Events

"First of all, there's going to be a Ukraine, an independent Ukraine a lot longer than there's going to be Putin. One way or the other, Ukraine will be there and at some point Putin won't," Sec Blinken tells @wolfblitzer

Today Russian troops arrested alleged organizer of protests against occupation in Berdyansk

PACE:The Assembly deplores that, despite the many appeals to cease the hostilities and to comply with international law, the Russian leadership has persisted in its aggression, escalating the violence in Ukraine and making threats should other States interfere. Through its attitude and actions, the leadership of the Russian Federation poses an open menace to security in Europe, following a path which also includes the act of military aggression against the Republic of Moldova and respectively the occupation of its Transnistrian region, the act of military aggression against Georgia and subsequent occupations of its two regions in 2008, the illegal annexation of Crimea, and its role in eastern Ukraine, which culminated in the illegal recognition of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as “independent States”.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) overwhelmingly passed the opinion asking Russia to be withdrawn from the Council of Europe

The US State Department: We will not allow Russia to use the nuclear agreement to evade the sanctions imposed on it as a result of Ukraine war

A convoy of cars evacuating from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhya was blocked by Russian troops near Vasyliyika (Zaporizhzhya region). People are left in the middle of the road under control of Russian soldiers with no possibility to move in any direction

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he was sending his foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to Moscow and Kyiv this week as part of Turkey's mediation efforts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine

Geolocation of drone footage showing a civilian being shot by Russian soldiers in Myla, Kyiv Oblast

Senior US defense official: Russia ground forces making "limited to no progres in achieving their objectives" in Ukraine

A senior Pentagon official: The Russian military convoy near Kyiv is still stuck and not advancing

Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Pressure must be increased on Russia to stop its military operations

A no-fly zone is shorthand for "shooting down Russian planes" leading to widening of the conflict, says @PressSec, continuing to express opposition to that idea

"We're on Day 19 here" and one of the reasons Ukraine has been able to hold its own and push back Russia invaders is because of the security assistance provided by the US, says @PressSec

"We've made President Putin's war of choice a strategic failure. The unprecedented costs we've imposed with allies & partners have reversed 30 years of economic progress, something President Putin himself pushed for, & that has happened in less than a month." -White House Press Sec

President Joe Biden will travel to Brussels, Belgium to for a NATO Summit next Thursday "to discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia's unprovoked & unjustified attack on Ukraine as well as to refer reaffirm our ironclad commitment to NATO." -Jen Psaki

White House: Biden will also join a European Council summit to discuss our shared concerns about Ukraine, including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence and address other challenges related to the conflict

.@POTUS with travel to Brussels to join an extraordinary NATO Summit on March 24 to discuss "ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine. - @PressSec

.@NATO SecGen today: Russia is "making absurd claims about biological labs and chemical weapons in Ukraine. This is just another lie. And we are concerned that Moscow could stage a false flag operation, possibly including chemical weapons

Big Russian mobile communications provider Beeline experiencing issues

Reports of several senior resignations at the other main TV company, VGTRK that produces news for Rossiya-1 and Rossiya-24

Russian FM Lavrov sent formal letter to Council of Europe about withdrawal of Russia from the organization

Zelensky: Russia seeks to exterminate the Ukrainian people and a no-fly should be imposed over Ukraine

Zelensky: Russian forces are bombing the infrastructure in Ukraine on a daily basis

Russia imposes sanctions against President Biden, Secretary Blinken and some other public person and politicians

The EU has approved a new round of sanctions against Russia targeting the energy, steel, and defense sectors, including Rosneft, Transneft, and Gazprom Neft, although EU members will still be able to purchase oil and gas from them

Russia fired an official who said last week that China had refused to supply Russian airlines with aircraft parts in the wake of Western sanctions

Residents of Mariupol have contacted the Media Human Rights Initiative (MHRI) hotline, saying that since yesterday morning (March 14) the Mariupol Regional Intensive Care Hospital (46 Troitska Street) has been occupied by the Russian troops

UK impose more sanctions on Russia: - Adds 350 new sanctions listings - Adds 9 new listings under cyber sanctions government - Announces asset freeze and travel ban against Andrey Melnichenko, Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, Sergei Shoigu and Dmitry Medvedev

The Ukrainian military claims to have foiled another attempt by Russian forces to breach the defensive line along the Irpin river north of Kyiv, this time in the direction of Huta Mezhyhirska and Lyutizh

Iranian Foreign Minister: There is no connection between the events in Ukraine and the Vienna talks

Patrushev arrived in Grozny, where he will hold a meeting on national security issues in the North Caucasus

Russian prosecutors seek additional 13-year jail term for Navalny: TASS

In London, UK, the police arrested 8 people at the property owned by Russian oligarch Deripaska after the protesters occupied the empty property in protest over the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Foreign Minister Wang Yi warns China does not want to be impacted by economic sanctions on Russia, state media says, as pressure grows on Beijing to withdraw support from Moscow. "China is not a party to the crisis, still less wants to be affected by the sanctions"

Russian army shelled Kharkiv 65 times yesterday - Head of regional administration

Written procedure now over for the EU's 4th sanctions package on Russia. Should be published in the official journal later today

Spain temporarily seizes a $140 million yacht belonging to a Russian billionaire

President Zelensky said that Russia suffered more losses during the war in Ukraine than during the 2 wars in Chechnya

Operational information from the General Staff:In the Avdiivka direction in the area of Kamyanka settlement, during the reconnaissance battle, Russian army suffered significant losses and were forced to withdraw

Operational information from the General Staff: In the Slobozhansky direction, Russian army does not stop trying to surround Sumy and conducts hostilities in the areas of Svatove, Izyum, Hrushevakha, Petrovske, Husarivka, Balakliya, Liman, Malinovka, Kochetok, Bezruky, Oleksandrivka, Velyka Pisarivka, Tarashivka, Nesarivka, Oleshnya. Talalaivka. Does not carry out active offensive actions. In order to strengthen groups in the areas of Sumy, Okhtyrka, Kharkiv and Izyum, regroups troops and consolidates on the captured borders.

Operational information from the General Staff: In the northern direction, Russian army is fighting in the areas of the settlements of Lyubech, Slavutych, Kovryta, Zolotynka, Mena, Branytsia, Kalita, Bogdanovka, Lukash, Romny, Nedrigailiv. Does not carry out active offensive actions. Carries out regrouping of troops, improves the logistics system in order to prepare and resume the offensive in the direction of Brovary.

President Biden: We will make sure Ukraine has weapons to defend against the invading Russian force. We will send money and food and aid to save Ukrainian lives. We will welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms

US told allies that Russia requested 5 types of military gear from China, including Surface To Air Missiles. Also drones, armored vehicles, logistics vehicles & intelligence-related equipment. US did not provide underlying intelligence in cables to allies

Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Federation: Until June 30, grain exports to the EAEU countries are prohibited; Until August 31, the export of white sugar and raw cane sugar to third countries is prohibited.

Marina Ovsyannikova has been reportedly detained and is at the Ostankino police precinct in Moscow

In Russia, on live broadcast of prime time news bulletin at Pervyy Kanal, the main Kremlin-controlled TV channel, a woman burst onto the podium to demand to stop Russia's war against Ukraine

Russians are clearly expanding their target sets in Ukraine, says @PentagonPresSec. But he adds they are not making the progress on the ground that the US believes Russia thought they would be making at this point. @StateDeptSpox has said Putin "gravely miscalculated"

NSA Sullivan met Chinese officials today and raised concerns abt "PRC support to Russia in the wake of the invasion and implications that any such support would have" for US-China relations and China's relations with the world, per @StateDeptSpox. Doesn't say if support has been shared

Syria: the commander of (Christian) NDF in Suqaylbiyah in N. Hama announces his readiness to go to fight in Ukraine, when Russia will order it. Nabeel Al-Abdallah has personal ties with Russian Generals in Kheimimim Airbase

"We will not allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses," says @StateDeptSpox, referring to China

China has tremendous leverage with Russia and could help bring an end to the "senseless violence" in Ukraine, says @StateDeptSpox

World Bank: Sanctions on Russia hurt the global economy more than the war in Ukraine

Fox News announces that one of their crew members has been injured in Kyiv while out reporting on Russia's war against Ukraine. @JohnRobertsFox says Fox's "teams on the ground are working as hard as they can to try to gather more information

The United States on Monday told allies in NATO and several Asian countries that China had signaled its willingness to provide military and economic aid to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, a U.S. official said

Israeli Prime Minister Bennett spoke to Russian President Putin and discussed the situation in Ukraine

Russia and Belarus agreed to abandon USD in operations with energy resources

Financial Times, citing sources: Washington has informed its allies that China has expressed its willingness to provide military assistance to Russia in Ukraine.

Pentagon still sees no indications of the Russians sending in military reinforcements from elsewhere in Russia, the senior U.S. defense official said

Russian-Turkish troops conducted the 93rd joint patrol in the western countryside of Syria's Kobani

Russian long-range cruise missile strikes on Ukraine's Yavoriv military training ground near the Polish border will NOT impact U.S. military aid: senior U.S. defense official. Yavoriv was NOT a transshipment point for U.S. military aid to Ukraine, the official said

U.S. has seen new Russian effort to block off any Ukrainian retreat from Donbass region, advancing 50 to 60 vehicles that are bypassing Kharkiv in an effort to cut off the area: senior U.S. defense official

Senior defense official begins: "We'll just say at the top that there's actually not a lot of specific changes or progress to speak to in general [in Ukraine.] Almost all of Russia's advances remain stalled

Slovakia expels three Russian diplomats – Slovak Foreign Ministry

Head of the OSCE: Russian aggression threatens the existence of our organization

The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe: Moscow's security demands were based on false grounds

Russia is testing NATO red lines in its war against Ukraine, Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas has said

Today after serving a 15-day jail sentence Pussy Riot's Maria Alekhina was jailed for another 15 days

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian forces could take full control of major Ukrainian cities and it had sufficient military clout to fulfill all of its aims in Ukraine without any help from China

Bill Browder: London mansion reportedly owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska occupied by squatters

In Derhachi, Kharkiv region, a Russian shell hit a private house, an explosion killed a girl born in 2007

Georgian President, vocal about Russia's war in Ukraine, just said the government denied her permission to hold official visits in European capitals and she was forced to covert official visits to private meetings

India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine

Iran FM @Amirabdolahian will travel to Moscow tomorrow on Tuesday to meet Russia FM Lavrov, said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman

Russian ministry of Defense claims offensive on Solodke, Stepne, Taramchuk, Slavne, Vodyane

Widespread damage in Okhtyrka after overnight bombardment - Mayor of the town

7 houses destroyed, 4 person wounded as result of missile strike on Stavyshe village of Zhytomyr region

Australia imposes sanctions on 33 Russian businessmen and their families