March 11, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Italian authorities seized Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko's mega yacht on Friday, according to a statement from Italy's finance police.

The statement said the vessel — called "SY A" — is worth about 530 million euros ($578 million) and was in storage at the northeastern port of Trieste.

It's one of the largest superyachts in the world, according to its manufacturer, Nobiskrug.

The sanctions: Melnichenko was sanctioned by the European Union on March 9 as part of expanded punitive measures against Russian oligarchs. According to the EU, he owns the major fertilizer producer EuroChem Group and the coal company SUEK.

The EU council decision, which authorized sanctions against Melnichenko, noted he and 36 other business leaders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine began to discuss the potential economic impact of EU and US sanctions. 

On Saturday, Melnichenko spokesman Alex Andreev told CNN that the Russian oligarch removed himself from the board of both Eurochem and SUEK (companies he founded) after the EU sanctioned him. Andreev also said that Melnichenko was also no longer the “beneficiary” of the companies, in a statement to CNN.

When asked by CNN if Melnichenko had any comment on the situation in Ukraine, Andreev declined to provide additional comment and instead pointed towards his initial emailed statement to CNN.

“Andrey Melnichenko is an international self-made entrepreneur. He has no relation to the tragic events in Ukraine. He has no political affiliations,” Andreev said in that statement. “There is no justification whatsoever for placing him on the EU sanctions list. We will be disputing these baseless and unjustified sanctions, and believe that the rule of law and common sense will prevail.”

The detention of the mayor of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol is a "crime against democracy," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday in a video posted on Facebook.

Earlier Friday, Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov was seen on video being led away from a government building in the city by armed men. A short time later, the Russian-backed Luhansk regional prosecutor claimed Fedorov had committed terrorism offenses and was under investigation. 

Fedorov's detention was "a sign of the weakness of the invaders," Zelensky said.

Zelensky added that the mayor's detention was "not only against a particular person, not only against a particular community and not only against Ukraine."

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called the detention of Fedorov a "war crime," saying the Geneva Convention prohibits civilian hostages from being taken.

Technicians began working on Thursday to repair damaged power lines serving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, according to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.

The lines were entirely cut earlier this week, with the last one “destroyed as a result of the occupant’s shelling” on Wednesday, Ukraine's energy minister said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said diesel generators have been providing backup power to the site since Wednesday, and additional fuel supplies have been delivered to the Russian-controlled facility.

Some context: Russian troops overran the Chernobyl plant — the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster — on the first day of the invasion on Feb. 24, with staff still inside.

Some 211 technical personnel and guards at the site have in effect been living at the facility and in "increasingly difficult conditions" with potentially dwindling food supplies, the IAEA said.

The Ukrainian regulator told the IAEA it lost communication with the plant on Thursday, though it has continued to receive updates about the situation from senior off-site management.

Other nuclear facilities: The agency also gave updates about two other nuclear facilities in Ukraine. The power situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is “unchanged,” with two of four power lines damaged, the IAEA said, adding that one power line could provide the plant’s off-site power needs and diesel generators for back-up power are ready and available. 

In Kharkiv, a nuclear facility for research and development and radioisotope production for medical and industrial applications suffered “additional damage” after facing shelling earlier this week.

However, the IAEA said the nuclear material at that site is subcritical and the inventory of radioactive material is low, and the agency assessed the damage would not lead to radiological consequences.

Here's a look back at the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in pictures:

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Photos: The Chernobyl disaster

With Russia's war in Ukraine now in its third week, US and European officials have little optimism that diplomatic channels can deliver a way out of the conflict at this point.

Talks between Ukraine's and Russia's diplomats this week yielded no discernible progress. Supposedly safe evacuation routes out of the country have repeatedly been contested. The civilian death toll continues to rise, and by the end of the week both sides were trading accusations over the use of chemical weapons.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday there had been "certain positive advances" in negotiations with Ukraine, US and European officials and diplomats who spoke to CNN all expressed deep skepticism about the state of talks. None felt Putin's actions to date have suggested the Russian leader is ready to find a diplomatic off-ramp to end the war.

Impact of sanctions: The US and its allies have enacted crippling sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, and US President Joe Biden has kept in touch with European leaders as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But US officials have privately acknowledged they don't believe any of these sanctions are going to change Putin's thinking, and many don't believe Russia's losses in Ukraine will either.

The Biden administration is resisting putting its weight behind any single player involved in early efforts to broker a solution to end the Ukraine crisis. US officials say they have yet to see any tangible progress in any channel and continue to view Ukraine and Russia as the only essential players in driving a solution.

Read the full story:

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No diplomatic off-ramp in sight for Russia's war in Ukraine | CNN Politics

CNN teams in Kyiv reported hearing explosions in the early hours of Saturday morning, with chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward describing "a nonstop volley ... of just heavy booms in the distance," continuing for several minutes.

It's not clear whether the explosions were Russian or Ukrainian strikes, she said.

Fighting is continuing on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, with the city's administration saying areas to the north remain the most dangerous, including the suburbs of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel, as well as the district of Vyshorod further north of Kyiv. Fighting has also escalated in Brovary, across the Dnieper River, east of the city.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told CNN the city currently only has resources — including food and medical supplies — for one to two weeks.

CNN's Ward added that "Ukrainian forces are everywhere" in Kyiv. "They have dug up defensive positions along all the main thoroughfares leading into the city, they've put tank traps around. This is a heavily fortified city now. And even if Russian forces are enable to encircle it, it will still be an almighty battle for them to get to the heart of it."

Russian air and missile forces have conducted strikes against the western Ukrainian cities of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk in the past 24 hours, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update on Friday.

The ministry added that Russian tactical aircraft supporting ground forces are relying on "unguided 'dumb' munitions," which are "relatively inaccurate and indiscriminate and their use significantly increases the likelihood of civilian casualties."

Prior to his address on Friday, US President Joe Biden spent 49 minutes on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, detailing the new measures he was going to announce regarding US trade with Russia, two officials familiar with the call tell CNN. 

While most of Biden and Zelensky's calls since the invasion have hovered in the 30- to 40-minute range, this was one was a bit longer as Biden highlighted how the US was moving to suspend normal trade relations with Russia in another effort to punish the Kremlin.

Zelensky tweeted that he gave Biden an "assessment of the situation on the battlefield, informed about the crimes of Russia against the civilian population" and they agreed on "further steps to support the defense of Ukraine and increase sanctions against Russia."

An independent US government agency is calling on the Biden administration to push for Russia to be permanently expelled from Interpol — a step further than the suspension the administration has already sought — citing the invasion of Ukraine and previous abuses by Russia, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

Earlier this week, Attorney General Merrick Garland joined justice ministers from several allied countries to demand that Interpol immediately suspend Russia from accessing its systems, according to Justice Department spokesperson Anthony Coley.  

Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, is a global agency which facilitates police across its 195 member countries to collaborate on criminal investigations. Interpol issues what are known as Red Notices to request the location and arrest of an individual pending their extradition.

Friday’s letter from the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe commended the steps the US has taken so far, but added that the administration should call for the permanent suspension of Russia.

The commission — also known as the US Helsinki Commission — was created by Congress in 1976 with a focus on human rights, military security, and economic cooperation. It is led by Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Steve Cohen.

If Russia is suspended from Interpol, it would bar the country from continuing to participate and therefore put in requests for Red Notices, but it would not remove Red Notices that are already in the system, said Ted Bromund, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an expert in Interpol.

The core part of a nuclear research facility in Kharkiv has not been damaged following a relentless round of shelling, the head of the science institute said on Friday in an interview with Reuters.

The outside of the institute has been hit with “major destruction” by several shells launched from the Russian side, said Mykola Shulga, general of the National Science Center Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology.

The facility is currently in working condition and safe, Shugla said, adding a warning that if the nuclear fuel tank were to become physically damaged, it could leak radioactive elements and severely harm the environment. 

There are 37 nuclear fuel cells that have been loaded into the core facility, according to Shulga. The institute was about to start working on the industrial utilization of the reactor.

This comes as CNN reported on Thursday that emergency services in Kharkiv were tackling a fire near the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology.