March 22, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, on March 7.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making a significant shift in tone toward the war in Ukraine, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” who should be held accountable, in another portion of a Piers Morgan interview teased?in the New York Post.

DeSantis?had previously labeled?the war a “territorial dispute.”

DeSantis’ comments to Morgan come after he fielded criticism from Republicans including Gov. Chris Sununu, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Marco Rubio for saying US support of Ukraine is not of “vital” national interest via in a statement to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.?

In his fiercest rebuke of Putin yet, DeSantis told Morgan he thinks?his statement?to Carlson has “been mischaracterized.”

“Obviously, Russia invaded (last year) — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — That was wrong,” DeSantis said.?

Addressing the criticism for the first time, DeSantis attempted to clarify during the interview.

Morgan said he asked DeSantis if he thought Ukrainians would take issue with him labeling the war a “territorial dispute.”?

DeSantis said in response:

“If I could snap my fingers, I’d give it back to Ukraine 100%. But the reality is what is America’s involvement in terms of escalating with more weapons, and certainly ground troops I think would be a mistake. So, that was the point I was trying to make but Russia was wrong to invade. They were wrong to take Crimea.”?

President Joe Biden?has made clear he will not send US troops?to Ukraine to take part in the conflict.?

Ultimately, DeSantis told Morgan he thinks Ukraine will prevail in the war.

“I do not think it’s going to end with Putin being victorious. I do not think the Ukrainian Government is going to be toppled by him and I think that’s a good thing,” DeSantis said.?

China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends a press conference in Beijing on March 7.

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Wednesday his country’s relationship with Russia could be?“even more precious in the face of rampant unilateralism and hegemonism” as he praised President Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow.?

Qin described the relations between China and Russia as representing “the correct direction of historical development” and having “world significance beyond the scope of the two sides,” according to a statement released after Xi’s state visit.??

China and Russia will continue to uphold “good-neighborliness and mutual trust,” as Xi’s decision to choose Russia as his first foreign visit in his new presidency was a political decision made after careful consideration, Qin said.

In addition to praising the cooperation and friendship with Russia, Qin reiterated China’s stance on what the statement describes as the “Ukrainian crisis.”

He added that China is “neither the maker nor the party” involved in the crisis but “an advocate” that supports a political settlement and promotes peace talks.

The statement did not name the country obstructing peace talks.

Russian missile strikes killed at least eight people in the Kyiv region and injured nearly three dozen people in Zaporizhzhia, where strikes hit residential buildings, officials said. Heavy fighting also continues in the eastern part of Ukraine.

The latest wave of attacks follows meetings this week between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Moscow.

Here are the top headlines to get up to speed:

At least eight people were killed in a Russian drone strike in the Kyiv region, Ukraine’s state emergency service said in a statement on Wednesday.?

Earlier in the day, the state emergency service told CNN a Russian?drone strike hit a residential?building in the town of Rzhyshchiv, which is about 50 miles (85 km) southeast of the capital of Kyiv.

Andrii Niebytov, the Kyiv region police chief, previously said?that a?drone?had?struck a?dormitory building.

Police and emergency services evacuated more than 200 people after the strike, Niebytov said.

Rescuers work at a site of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia on March 22.

At least one person was killed and 34 were injured by missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Wednesday.?

Among the injured are three children, it said.

According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, Russian forces fired at least six missiles at Zaporizhzhia and the strikes caused significant damage to civilian infrastructure.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian official and adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, previously said the strikes deliberately targeted civilians.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov delivers a speech during a session of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland on March 2.

The?risk?of?a?nuclear?conflict?is now?at?its?highest?level?in decades,?Russian?Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday, according to state news agency TASS.

Ryabkov reiterated that?Moscow is not?departing “from the key provisions, doctrinal and political ones.”?He said non-nuclear states, especially those not aligned with the United States, should “more loudly to call to order politicians?in?the Western capitals,?including Washington, who have absolutely lost their sense?of?reality.”

President Vladimir Putin?said?he was suspending his country’s participation?in?the New START?nuclear?arms reduction treaty with the United States during?his much-delayed annual?State?of?the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly last month.?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday it was distressing to see the aftermath of Russian bombardments after he made an unannounced visit to the eastern Donbas region.?

Zelensky said he felt there was hope in every eastern Ukrainian city that was not under occupation, adding that it was an honor to support those closest to the front.?

The Ukrainian president also visited injured soldiers to pay tribute.?

He finished his address by marking the beginning of Ramadan and remembering the Crimean Tatars, currently under Russian occupation.?

Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in BMP infantry fighting vehicles on March 22.

Ukraine says the offensive capacity of Russian forces in and around Bakhmut is diminishing, but cautions that it remains one of the areas where the fiercest fighting is ongoing.

“The Russian Federation continues its armed aggression against Ukraine, focusing its main efforts on attempts to completely seize Donetsk and Luhansk regions within the administrative borders,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in an evening update on Wednesday. “The fiercest fighting is taking place in the southern and northern parts of Bakhmut.”

According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces are continuing to expend large numbers of men trying to re-take the city.

“The enemy keeps trying to take the city, losing a significant amount of manpower, weapons and military equipment,” it said on Wednesday. “Our defenders have been repelling numerous enemy attacks around the clock in the areas of Bakhmut, Bohdanivka and Predtechyne.”

The Ukrainian military went on to say Moscow’s armies were on the defensive in some areas in the southern part of Ukraine.

“The enemy is conducting defensive actions in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions. Areas near the contact line came under fire,” it said.

?Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Flag Day ceremony in Moscow in 2021.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that any European country that is a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) should arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits.

Blinken would not say whether the US authorities would turn the Russian president over to the ICC if he were to come to this country, noting that the US is not a party to the court.

“I don’t think he has any plans to travel here soon,” Blinken said.

Putin has scarcely left Russia in recent years, and he has not traveled to the US since 2015.

Some more context: Last week, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin for his role in a vast Kremlin-wide effort to forcibly deport Ukrainian children into Russia.

A report released in mid-February from the US State Department-backed Conflict Observatory by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab found that more than 6,000 children — ranging in age from mere months old to 17 — have been in Russian custody at some point during the course of the war, although the “total number of children is not known and is likely significantly higher than 6,000.”

It identified 43 facilities that are a part of the vast network where the children were sent, stretching “from one end of Russia to the other,” including Russian-occupied Crimea, the “eastern Pacific Coast — closer to Alaska than it is to Moscow,” and Siberia, Yale Humanitarian Research Lab’s Nathaniel Raymond said.

Sweden’s parliament formally approved the country’s accession to NATO on Wednesday, the government said in a statement.??

The Nordic country requested to join the military alliance alongside its neighbor Finland last year, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but its application must be ratified by all 30 current member states before it can become a member itself.?

Where things stand: The memberships of both countries are currently being stalled by Turkey and Hungary, both of which have yet to ratify. While Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that his parliament would begin ratifying Finland’s NATO bid, and Hungary’s ruling party said it would also approve Finland’s accession, neither country has begun the process for Sweden.?

Erdogan has said Turkey will not change its approach to Sweden unless “positive steps” are taken. The country has accused Sweden of harboring members of terror groups, something Sweden denies.?

John Kirby, national security council coordinator, speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 21.

The Biden administration stopped short of accusing Russia of a missile strike targeting civilians in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, but said it “certainly” is consistent with previous such attacks.?

CNN has reported at least one person was killed and 32 injured Wednesday, with a senior Ukrainian official calling it “a specific deliberate strike at a residential building.”

“It certainly could be” targeted at civilians,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

Kirby also discussed news that the US is expediting the shipment of Patriot missile systems and Abrams to Ukraine. While he said there has “always” been a sense of urgency, he said the Ukrainians are reacting “well” to training and that the accelerated delivery is a “good thing.” He reiterated that there is “no change” to the US policy on sending F-16 jets at this time.?

“The weeks and months ahead are going to be critical. We want to make sure that the Ukrainians have everything that they need in order to be successful,” he said.

The focus of the next weeks, Kirby said, are the “Four A’s”: armor, artillery, air defense, and ammunition, pointing to “more open terrain, combined arms warfare” ahead.

Pressed by Bolduan on the possibility of China arming Ukraine, Kirby said there is “no indication they are moving in that direction or have made a decision in that regard.”

He said he is “not aware” of any plans by China’s President Xi Jinping to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but reiterated the US hope that such a conversation will take place.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, participates in the House Republicans news conference following the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol on February 2, 2022.

Mike McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,?will hold a hearing next Wednesday on “Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability of Ukraine Assistance,” the committee announced Wednesday.

The acting inspector generals from the State Department, Defense Department and the US Agency for International Development are slated to testify.?

The billions of dollars in US assistance to Ukraine were expected to come under increased scrutiny by the Republican-led House.?

The inspectors general have not announced any instances of misuse of US provided funds or weapons. There are dozens of ongoing projects from the Office of Inspector General?related to oversight of US assistance to Ukraine.

Some background: On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken?announced the 34th drawdown of arms and equipment for Ukraine valued at $350 million. The US has committed more than $32 billion in?Presidential Drawdown?funds to aid Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than one year ago.

Estonian Prime Minister?Kaja?Kallas?attends news conference in Tallinn, Estonia, on February 3, 2023.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said NATO countries must prepare for a long war in Ukraine, calling on allies to increase defense spending.

“Russia has prepared for a long confrontation and so must we,” Kallas tweeted on Wednesday.

The Estonian prime minister urged NATO countries to increase defense spending beyond the 2% threshold.

A residential building damaged after a Russian missile strike in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22.

At least one person was killed and 32 others were injured by missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Wednesday.

“As of now, 32 people have been injured as a result of an enemy missile attack between two nine-story buildings: 27 people have been hospitalized, including 3 children,” it said. “5 people were treated on the spot. One person died.”

According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, Russian forces fired at least six missiles at Zaporizhzhia.

The type of missiles that were used are “currently being established,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The prosecutor’s office went on to say the missiles had caused significant damage to civilian infrastructure and some people are still missing.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian official and adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the strikes deliberately targeted civilians.

“Zaporizhzhia. Today. A specific deliberate strike at a residential building. To kill civilians. No ‘military’ nearby,” Podolyak posted on Telegram Wednesday. “Once again, the obvious. ‘Russian world’ came to kill – plain brazenly.”?

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said rescue operations are still underway.

Moscow and Washington currently have no common ground on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Russian?Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday in remarks at the?Valdai Forum, according to state outlet RIA Novosti.

“There is simply no common ground here. I don’t think that there are any grounds now for discussing the New START issue with the United States,” Ryabkov said of the agreement.

According to Ryabkov, Russia cannot even consider notifications from the American side under the treaty, because from a formal point of view, the contract has been suspended.

“This would be a violation of federal law on our part,” he said.

Ryabkov added that Moscow’s condition for returning to START discussions is “a change in the US hostile course towards Russia.”

The American counterparts have to “accept the reality for what it is,” he added.

Some more context: Last month, Russian President?Vladimir Putin?said he was suspending his country’s participation in the nuclear arms?reduction treaty with the United States, imperiling the last remaining pact that regulates the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.

Putin made the declaration in his much-delayed annual?state of the nation address?to Russia’s National Assembly. Hours after Putin’s speech, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the decision to suspend participation in the treaty was “reversible.”

The treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the US and Russia can have. It was last extended in early 2021 for five years, meaning the two sides would soon need to begin negotiating on another arms control agreement.

Rescuers in Zaporizhzhia are searching for survivors after Russian forces fired at least six missiles at the eastern Ukrainian city, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The officials added that the missiles caused extensive damage to residential high-rise buildings.

“One of the missiles hit between two high-rise buildings, partially destroying apartments and balconies, damaging roofs and breaking windows,” the statement said. “The blast wave and debris also damaged other nearby residential buildings, cars and other civilian infrastructure in the city.”

Here are some photos showing the aftermath of Russia’s latest round of missile strikes in the eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

Rescuers stand in front of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22.

A ladder extends against a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22.

Rescuers work at a site of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22.

A view shows a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22.

CNN’s Svitlana Vlasova and Olga Voitovych in Kyiv contributed to this post.

Moscow will not leave unanswered the UK’s intention to supply Ukraine with shells that include?depleted uranium, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Violating the fundamental norms of international law, London must not forget that it will have to bear full responsibility for this,” the statement added.

On Tuesday,?the UK defense minister said Russia is “deliberately trying to disinform” since?depleted uranium?“is a standard component” for shells and has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. The comment from the ministry came after Putin warned the UK against supplying the ammunition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the?UK’s shipment of depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine would be a step toward further escalation of the conflict.?

Some background: According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, depleted uranium is used in ammunition designed to pierce armor plating because it becomes sharper on impact with a target.

It is “considerably less radioactive than natural uranium,” according to the agency.

CNN’s Jessie Gretener,?Darya Tarasova?and?Jack Guy contributed to this post.

CCTV footage of the moment of a missile strikes a residential building in?Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.

A missile strike on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia has killed at least one and left 25 people in the hospital, Anatolii Kurtiev, acting mayor of the city of Zaporizhzhia, said.

Earlier, the region’s military administration said two Russian missiles hit a residential high-rise building in city Zaporizhzhia. Footage posted to social media Wednesday shows extensive?damage and a fire at a residential block in Zaporizhzhia, apparently from a missile strike.

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky posted about the attack on the social media app Telegram, saying Russia was “shelling the city with bestial savagery.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping departed Moscow after a three-day visit, attacks on one Donetsk town are intensifying and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting troops on the front lines.

Here’s what happening:

During a working trip to the Donetsk region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline positions of the Ukrainian military in the Bakhmut area.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a surprise visit to wounded troops at a hospital in?the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine near the front lines.

Among the wounded Ukrainian servicemen were some of the defenders of Bakhmut, according to a statement from the Presidency.

According to video released by the President’s office,?Zelensky?said from a warehouse at an undisclosed location that he was?“honored to be here today, in the east of our country, in Donbas, and to award our heroes, to thank you, to shake hands. Thank you for protecting the state, sovereignty, the east of Ukraine.”

Paramedics and rescuers work at a site of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22.

Two Russian missiles hit a residential high-rise building in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the region’s military administration said.

It’s unclear if there were any casualties.

Footage posted to social media Wednesday shows extensive?damage and a fire at a residential block in Zaporizhzhia, apparently from a missile strike.

One video showed the moment of impact, several floors up.?

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky posted about the attack on the social media app Telegram, saying Russia was “shelling the city with bestial savagery.”

“Residential areas where ordinary people and children live are being fired at,” Zelensky said.

A residential building damaged by a Russian military strike in the frontline city of?Avdiivka, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 20.

The town of Avdiivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of?Donetsk is coming under heavy attacks by Russian artillery and rocket systems, according to the head of the local military administration.

Avdiivka, a town with a large smelting plant just north of?Donetsk, has been shelled persistently since the Russian invasion began. However, in recent weeks Russian ground attacks in the area have intensified.

Some Ukrainian officials have said that the town could become a second Bakhmut, the mostly abandoned city where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought for weeks to what is, at this moment, a bloody stalemate.

Local official Vitalii Barabash told CNN that “the situation is really changing.”

Fighting along the city’s outskirts: Barabash said there had been?massive shelling of the central part of the town late Tuesday. The rest of the night, he said, was “relatively calm.”

However, the defense line around the city was “shelled all night.”

“There was heavy shelling, and small arms fighting was going on in all directions, from the south and the north.”

Geolocated social media videos over the past week indicate that Russian forces have moved closer to access routes from Avdiivka to the north and west.?

Barabash said that on Wednesday morning there were more shelling and artillery attacks, killing one woman.

Evacuation difficulties: Civilian evacuations are continuing but the way out of town is a “road of?death,” with the stretch of road monitored by Russian troops who “immediately open fire” Barabash said.

He added that 180 people left the town in the last three weeks and Ukrainian officials estimate that there are some 2,000 people left in Avdiivka. Among them, according to Barabash, are six children. One child evacuated Tuesday, and authorities plan to evacuate another one on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and China's President Xi Jinping make a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on March 21.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he is not surprised by what he called a “hostile” reaction from Western nations to the visit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.

Peskov’s comments came after John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Beijing and Moscow are?deepening their relationship in large part due to their mutual interest in challenging the US’ global influence.

Kirby also pushed back on China’s claim that it had staked out an impartial position regarding the war in Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after jointly signing a Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era and a Joint Statement of the President of the People's Republic of China and the President of the Russian Federation on Pre-2030 Development Plan on Priorities in China-Russia Economic Cooperation in Moscow, Russia, March 21, 2023. Xi on Tuesday held talks with Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow. (Photo by

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, did not discuss a Kyiv-proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine during their visit this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

Peskov said that Kyiv’s proposal was a matter of Sino-Ukraine relations.

The 10-point peace plan was first presented by Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky in a video at a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in November.

The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine.

Xi spent three days Moscow this week. His visit ended with Beijing and Moscow concluding more than dozen agreements bolstering cooperation in areas from trade and technology to state propaganda, according to a Kremlin list. The leaders’ central statement focused on how the two countries would “deepen” their relationship.

However, the two sides failed to move the needle on bringing a resolution to the war.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to supply Ukraine with a $15.6 billion loan to help stave off financial woes due to the war with Russia, it said in a statement Tuesday.

The package — which is subject to approval by the IMF’s executive board — aims to support Ukraine’s recovery as the invasion perpetrated by Russia “continues to have a devastating impact on the economy,” said Gavin Gray, the IMF’s mission chief for Ukraine.

The funds are being delivered as part of a four-year agreement reached between the IMF and Ukraine.

Rescuers work at a site of damaged building in the town of?Rzhyshchiv, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, on March 22.

A fourth victim of a nighttime drone attack in the region of Kyiv has been found in the rubble of a dormitory in the town of Rzhyshchiv, police said.

The deceased has been identified as a 40-year old man.

Andrii Niebytov, the Kyiv region’s police chief, said earlier that three people had been killed and seven others injured in the attack. More than 200 people were evacuated from the building and more than 20 were hospitalized. At the time when Niebytov spoke, five were missing, he said.

A total of 21?drones were launched?against Ukraine from the north shortly before midnight local time on Tuesday, 16 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold talks at the Kremlin on Tuesday.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have made a sweeping affirmation of their alignment across a host?of issues — and shared mistrust of the United States — in a lengthy statement?following talks between the two leaders?in Moscow this week.

Their meeting, which took place under the shadow of Russia’s?onslaught in Ukraine, left no question about Beijing’s commitment to developing its rapport with Moscow, despite Putin’s growing isolation on the global stage as its?devastating war?continues into its second year.

Here’s five takeaways:

Read more here.

A Russian SU-27 jet is seen intercepting a US drone over the Black Sea.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has warned the United States that Moscow would take “countermeasures” against any further drone flights over part of the Black Sea following an incident last week in which a?Russian jet intercepted a US drone, state media reported Wednesday.

Referring to the incident last week, he said the US drone “was in a zone where we introduced a special regime associated with conducting military exercises.”

Russia’s security would be ensured “by all means available,” he added, and “no American drones, whether reconnaissance, strike, strategic or any other kind,” could “shake their determination.”?

Some background: CNN reported Tuesday that the US is flying surveillance drones further south above the Black Sea after a?Russian jet collided with a US drone last week, citing two US officials.

The drone flights have remained in international airspace, but since the collision between one of the Russian jets and the MQ-9 Reaper drone last Tuesday, the US has moved its drone flights further away from airspace surrounding the Crimean peninsula and eastern portions of the Black Sea.

One of the officials said the routes are part of an effort “to avoid being too provocative,” as the Biden administration remains careful to avoid an incident that could potentially escalate into a direct conflict between US and Russian forces.

The official said the drone flights would continue this way “for the time being,” but added there is already “an appetite” to return to the routes closer to Russian-held territory.?The officials also said Russia may try to unilaterally declare a broader closure of airspace around southern and eastern Ukraine in an attempt to force US drone flights further out.?

A view shows the building heavily damaged by a Russian?drone?strikes in the town of Rzhyshchiv, in Kyiv region on Wednesday.

Three people were killed?in the Kyiv region overnight following a wave of Russian attacks with Iran-made Shahed drones, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Andrii Niebytov, the Kyiv region’s police chief, said seven others were injured when a drone?struck a?dormitory building in the town of?Rzhyshchiv.

Police and emergency services evacuated more than 200 people and more than 20 were taken to the hospital — but five people remain missing, Niebytov said.

Four people may be trapped?under the rubble, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

A total of 21?drones were launched?against Ukraine from the north shortly before midnight local time on Tuesday, 16 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said eight drones were shot down near the capital, where an air alert was in force for more than four hours.

In the Zhytomyr region to the west of Kyiv,?three drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, according to the local military administration.

A drone attack was “thwarted” in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol early on Wednesday, according to a local Russia-backed official.

CNN could not independently verify Razvozhaev’s claim.

Sevastopol is the largest city in the annexed Crimean peninsula and home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.?Some of Russia’s?most important warships?have been docked there, including surface ships?equipped?with cruise missiles.

The US has previously accused Russia of using cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea to hit civilian targets in Ukraine.?

Train strike: The report Tuesday comes after Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said late Monday that?a strike destroyed?Russian “Kalibr” cruise missiles that were being transported by train in the Crimean town of Dzhankoi.

Ukrainian authorities did not directly claim responsibility for that strike but said it serves to further “demilitarize Russia and prepare the Crimean peninsula for de-occupation.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a joint press conference after talks in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Japan will provide $30 million to help Ukraine acquire non-lethal equipment, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Kishida made the announcement Tuesday at a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his surprise visit to Kyiv, NHK reported.?

Kishida’s unexpected trip to Ukraine Tuesday was announced as Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

His visit was the first from a Japanese prime minister to a country or region with ongoing fighting since World War II, according to NHK. It was also the first visit to Ukraine by an Asian member of the G7 grouping and the first by a United States ally in the region.

The dual visits by Kishida and Xi underscore deep divisions in northeast Asia toward the war in Ukraine, with Japan pledging substantial aid for Kyiv, while China remains a lone voice supporting an increasingly isolated Putin — now a global pariah and suspected war criminal.

Kishida is scheduled to travel to Poland on Wednesday.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has departed Russia and is heading back to China, according to Chinese state media outlet CCTV.?

It brings an end to a three-day state visit in which the Chinese leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to deepen ties in a show of unity that has heightened concerns Beijing will provide cover for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Kremlin on Tuesday.

As two autocrats?traded tributes?over a feast of quail, venison, Siberian white salmon and pomegranate sorbet,?China and Russia?seemed to conjure the anti-Western compact the US has long feared.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s?state visit this week to his friend,?President Vladimir Putin, came at a critical moment of Russia’s quagmire?war in Ukraine?and of Beijing’s emergence as a great power whose influence now stretches far beyond Asia.

The entire visit has been refracted through a prism of both nations’ mutual antagonism toward the United States. And at every step, Washington, watching hawkishly from the sidelines, poured scorn on the idea of China as a peacemaker in Ukraine, accusing Xi of offering diplomatic cover to a thuggish Russian leader who was just cited for war crimes by the?International Criminal Court.

But whether China and Russia have truly forged the kind of united anti-US front long dreaded by Washington’s foreign policy professionals seems doubtful.

Still, the United States clearly now has a serious foreign policy challenge on its hands. The US is simultaneously gearing up for what many experts warn could become a Cold War with China and waging a proxy fight in Ukraine with its foe in the 20th century’s version of that showdown. And China and Russia, together, have more capacity to frustrate American goals in Ukraine and elsewhere.

Xi and Putin are united on a core foreign policy priority — discrediting and even dismantling a world order that they believe is built on Western hypocrisy and denies them due respect as great global powers. This resentment has festered in Putin’s mind ever since the Soviet Union collapsed, and he has tried for years to reshape the international system. But according to Biden’s national security strategy, China is the only US competitor with “the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to” reshape that order.

Read the full analysis here.

The Ukrainian soldiers waved and honked their horns as they drove along a dirt road at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, moving their vehicles into position to defend against a hypothetical Russian missile barrage.

These were not ordinary trucks, however. The Ukrainians were manning a US Patriot air defense system, which 65 Ukrainian soldiers have been?training on intensively?for 10 weeks, instructed by US Army trainers at the base.

CNN was invited to witness the training on Tuesday, just days ahead of the Ukrainians’ expected graduation from the expedited course. The training at Fort Sill is the only location on US soil where the US is instructing the Ukrainians on US weapons systems. But video and photographs of the training were prohibited, to protect the identities of the Ukrainians who will be heading home to defend their country against Russian forces within the next month.

The Ukrainians have excelled, officials said. They learned the basics of the Patriot system so quickly that they were given extra, intensive training rarely afforded to their American counterparts completing the same course, the officials added.

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John Kirby speaks to Christiane Amanpour in an interview with CNN.

The?deepening relationship?between China and Russia was due in large part to their mutual interest in challenging the US’ global influence, John Kirby, National Security Council spokesperson, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Tuesday.?

Kirby’s remarks come as Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin forge closer ties in Moscow in a show of unity that?has heightened Western concerns that Beijing?will provide cover for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In a joint statement released by China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, Xi and Putin said their partnership is in the “fundamental interests” of both countries, adding that “Russia needs a prosperous and stable China, and China needs a strong and successful Russia.”

The United States defers to Ukraine’s leadership in its prioritization of the hard-fought battle for Bakhmut, and will continue to ensure the country’s president has “what he needs, wherever he chooses to fight, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday.

Asked by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour whether Kyiv was spending too much time in the fight for Bakhmut, Kirby said Ukrainians are still “bravely fighting” in the eastern city and the area is “very vicious.”

Battles to come: Ukraine is preparing to launch a spring offensive against Russian forces, built largely around the more powerful and more advanced systems Western countries have agreed to send, including tanks and other armored vehicles.

Kirby said the coming weeks would be “critical,” in the war and the US expected Russian President Vladimir Putin would “try to mount another offensive and maybe along many different vectors.”

“We have got to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure Ukraine is ready for that,” he said.

Kirby said the US wants to ensure Ukrainians can defend themselves against any renewed Russian offensive while also having the flexibility to “conduct offensive operations of their own at a time and place and a size and a scale of their choosing.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “serious concerns” about the AUKUS security pact and NATO, according to a joint statement released by China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday following talks between the two leaders in Moscow.

The joint statement said China and Russia urged AUKUS members Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to “strictly fulfill their obligations not to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.”

The multi-decade AUKUS deal aims to counter China’s rapid military expansion. Under the plan, the partners will build a combined fleet of elite nuclear-powered submarines using technology, labor and funding from all three countries, creating a more formidable force in the Indo-Pacific than any of them could achieve alone.

In the joint statement, Xi and Putin also said their partnership is in the “fundamental interests” of both countries, adding that “Russia needs a prosperous and stable China, and China needs a strong and successful Russia.”

Leaders on NATO: Xi and Putin also expressed serious concerns about NATO’s “continuous strengthening of military-security ties with Asia-Pacific countries” and said they “oppose external military forces undermining regional peace and stability.”

A year after Russia invaded Ukraine, Xi’s backing of Putin has opened the door for the US and partners in the Pacific to shore up sometimes frayed relationships to the detriment of Beijing.

In the past few months alone,?Japan has pledged to double defense spending?and acquire long-range weapons from the US;?South Korea has acknowledged that stability in the Taiwan Strait?is essential to its security; the?Philippines has announced new US base access rights?and is talking about joint patrols of the South China Sea with Australia, Japan and the United States.

The White House rejected China’s claim to hold an impartial position in the war in Ukraine following a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Moscow.

Earlier, Xi said Beijing held an impartial position in the war after lengthy talks with Putin in Moscow.

The United States held a skeptical view of the summit, particularly China’s stated goal of acting as a peacemaker. Kirby said if China wanted to play a constructive role, it would use its influence to urge Russia to end the war.

Biden “wants to keep the lines of communication open with China” and will speak with Xi “at the appropriate time,” Kirby said.

US officials are still digesting the language of the joint statement released following the Xi-Putin meeting, but Kirby said there was little optimism at the summit’s conclusions.

“We haven’t seen anything that they’ve said, they put forward, that gives us hope that this war is going to end anytime soon,” he said.

Talks between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin continued Tuesday as Western leaders closely monitored day two of Xi’s three-day Moscow visit.

Here’s what happened Tuesday:

Andriy Yermak, head of the Presidential Office in Ukraine, said three people were injured in a Russian missile attack on the Odesa region on Tuesday.

“Russians struck Odesa with four missiles. Kh-59, according to preliminary reports,” Yermak posted on Telegram. “Two missiles have been intercepted by air defense. Two more hit the city, unfortunately.”

He said a?three-story building was damaged on the premises of a monastery.

Yurii Kruk, head of the Odesa district military administration said “the enemy” carried out a rocket strike in the region with SU-35 fighters launching missiles from the sea.

Unofficial social media reports indicate the missiles were aimed at an airfield in the region.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said he believes Russia is treating children like “spoils of war.”

Last week, the ICC announced arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their roles in allegedly illegally deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Rome Statute of the Geneva Conventions makes it clear “you can’t deport civilians to a foreign country,” Khan said.

Moscow has rejected the warrants, with a foreign ministry spokesperson previously saying “Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it.”

The prosecutor said Russia does not seem to be denying the allegations against it but rather wearing it “like a badge of honor.”

“Children are not the property of a country to be dispatched based on politics or some ideological motives. It needs to be regulated by law, and that law needs to be enforced,” Khan said.?

He said the ICC has reached out to Russia, but has not heard back.

A Ukrainian army major?in the Bakhmut area says the situation remains extremely?difficult, but he believes the Russians are losing their “offensive potential.”

Maksym Zhorin said on his Telegram channel that “the main task for the Ukrainian army is to hold the connection corridor, which allows for the supply and evacuation of the wounded.”

“Therefore the fighting around this corridor, in the area of Ivankivske and Bohdanivka, is the most difficult,” he said.

The two villages sit on routes west from Bakhmut toward the city of Kostiantynivka.

US Patriot missile defense systems?and Abram tanks are set to be deployed to Ukraine faster than originally planned, US defense officials said on Tuesday.

A group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers will complete their training on the systems at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in the coming days, the defense officials said.

The troops will then move on to Europe for additional training on the two Patriot systems — one American and one built by the Germans and Dutch — that will be deployed to Ukraine in the coming weeks, the officials told reporters at Fort Sill.

The announcement of the acceleration of Patriot deployments came shortly after it was reported that the US will accelerate?the time it takes to ship Abrams tanks?to Ukraine by sending older M1-A1 models of America’s main battle tank instead of the more modern version of the tank, according to two US officials.

The decision to speed up the delivery of tanks and Patriots comes as Ukraine is preparing to launch a spring offensive against Russian forces, built largely around the more powerful and more advanced systems Western countries have agreed to send, including tanks and other armored vehicles.

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