March 19, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

China's leader Xi Jinping meets the media in Beijing on October 23, 2022.

US President Joe Biden said earlier this week he was planning to speak “soon” with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

But before his staff even began planning for the call,?another meeting was taking shape: The Chinese government announced Xi plans to travel Monday to Russia for a three-day summit with President Vladimir Putin, as Xi works to cast himself as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war.

In Washington,?officials view Xi’s intentions with deep skepticism;?China has refused to condemn the war and instead claimed Moscow was provoked into invading Ukraine. After China announced Xi’s visit to Russia by saying he was traveling “for the sake of peace,” the White House worked to preempt attempts to frame the Xi-Putin meeting as a peacemaking mission, suggesting any framework offered by Beijing would be weighted toward Russia and bad for Ukraine.

“As they begin to plan out their agenda, we certainly want to express how concerned we would be by any proposals from (China) that would … be one-sided and reflect only the Russian perspective,” said John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council.

He said such a Chinese proposal could include some type of ceasefire, which he said would merely provide a way for Russia to regroup before launching a reprisal.

“A ceasefire now is effectively the ratification of Russian conquest,” he said.

The Putin-Xi summit itself did not come as a surprise to the White House, since there have been reports such a meeting could occur for weeks. Still, there remain deep concerns the “no limits” partnership Xi and Putin have cemented during previous meetings could deepen during face-to-face talks.

And there is a growing fear that further Chinese intervention in the conflict would fundamentally change the battlefield dynamics – or at least prolong the war at a moment when political appetite in the West for supporting Ukraine is being tested.

Read more here.

A woman who survived last year’s bombing of a packed theater in Mariupol likened Putin’s overnight visit to the Russian-occupied city to “when a serial killer returns to the place of the crime.”

CNN’s Ivan Watson previously spoke to Maria Kutnyakova in March last year, after she managed to escape Mariupol to Ukrainian-controlled territory with her family.

Speaking with Watson again by phone Sunday, Kutnyakova said Putin had visited Mariupol at night “because they didn’t want to shoot the real footage of the destroyed city.”

“Russian propaganda showed this image of a few buildings that they built. They want to let people believe that in Mariupol now is very nice, beautiful place. But it’s not,” Kutnyakova said.

She told CNN prices in Mariupol are “crazy,” that people in the city have no medicine or heating, and that problems persist with communications, electricity, water and gas.

Kutnyakova said all 15 of her relatives and several close friends who lived in Mariupol have left the city. She said her family has been unable to locate her uncle since last spring, and they fear he may have died.

About the bombing: About 300 people died when Russian forces bombed the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol, which had been functioning as a shelter for residents, according to city leaders.

The March 16, 2022, bombing was among the most brazen of Russia’s attacks on civilians in its initial offensive.

Before the attack, the word “CHILDREN” had been painted on the ground outside the building in giant Russian letters. As many as 1,300 people were sheltering inside.

Russia denied its forces hit the theater, claiming a regiment in Ukraine’s army had blown it up. Moscow made similar claims —?without providing evidence — about the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol that occurred about a week prior.

The southeastern city has been under Russian control since May 2022.

An attack on a residential building killed three people Sunday in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, according to local Ukrainian officials.

Russian forces fired “Grad” rockets at the village of Kamianske, killing three people and wounding two others, who are now receiving medical treatment, the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration said in a Telegram post.

The Ukrainian officials emphasized the danger to civilians still living near the conflict’s front lines and urged them to evacuate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise visit to the occupied city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine has been met bitterly by Ukrainian officials, who liken the trip to a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.

CNN asked several Kyiv residents for their thoughts on the visit Sunday.

Roman Koval, 25, a surgery intern:

Roman Koval

“I think he is afraid to come to Ukrainian territory. He can’t do it like our people. He can’t do things like our President Zelensky. He has no support,” Koval said.

Koval expressed skepticism that Putin had made the visit at all, saying he believes it was just propaganda.

Here’s what we know: The Kremlin released a video Sunday depicting Putin’s tour of the territory under the cover of darkness. Moscow described parts of the trip as “spontaneous.” It is not clear exactly when the visit took place, but Putin was also in annexed Crimea on Saturday.

Olha Kramchaninova, 48, a small business owner:

Olha Kramchaninova

“It would be better if our army bombed the place where Putin was,” Kramchaninova said.

He likened it to watching a thief with his property after something was stolen from him.

Yefrosiniia, 72, retired:

Yefrosiniia (CNN)

“I have only one wish — that Putin dies as soon as possible,” said the retiree, who asked only to be called by the family name Yefrosiniia.

Yefrosiniia repeated a sentiment expressed by other Ukrainians Sunday: that reports of Putin’s trip were propaganda, and that he may not have actually visited the city.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu speaks with CNN on Sunday.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he disagrees with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ skepticism on providing further aid to Ukraine.

Sununu, who has said he’s considering a 2024 US presidential bid, is among the Republican leaders who have sought to distinguish themselves from DeSantis on the issue in recent days.

“This is a clear — it’s not even a questionable — a clear, vital national interest to support what is going on in Ukraine. It sends a message to our enemies, if we were to back out now, that we’re not resolved,” Sununu said, addressing his?op-ed in the Washington Post this weekend.

As he laid out in his op-ed, Sununu said the price of abandoning Ukraine would be much higher than continuing to support them now.

What DeSantis said: The Florida governor, viewed by many as the leading potential challenger to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy, has described the war as a mere “territorial” dispute that is not a core US national interest.

“While the U.S. has many vital national interests – securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party – becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis said, in response to a questionnaire from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

Sen. Mark Kelly speaks with CNN on Sunday.

US Sen. Mark Kelly called the recent downing of a drone over the Black Sea a “reckless” act by the Russian pilots, and said the US should continue flying drones in the region.

“I don’t think we should be intimidated by the Russians or deterred from what we think is the right operational approach to this,” Kelly, a former US Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday

Kelly also said he’s “not surprised” that the Russian pilot collided with the drone after flying in front of the unmanned aircraft and dumping fuel on it several times.

The senator said he believes the direct collision that followed that harassment was likely accidental, citing previous experience with Russian pilots and astronauts.

The Mariupol City Council — which is now working from Ukrainian-controlled territory — on Sunday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Russian-occupied city.

“International criminal Putin visited occupied Mariupol,” the council said in a Telegram post.

“He also visited the Mariupol Philharmonic, a building that survived. Where civilians were hiding during the massive shelling,” the council said.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians have flocked to Bali, the tropical Indonesian paradise.

Some 58,000 Russians visited this Southeast Asian idyll in 2022 following its post-Covid reopening, and a further 22,500 arrived in January 2023 alone, according to the Indonesian government. Adding to their number are the more than 7,000 Ukrainians who arrived in 2022, and some 2,500 in the first month of this year.

But for those fleeing the violence – or the draft – there’s trouble in paradise.?

Balinese authorities this week called for the end to Indonesia’s visa-on-arrival policy for citizens of Russia and Ukraine, citing a spate of alleged incidents involving misbehavior and various examples of visitors overstaying their visas and working illegally as hairdressers, unauthorized tour guides and taxi drivers.?

“Whenever we get reports about a foreigner behaving badly, it’s almost always Russian,” a local police officer in the town of Kuta told CNN, declining to be identified due to sensitivities surrounding the issue.

The move has been met with dismay by many Ukrainians on the island, who also claim most negative incidents involve Russians and that they are being unfairly tarred with the same brush.

Read more here.

The Ukrainian government on Sunday blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise visit to the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said it was fitting Putin visited Mariupol under the cover of dark.

“First, it is safer. Also, darkness allows him to highlight what he wants to show, and keeps the city his army completely destroyed and its few surviving inhabitants away from prying eyes,” it added.

Separately, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, slammed the “cynicism” and “lack of remorse” shown by Putin’s visit.

“The criminal always returns to the crime scene,” Podolyak said on Twitter, adding “the murderer of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins of the city & graves. Cynicism & lack of remorse.”

The Kremlin has emphasized the surprise nature of Putin’s visit to Mariupol overnight, with a spokesperson claiming parts of the visit were “spontaneous.”

It came just days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova, stemming from an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, drives with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin during their visit to Mariupol, Ukraine, in a video released on March 19.

Parts of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine were “spontaneous,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists during a call Sunday.

Footage released by Russian authorities showed Putin visiting Mariupol and meeting seemingly surprised residents.

According to Peskov, Putin spoke to local residents of an apartment complex and decided to visit one of the apartments, per the invitation of one of the residents.?

“Initially, the president only had planned to visit the residential complex. Putin’s exchange with residents and visiting an apartment were not planned. It was absolutely spontaneous,” Peskov claimed.

Peskov said the trip happened overnight. It is not clear exactly when it took place, although on Saturday Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of its annexation.

Peskov added that Putin’s trip to a military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don was also not planned. The president attended one of the military report sessions there, the spokesperson said.

The Russian president’s overnight visit to Mariupol marks his first trip to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region since the start of Russia’s invasion.

Some key context: Putin and the Kremlin are known for creating carefully choreographed outings designed, in part, to showcase the president’s strength.

Ukrainian officials have slammed the visit as a cynical ploy and akin to a criminal returning to the crime scene “under the cover of night,” using darkness to hide signs that Mariupol was subject to some of the war’s worst atrocities.

News of the trip comes shortly after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova, stemming from an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that “the international warrant must be complied with” in a tweet on Sunday.

He continued: “It is symbolic that Germany was the first to make it clear that if ‘suspect Putin VV’ appears in their jurisdiction, he will be arrested immediately.”

On Friday, International Criminal Court judges issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes along with his children’s rights commissioner for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.?

Andriy Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, said that President Putin “has the official status of a suspect in the commission of an international crime.”

“The world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and that its leadership and accomplices will be brought to justice,” Kostin added.

Kostin, in a statement released on Telegram, said that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office “has submitted more than 40 volumes of materials to the ICC – more than 1000 pages.”

CNN exclusively revealed the inner details of how the deal to lift the siege of Mariupol was struck.

Last April, Russian President Vladimir Putin had become increasingly frustrated by Ukrainians’ dogged holdout in the Azovstal steelworks – the last remaining point of resistance in a city otherwise taken by Russian forces.

As Putin ordered a tightening of the noose around the hulking factory complex, a small group was about to begin secret negotiations to end the siege. They involved two of Putin’s most senior generals and a Ukrainian lawmaker who once served as a Soviet paratrooper.

Read the full report on the negotiations, and who was involved in the sensitive talks, here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with local residents during his visit to Mariupol, Ukraine, in a video released on March 19.

Russian authorities have released footage of Putin’s visit to Mariupol.

In it, he is seen landing at Mariupol airport in a helicopter, driving a car around the city, and speaking to residents who seemed surprised at his visit.

In the video, Putin, sitting in the driver’s seat along with Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, talk about reconstruction plans for the city Russia flattened.

The pair discuss plans to build a new hospital in Mariupol. In March last year, Russia notoriously bombed a children’s and maternity hospital, while expectant mothers and medical staff were inside.

“There will be an ambulance, and all the most modern laboratories will be there,” Khusnullin?says in the video.

“Everything will be fine,” Putin responds.

After looking over papers and pictures in a children’s playground, Putin meets residents who seem stunned to see him.

Putin tells one man: “We need to start getting to know each other better.”

Oleksii Honcharenko gives an interview in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2022.

Oleksii Honcharenko, the Ukrainian politician and member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” Sunday, questioning the timing of his visit to Mariupol.

During the visit, Putin was seen speaking to residents and discussing reconstruction plans for Mariupol, including the airport.?

Mariupol was badly damaged during the Russian assault, which destroyed the Azovstal steel works, the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the city.

It is not clear exactly when Putin’s visit took place, although on Saturday Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of its annexation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin waves to residents in Mariupol, Ukraine, in a video released on March 19.

Putin’s visit to Mariupol comes almost ten months to the day since Russian troops claimed to have “liberated” the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol, the last stand for Ukrainian forces after a bloody siege that devastated large parts of the city.?

And yet the question is why Putin waited so long to carry out what is in some ways an obvious PR exercise.?

Mariupol remains Russia’s biggest prize in this war – still the only major city it has captured, and managed to hold onto (it was forced to retreat from Kherson in November).?

Security concerns may be part of it.?Earlier this month Putin cancelled a visit to a tank factory in southern Russia after Russian security officials claimed a small Ukrainian armed group crossed the border and killed two civilians.?

It’s also possible the scale of the destruction of the city meant it took this long for enough rebuilding to happen to provide an acceptable backdrop for the photo ops.?All of the footage released of Putin’s visit is after dark.

But if this unannounced visit was in the works before the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Putin himself, that may have cemented his resolve.?

The visit provides a low-risk opportunity to signal to the world that he is not holed up in the Kremlin, and a sign to the Russian people he is in charge, youthful and vigorous enough to drive himself around the city, and heavily focused on rebuilding and integrating those illegally occupied territories of Ukraine into Russia.

An aerial view of Mariupol on April 12, 2022.

Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, is located in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast and has been under direct Russian control since May 2022.

Russian attacks on Mariupol began on February 24, 2022 – the first day of the invasion. The city was subjected to some of the war’s worst atrocities.

In March, an airstrike ripped through a maternity and children’s hospital in the city. Russian officials claimed the hospital was a justifiable military target, based on their unproven assertion that Ukrainian military targets were on site and that all patients and medical staff had left.

But footage circulating on social media showed expectant mothers being escorted out of a ruined building amid charred cars and debris.

Among the injured was a pregnant woman who was photographed being carried out on a stretcher. Neither she nor her baby could be saved, a surgeon who treated her later confirmed. The photo caused shockwaves around the world.

Also in March, Russia bombed a theater where hundreds of people had taken shelter in Mariupol. The word “children” was spelled out on two sides of the theater before it was bombed.

Of the 450,000 people who lived in the city before the war, a third had already left by mid-April, according to Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko.

Some of those who stayed took refuge in the Azovstal steel plants. To Ukrainians, Azovstal became a potent symbol of resistance, sheltering about 2,600 soldiers and civilians while the fortress-like facility was pummeled by Russian bombardment for weeks.

To Moscow, the vast site was a frustration, the last stubborn holdout in a city that its forces had otherwise taken control over weeks earlier.

“Block off the industrial site, so that not even a fly can escape,” Putin said, his command broadcast on state-run television.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Holding, which owns the plant, told CNN why Putin wanted to take Azovstal so badly.

“I don’t think it’s the plant that he wants. I think it’s about the symbolism that they wanted to conquer Mariupol. They never expected Mariupol to resist,” Ryzhenkov said.

Azovstal finally fell late in May, after an evacuation operation managed to rescue hundreds of Ukrainians from the plant.

Welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine conflict. Our main news is Vladimir Putin’s surprise visit to Mariupol, a city which has been under Russian control since May 2022.

Few details of the trip have been released but the Russian president was flown into?Mariupol?by helicopter and toured districts around the city in a car, according to a Kremlin statement issued on Sunday.

News of the visit comes just two days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

We are seeking more about the visit, as well as reaction from Ukraine and beyond.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen during a meeting at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Buenos Aires, on November 30, 2018.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s world just got a lot smaller after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him over the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Basking in international focus, Putin used to thumb his nose at the world — or manipulate its leaders — in person, a perk if you will of his stubborn, decades-long grip on power.

His love and use of the global limelight helped him at home too, bolstering his tough-guy, bare-chested, bear-hunting image as protector of Russians, holding back supposed malign machinations of NATO marauding the country’s borders.

Putin also faces a dilemma if he shows up in New Delhi for this year’s G20 summit in September. India, like the US and Russia, is not signed up to the ICC, but what will Prime Minister Narendra Modi do?

It leaves ambiguous the type of legal snare Putin could inadvertently find himself in the future. Without careful planning, Putin could find that even in a country unaligned with the ICC — and therefore not beholden to hand him over to The Hague — political pressure or a newfound desire for international justice triggers his arrest.

Putin is unlikely to leave his destiny to the roll of the dice in a foreign court, so his world is smaller even than the ICC holdout nations. So regardless of Kremlin spin, Putin’s ego is dented.

Read more analysis here.