March 28, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

By Kathleen Magramo, Jack Guy, Ed Upright, Mike Hayes and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 12:03 a.m. ET, March 29, 2023

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5:28 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Here's what to know about the Western tanks and armored vehicles arriving in Ukraine

From CNN's Jack Guy

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Commander of the Air Assault Forces Maksym Myrhorodskyi pose for a picture in front of a British Challenger 2 main battle tank, US Stryker and Cougar armoured personnel carriers and German Marder infantry fighting vehicle, in an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released on March 27. (Defence Ministry of Ukraine/Reu

Advanced battle tanks donated by Western allies — including Leopard 2s from Germany and Challengers from the United Kingdom — have started to arrive in Ukraine, bolstering the country's armed forces after months of pleading for reinforcements.

On Monday, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine had received Challenger main battle tanks from the UK; Stryker infantry fighting vehicles and Cougar infantry mobility vehicles from the United States; and Marder infantry fighting vehicles from Germany.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Berlin had also delivered Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

“Yes, we delivered Leopard tanks as we announced," Scholz said during a joint news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Rotterdam on Monday.

And three Leopard 2 main battle tanks donated by Portugal have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s ministry of defense said in a statement on Monday.

Some background: The Western main battle tanks bring greater firepower and survivability at a time when tank warfare has become an important part of the conflict.

Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former commanding officer of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment in the British Army, says the Challengers being sent by the UK are vastly superior to anything the Russians have, such as the T-72 tanks.

A Challenger L2 will probably take four or five direct hits from a T-72 and survive – while one hit [from a Challenger] will destroy a T-72," he said.

Western tanks would also allow Ukraine to conduct combined arms maneuvers if supported by infantry and artillery, and much of southern and eastern Ukraine is ideal terrain for combinations of modern Western tanks and armored fighting vehicles to spearhead a counteroffensive.

The Leopard 2 has another advantage, given the incredible rate at which ammunition is being used in Ukraine. The ammunition for its 120 mm gun is widely available among NATO armies.

Fred Pleitgen, Tim Lister, Matthias Somm, Vasco Cotovio, Yulia Kesaieva and Inke Kappeler contributed reporting.

4:58 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Mortars hit hospital in Ukrainian port city, officials say

From CNN's Olga Voitovych in Kyiv

A hospital in the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson was shelled by Russian forces overnight, local authorities said Tuesday.

"The enemy fired mortars at the hospital, which is located in the Dniprovskyi district of the city," Kherson's regional military administration said.

The shells damaged the main building of the institution, smashed almost all the windows, and damaged the heating system."

No civilians were injured in the attack, it added.

On Saturday, regional authorities announced that Russian shelling in Kherson left two people dead and six injured in the preceding 24 hours.

4:00 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Kindergarten and school damaged in Kramatorsk rocket attack

From CNN's Olga Voitovych and Kareem Khadder

A Russian rocket attack damaged a kindergarten and a school in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on Monday night, Ukrainian authorities said.

In a Telegram post, the Kramatorsk City Council said no casualties were reported. Six houses and a non-residential building were also damaged, it added.

The attack came after Russian missile strikes earlier in the day on nearby Sloviansk, which killed at least two people.

In an update Tuesday morning, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, revised the number of injured down from 32 to 28 in Sloviansk.

3:24 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Life was a struggle for families of Ukrainians with disabilities before the war. It's even harder now

From CNN's Ivana Kottasová and Yulia Kesaieva

Psychologist Olha Titorovska works with client Yaroslav Repich at BlahoDar, a Slavutych rehabilitation center for people with disabilities. (Brendan Hoffman for CNN)

As Ukraine marked a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Sasha Kharitonov spent his days lying in a bed in a corner of a small room that smelled of cigarettes and had Russian TV playing in the background.

He’s 17 years old but unable to move or eat on his own because of a severe form of cerebral palsy. He has frequent seizures and sometimes struggles to breathe.

Sasha requires round-the-clock care, but after his mother died three months ago no one was willing to take care of him. He continued to live with his disabled stepfather and step-grandmother Halyna Chernyshova, an 81-year-old woman who sometimes refers to him as “it” and who openly contemplated whether he “would be better off with his mom.”

During a visit last month to their home in Slavutych, near Ukraine’s border with Belarus, the family told CNN they had tried to find a place for Sasha in a care home but were repeatedly turned away. Many facilities were either damaged in the war or are full of patients from occupied regions.

His distant aunt, Lilia Seheda, wanted to take him in, but as the single mom of two children, it’s too much for her. Instead, she’d visit a couple times a day and help feed or change Sasha. Sometimes she’d read to him, watching his faint smile.

The war has put a huge strain on Ukraine’s health care system and has had a particularly devastating impact on people living with intellectual disabilities and their families. Their conditions are often invisible to the general public and remain widely misunderstood in Ukraine. The community was suffering from a chronic shortage of support services even before the Russian invasion began last February. With resources diverted towards the war effort, the few that did exist are struggling to cope.

Read the full story:

Ukrainians with disabilities and their families struggle as war makes life even harder

2:48 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Ukrainian air defenses shoot down more than a dozen Russian drones over Kyiv

From CNN's Olga Voitovych in Kyiv, Ukraine

Ukraine's air defenses shot down 14 of 15 Shahed drones launched by Russia into Kyiv's airspace overnight Monday, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said Tuesday.

Earlier, the Kyiv regional military administration said in a Telegram post that falling debris from the incident set a building on fire.

“As a result of the fall of UAV debris in Sviatoshynskyi district, a fire broke out in a non-residential building. The fire was extinguished.” Serhii Popko, the head of the military administration said.

There were no casualties, Popko added.

This post has been updated with additional information.

3:19 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Russia fires cruise missiles during training exercise in waters off Japan's coast

From CNN's Tara Subramaniam in Hong Kong

A still image from video released by Russia's Defense Ministry on March 28, shows what it said to be a missile ship of Russia's Pacific Fleet firing a Moskit cruise missile at a mock enemy sea target in waters off Japan's coast. (Russian Defense Ministry/Reuters)

Russia’s Pacific Fleet fired a pair of supersonic missiles at a mock target in waters off Japan’s coast on Tuesday morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

“A team of two missile boats carried out a joint missile strike against a sea shield simulating a simulated enemy warship,” the ministry said in a Telegram post. “The target was successfully engaged at a distance of 100 km (62 miles) by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles.”

The maneuver on Tuesday comes after Russia conducted drills earlier this month in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, with a submarine hitting a land target over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away with a Kalibr cruise missile – the same type of missile Moscow regularly uses in its war in Ukraine.

Read more here.

3:09 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

British tank arrivals and 2 dead in Russian strikes. Here are the latest headlines

From CNN staff

Multiple explosions were reported in Kyiv late Monday night, the city’s mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, said on his official Telegram channel.

“Preliminarily, there are no casualties,” he said.

The city’s air raid sirens were activated ahead of the explosions, the Kyiv region military administration said on Telegram.

Here are the latest developments:

Western tanks arrive: Ukraine has received its first British main battle tanks, along with other donated Western-made armored vehicles, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced Monday. "Today, I had the honor to test the newest addition to our armored units together with the commander of the Airborne Forces, Major General Maksym 'Mike' Myrhorodskyi, and our paratroopers,” Reznikov said in a Facebook post.
Zelensky visits regions: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the region of Zaporizhzhia, which remains partially occupied by Russia. He stopped by a military hospital and met with Rafael Grossi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and members of the military. Zelensky also accused Russia of nuclear blackmail over its control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Wagner chief in Bakhmut: The head of Russia's Wagner private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, paid another visit to the front lines inside the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to video geolocated by CNN. The video was uploaded Monday and was filmed by Russian journalist Alexander Simonov. It’s unclear exactly when it was shot.
Deadly strikes in Sloviansk: Ukrainian authorities have concluded search and rescue operations on the site of Russian missile strikes in Sloviansk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, told national broadcasters on Monday. At least two people were killed and 32 were injured in the strike on the eastern city.
Opposition to Belarus nuclear move: Russia’s decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus “aims to subjugate Belarus and violates its constitution,” said Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Monday. Germany also described Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear weapons decision as “irresponsible“ and “escalatory." German Foreign Office spokesperson Andrea Sasse said the announcement was a “further attempt at nuclear intimidation from Russia."

3:13 a.m. ET, March 28, 2023

Explosions reported in Kyiv late Monday night, mayor says

From CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva

Firefighters extinguish a fire in a building materials store in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on March 28. (Sergey Shestak/AFP/Getty Images)

Multiple explosions were reported in Kyiv late Monday night, the city’s mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, said on his official Telegram channel.

“Explosions in the capital, initially in Obolon and Sviatoshynskyi residential districts. All services are being sent to the scene. More details will follow later,” Klitschko’s post read.

In the Sviatoshynskyi district, fire and rescue services are responding to the scene of a building fire, Klitschko said.

“Preliminarily, there are no casualties,” he said.

The city’s air raid sirens were activated ahead of the explosions, the Kyiv regional military administration said on Telegram.

“The danger in the adjacent region to the capital city remains! Air defense forces are on the alert,” the post read.

8:49 p.m. ET, March 27, 2023

Russia fails to gain votes on proposed UN Security Council resolution to investigate Nordstream attacks

From CNN's Richard Roth in New York

Gas emanates from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea on September 28, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard/Getty Images)

Russia failed to gain enough votes on Monday at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for its proposed resolution to investigate attacks on the Nordstream pipeline.

Only three countries voted in favor of the proposed resolution, with 12 countries abstaining.

At least nine votes in favor were needed to pass the proposed resolution; however, the United States would still have been able to veto the move if it chose to.

US Ambassador Robert Wood told the UNSC that the US had nothing to do with the attack on the pipelines. He also questioned why Russia would attempt to pass the resolution after most UNSC members had expressed discontent toward the idea.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russian ambassador to the UN, said the truth will not be uncovered and urged the need for accountability.