Russia invades Ukraine updates: 'Dire' humanitarian situation in besieged cities amid relentless bombardment

The New Arab concludes its live coverage of the latest updates from the Russian invasion of Ukraine for today. 

Here were the key developments: 

Turkey says Russia, Ukraine 'close to agreement'

Turkey, which has tried to position itself as a mediator, says Russia and Ukraine have made progress on their negotiations to halt the invasion and the two warring sides are close to an agreement.

Turkey said it was also ready to host a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'Time to meet', says Zelensky

Zelensky calls for urgent talks with Russia, saying in a Facebook video they are the "only chance for Russia to minimise the damage done with their own mistakes".

Zelensky has been pushing for direct talks with Putin.

Moscow claims that several rounds of negotiations have made progress on one of its key demands - that Ukraine becomes a neutral state. Kyiv, which is demanding international security guarantees, denies its position has changed.

Hypersonic weapons

Russia says for a second day in a row it has fired its newest hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in the country's south.

Hypersonic missiles travel faster than the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them hard to track and intercept.

Russia's defence ministry says it used the technology to destroy a large storage site for fuels and lubricants for the Ukrainian armed forces near Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region.

Mariupol school bombed

Ukrainian authorities accuse Russian forces of bombing an art school in the besieged city of Mariupol where some 400 people, including women and children, had been sheltering.

They also accuse the forces of deporting around 1,000 residents to Russia and stripping them of their Ukrainian passports.

Zelensky says Mariupol siege war crime

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the siege of Mariupol will go down in history as a war crime.

"To do such a thing to a peaceful city, what the occupiers have done, this is a terror that will be remembered even in the next century," he says. He adds Russian shelling is blocking efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies to Ukrainian cities.

Join us tomorrow for more news and analysis on the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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France freezes 850 million euros of Russian assets

France has seized around 850 million euros ($920 million) of Russian oligarchs' assets on its soil, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.

"We have immobilised ... 150 million euros in individual's accounts, credit lines in France and in French establishments, " Le Maire told French television as Paris hits Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Furthermore, "we have immobilised 539 million euros in real estate on French territory, corresponding to some 390 properties or apartments and we have sequestered two yachts (with a value of) 150 million euros," said Le Maire.

"In total that is (almost) 850 millions euros in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs which have been immobilised on French soil," he added.

The French crackdown means the owners are unable to, sell on or monetise their assets.

China envoy says Beijing not now sending arms to Russia

China's ambassador to the US has said his country was not sending weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, but he did not definitively rule out the possibility Beijing might do so in the future.

In a lengthy phone call on Friday, US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that there would be "consequences" if Beijing provided material support to Moscow as it prosecutes its war against Kyiv.

Asked Sunday on CBS whether China might send money or weapons to Russia, Ambassador Qin Gang spoke about the present, saying: "There is disinformation about China providing military assistance to Russia. We reject that."

Instead, "what China is doing is sending food, medicine, sleeping bags and baby formula, not weapons and ammunition to any party," he said.

Ukraine front lines not shifting as Russia loses momentum, Ukrainian official says

The front lines between Ukrainian and Russian forces are “practically frozen” as Russia does not have enough combat strength to advance further, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video address on Sunday.

“(Over the past day) there were practically no rocket strikes on (Ukrainian) cities,” Arestovych added.

Moscow TV war protester urges other Russians to speak up

The Russian editor who protested Moscow's invasion of Ukraine during a state TV news broadcast called Sunday for other Russians to speak out against the "gruesome war".

While working for Channel One television in Moscow, Marina Ovsyannikova barged onto the set of an evening newscast Monday, holding a poster reading "No War".

She was subsequently detained, fined 30,000 rubles ($280), and then freed pending possible further prosecution, but has turned down a French offer of asylum.

On Sunday she described to US media her decision to protest as "spontaneous," but said a sense of deep dissatisfaction with her government had been building for years - a feeling she said many of her colleagues shared.

"The propaganda on our state channels was becoming more and more distorted, and the pressure that has been applied in Russian politics could not leave us indifferent," she told ABC News program "This Week."

"When I spoke to my friends and colleagues, everyone until the last moment could not believe that such a thing could happen - that this gruesome war could take place," she said from Moscow, speaking through an interpreter.

"As soon as the war began, I could not sleep, I could not eat. I came to work, and after a week of coverage of this situation, the atmosphere on (Channel One) was so unpleasant that I realized I could not go back there."

France doesn't rule out energy sanctions against Russia, says Le Maire

Sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine are hurting its economy and President Vladimir Putin, France's finance minister has said, adding that banning Russian oil and gas imports into the European Union remained an option for Paris.

"They're hurting the Russian state and they're hurting Vladimir Putin," Bruno Le Maire told LCI television in an interview.

Le Maire said: "Should we in the immediate stop buying Russian oil, should a little bit further down the line we stop importing Russian gas? The president has never ruled out these options."

Ukraine says Russia bombs Mariupol school sheltering 400

Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces of bombing a school in the besieged city of Mariupol where some 400 people, including women and children had been sheltering, and of deporting some residents to Russia.

Mariupol has been one of the main targets of Moscow's attacks. Russian shelling has hammered the eastern Ukrainian port for days, and the city has seen a near total communication blackout.

"Yesterday, the Russian occupiers dropped bombs on an art school No 12," the city council said on messaging app Telegram on Sunday, adding that around 400 women, children and elderly people had been sheltering there from bombardments.

The building, which is located in the east of the city, had been destroyed, the council said in a statement. "Peaceful civilians are still under the rubble," it added.

City authorities also claimed that some residents of Mariupol were being forcibly taken to Russia and stripped of their Ukrainian passports.

"People who are being forcibly taken to Russia are being stripped of their Ukrainian passports and given a piece of paper that carries no legal weight and is not recognised by the entire civilised world," the city council said.

Ten million have fled their homes in Ukraine: UN

Ten million people - more than a quarter of the population - have now fled their homes in Ukraine since Russia's invasion, the United Nations refugees chief has said.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said nearly 3.4 million of the total had fled to neighbouring countries, mostly to the Polish border.

"Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, everywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said, implicitly holding Russia.

"The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled, either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad," he said.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said on Sunday that 3,389,044 Ukrainians had fled across the country's borders since Russia invaded on February 24.

Another 60,352 joined the exodus since Saturday's update, a flow roughly the same as the day before.

Some 90 percent of those who have fled are women and children. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military call-up and cannot leave.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, said more than 1.5 million children are among those who have fled abroad, warning that the risks they face of human trafficking and exploitation are "real, and growing".

US envoy to UN decries 'disturbing' claims of Ukrainians deported to Russia

Accounts that thousands of residents of Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol have been forcibly deported to Russia are "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Sunday.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Thomas-Greenfield said the United States had not yet confirmed the allegations made on Saturday by the Mariupol city council via its Telegram channel.

"I've only heard it. I can't confirm it," she said. "But I can say it is disturbing.

It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps."

UN warns that Russian invasion of Ukraine will lead to hardships in Syria

Paulo Pinheiro, who chairs an independent international Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, warned of the impact of the war in Ukraine on Syrians while presenting his commission's report to the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which is convening in Geneva until April 1st.

"Syrians will be confronting additional hardship as a result of the Ukraine crisis. Inflation is already skyrocketing," Pinheiro told the Human Rights Council.

"The government has begun rationing essential commodities, including fuel. Prices of imports have shot up and there are concerns in Syria as well elsewhere in the region about the availability of wheat to import."

Ukraine officials say Russians bombed school

Authorities in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol say that the Russian military has bombed an art school where about 400 people had taken refuge.

Local authorities said today that the school building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Russian forces on Wednesday also bombed a theatre in Mariupol where civilians took shelter. The authorities said 130 people were rescued but many more could remain under the debris.

Mariupol, a strategic port on the Azov Sea, has been encircled by Russian troops, cut off from energy, food and water supplies, and has faced a relentless bombardment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the siege of Mariupol would go down in history for what he said were war crimes committed by Russian troops.

Zelenskyy suspends parties with Russian links

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered to suspend activities of 11 political parties with links to Russia.

The largest of them is the Opposition Platform for Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in the country’s parliament.

The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter.

Also on the list is the Nashi (Ours) party led by Yevheniy Murayev. Before the Russian invasion. the British authorities had warned that Russia wanted to install Murayev as the leader of Ukraine.

Speaking in a video address early Sunday, Zelensky said that "given a large-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation and links between it and some political structures, the activities of a number of political parties is suspended for the period of the martial law".

He added that "activities by politicians aimed at discord and collaboration will not succeed".

Zelensky’s announcement follows the introduction of the martial law that envisages a ban on parties associated with Russia.

Ukraine evacuates scores of baby orphans

Authorities in Ukraine have evacuated scores of baby orphans from a city engulfed by combat.

The governor of the northeastern Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, has said today that 71 infants have been safely evacuated via a humanitarian corridor.

Zhyvytskyy said on Facebook that the orphans will be taken to an unspecified foreign country. He said most of them require constant medical attention.

Like many other Ukrainian cities, Sumy has been besieged by Russian troops and faced repeated shelling.

At least 5 dead in Russian shelling of Kharkiv

Authorities in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians have been killed in the latest Russian shelling.

Regional police in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said the victims of the Russian artillery attack early on Sunday, included a 9-year-old boy.

Kharkiv has been besieged by Russian forces since the start of the invasion and has come under a relentless barrage.

'Dire' humanitarian situation in besieged Ukraine cities

The humanitarian situation was deteriorating in besieged Ukrainian cities under relentless Russian bombardment today, as Kyiv called on Moscow's ally Beijing to "condemn Russian barbarism".

Thousands of people have been evacuated from besieged cities but Russian shelling was blocking efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

Aid agencies have warned they are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the invading Russian forces.

A total of 6,623 people were evacuated on Saturday along humanitarian corridors, including 4,000 from the devastated southern city of Mariupol, Zelensky said in his latest video address.

Russia said Saturday its forces had broken through the defences of the besieged port and were now inside the war-torn city, which has been under relentless bombardment.

Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would go down in history as a war crime.

"To do such a thing to a peaceful city, what the occupiers have done, this is a terror that will be remembered even in the next century," he said.

Gazprom says it continues Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine

Russian energy giant Gazprom said today it continues to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine in line with requests from European consumers.

The company said the requests stood at 106.6 million cubic metres for March 20.

Turkey says Russia and Ukraine getting closer to agreement on 'critical' issues

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Hurriyet daily today that Russia and Ukraine were getting closer to an agreement on "critical" issues and have nearly agreed on some subjects.

Cavusoglu also said that he was hopeful for a ceasefire if the sides don't take a step back from the progress they have made towards an agreement.

Russia says has again fired hypersonic missiles in Ukraine

Russia has said it has again fired its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in the country's south.

The Russian defence ministry also said it killed more than 100 members of Ukrainian special forces and "foreign mercenaries" when it targeted a training centre in the town of Ovruch in northern Ukraine with sea-based missiles.

"Kinzhal aviation missile systems with hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large storage site for fuels and lubricants of the Ukrainian armed forces near the settlement of Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region," the defence ministry said.

The ministry said the base had been used for the main supplies of fuel for Ukrainian armoured vehicles in the country's south.

The Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles were fired from airspace over Russian-controlled Crimea, the ministry said, adding that Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea had also targeted the depot.

Russia strikes Ukraine with cruise missiles from Black Sea and Caspian Sea

Russia struck Ukraine with cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and launched hypersonic missiles from Crimean airspace, the Russian defence ministry has said today.

Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia had carried out strikes against Ukraine's military infrastructure on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

"Kalibr cruise missiles were launched from the waters of the Black Sea against the Nizhyn plant that repairs Ukrainian armoured vehicles damaged in fighting," he said.

Russia fired Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea and hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles from airspace of Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to destroy a fuel storage facility used by the Ukrainian military, Konashenkov said.

Russia also hit a Ukrainian military preparation centre where foreign fighters joining Kyiv's forces were based.