Thursday, March 21

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Fire extinguishing efforts continue as fire breaks out after a Russian shelling on an industrial building in Kharkiv on March 20, 2024. At least 5 people were killed and 13 injured. (Yevhen Titov/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russian missile attack on Kyiv injures at least 10, including child. At least 10 residents were injured in a Russian missile attack on Kyiv the morning of March 21. Two of the victims were hospitalized, and one of the victims was a child.

Police: Russia attacked Kharkiv with Kh-35 anti-ship missile. Russia used a Kh-35 anti-ship missile in an attack on Kharkiv on March 20 that killed five civilians, Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the National Police in Kharkiv Oblast, reported on social media.

US: Russia attacked Ukraine with North Korean missiles at least 10 times. North Korea has been shaping up as Russia’s leading weapons supplier, reportedly providing Moscow with extensive military packages, including ballistic missiles and over 3 million artillery shells.

UN: Russia creating ‘stifling climate of fear’ in occupied territories. Russia is committing widespread violations of international law, including unlawful detention and torture, to create a “stifling climate of fear” in occupied areas of Ukraine, the UN said on March 20.

Putin orders FSB to hunt Russians who fight for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that all Russians who fight for Ukraine must be tracked down and “punished…without any statute of limitations, wherever they may be located.”

ISW: Economic, military indicators suggest Russia is preparing for large-scale war with NATO. Although not an imminent threat, the ISW assesses that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s emphasis on growing Russia’s economic and military capabilities is an indication that Russia is gearing up for conflict beyond “a protracted war in Ukraine.”

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Parliamentary committee proposes renaming of 5 cities, 104 villages. Ukraine’s Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development adopted a decision to rename five cities and 104 villages that were given Russian or Soviet names, lawmaker Roman Lozynskyi announced on social media on March 20.

Russia threatens to target US spy satellites made by SpaceX. Russia said on March 20 that U.S. spy satellites launched in collaboration with private companies such as SpaceX would be a “legitimate target for retaliatory measures, including military ones.”

Russia’s ‘exit tax’ nets Kremlin $385 million from foreign firms in 2024 alone. A Russian ‘exit tax’ on foreign companies leaving the country has netted the Kremlin $385 million since the start of 2024, already surpassing predictions for the full year, Reuters reported on March 20.

Reuters: Posterchild of Russia’s Ukrainian children deportation program says he was threatened. Denys Kostev, a teenage orphan, was taken from Kherson to occupied Crimea by Russian authorities in fall 2022.

Shmyhal submits Ukraine reform plan to European Commission. “This is an important step for the implementation of reforms and financial stability on Ukraine’s path to the EU,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on X.

Defense Ministry: Ukraine plans to open 27 new recruitment centers in first half of 2024. Ministry of Defense advisor on recruiting issues Oleksiy Bezhevets announced on March 19 that 27 new-type recruitment centers are planned to be opened in big cities and regional centers in the first half of 2024, the Defense Ministry’s press service reported.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Situation near Robotyne ‘in flux’ but not critical, military says

The line of contact near the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast is “in flux,” but the situation is “not critical” despite Russian assaults in the area, Nataliia Humeniuk, spokesperson of Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command said on March 20.

Photo: Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images

5 things to know about the latest weapons being sent to Ukraine

While the latest assistance pledged is unlikely to make a significant difference to the front lines on its own, there are some badly needed weapons making their way to Kyiv.

Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

What we know about anti-Kremlin militias’ raids into Russia

In the early hours of March 12, three anti-Kremlin Russian groups announced they had crossed the border into Russia, promising “to fight the criminal Russian regime” with “weapons in hand.”

Photo: Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Opinions and Insights

Opinion: Another election at gunpoint in occupied Ukraine

“This year, the Russian presidential election was held in two countries: Russia and the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts, as well as Crimea. That the election of Russia’s president was held within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders should be condemned loudly and clearly, with sanctions to follow,” writes Anna Mykytenko, a senior legal advisor and the Ukraine Country Manager at Global Rights Compliance

Photo: Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

Human cost of war

5 dead, 5 missing after Russian missile attack on Kharkiv. Five people are still missing after the afternoon attack on Kharkiv, the city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov reported at 10:15 p.m. local time on March 20. Five people were killed in the strike.

Russian troops attack civilian car in Kherson Oblast, kill 2. This is the second case of Russia attacking a civilian car on the road between these villages over the past day.

Russian authorities claim airstrike on Belgorod Oblast kills 1, injures 2. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, claimed at around 12:20 p.m. local time on March 20 that the Belgorod district, including the city of Belgorod, was under attack and the air defense system was operating.

General Staff: Russia has lost 433,090 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 700 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

Pentagon: Recent $300 million in US aid was ‘onetime’ deal, Congress must approve further funding. The $300 million was the first tranche of U.S. aid since December 2023 and was only something that the Pentagon was “able to find” based on savings from already completed contracts, General Pat Ryder said.

Sullivan vows US will deliver $60 billion aid package during visit to Kyiv. During his surprise visit to Kyiv on March 20, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan vowed that the United States would deliver a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine despite its current impasse in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

US Senator: Failure to pass Ukraine aid could cause ‘worst atrocity in history.’ “We can’t let Ukraine go through this, if it comes through the spring and we haven’t helped Ukraine, God help us,” Senator Joe Manchin said onstage during Axios’ annual What’s Next Summit.

European Commission delivers $4.8 billion to Ukraine in first tranche of macro-financial assistance. “Today we also made the first payment of 4.5 billion euros under the Ukraine Facility, our 50 billion euro ($54 billion) package to support the recovery, reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine,” said Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat.

Lithuania allocates $38 million to buy shells for Ukraine via Czech initiative. Lithuania had pledged 35 million euros (around $38 million) for the Czech initiative to buy 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on March 20.

Netherlands to procure $164 million in F-16 munitions for Ukraine. The Netherlands will procure 150 million euros ($164 million) worth of munitions for Ukraine’s F-16 jets, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced on March 20.

New ICC chief on Putin: ‘Heaven’s vengeance is slow but sure.’ The new Head of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Tomoko Akane told Kyodo News on March 20 that “Heaven’s vengeance is slow but sure” when asked what fate awaits Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia accuses Olympic Committee of ‘racism and neo-Nazism’ over opening ceremony decision. The Kremlin has accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of “racism and neo-Nazism” over its decision to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics this summer.

Ukraine closing public access to ‘International War Sponsors’ list. Ukraine is removing its ‘International War Sponsors’ list from the website of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption after representatives from several countries raised concerns, the Cabinet of Ministers announced on March 20.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Kateryna Hodunova, Martin Fornusek, Nate Ostiller, Elsa Court, Chris York, Lili Bivings, Dmytro Basmat, Abbey Fenbert, and Olena Goncharova.

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