March 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The US House will now move on a bill to clamp down on Russia tomorrow after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier that the bill would come to the floor tonight.

The reason for the change: They had originally tried to approve it under "suspension of the rules," which requires two-third support to pass. But a Democratic leadership aide says that Republicans would not commit to giving them enough votes to get the bill through under suspension.

So they now plan to move the bill under a rule tomorrow so it can pass with a simple majority.

Following US President Joe Biden's announcement today that his administration is banning Russian energy imports, Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues that the House would vote on a bill that follows similar steps. The bill would ban imports of Russian energy, take steps to scrutinize Russia's role in the World Trade Organization, and reauthorize the Magnitsky Act to strengthen sanctions on Russia.

What is the Magnitsky Act? The act, signed into law in December 2012, blocks entry into the US and freezes the assets of certain Russian government officials and businessmen accused of human rights violations.

US Vice President Kamala Harris is set to begin her trip to Poland and Romania tomorrow as the Biden administration continues to show support for Ukraine and the US' eastern NATO allies while Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters a dangerous new phase.

Harris' trip will take place from Wednesday through March 11, and will include stops in Warsaw and Bucharest, according to a Friday announcement by the White House.

She'll meet with the leaders of both countries to coordinate on their response to Russia's invasion and discuss how the US can further support Ukraine's neighboring nations as they prepare to welcome Ukrainian refugees fleeing the conflict.

The White House says the leaders will also "discuss their continuing support for the people of Ukraine through security, economic, and humanitarian assistance and our determination to impose severe economic consequences on Russia and those complicit in Russia's invasion."

The trip comes as the Pentagon on Tuesday dismissed Poland's proposal to transfer its MiG-29 fighter jets to the United States for delivery to Ukraine.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement that the Pentagon did not believe Poland's proposal was "tenable," just hours after Polish officials released a statement saying the government was ready to deploy all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to US Air Force's Rammstein Air Base in Germany so they could then be provided to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Kirby said that the decision about transferring Polish-owned planes to Ukraine was "ultimately one for the Polish government," adding that the proposal shows the complexities that the issue presents as Russia has made threatening statements over arms being provided to Ukrainians for use against Russian forces.

The idea as laid out by Poland was too risky, Kirby said, as the US and NATO seek to avoid an outright conflict between the alliance and Russia.

More background: The Defense Department statement was released Tuesday evening after the Polish proposal caught the Biden administration completely off guard, multiple sources told CNN.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded for more aircraft amid the Russian invasion, the offer had not been discussed with the US before making it public and Polish officials did not bring it up with Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he was recently in Poland either.

US officials have privately weighed sending aircraft to Ukraine but have repeatedly noted the difficult logistical challenges of doing so.

Poland's surprise announcement complicates what had already been a high-stakes visit by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is due to land in Warsaw late Wednesday.

Harris had been expected to discuss the fighter jet issue while in Poland, according to officials. The White House had previously said it was in discussions with the Polish government about a plan for Poland to supply Ukraine with its Soviet-era fighter jets and the US to backfill the planes with F-16s.

Harris is still scheduled to depart Wednesday morning for Poland, but now there are intensive conversations within the administration about how to work with Poland to come to some sort of agreement that allows the jets to reach Ukraine.

CNN's Jeremy Herb, Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Oren Liebermann contributed reporting to this post. 

Ukrainian biathlete Dmytro Suiarko, who won bronze in middle distance vision impaired on Tuesday at the Paralympics in Beijing, said his house “was bombed and destroyed.”

Suiarko was part of a Ukrainian podium sweep in the biathlon event, with Vitaliy Lukyanenko winning gold and Anatoliy Kovalevskyi taking silver.

"I'm very happy. It's an amazing day today, 8 March,” Suiarko said, according to quotes provided by Beijing 2022. “Today is (international) women's day and my medal is for women in Ukraine. I'm very happy with the race because after my last shooting I lost 10 seconds on the bronze position, but (I did) the last loop very quickly and I took a medal," Suiarko said.

"I am very happy my friends Vitaliy and Anatoliy took the gold and silver medals," he added.

Suiarko said that despite feeling happy about his medal, the crisis in Ukraine is on his mind, he said that his home was bombed.

Regarding the podium sweep, Suiarko said: "I am very happy because three athletes from Ukraine stand on the podium again. For me, it's something amazing. I am very happy, but not 100% because in my country there is a very big situation and I want peace for Ukraine."

The Pentagon dismissed Poland’s proposal to transfer their MiG-29 fighter jets to the United States for delivery to Ukraine, calling it not “tenable,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Tuesday.

The Pentagon is in touch with the Polish government about the issue, but Poland’s proposal shows the “complexities” of transferring the fighters to Ukraine, Kirby said in the statement.

Earlier Tuesday, the Polish government proposed moving all of their MiG-29s to the US Air Force’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. The US government would then provide them to Ukraine, the ministry said. In exchange, Poland requested used fighter jets to replace the MiG-29s.

Kirby said the idea as laid out by Poland was too risky, as the US and NATO seek to avoid an outright conflict between the alliance and Russia.

Multiple sources tell CNN that the Biden administration was completely caught off guard by the Polish offer to provide the US with the fleet of used MiG-29 fighter jets.

The Polish offer had not been discussed with the US before making it public and Polish officials did not bring it up with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he was recently in Poland, either. 

US officials have privately weighed sending aircraft to Ukraine but have repeatedly noted the difficult logistical challenges that doing so would come with.

More background: Poland’s surprise announcement complicates what had already been a high-stakes visit by US Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Harris had been expected to discuss the fighter jet issue while in Poland, according to officials. The White House had previously said it was in discussions with the Polish government about a plan for Poland to supply Ukraine with its Soviet-era fighter jets and the US to backfill the planes with F-16s.

Harris is still scheduled to depart Wednesday morning for Poland, but now there are intensive conversations within the administration about how to work with Poland to come to some sort of agreement that allows the jets to reach Ukraine.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports to the US in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Victoria Nuland, the US State Department undersecretary for Political Affairs, reacted to the ban on CNN, saying, "we need to remember that the villain here is President Putin and President Zelensky is right, every drop of Russian oil that is consumed, is another drop of Ukrainian blood spilled."

Speaking live with CNN's Jake Tapper, Nuland noted that at this point in the conflict, the purpose of sanctions is to directly impact the Russian president. The official said that 70% of Russian oil "is now offline" as a result of sanctions and bans like the one that Biden announced today.

Should the sanctions force Putin into altering his offensive, Nuland said the US would respond in kind.

"If in fact, he gets out of Ukraine, if in fact, he gives back what he has stolen and makes reparations, obviously, we will work with the Ukrainians on lifting of sanctions," she said. "I want to live for that happy day."

Nuland offered Tapper and his viewers a glimpse into where Russia is currently at in terms of the invasion into Ukraine, a view that doesn't reflect positively on Putin.

"He is losing tanks and aircraft. He has thousands of soldiers dying, who will go home in body bags to Russians. He has citizens now who have zero access to a free press or ATMs or western technology. The pressure on him is growing. And sooner or later, he will wake up or the Russian people will wake up," she said.

"Unfortunately, it could be a long and difficult grind to get from here to there and I think all of us owe a huge debt to the Ukrainian people. Because it is they who are sacrificing, not just for their democracy but for all of our democracies," she added.

Nuland spoke today at a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Russia's invasion on Ukraine. She told lawmakers she believes the war will end “when Putin realizes that this adventure has put his own leadership standing at risk, with his own military, with his own people, that he is hemorrhaging the lives of the people of Russia, the army of Russia and their future to his own vain ambition."

CNN's Jennifer Hansler and Kyle Atwood contributed reporting to this post.

Check out Victoria Nuland's full interview with CNN's Jake Tapper:

Just two weeks ago, residents of the Ukrainian capital were tending to their shops, teaching schoolchildren or parked at their office desks.

The Russian invasion changed all that. Fighting literally for their lives, civilians, turned into volunteer soldiers, helped construct defenses with military precision — and they are now manning them.

Trenches run deep into the woods that surround the highway leading in Kyiv from the south. Fortified fallback positions are ready for whatever comes next. Huge metal anti-tank barriers known here as "the hedgehogs" because of their spiky shape are placed at regular intervals along the road. And makeshift blockades made of sandbags and huge concrete blocks stand at every exit.

The people of Kyiv are determined to defend their city.

As Russian forces approach, the resolve of its residents is palpable — with many appearing in good spirits.

Some flash a victory sign as vehicles pass by. The blue and yellow national flag can be seen everywhere.

At one checkpoint en route to Kyiv on Tuesday, volunteer defenders were handing out flowers to women in their cars to mark International Women's Day.

Many volunteers do not seem to be dressed warm enough for the freezing weather. They wear civilian clothes, with big coats and sweatpants an unofficial uniform. Their pants are mostly green, black or camouflage motif — not the military kind — but the civilian pattern made for hunting.

Some, but not all volunteers, are armed with automatic rifles and big knives.

Almost 40,000 volunteers joined the Territorial Defense Forces in the first two days after the invasion began, according to the Ukrainian armed forces' chief of staff. In Kyiv alone, 18,000 picked up weapons when authorities called for volunteers and reservists to do so.

Those who couldn't join the forces (so many people signed up that the Territorial Defense Forces had to start turning people away) are helping in other ways.

They are making Molotov cocktails, sewing camouflage nets for barricades, distributing food, hot drinks and cigarettes to those standing guard. They are raising money for the military, building more road blocks and even painting over traffic signs in an attempt to confuse invading forces.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an order to restrict or prohibit imports and exports of certain products and raw materials from Russia in 2022, but a list of those products that will be restricted and/or prohibited has yet to be defined by the government, Russian state media RIA reports, quoting the decree on special foreign economic measures aimed to ensure Russia’s security.

The government will have to define the list of states to be covered by these decisions within two days, RIA says, but adds these restrictions will not cover products or raw materials being transported by citizens for their personal needs.

Putin's ban comes as US President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration is banning Russian energy imports — including oil, natural gas and coal — in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking in a video posted on Telegram on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed reports of an internal UN email advising staff not to refer to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “war.” 

“I am grateful to our team. We made everything clear and quickly received assurances: there will be no lies in the UN structures. There will be no playing along with the aggressor. The word "war" will be heard on this site. Because that is the truth. We will not allow anyone in the world to ignore the suffering and murder of our people, our children,” he added.

The United Nations in New York, for its part, walked back the email contents in a Tuesday news briefing, with UN spokesperson Stephan Dujarric saying that an unnamed regional office should not have issued a memo warning staff to not use the words “war” or “invasion” to describe what is happening in Ukraine, “because there are no official instructions on what words saying those things.”

The UN spokesperson said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has used the word “war” and so has his top political deputy in a tweet, saying, “This war is senseless.”

Speaking in a video posted on Telegram on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for committing to a new “Marshall Plan” for Ukraine and indicated the West will form the support for the plan.

The Marshall Plan was an initiative to rebuild Western Europe immediately after World War II in an attempt to stave off Communist influence, according to the US Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute.

“We are already expecting tough decisions from the European Union. Sanctions. Against Russia. For this war. For this aggression, which its authors will regret. They will. For sure. That is why it is so important that the Russian leadership realizes that the world will follow the example of the United States, Great Britain, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan and other free countries. So, the world cannot be fooled. Sanctions cannot be avoided," Zelensky added.

The Ukrainian president also said he is grateful to the UK for offering to phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022. Zelensky's comments come just hours after he spoke via video to the British Parliament.

Zelensky went on to thank Russian citizens who support peace saying: “I am grateful to those Russians who support us, take to the streets and fight. They are fighting daily for us and for themselves. Because they are fighting for peace.

"The war must end. We need to sit down at the negotiating table — honest, substantive, in the interests of the people, not obsolete murderous ambitions,” Zelensky said.