflaming Russophobic sentiments and infringing on the rights and freedoms of Russian-speakers.”??

The EU has sanctioned a host of leading figures in Russian politics, business and industry, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,?CEO of Russian oil firm, Rosneft, Igor Sechin and Chelsea Football Club Roman Abramovich.???

Russia maintained in the statement that the bloc’s “actions are not only driving the relationship with Russia into a deadlock but are similarly jeopardizing the well-being and security of its own citizens, as well as the stability of the global financial and economic system.”?

“Any further unfriendly action by the EU and its member states will inevitably be met with a forceful response,” it added.

Actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have raised more than $30 million in donations for Ukrainians fleeing the war, and they outlined their next steps for helping Ukraine to CNN+’s Chris Wallace on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”

Kunis said sanctions imposed on Russia by Western nations has been successful, but the public needs to keep up pressure on companies working with Russia.

“Sanctions work. … In the meantime, the thing that the people can do on the Internet, in the world, is reach out to these companies and ask them to stop producing and stop working and close their doors in Russia,” Kunis said.

Kutcher said that in addition to publishing an index of companies that are still doing business with Russia, the couple will be organizing 20,000 bulletproof vests to send to Ukraine and work to track children leaving Ukraine without parents or guardians to thwart human trafficking.

“There’s so much more that can be done. This is just the beginning of our work,” he said. “This is going to be a long war, because Putin doesn’t seem to step down and face the reality that he made a huge mistake,” also calling on China to “wake up.”

“We’re not going to stand down,” he said.

Kunis was was born in Ukraine in 1983 and her family moved to the US eight years later.

Watch some of the interview here.

Denis Pushilin, the head?of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic,?has ordered the formation of a city administration for the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to a decree published on the DPR head’s website on Thursday, Russian state news agency TASS reported Thursday.

“A local administration of the Donetsk People’s Republic is to be formed in the city of Mariupol,” the document said according to TASS.?

Mariupol, which endured weeks of Russian bombardment, has been encircled by Russian forces, and Ukrainian authorities are racing to organize the evacuation of over 100,000 people who remain in the city.

Around 90% of the residential buildings in the city are damaged or destroyed, and power supplies and communications have been cut, Ukrainian officials say.

About Mariupol: The city is within the boundaries of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The city was under Ukrainian government control before the war, but the Russian government — which recognized the independence of the DPR in late February — considers the entire region to belong to the separatist republic.

The United Nations Humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine called for all parties to agree to the exact terms of humanitarian pauses.?

Meanwhile, they said food rations from UN programs like the World Food Programme and more will benefit nearly 6,000 people. In addition “blankets, kettles and other basic household items from UNHCR will support 1,500 people, while the sanitation kits help 6,000 people with hygiene and drinking water.”

“The WHO medical supplies and trauma kits will treat 150 patients requiring intensive care for serious injuries while the other medical supplies will support 10,000 people for three months,” Lubrani added.

Wheat is harvested in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine in 2013.

It’s “quite likely” that Ukraine — one the world’s largest exporters of wheat — won’t be able to process its harvests or export any wheat reserves this year following the Russian invasion, an élysée Palace source said Thursday.??

The ongoing fighting and the loss of agricultural manpower “make any harvest and the possibility of sowing [the next crop] extremely difficult,” the French government source said.?

The Ukrainian government banned exports on key agricultural goods — including wheat, corn, grains, salt, and meat — according to a cabinet resolution that passed earlier this month.?

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned on March 11 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could see cereal harvest and export disruptions in Ukraine in addition to price rises resulting from the fighting there and the effect of economic sanctions on Russian exports.?

Ukraine had been on track for a record year of wheat exports prior to the invasion, while Russia’s wheat exports were slowing, according to the US Department of Agriculture.?

A French-led initiative, FARM (Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission), announced on March 24 during the G7 summit that it will aim in the short-term to keep borders open and cereal exports flowing, with a focus on the transparency of prices and stocks and dissuading the stockpiling of cereals, per the source.??

French President Emmanuel Macron will speak tomorrow with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping regarding the country’s cereal stocks, the source said, adding that US authorities remain “very mobilized” to respond to possible food shortages.??

The source raised particular concerns regarding the stresses of a slowdown in cereal exports from Ukraine on the Middle East.??

Britain will not accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand to pay for Russian gas in rubles, a spokesperson for the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.??

The spokesperson said that British Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had made it clear that “this is not something that the UK would be looking into.”??

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that according to a newly signed decree regarding the natural gas trading with “unfriendly countries,” companies will need to open ruble accounts in Russian banks and payments should come from these accounts.?

The UK will examine the impact of this measure on the European market, the spokesperson added.??

French and German economic ministers on Thursday also refused to pay for gas in rubles, saying they are committed to existing agreements with Russia on making the payments for Russian gas supplies only in euros.??

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the Belgian parliament via video conference in Brussels on Thursday.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the Belgian government to help with “weapons, sanctions, membership of the European Union,” adding, “maybe soon the future will pay you back.”

Zelensky went on to praise Belgium’s response to the war, saying the country was “one of the first to provide our defensive support. This is historic support and we are grateful. We will never forget that.”

“But you are in the heart of Europe and you can inspire all other Europeans to do more to help us get the occupiers off our land and restore precious peace. A peace that is worth more than anything,” Zelensky added.

Zelensky continued to say that peace in Ukraine is worth “more than any treaties with Russia. Any Russian vessels in the European ports. Any barrels of Russian oil.”

During the address, Zelensky also spoke of the situation in Mariupol, the city under heavy bombardment from Russian forces.

“More than 90% of all the buildings in the city have been completely destroyed by artillery, rocket attacks, and tanks from the Russian army,” he said. “Thousands are hiding in the basements of multi-story buildings or whatever is left of them.”

“Every day we try to do all we can to make the humanitarian corridors from Mariupol work to save civilians who remain in the city. Women, children, elderly,” Zelensky said.

“Today, this is the worst place in Europe. It is hell. It is a catastrophe there,” he said.

Russian military vehicles are seen at Chernobyl near Pripyat, Ukraine, in this screenshot taken from a video uploaded to social media in late February.

Energoatom, the state enterprise overseeing Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, said Thursday that Russian forces had withdrawn from?Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.?

The Chernobyl?nuclear power plant and its surrounding territory?fell into the hands of Russian troops in the first week of the war in Ukraine. In a statement on Telegram,?Energoatom said: “It?was confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the Exclusion Zone, marched in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus.”

The statement added that Russian troops announced their intention to leave and hand over control to Ukrainian personnel on Thursday. Energoatom posted the copy of a formal letter purportedly signed by a representative of Russia’s National Guard, a representative of Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom and a Chernobyl plant shift manager, with the heading “The act of acceptance and transfer of protection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.”?

The letter states that “the administration of the protected facility makes no claims in relation to the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation.”

The Telegram statement from Energoatom said that a small number of “rashists” — a Ukrainian slur for Russians that combines the words “fascist” and “racist” — remained at the station.

CNN was not immediately able to verify those claims.?

Separately, Energoatom said there were reports that a column of Russian soldiers who had encircled the town of Slavutych, which was built to house workers at Chernobyl, were also forming up to withdraw toward Belarus.

The US is also seeing Russian forces “drawing down” from Chernobyl and from the north and northwest of Kyiv, a senior US defense official told reporters Thursday.

The US believes Russian forces have likely “abandoned Hostomel airport,” also known as Antonov International Airport, outside of Kyiv to the northwest, the official said.

CNN’s Ellie Kaufman contributed reporting to this post.

At the first India-UK Strategic Futures Forum on Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar continued India’s stance of not intervening significantly in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

“The real problems are still to come, certainly for our part of the world. We are seeing the impact of the conflict on energy prices, on commodities. … All of this has consequences on the rest of the world, and we are seeing that,” Jaishankar said.?

India has declined to take a stance on the conflict in Ukraine and has abstained from multiple United Nations votes. It has instead called for a resolution through diplomacy and peace talks.?

Jaishankar acknowledged that the world economy has seen multiple “shocks” in the past 2-3 years, with the Covid-19, the Taliban taking over Afghanistan and now the conflict in Ukraine.?

UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss repeatedly pointed out how countries across the world are stepping up and denouncing Russia’s attack on Ukraine in an attempt to support every country’s right to democracy.?

“We are living in a more insecure world precisely because we have seen Putin’s appalling invasion of Ukraine and violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the shattering of European security,” Truss said.?

India has seen a flurry of foreign leaders arriving in the country over the past two weeks. Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived Thursday evening for a series of meetings.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told CNN on Thursday that he believes Russian troops will “quite soon” aim to capture one-third of the land in Ukraine and that Moscow will use it to strengthen its negotiating hand.?

“I see the Russian troops regrouping, reorganizing. I think that they will try to surround the Ukrainian forces quite soon — in the Donbas region in particular. And then having captured one-third of the land in Ukraine, they will want to negotiate from this … very strong position,” the prime minister told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview.?

In a virtual address to the Australian parliament on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for further sanctions on Russia and warned of great implications to global security if Russia isn’t stopped.?

Speaking to Amanpour, Morawiecki said that Ukraine’s allies needed to continue imposing a “crushing set of sanctions.”?

Moscow is “fearful of long-term sanctions,” he told CNN. “We are advocating for confiscating their assets, and doing everything possible to stop buying Russian oil and gas.”

Despite the fact that Western allies have already imposed harsh sanctions, the prime minister warned that the price of the Russian ruble remained largely stable and that it was proof that “for the time being, Putin and his people were able to change the fiscal policy, monetary policy, financial policy in such a way that they are immune to the sanctions to some extent … at least for the next several months.”

Morawiecki also warned that while the “Ukrainians are fighting with lionhearts,” the West needs to urgently increase its supply of weaponry into the country, making a direct appeal to the United States to “act quickly, please act quickly as they [Ukraine] are fighting for our values, our universal values.”?

“We have to help Ukrainians to defend their country as quickly as possible. Our days is their hours, our weeks [are] their days; they need weapons here and now. … Russia is a big country, a big country of lots of commodities, raw materials, resources … They have a big army. This is why they can again and again regroup and reorganize,” he added.??

A destroyed market in Chernihiv, Ukraine, is seen on Wednesday.

Russian forces continue to focus their strikes on Ukraine in four areas, including the capital city of Kyiv, a senior US defense official told reporters Thursday.

According to the official, the airstrikes Russians are launching are focused on:

The official stressed “Kyiv is still very much under threat from airstrikes,” despite Russia’s comments about pulling back from the area.

German Economy and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck, left, listens as French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire speaks during a news conference in Berlin on Thursday.

German and French economic ministers said Thursday that they were committed to existing agreements with Russia on making the payments for Russian gas supplies only in euros.??

“The contracts are in euros and must be paid in euros and will be paid in euros,” French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said during a joint news conference with his German counterpart Robert Habeck.??

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that according to a newly signed decree regarding natural gas trading with “unfriendly countries,” companies will need to have accounts in Russian banks and pay for contracts in rubles.???

At a separate news conference Thursday, Habeck said that Germany is “prepared” for all scenarios, including a stoppage of Russian gas flows to Europe, while Le Maire said France is “preparing” in case Russia cuts off gas deliveries.??

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also insisted Thursday that Berlin will make payments for Russian gas only in euros.??

“It is a terrible feeling to be dependent on Russian energy at the moment,” the Austrian chancellor said.?

“We must secure energy supplies to make sure that the economy functions, because the gas coming from Russia is not only being used for private households but also by industries where jobs are concerned, and prosperity must be maintained,” Nehammer said.?

Gazprombank has been appointed as an authorized bank that will open special accounts in rubles for gas buyers from “unfriendly countries” and will sell currency for conversion into rubles for gas payment at Moscow Exchange auctions, Russian state news agency TASS reported Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that according to a newly signed decree regarding natural gas trading with “unfriendly countries,” companies will need to open ruble accounts in Russian banks, and payments should come from these accounts.

Putin made the comments during a virtual meeting that he was chairing to discuss measures to support Russian airlines hit by Western sanctions.

According to TASS, the Bank of Russia must determine within 10 days the procedure for opening special currency accounts for foreign gas buyers.

“In a situation when the financial systems of Western countries are weaponized and companies from these countries refuse to perform their contracts with Russian banks, companies and individuals, and when assets in dollars and euros are frozen, there is no point using the currencies of these countries,” Putin said earlier during his speech.

These actions will strengthen Russia’s financial sovereignty, Putin said.

“We shall continue to steadily and systemically move in this direction as part of a long-term plan,” he said.

The US on Thursday targeted members of the Russian?technology?sector in a crackdown on sanctions evasion, the US Treasury said in a news release.

The agency said it is sanctioning “21 entities and 13 individuals as part of its crackdown on the Kremlin’s sanctions evasion networks and?technology?companies, which are instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.”

It has also determined “that sanctions apply to the aerospace, marine, and electronics sectors of the Russian Federation,” meaning that the US can “impose sanctions on any individual or entity determined to operate or have operated in any of those sectors.”

Among the sanctioned were three employees of a Russian government institute that is accused of building hacking tools that were used in a cyberattack that forced an emergency shutdown at a Saudi petrochemical facility in 2017. The hacking incident caused alarm among cybersecurity experts because the malicious code used was specifically designed to target safety systems that protect human life.?

The institute — known as the State Research Center of the Russian Federation (FGUP) Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics —?has billed itself as working closely with the Russian ministry of defense, according to the US Justice department. Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, one of the three institute employees who was sanctioned Thursday, has been indicted for his role in the Saudi hacking incident and for unsuccessfully targeting a US energy firm, the Justice Department announced last week.

Russia’s?military says it has moved on to a new phase of its so-called “special military operation” in?Ukraine, claiming that it is shifting its focus to the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east.

Is this regrouping of forces a feint — allowing battered Russian forces to regroup after suffering serious losses at the hands of Ukrainian defenders — or a simple face-saving measure? Is Russia actually moving troops and equipment to concentrate on Ukraine’s east, where Moscow has recognized two separatist republics?

On paper, that seems to be the case. Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said 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 those two cities. He said 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.”

US officials and military analysts have rightly been skeptical of Russia’s claims of de-escalation, and some observers have suggested Russia’s shifting military objectives are meant to conceal massive setbacks on the battlefield. But there is evidence that Russian military activity is ramping up in the east: Ukrainian officials on Thursday reported heavy shelling of a number of Ukrainian cities, particularly in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of the Donbas and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Here’s why:

VOLNOVAKHA, UKRAINE - MARCH 26: Russian soldiers are seen on a tank in Volnovakha district in the pro-Russian separatists-controlled Donetsk, in Ukraine on March 26, 2022. Volnovaha, one of the 18 regions of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, has been under the control of the Russian Armed Forces and the pro-Russian separatist in Donetsk since March 11. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article Russia says its military is regrouping. A ramped-up assault on eastern Ukraine could be next

Russian forces may be regrouping in Belarus, Ukrainian officials said. Heavy shelling has been reported in eastern Ukraine amid an apparent shift by Russia to redirect military efforts to the?Donbas?region.

Additionally, an intense bombardment of the Kharkiv region has prevented the opening of evacuation corridors there, according to its military governor.?

Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Zelensky’s chief of staff, told CNN he has a “small portion of optimism” following talks with Russia in Istanbul.

If you’re just reading in now, here are more of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine conflict:

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during?a special session of the General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on March 2.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, plans to travel to Moldova and Romania in early April to focus on the efforts to assist Ukrainian refugees and humanitarian needs “created by the Russian Federation’s aggression and war,” according to a release from the US Mission.?

While abroad from April 2-4, Thomas-Greenfield will meet with Ukrainian refugees and hear about their firsthand experiences fleeing war, according to the release.

She will also meet with nongovernmental organization partners and UN agencies working to aid the refugee population, as well government officials engaged in humanitarian response.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on aviation via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, on March 31.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that according to a newly signed decree regarding natural gas trading with “unfriendly countries,” companies will need to have accounts in Russian banks and pay for contracts in rubles.

“Today, I signed a decree which sets the rules for trading in Russian natural gas with the so-called unfriendly states. We suggest that counter-parties in these countries use a very simple and transparent scheme in order to buy Russian gas they need to open ruble accounts in Russian banks, and payments should come from these accounts,” Putin said on Thursday.

The new rules take effect tomorrow, April 1.?

“If these payments are not made, we shall deem this as non-performance on the part of the buyers and that will lead to consequences. Nobody gives us anything for free and we’re not about to be charitable,” Putin said, adding that active contracts will be suspended.

A Ukrainian official said on Thursday that a convoy of buses en route to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol had been held up at a Russian checkpoint in Vasylivka, a city between the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia and the Russian-held city of Berdiansk.

“Our task is to open a humanitarian corridor and help people survive, especially civilians — women, children, the elderly,” according to Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories.

The International Committee of the Red?Cross?said Thursday it was preparing to facilitate the safe passage of civilians from Mariupol on Friday.

Vereshchuk said about 100,000 people requiring immediate evacuation remain in the city, out of a pre-war population of more than 400,000.

“That is, another 100,000 women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities who need our and the world’s help,” she said.?

Vereshchuk claimed that 45,000 Ukrainian citizens have been forcibly deported to Russia, a figure CNN could not immediately verify. The Russian military says that thousands have been “evacuated” to Russia from separatist-held regions and “dangerous areas” of Ukraine.?

Earlier today, Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told CNN’s John Berman that buses were moving through the evacuation corridor.

Orlov said up to 1,500-2,000 will be able to evacuate the city between today and tomorrow.

He added there are “constant street battles” in the city, but the Ukrainian army still controls the city center.

People remaining in Mariupol are “living like mouse.?They are living underground in?shelters, bomb shelters below.?So people just do their best to?be alive in this situation,” he said. ?

CNN’s Adrienne Vogt contributed to this post.

NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference to present North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s Annual Report for 2021 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on March 31,

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that he expects additional offensive Russian actions that will be “bringing even more suffering.”

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels for the secretary general’s 2021 Annual Report, Stoltenberg said that according to intelligence, “Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region. At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities.”

“We have heard the recent statements that Russia will scale down military operations around Kyiv and in northern Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “But Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, so we can only judge Russia on its actions, not on its words.”

He called on Russia to “end this senseless war, withdraw all its troops and engage in talks in good faith.”

A charred car is seen in front of a destroyed apartment building in the besieged southern port city of?Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 30.

Mariupol’s city council said a convoy of 17 buses is headed to the southern Ukrainian city of Berdiansk to take part in the evacuation of residents of the besieged city of Mariupol.

“A new evacuation convoy of 17 buses, accompanied by police and the State Emergency Service, left in the morning,” according to a statement, which did not have detailed information on timing. “It will join the column that stood in Vasylivka yesterday and also went to Berdiansk today. There are 45 buses in the evacuation column.”

According to the statement, the convoy will reach Berdiansk on Thursday and begin evacuating Mariupol residents on Friday.?

In total, 80,442 Mariupol residents have been evacuated to Zaporizhzhia since the beginning of the war, the statement said.?

Britain has issued further sanctions against 12 Russian citizens and two media entities, it was announced on Thursday.

The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that it is targeting “Russian propagandists and state media who spread lies and deceit about Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”

The latest people sanctioned include famous Russian TV anchor Sergey Brilev and head of Sputnik International Broadcasting, Anton Anisimov.

Sergey Brilev seen during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 4.

The managing director of the Russian broadcast company RT, Alexey Nikolov, and CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding Aleksandr Zharov were also sanctioned with asset freezes and travel bans.

The sanctions also target the media houses Rossiya Segodnya and RT-owner TV-Novosti.

“We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table,” she added.

Aside from media figures, the UK government also sanctioned Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center. Referring to Mizintsev as the “butcher of Mariupol,” the UK accuses him of being responsible for planning and executing the siege and bombardment of Mariupol.

The city market is seen damaged by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, on March 30.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv said that Russian attacks on his city are actually increasing, despite Russia’s pledge that it would “drastically reduce” its military assault on?Kyiv?and Chernihiv.

Patients are in the hallway of the hospital because it is currently the safest place, away from windows, he said.

While Russian troops are moving back toward the border, artillery?strikes and mortar attacks are increasing, he said, and?officials overnight saw multiple Russian planes cross into Ukrainian airspace toward Chernihiv.

“The Russians are using mortars — which is like a very old, very?old weapon — and it is not a?precision weapon, and they’re?shooting mortar shells at us, four?or five kilometers away from the?city … and also flying aircrafts and?dropping bombs from a low?height, so aiming?deliberately at the destruction?of civilian populations and?residential neighborhoods,” he added.

Russian football administrator Alexey Sorokin, right, answers journalists' questions at the end of the 72th FIFA Congress in Doha, Qatar, on March 31.

Alexey Sorokin, a member of the Russian Football Union delegation, criticized Russia’s suspension from world soccer on Thursday at the FIFA 72nd Congress in Doha, Qatar, and said it was unfair.

Speaking to journalists before the start of the congress, the former FIFA Council member said he found it “strange” that the Russian team is not allowed to play international events.

Some context: Russia is currently suspended from club and international football by UEFA and FIFA “until further notice” as a result of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, pending the outcome of a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal.

Earlier this month, the Russian Football Union declared interest in hosting the European Championship in either 2028 or 2032 – despite the country’s football ban.??

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it is getting ready to aid the safe passage of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Friday.

“Our teams are traveling right now with pre-positioned relief items and medical supplies to be ready to facilitate the safe passage of civilians out of Mariupol” the ICRC said in a statement.

Ukrainian officials said Thursday an evacuation corridor had been agreed with the Russians.

Volunteers help recipients in a Red Cross and local NGO's registration center for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 30.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, said in a statement that the Ukrainian side had received a message through the ICRC confirming Russian readiness to open a “humanitarian corridor” from Mariupol through the city of Berdyansk.?

Some context: Satellite images from Maxar Technologies have shown that entire city blocks in central Mariupol have been obliterated and a Red Cross warehouse was hit by military strikes. Ukrainian officials say around 90% of the buildings in the city have been damaged or left uninhabitable after weeks of intensive bombardment by Russian forces.?

In an interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour Wednesday, Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky’s chief of staff, compared the situation in Mariupol with what happened during World War II: “I think that the catastrophe of Mariupol, I can say is very similar to what happened in the time … the Second World War in the blockade of Leningrad because the people practically died without food, without water.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky adresses the Dutch House of Representatives in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 31.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to address his 17th international parliament by the end of today in a bid to drum up support during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Described by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday as a “lion of democracy,” Zelensky has also addressed three multilateral institutions — the European Council, G7 and NATO — and over the weekend, he spoke virtually at the Doha Forum.

Zelensky first virtually addressed the European Parliament on March 1 and will address special sessions of the Australian, Dutch and Belgian parliaments on Thursday.

His second address was to the UK parliament on March 8, with subsequent addresses every few days to the following countries’ governments: Poland, Canada, United States, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, France, Japan, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Italian Prime Minister?Mario?Draghi?speaks during a news conference at Foreign Press Association in Rome, Italy, on March 31.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that conditions were not yet in place for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Draghi told a news conference on Thursday when asked about a telephone call with Putin the previous day.

Draghi also said that Putin told him that current gas contracts remained in force and that European firms will continue to pay in euros and dollars, rather than in roubles.

“What I understood, but I may be wrong, is that the conversion of the payment … is an internal matter of the Russian Federation,” Draghi said.

Asked about increased defence spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Draghi said Italy will reach the NATO goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence in 2028, adding that this was not in dispute among members of his coalition.

However, Draghi said that the government’s upcoming economic forecasting document would not spell out a specific increase in defence spending.

At least 20 people were killed and 33 injured in a Russian strike on the office of the regional military governor of Ukraine’s southwestern Mykolaiv region on Tuesday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Services said in updated figures released Thursday.

The Russian strike demolished half of the building, according to Gov. Vitalii Kim.

Watch more from the ground here:

It’s now five weeks since Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Here are the latest developments in the conflict:

The barrage of?sanctions?imposed by the West following?Russia’s invasion?of Ukraine?decimated the ruble. But one month after the tanks rolled, the currency has made a full recovery and is now trading at levels seen prior to the war. How is that possible?

Russia’s central bank has taken dramatic steps in recent weeks to intervene in the market, implementing policies to prevent investors and companies from selling the currency and other measures that force them to buy it.

What has Moscow done to boost the ruble?

What to look out for: These measures have allowed Moscow to artificially manufacture demand for the ruble. The problem facing policymakers is that with Russia’s economy in tatters, nobody actually wants to buy the currency of their own accord. When the restrictions are lifted, demand for the ruble will drop, and its value will slide — perhaps dramatically.

The same is true for Russia’s stock market. The benchmark MOEX index trended higher when trading resumed a week ago after a long stoppage forced by the war, but analysts say that’s due to restrictions in place on investors, including a ban on short selling. Only 33 stocks were allowed to trade when the market reopened. When trading was extended to all stocks this week, the index fell again.

With that in mind, the rebound of the ruble and stock market moves shouldn’t be taken as a signal that Russia’s economy is on the mend. The country is facing its deepest recession since the 1990s, and the economy will shrink by a fifth this year, according to a recent forecast from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree on spring conscription, fixing a target for 134,500 individuals to be drafted into the Russian armed forces.

The Russian military has a mixed manpower system that has draftees as well as contract servicemembers. The country has a twice-annual call-up for conscription.?

According to Russian state news agency TASS, around 134,650 were drafted last spring and 135,000 Russian citizens were drafted in the spring of 2020, figures both slightly above this year’s conscription number.?

Putin originally claimed that Russian conscripts would not take part in what Russia has euphemistically dubbed the “special military operation” in Ukraine. But the Russian Ministry of Defense subsequently acknowledged that draftees were fighting in Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces claim to have taken a considerable number of Russian conscripts prisoner.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky addresses Australian federal parliament via video link on March 31, in Canberra, Australia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for further sanctions on Russia during a virtual address to the Australian parliament on Thursday.

Zelensky warned of great implications to global security if Russia isn’t stopped and also spoke about what will come after the war, calling on nations and companies to invest in the restoration of Ukraine. Zelensky specifically spoke about the development of ports and cities on the Black Sea and rebuilding the naval sector.

Australia then pledged to provide “an additional $25 million AUD of defensive military assistance for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

The new package will include tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies, according to a government statement.

In an earlier statement, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison replied to Zelensky – who he referred to as a “lion of democracy” – to express his country’s solidarity.

Some context: Australia has imposed sanctions on more than 500 Russian individuals and entities, including oligarchs with close connections to President Vladimir Putin as well as Russia’s finance ministry.

Australia has provided military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and also announced a ban on exports of alumina and aluminum ore to Russia. Russia relies on Australia for nearly 20% of its alumina needs, according to the Australian government.

Robert Habeck, Germany's economy minister, holds a news conference on energy security, in Berlin on March 30.

The German economy minister has warned that his country – Europe’s largest economy –will take a hit following the war in Ukraine.

Robert Habeck told public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday: “We will be poorer.”?

“It is not possible that this ends without costs for the German society, it is unthinkable. I believe that we are ready to pay this price which is small enough compared to the sufferings in Ukraine,” he added.

Spat over gas supplies; On Wednesday, Germany issued a precautionary “early warning” of possible natural gas shortages after Russia said it wanted to be paid in rubles and threatened to cut off supplies if that didn’t happen. Germany said it was committed to a G7 agreement that energy supplies from Russia would be paid for only in euros or US dollars.

Russia later said Germany could pay in euros, which would then be converted into rubles via Gazprom Bank, which is not affected by sanctions. Scholz did not agree to this and has asked for further written information.

Fire and smoke light up the night sky, east of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 30.

The Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine has come under heavy shellfire in the past 24 hours, the region’s military governor said in a statement Thursday.?

The intense bombardment has prevented the opening of evacuation corridors in the region, Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said in a statement on Telegram.?

“About 380 shellings from Grad and Smerch [rocket artillery] were recorded. In Saltivka, the enemy damaged the gas pipeline, there was a major fire, and rescuers have worked to localize it,” he added.

Synyehubov said Russian forces had also inflicted heavy fire on Derhachi, northwest of the city of Kharkiv, killing one person and injuring three others, and destroying a city council building.?

“The fiercest point [in Kharkiv region] remains Izium, where fighting and constant shelling continue,” he said. “We are working every day to open ‘green’ [evacuation] corridors. But so far Russia does not give us such an opportunity.”

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaks to CNN on March 31

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has said he has a “small portion of optimism” following diplomatic negotiations with Russia in Istanbul and that “it looks like dialogue.”

“We have a very principled position and we wanted to go for any compromise which corresponded to our independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Yermak told CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour from Kyiv Wednesday.

“We want to stop this war, we want the Russian troops to withdraw from our territory. We insist that the humanitarian corridors will be open especially once again to Mariupol,” Yermak said.

Meanwhile, satellite images from Maxar Technologies have shown that entire city blocks in central Mariupol have been obliterated.

Satellite image showing destruction of homes and buildings in?Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 29.

Referencing the destruction of the city, Yermak said that “the city of Mariupol is gone … the Russian troops forced thousands of them [Mariupol citizens] to move to Russia.?

“I think that the catastrophe of Mariupol, I can say is very similar to what happened in the time of the second war – the Second World War in the blockade of Leningrad because the people practically died without food, without water.”

“We are fighting for our land. We are fighting for our country and we are fighting for all of [the world’s democracies],” he added.

Russia’s recent actions suggest an apparent shift to redirect its military efforts to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.?

But what is the Donbas and how significant is its role in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine?

Russia also annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that sparked global condemnation.

The separatist-controlled areas in Donbas became known as the Luhansk and the Donetsk People’s Republic, but the Ukrainian government in Kyiv asserts that the two regions are, in effect, Russian-occupied. The self-declared republics are not recognized by any governments, other than Russia and its close ally Syria. The Ukrainian government refuses to talk directly with either separatist republic.

Language around the conflict is heavily politicized. The Ukrainian government calls separatist forces “invaders” and “occupiers.” Russian media calls separatist forces “militias” and maintains that they are locals defending themselves against the Kyiv government.

The separatists in Donbas have had substantial backing from Moscow, with the US, NATO and Ukrainian officials saying the Russian government supplies the separatists, provides them with advisory support and intelligence, and embeds its own officers in their ranks.

Moscow has also distributed hundreds of thousands of Russian passports to people in Donbas in recent years. Prior to the invasion, Western officials and observers had accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attempting to establish facts on the ground by naturalizing Ukrainians as Russian citizens, a de facto way of recognizing the breakaway states.?

Putin has long accused Ukraine of violating the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine, and in the weeks before the invasion he alleged that? “genocide” was being committed in Donbas.

As in 2014, the region once again sits at the center of both the military and geopolitical conflict.

Damage after shelling in the pro-Russian separatists-controlled Donetsk, in Ukraine on March 30.

Ukrainian military governors in the country’s east reported heavy shelling Thursday amid an apparent shift by the Russian military to redirect military efforts to the Donbas region.?

“We clearly feel that the transfer of [military] technology in our direction is beginning now,” said Serhiy Haidai, head of Luhansk region military administration, in televised remarks.?

“And as the equipment and personnel are being turned over, our enemies are simply firing more densely, powerfully. Everything is already involved here: aircraft, artillery, heavy-caliber weapons, mortars – all settlements are being shelled,” he said.

Separately, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, said on Telegram that Russian forces overnight continued shelling in the central part of the region.

“In Maryinka, Krasnohorivka and Novomykhailivka, the enemy again used white phosphorous shells,” he said, referring to munitions that are either banned or circumscribed under international law in populated areas.

Planned evacuation: Ukrainian and Russian officials announced a major evacuation was planned for Thursday from the besieged city of Mariupol, in Ukraine’s southeast.

Haidai, the Luhansk regional administrator, said efforts had also been underway to evacuate civilians from small towns in his region, even without such agreements with the Russian side.

“Our evacuation is going on every day without the so-called humanitarian corridors,” he said. “We don’t trust the orcs [a derogatory Ukrainian term for Russian troops] very much, and secondly, they don’t really agree with those corridors. It would be very important for us to evacuate people from Rubizhne and Popasna – the settlements that are under maximum fire.

Haidai added: “So we work as usual, evacuation buses are constantly coming from Kreminna, from Lysychansk, from Severodonetsk, partly from Rubizhne, from the territory controlled by our defenders. And sometimes our carriers break into Popasna, where they pick up some small groups of people.”

Australia will apply an additional tariff of 35% on all imports from Russia and Belarus, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced in a press release Thursday.??

Reiterating Australia’s support for “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Australia will “work closely with (its) partners to ensure Russia is held to account for its actions,” according to the release.

The statement coincided with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s virtual address to the Australian parliament on Thursday.

Some background on similar economic measures: US President Joe Biden?on March 11 called for suspending normal trade relations with Russia and said the US would ban imports of seafood, vodka and diamonds from the nation as part of an effort to ramp up economic pressure on Russia.

Biden said the US, along with the G7 and European Union, will call for revoking “most favored nation” status for?Russia, referred to as permanent normal trade relations in the US. The status means two nations have agreed to trade under the best possible terms, which can include lower tariffs, fewer barriers to trade and high imports, Biden said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center left, holds talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center right, in Tunxi, China, on March 30.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting his counterparts in China and India this week — two countries under pressure to condemn?Russia’s actions in Ukraine?as the death toll from the unprovoked conflict rises.

Lavrov met first with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday before a planned flight to India on Thursday, in only his second trip abroad since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.

On paper, Lavrov’s meeting with?Wang?was ostensibly about the turmoil in Afghanistan. But one expert said it was “inconceivable” they wouldn’t discuss the situation in Ukraine, including harsh sanctions imposed by the international community on Russia and its ally Belarus.

Lavrov’s trip will offer him the opportunity to gauge the state of Russia’s relations with?China and India?as they come under increasing international scrutiny over their lack of forceful response to Moscow.

Both China and India have refused to condemn Russia’s brutal invasion outright, and both abstained from voting on United Nations resolutions demanding Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine.

By the end of Lavrov’s first day in China on Wednesday, Beijing had made its stance clear.

“There is no ceiling for China-Russia cooperation, no ceiling for us to strive for peace, no ceiling for us to safeguard security and no ceiling for us to oppose hegemony,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin,?according to?state-run news agency Xinhua.

Read more about Lavrov’s trip to Asia:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet in Tunxi, China.

Related article Analysis: Russian Foreign Minister visits China and India under shadow of Ukraine war

An evacuation corridor had been agreed with the Russians for the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said Thursday.

The Ukrainian side received a message through the International Committee of the Red Cross confirming Russian readiness to open a “humanitarian corridor” from Mariupol through the city of Berdiansk, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on Telegram.

Ukrainian officials say around 90% of the buildings in the city have been damaged or left uninhabitable after weeks of intensive bombardment by Russian forces.?

Local residents walk near a destroyed apartment building in the besieged southern port city of?Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 30.

Additional corridors had been agreed for delivery of humanitarian aid and evacuation of people from the city of Melitopol, Vereshchuk said, and for a column of people in private vehicles to leave the city of Enerhodar for Zaporizhzhia.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, also confirmed 45 buses would be sent to support the evacuation plan.

Earlier, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said the corridor would open at 10 a.m.,?according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Satellite image showing Russian ground forces in Dublin,?Belarus, on March 18.

Russian forces may be regrouping in Belarus, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement Thursday.

Ukrainian forces had noted “frequent cases” of mines being laid in areas recently retaken by Russian forces in the Kyiv region, the statement added.

Some information: The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update Wednesday that some Russian units had returned to Belarus after suffering heavy battlefield losses in Ukraine. Belarus has been a base and staging area for Russian military forces.

US Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday the US had seen approximately 20% of Russia’s forces moving against Kyiv “repositioning,” with some heading to Belarus.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center, meets with of the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi, right, in Tunxi, China on March 31.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Thursday with the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi in Tunxi, China, according to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Wednesday, Lavrov met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tunxi. In a photo released by the Russian ministry, the two were shown wearing masks and greeting each other by bumping elbows.

A local resident walks with a suitcase past destroyed apartment buildings in the besieged southern port city of?Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 30.

A top Russian official announced?an evacuation corridor will open Thursday morning?from the?besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol,?according to Russian state news agency TASS.

The corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia will open at 10:00 a.m. local time, according to Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center.?A stop in nearby Berdyansk will be made along the way.

Russian forces — as well as the forces of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics — will suspend the use of weapons, including those outlined by Ukraine, the general said.

Some background: Ukrainian officials have accused Russians of preventing humanitarian convoys from safely approaching or exiting the city, even shelling evacuation and humanitarian routes.

Mayor Vadym Boichenko has said that evacuation corridors had largely come under Russian forces’ control.?

Weeks of heavy bombing and shelling have left the southern coastal city in pieces, leaving an unknown number of civilians dead and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents from their homes.

Some 90% of residential buildings in the city are damaged, according to data released by Ukrainian officials. Of those buildings, 60% were hit directly and 40% were destroyed.

Read more about attempts to evacuate Mariupol here:

Local resident Valentina Demura, 70, reacts next to the building where her apartment, destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict, is located in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 27, 2022.

Related article Mariupol mayor says Ukrainian city 'in the hands of the occupiers'

Russian forces?bombarded?Kyiv and Chernihiv Wednesday — a day after Moscow said it would “drastically reduce” its military assault on the two cities.

Here are the latest developments in the war on Ukraine:

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Presidential Grants Foundation CEO Ilya Chukalin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on March 29.

The US government is “confident in” the assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been misinformed by his advisers about their military’s performance in Ukraine, according to a senior State Department official.

On Wednesday, the US revealed declassified intelligence showing that Putin has been misinformed by his own advisers.

“There’s only so much we can say about where this information is derived from,” the official said, declining to provide additional details on the intelligence. He explained it was necessary to protect sources and methods.

Speaking on a visit to Morocco, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “One of the Achilles’ heels of autocracies is that you don’t have people in those systems who speak truth to power or who have the ability to speak truth to power. And I think that is something that we’re seeing in Russia.”

A bombed-out, enflamed Russian tank

Video posted on social media appears to show Ukrainian troops have retaken territory from Russian forces near the northern city of Chernihiv.

A number of Ukrainian forces are seen in video filmed in the village of Sloboda, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Chernihiv.

The village is vital to Ukrainian efforts breaking the Russian encirclement of Chernihiv.?It would also be one of the first major victories in breaking the encirclement.??

Ukrainian forces are seen in the village of Sloboda.

The video has been geolocated and its authenticity verified by CNN.

The footage shows a bombed-out, enflamed Russian tank.?Thick white smoke is seen in the streets of the village, in addition to Ukrainian forces.

Some context: Chernihiv, located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northeast of Kyiv, came under “colossal attack” Wednesday, according to the city’s mayor. Strikes also continued in the Kyiv suburbs, just a day after Russia claimed it was scaling back its military campaign near the capital and surrounding area. Russian advances on Kyiv and Chernihiv had already stalled before Moscow’s announcement.

Jeremy Fleming, Director of GCHQ, the UK's intelligence, cyber and security agency,?delivers a speech in London in this February 2019 photo.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has massively misjudged the situation in Ukraine and some Russian soldiers have refused to carry out orders, according to the head of British intelligence agency GCHQ.

Fleming said Putin overestimated the abilities of the Russian military to secure a quick victory.?

Fleming also said Britain’s National Cyber Security Center has seen “sustained intent from Russia to disrupt Ukrainian government and military systems” and has seen indicators suggesting Russia’s cyber actors are looking for targets in countries that oppose the Kremlin’s actions.

Mercenaries in Ukraine: Fleming said it is “clear” that Russia is using mercenaries and foreign fighters to support its forces — including the Wagner group.

“The group works as a shadow branch of the Russian military, providing implausible deniability for riskier operations,” Fleming said, adding that Wagner is now prepared to send large number of personnel into Ukraine to fight on the Russian side.?

“They are looking at relocating forces from other conflicts and recruiting new fighters to bolster numbers,” he said, “These soldiers are likely to be used as cannon fodder to try to limit Russian military losses.”

China’s role: Fleming said there are risks for Russia and China associated with the two countries aligning too closely on the Ukraine conflict.

“Russia understands that long term, China will become increasingly strong militarily and economically.?Some of their interests conflict; Russia could be squeezed out of the equation,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a video message posted on Facebook Wednesday evening March 30.

Negotiations with Russia are ongoing but are “only words,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message posted to social media on Wednesday night.

“Yes we have negotiations process but they’re only words, without anything concrete,” Zelensky said.?

Zelensky also said the “alleged pullback” of Russian troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv is not a retreat but a result of the work of the Ukrainian military.

Donbas on alert: Zelensky said Russian troops are concentrating in the Donbas region for new attacks, adding Ukrainians are “ready for this.”

Biden call: Zelensky said he had an hour-long call with US President Joe Biden and thanked him for an additional $500 million in aid for Ukraine.?

According to the White House, Biden and Zelensky?“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.”

President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for nearly an hour Wednesday?as airstrikes near Kyiv?seemed to bear out?Western skepticism?that peace talks could ease Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

Biden told his counterpart the US would provide Ukraine another $500 million in “direct budgetary aid,” the White House said afterward, and discussed “how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine.”

The US has repeatedly rebuffed Zelensky’s requests for more direct assistance, such as fighter jets and an enforced no-fly zone, and the White House made clear after the call it was no closer to supporting those steps. In the White House’s readout of the two leaders’ conversation on Wednesday, Biden sought to underscore the military assistance the US has been willing to provide and “the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict.”

A day after Russia claimed it was scaling back its military operation near the Ukrainian capital,?strikes continued in the suburbs of Kyiv as well as in Chernihiv, whose mayor said the city was under “colossal attack.”

American and Western officials, including Biden, had already voiced deep?skepticism at Russian claims of de-escalation,?noting its forces had already stalled in some places where it claimed to be pulling back. On Wednesday, the US revealed declassified intelligence showing Russian President Vladimir Putin has been misinformed by his advisers about the Russian military’s performance in Ukraine.

Read more:

The city market is seen damaged by night shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Ukrainian officials say Russian forces pounded areas around Kyiv and another Ukrainian city overnight. The attacks come hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places. (AP Photo)

Related article US works to gauge peace prospects as it warns Putin 'misinformed' by advisers

Some European countries are heavily dependent on Russia for their gas supply.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month that EU leaders had agreed to spend the next two months drafting proposals for?eliminating the bloc’s dependency?on?Russian energy imports?by 2027.

Here’s a look at actions some EU countries are taking:

Germany: Russia’s biggest energy customer in Europe had already taken measures to address the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. But now it is responding to more concerns about possible gas shortage along with other countries.

Germany has issued an “early warning” of possible natural gas shortages after Russia said it wanted to be paid in rubles and threatened to cut off supplies if that didn’t happen.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday, he said the warning stage was of a preventive nature and would see increased monitoring of gas supplies. He also called upon companies and consumers to use gas sparingly. German gas storage is currently filled to 25% capacity, according to Habeck.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later on Wednesday, in which he stressed Berlin is committed to a G7 agreement that energy supplies from Russia would be paid for only in euros or US dollars, according to a German readout of the call.?

Putin told Scholz the law that payments for Russian energy supplies would have to be made in rubles does not apply to European partners, and payments would continue to be made in euros and transferred to Gazprom Bank, which is not affected by?sanctions, and then converted into rubles, according to the readout.?

“Chancellor Scholz did not agree to this procedure in the conversation, but asked for written information to better understand the procedure,” the readout said.

Netherlands: The Dutch government asked the public to use less gas as it hopes to reduce its dependency on Russian imports, according to a spokesperson for the economy ministry. However, the Netherlands would not be triggering a gas crisis plan, a spokesperson told CNN. Instead, the government hopes to reduce Dutch gas usage through a campaign addressing its citizens.

Austria: Vienna issued an “early warning” of possible natural gas shortages in the country, which also follows Russia’s threat to cut off supplies if it was not paid in rubles. The early-stage warning sees?Austria?take “the next step in the preparation for an emergency,” Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler wrote on Twitter.?

Russia’s indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and “may amount to war crimes,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Wednesday.

Bachelet said her investigators are looking into 24 cases where cluster munitions were used by Russia. Hospitals, water supplies and administrative buildings have been struck by missiles or shelling, she reported.

The Ukrainian people are enduring a “living nightmare,” Bachelet added.

“The hostilities must stop, without delay,” Bachelet said. “Today, I call on the Russian Federation to heed the clear and strong calls of the General Assembly and of this Council, and immediately act to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory.”