March 14, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Images and video uploaded from the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine Monday morning show multiple casualties from what appears to have been a missile strike on the city.

Donetsk is held by Russian-backed separatist forces and is the capital of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). 

The videos, geolocated by CNN, show that there were at least several fatalities on a main street in the city center as well as a large number of injured.

Remnants of the missile can be seen at the scene. Where it came from and who fired it are still unclear. 

“At the moment, we can talk about the largest number of civilian casualties as a result of a single strike," the leader of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, told Russian television.

"Around 20 people [died], but the number is being updated” he told Russia 24, calling it a “war crime.”

A local news agency quoted the Headquarters of the Territorial Defense of the DPR as giving the same figure.

The People's Militia of the DPR accused the Ukrainian side of launching the missile, saying, “The Ukrainian armed formations once again used the tactical missile system 'Tochka-U' in the residential areas of Donetsk, in order to [cause] genocide [to] civilians and destroy important civilian infrastructure in the capital of the Republic."

The Ukrainian armed forces have the Tochka missile but it has also been used by Russian and separatist forces in the past. CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment.

Pushilin separately told the Russian state television network Russia-1, "We managed to shoot down the tactical missile system Tochka-U , but even the wreckage did so much damage."

"The worst is the loss of civilian lives. People were standing in line for the ATM, at the bus stop," he added.

Separately, the health ministry of the DPR spoke of 23 injured being admitted to hospital.

The number of people entering Romania from Ukraine has declined significantly, with daily arrivals down by more than 50% compared to last week, according to Romanian Border Police.

The number of new arrivals dropped from on average around 30,000 per day last week to 14,000 on Sunday.

Over 412,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Romania since the beginning of the Russian invasion over two weeks ago, Border Police data shows.

Raed Arafat, state secretary at the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that about 80,000 Ukrainians remained in the country.

Meanwhile, German authorities have registered more than 146,000 refugees from Ukraine so far, a spokesperson for the interior ministry said Monday.

According to data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 2.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion in late February.

A pregnant woman who was at maternity hospital in Mariupol last Wednesday when it was bombed has died, along with her baby, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

An AP image of emergency workers carrying the injured pregnant woman on a stretcher outside the bombed hospital last Wednesday had been widely reported, including by CNN.

According to the AP, medics did not have time to get the woman’s name before her husband and father came to retrieve her body, so she did not end up in one of Mariupol's mass graves.

As CNN earlier reported, at least three people died in the attack Wednesday, which came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate.

At the time, the Mariupol city council accused Russian forces of dropping several bombs on it from the air, calling the destruction "enormous."

Last week, Mariupol's mayor Vadym Boychenko also accused Russians of genocide for its targeting of civilian buildings.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had called the attack an "atrocity."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday alleged without evidence the bombed hospital in Mariupol was the radical Azov battalion's base and that all patients and nurses had left. Later on Thursday, a Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson denied in a briefing that Russia had shelled the maternity hospital at all, calling it a "provocation."

A bipartisan group of Senators are voicing concern about the potential of widespread Russian cyber-attacks in the United States as retribution for the crippling sanctions America is imposing on Russia.

In a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Sunday evening, 22 Senators raise questions about America’s readiness for Russian cyber and disinformation threats.

Some background: Russian government-linked hackers have a long track record of infiltrating US government agencies and probing US critical infrastructure. 

A 2020 cyber-espionage campaign the Biden administration blamed on Russia’s SVR intelligence agencies exploited SolarWinds software to breach several government agencies. Russian-speaking ransomware groups have also disrupted US critical infrastructure, most notably last year in the days-long shutdown of Colonial Pipeline, a major fuel transporter for the East Coast.

They are requesting a briefing from Mayorkas on what the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is doing to proactively defend against Russian state-sponsored threats and what particular sectors might be targeted. The senators also want to know what the strategy is if critical infrastructure is in fact breached.

For months, CISA, the White House and agencies like the Treasury Department have held briefings with key sectors like banking and energy on Russian cyber capabilities and the possibility for retaliation in cyberspace. 

CISA’s website says there are no specific or credible cyber threats to the US at this time.

In February, President Biden designated DHS as the lead federal agency to coordinate domestic preparedness and response efforts related to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

West Ham and Ukraine star Andriy Yarmolenko was overcome with emotion after scoring the opening goal in his side's 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the English Premier League on Sunday.

The forward hadn't featured for West Ham for more than a month and told Sky Sports after the game that it was "impossible" to even train with the team in the days after Russia began its invasion of his home country.

"I was just thinking about my family and my people," Yarmolenko told Sky Sports after Sunday's match. "I just tried to give everything on the pitch."

The 32-year-old was greeted with applause from both sets of supporters when he came on as a substitute in the second half.

A number of Ukraine flags were visible in the stands during the game, while West Ham memorabilia in Ukrainian colors was being sold outside the stadium before the match.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, says that the Russian bombardment of the southern city of Mariupol has now caused more than 2,500 deaths.

"Our military is succeeding there -- yesterday they defeated another attempt at an armored breakthrough in Mariupol, took prisoners of war," he said Monday.

"But for this the Russians are wiping the city out.

CNN cannot independently verify these casualty figures.

Dire situation: Mariupol's city administration confirmed Sunday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid destined for the besieged city had not arrived, and was still stuck in Berdyansk, some 50 miles to the west. Berdyansk is held by Russia forces. A resident of Mariupol also painted a grim picture of the situation in the city.

The fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia is about to get underway, according to Ukraine's lead negotiator.

The session will be held virtually, not in person. The Ukrainian negotiating team is in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian negotiator, Mykhailo Podoliak, posted a short video on Twitter saying:

Podoliak added: "Although Russia realizes the nonsense of its aggressive actions, it still has a delusion that 19 days of violence against 🇺🇦 peaceful cities is the right strategy."

The Russian embassy in the US dismissed as “pure fiction” a report that Western companies operating in Russia who are critical of the government received threats from prosecutors.

The statement went on to say that “the decision whether to continue entrepreneurial activity in our country is entirely up to the Americans. As well as the right to ignore the Russophobic hysteria that encourages foreign businesses to suffer huge losses in order to hit Russia.”

Some background: The Wall Street Journal had reported that the Russian prosecutor's office issued warnings to seize the assets and arrest heads of Western companies that decided to stop operating in Russia. The Journal labeled its report “exclusive” and did not name sources, citing “people familiar with the matter.”

Major international businesses including Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have announced plans to suspend business in Russia in light of the invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions.

Several heavy explosions reverberated across Kyiv at 11 a.m. local time Monday.

They appear to have been caused by Ukrainian air-defense batteries aiming at either Russian aircraft or cruise missiles.

Several trails of smoke heading into the sky could be seen from central Kyiv.

Residential buildings hit: At least two people died and three were hospitalized after a residential building in a suburb of the capital was hit by shelling Monday morning, Ukraine's emergency services said earlier today.

Fifteen people were rescued and 63 evacuated after a shell hit the ninth floor of a residential building in the Obolon district, a northern suburb of Kyiv.