March 27, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The Kremlin has maintained its position on storing nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, after Western leaders condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans as "dangerous and irresponsible."

Putin announced Saturday that Moscow plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which is among Russia's closest allies. It helped Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin's forces to enter the country from the north.

The statement from Putin over the weekend prompted strong reaction in the West. NATO said it is "vigilant" and "closely monitoring the situation," and Lithuania called for new sanctions against Russia.

The US has downplayed the move, saying there are no indications Russia will use nuclear weapons.

At least one person was killed and 25 wounded in Russian missile strikes on Monday against the eastern city of Sloviansk, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration.

A number of high-rise buildings and offices were damaged or destroyed by the missile strikes at around 10:30 a.m. local time, Kyrylenko said, adding that two S300 missiles were used.

“In addition, at the same time [the town of] Druzhkivka was hit by a missile attack — two S300 missiles hit the Druzhkivka orphanage and almost completely destroyed it,” Kyrylenko said. 

There are “currently no casualties in Druzhkivka,” he said.

It’s not known whether the orphanage was occupied.

Russian bombardments killed one person in the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region on Monday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky posted video of the aftermath of the attack, showing widespread damage and two fires. It is unclear whether rockets or missiles were used.

There was an assassination attempt against the police chief in the occupied city of Mariupol on Monday, according to Russian news agency TASS.

Mikhail Moskvin is alive, TASS reported, citing the security services of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, which administers Mariupol.

TASS said that Moskvin's car exploded a few meters away from him.

The news comes after Ukrainian officials said that the car of a top Russian commander was blown up in a central area of the city's Primorskyi district.

Russian and Ukrainian forces are caught in "the most intense phase" of the battle for control of Bakhmut, where both sides are caught in a grueling stalemate as Moscow strives to capture the city after failing to make major gains elsewhere.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine's land forces, has made decisions "aimed at strengthening" Kyiv's forces on the ground to "deter and defeat the enemy," according to the Ministry of Defense.

The ministry said that Syrskyi "took a number of measures to resolve problematic issues that impede the effective performance of combat missions."

The exact status of the battle for the city is unclear after unverified claims that Russia's private military group Wagner has made gains in Bakhmut, despite suggestions from Ukrainian officials that Moscow is running out of power.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Armed Forces, said on Sunday that Ukraine has "enough forces to hold the front line."

Cherevatyi also said that the intensity of Russian attacks had declined. On Saturday, he said there had been 18 separate attacks attempting to advance in the Bakhmut area, compared to up to 50 in the recent past. But the same dense shelling continued, he said.

The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest battlefield assessment that attempts from Wagner to break through Ukrainian defenses in the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka have "so far failed."

The car of a top Russian commander was blown up in the occupied southern port city of Mariupol on Monday morning, Ukrainian officials said.

"According to preliminary information, the car of one of the occupiers' commanders exploded," Mariupol's city council said.

The council said the blast occurred in a central area of the city's Primorskyi district. It did not name the Russian officer or say whether the explosion caused any casualties.

Russia is yet to comment.

Both Ukrainian and Russian officials have reported explosions Monday morning in the occupied city of Melitopol in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Social media video and images showed thick smoke rising in the middle of the city, which is a hub for Russian occupying forces nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front lines.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said it was "loud" in the city around 8:15 a.m. local time.

Rogov said “the air defense system worked" but he also posted video of emergency services working at the site of a strike. He said “information about casualties and damage is being clarified.”

The local Russian-appointed administration said a building in central Melitopol “was partially destroyed."

"According to preliminary information, four people were injured and several buildings were damaged,” it said.

Rogov said the building struck was close to a college where classes were ongoing. But Fedorov said the building was occupied by Russian security forces.

The first time Oleksandr Havriluk returned to his farm after it had been stormed and occupied by Russian troops, tears rolled down his face when he saw what they had left behind.

His farm buildings were almost completely destroyed, millions of dollars worth of heavy machinery had been left in ruins, and last year’s wheat harvest had been incinerated.

But the most pressing problem for Havriluk were the land mines which had been buried across his 12 square miles of surrounding fields.

Now, the 69-year-old is digging them up by hand, in a desperate effort to clear some of his fields before planting season begins in early April.

So far, Havriluk says he has removed around 20 mines from his fields in Valika Komyshuvaha, close to the city of Izium, using only a metal detector he purchased himself.

“You go, you find it, take a stick, tap it to determine the size, and then you dig it up,” he said. “And then you pick it up gently and take it out.”

The work is dangerous, he admits, but he adds, “I don’t have any other choice.”

Read more here.

Authorities in the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka — located in the eastern Donetsk region — are urging people to evacuate as critical resources like mobile service and electricity are disrupted by Russian shelling, a top regional official said.

Starting Sunday, the town’s utilities will be shut off as “more and more of the town is shelled and destroyed daily," Vitalii Barabash, the head of Avdiivka military administration, said in a Telegram post.

The regional leader said mobile coverage for the town will be shut off, too. He also cautioned that people will not be able to charge their phones, because in the coming days there will be nobody to service the generators or run the mobile tower.

“That's why you need to move out, you need to get ready for this. Especially those with children,” he said, “Real life shows that basements will not save you at the rate they are hitting the town with airstrikes now. Soon, I think Avdiivka may become a second Marinka — that is, nothing of the town will remain.”

About Avdiivka: The town is located just north of Donetsk city, a large metropolitan area.

The industrial town, home to a large smelting plant, 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 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.

Barabash has said in previous updates that civilian evacuations from the town are perilous, with a "road of death" leading out of town that's monitored by Russian troops who "immediately open fire."

CNN's Svitlana Vlasova contributed to this report.