March 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

A crowdfunding campaign aiming to raise money for weapons for Ukraine has raised over $30 million from more than 100,000 supporters since it was launched last month, according to the Czech Ministry of Defense.

The campaign is coordinated by the Czech government with the money going to the Embassy of Ukraine in Prague.

The Czech government said it has made available $185 million worth of military supplies that can be purchased with the money from the crowdfunding campaign.

“Arms, military equipment and ammunitions urgently needed by the Ukrainian military and the Territorial Defense Force to fill depleted stockpiles are part of the offer," the ministry said.

"Heavy military systems and ammunitions of 'Eastern' design are under consideration for delivery to Ukraine as well."

The United Kingdom is to set out its new national energy strategy next week amid “global uncertainty” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking Wednesday in Abu Dhabi as part of a trip which will see him visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Johnson stressed the need to “be prepared” when faced with knock on price increases.

Next week, the UK government will set out its national energy strategy, according to Johnson, which will see a “massive jump forward on renewables, more nuclear” and a more effective use of UK hydrocarbons.

The prime minister said he is not only visiting the UAE and Saudi Arabia due to its oil reserves, adding that they are “some of the biggest investors here in the Gulf, in UK renewables in our wind farms.”

The UK needs “to double the pace of our construction of wind farms,” the prime minister stressed.

“When we look at the dependency that the West in particular has built up on Putin’s hydrocarbons, on Putin’s oil and gas. We can see what a mistake that was because he has been able to blackmail the West, to hold Western economies to ransom,” Johnson remarked.

The central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has come under Russian fire for the first time, according to officials in the regional administration.

Oleksandr Starukh, the head of Zaporizhzhia regional administration, said on his Telegram channel that the railway station and the area around the botanical garden were struck. No casualties had been recorded.

Separately, the southern command of the Ukrainian armed forces said the damage had probably been done by two missiles, but one had not exploded.

Zaporizhzhia is the destination for thousands of people leaving Mariupol, the besieged city on Ukraine's southern coast.

As of 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday, regional authorities said 3,207 vehicles had reached Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol. Shelter had been provided for more than 3,000 people.

France and Ireland have paid tribute to Pierre Zakrzewski, a dual-citizenship Franco-Irish photojournalist killed in Ukraine while on assignment for Fox News network.

Irish President Michael Higgins “offered his deepest sympathies to the family of Pierre Zakrzewski” in a statement released late Tuesday.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, meanwhile, said in a tweet Tuesday that he condemned “this indiscriminate and immoral war by Russia on Ukraine.”

French Foreign affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also paid his respects, saying in a Wednesday statement that “it is with great emotion that I learned of the death in Ukraine of the Franco-Irish journalist Pierre Zakrzewski and the Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova."

“I send my deepest condolences to his family, to the family of Oleksandra Kuvshynova and to their loved ones, and stand by them in the face of this tragedy” the statement adds.

Some context: Zakrzewski, 55, and Kuvshynova, 24, were killed in an attack while reporting near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday. Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was also seriously injured and hospitalized in the attack.

The deaths come as journalists working in Ukraine increasingly find themselves coming under fire. Brent Renaud, an award-winning American documentarian, was killed on Sunday in an attack that also injured journalist Juan Arredondo. A Sky News team released footage earlier this month showing them being violently ambushed.

Russia’s negotiating position in talks with Ukraine is becoming “more realistic,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

Speaking in a televised message, Zelensky stressed the need for his country to "keep fighting," but struck a more positive note on negotiations.

Zelensky emphasized the importance of persevering with the talks as "any war must end in agreement," but added that "we need more time to achieve decisions that serve the interests of Ukraine."

Talks between the two countries are set to pick up again on Wednesday after winding down on Tuesday evening, according to the Ukrainian delegation.

However, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian negotiating delegation, said the country's objectives in negotiations with Ukraine have not changed since talks between the two sides began.

Medinsky, a presidential aide, said Moscow wants a “peaceful, free, independent and neutral” Ukraine, as quoted by state media RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"The goal of Russia in these negotiations is exactly the same as the goal of Russia which was set at the very beginning of the special military operation,” he said.

Medinsky added that the Russia-Ukraine talks are ongoing, but are “difficult” and “slow.”

"Of course, we would like it all to happen much faster, this is such a sincere desire of the Russian side. We want to come to peace as soon as possible," he said.

"I want to tell our commander-in-chief to stop terror acts in Ukraine because when we come back we'll rise against him."

These are the voices of Russian prisoners of war now held by Ukraine.

Nearly a dozen have appeared in news conferences held by the Ukrainian authorities, just a few of the 600 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says have been captured.

Their public appearances may be questionable under the Geneva Conventions, which forbid states from causing unnecessary humiliation to prisoners of war. And it is possible that they felt pressure to express views sympathetic to those of their captors.

But three captured Russian air force pilots who spoke to CNN did not suggest they were speaking under duress, and their words appear to chime with other Russian prisoners of war speaking following their captures -- that this is not a war they want to be fighting.

CNN's interview with the three Russian captives revealed that they had deep disquiet about their mission and the suffering of Ukrainian civilians, while they also had harsh words for their commander-in-chief, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read the full story here:

RELATED

'We all will be judged.' Russian prisoners of war voice disquiet, shame over war in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will deliver a virtual address Wednesday to members of Congress.

It comes amid Russia's ongoing unprovoked and deadly invasion of Ukraine and as Kyiv presses the United States for more assistance in its defense.

There is widespread bipartisan support among US lawmakers for aid to Ukraine, and just last week Congress approved an emergency aid package with $13.6 billion in humanitarian, defensive and economic assistance to the embattled country.

In addition to that, Zelensky recently pressed President Joe Biden during their latest call for more sanctions to further squeeze Russia, CNN has learned.

What Zelensky wants: According to multiple sources familiar with the call, Zelensky specifically asked Biden for further efforts to cut off Russia from international trade and to continue targeting the Russian elite, as the US has continued to add more oligarchs and their families to its sanctions list. Zelensky also mentioned closing off Russia's access to international waterways during the call.

In their letter to lawmakers, Pelosi and Schumer reaffirmed US support for Ukraine amid the war.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Annie Grayer and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called for an international peacekeeping mission to be sent to Ukraine following a meeting Tuesday with the leaders of Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine in Kyiv.

On Wednesday, NATO's defense ministers meet in Brussels. 

As he arrived at NATO's headquarters in the Belgian capital Wednesday, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said while details must be looked at before a decision can be made on peacekeeping forces, "we have to continue to show — in action — our support to Ukraine and its freedoms and not just talk."

More than 3,000 cars transporting evacuees from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol have arrived in Zaporizhzhia, the head of the regional administration, Oleksandr Starukh, said on his Telegram channel.

Among the arrivals given shelter in the city were 772 children, he said.

Tuesday saw a significant increase in the number of cars able to make it out of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian forces since March 1.

The city council advised residents looking to leave to travel west along the coast to Mangush and Berdyansk and then continue northwest to Tokmak, Vasylivka and Zaporizhzhia.  

Zaporizhzhia attacked: Separately, Starukh said Russian forces had targeted two sites in Zaporizhzhia, including the city's railway station. He said these were the first civilian sites to be hit in the city, but there were no reports of any casualties.