Art school in Mariupol bombed, says city council
Russian bombs fell on an art school in the city of Mariupol where about 400 residents were in hiding, according to Mariupol’s city council.
The council said the building was destroyed and “peaceful people are still under the rubble,” adding that there were women, children and the elderly. CNBC and NBC News could not confirm if the report was accurate. “Information on the number of victims is being clarified,” the council said on its official Telegram channel.
Earlier Sunday, President Zelenskyy said in a televised address that more than 4,000 residents in the besieged city of Mariupol managed to leave for Zaporizhzhya.
He said the Mariupol blockade “will go down in history” as a war crime. “To do such a thing with a peaceful city that the occupiers did is the terror that will be remembered even in centuries.”
Zelenskyy appeals directly to Russians
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 15, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | via Reuters
Ukraine’s president made a direct appeal to Moscow and the people of Russia early on Sunday morning, claiming 14,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began.
In his latest speech, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in Russian saying: “This is 14,000 mothers …This is 14,000 fathers. These are wives, these are children, relatives and friends.”
“And you don’t notice it? But there will only be more victims. As long as this war continues. Your war is against us, Russia against Ukraine. On our land,” he said, according to an NBC News translation.
CNBC or NBC News has not independently verified the death toll. Estimates of Russian deaths have varied since the war started.
— Matt Clinch
UK warns of more civilian casualties as Russia increases shelling
Russia has made limited progress in capturing Ukraine’s eastern cities even though the Kremlin continues to encircle a number of those cities, according to the latest intelligence by the U.K. Defense Ministry.
“Instead, Russia has increased its indiscriminate shelling of urban areas resulting in widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties,” the ministry said in a Twitter post.
A destroyed residenial building in Podilskyi district. Amid the intensified Russian offensive encircling Kyiv, a Russian missile struck the residential area in Podilskyi district which killed one civilian and injured dozens. Some 200 people had to be evacuated, as shockwaves and explosions destroyed countless residential buildings, one school and one kindergarten.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
It warned there could be increased civilian casualties as Russia will likely “continue to use its heavy firepower to support assaults on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses.”
— Joanna Tan
Time will prove China is on the right side of history, China’s foreign minister says
China is on the right side of history with regard to the Ukraine crisis — and time will prove it, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to Chinese state media.
“We have always stood for maintaining peace and opposing war,” Wang said, according to CGTN News.
His comments came after the Friday meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S President Joe Biden, during which Biden warned of “consequences” if China were to provide material support to the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference on China’s foreign policy and foreign relations on the sidelines of the fifth session of the 13th National People’s Congress NPC in Beijing, China on March 7, 2022.
Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
Speaking to reporters a day after the U.S.-China meeting, Wang said Beijing will make its own assessment of the situation in an objective and fair manner.
“We will never accept any external coercion or pressure, and we will also oppose any groundless accusations or suspicions targeted against China,” he added.
Beijing has so far refrained from condemning Russia, and has refused to call the violence in Ukraine an “invasion.”
— Joanna Tan