March 17, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Helen Regan, Travis Caldwell, Seán Federico-O'Murchú, George Ramsay, Ed Upright, Adrienne Vogt, Maureen Chowdhury, Aditi Sangal and Meg Wagner, CNN

Updated 12:02 a.m. ET, March 18, 2022

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5:36 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

China backs ambassador’s pledge to support Ukraine, but dodges question on military aid

From CNN’s Beijing Bureau and Hannah Ritchie

China endorsed remarks made by its ambassador to Ukraine on Thursday after the Chinese diplomat pledged Beijing’s political and economic support for the war-torn country.

“China absolutely supports the remarks made by the ambassador,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a regular press briefing.

“China supports all efforts that are conducive to easing the situation in Ukraine and a political settlement. [China] is ready to do its part to overcome the humanitarian crisis,” he added.

But in a sign of Beijing’s possible attempt to play both sides, Zhao declined to say if Beijing’s support for its ambassador’s remarks means China will not offer weapons or other assistance to Russia to support the military invasion in Ukraine.

“That’s your own interpretation,” he said, responding to a reporter’s question on the topic. “China has made repeated statements. There is no reason for you to make such a connection.”

Fan Xianrong, the Chinese ambassador to Ukraine, pledged Beijing’s support and praised the Ukrainian people in a meeting in Lviv on Monday, according to a press release from the regional government.

“China will always be a force of good for Ukraine both economically and politically,” Fan was quoted as saying to Maksym Kozytsky, the head of the regional administration in Lviv. “China will never attack Ukraine. We will help, especially economically.”

“In this situation, which you have now, we will act responsibly. We have seen how great the unity of the Ukrainian people is, and that means its strength,” he continued, adding that the Chinese embassy had moved from Kyiv to Lviv and would remain there for the time being.

As of Thursday afternoon, Fan’s remarks had not been reported by China’s state media, which has largely been parroting the Kremlin’s talking points since the Russian invasion began.

On Tuesday, China’s ambassador to the US Qin Gang published an op-ed in the Washington Post reiterating that Beijing wanted to see an end to the conflict in Ukraine and dispelling “rumors” that “China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported” the war.

“Conflict between Russia and Ukraine does no good for China. Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it,” Qin wrote.

His comments followed assertions from US intelligence officials that Russia had asked China for military support in Ukraine. Beijing and Moscow have both denied the claims.

5:10 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

People are emerging from the bombed Mariupol theater building, Ukrainian official says

From CNN's Victoria Butenko in Lviv

The Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama after an airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, in this handout picture from March 16. (Press Service of the Donetsk Regional Civil-Military Administration/Reuters)

People sheltering at a theater in Mariupol that was struck by a Russian bomb on Wednesday are emerging alive, according to a short statement posted on Facebook Thursday by the former head of the Donetsk region.

“After an awful night of not knowing, we finally have good news from Mariupol on the morning of the 22nd day of the war. The bomb shelter [of the theater] was able to hold. The rubble is beginning to be cleared. People are coming out alive,” Sergei Taruta wrote.

It is not yet clear if this means all those inside the building have survived. Hundreds of people were believed to have taken shelter in the theater.

Some context: Mariupol City Council, which shared an image of the destroyed building, said Russian forces had "purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol."

"The plane dropped a bomb on a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding," it said.

The Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama in Mariupol, Ukraine, is seen in this satellite image from March 14. (Maxar Technologies)

CNN geolocated the image and confirmed it is of the theater in the southeastern port city. The word "children" was spelled out on two sides of the theater before it was bombed, according to satellite images.

Videos of the aftermath showed a fire raging in the theater's ruins. The number of casualties is unknown, authorities said.

7:29 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

Zelensky cites post-Holocaust phrase Never Again in address to German lawmakers

From CNN's Inke Kappeler in Berlin

Members of parliament and of the German government listen as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears on two screens to address via videolink the German Bundestag on March 17, in Berlin, Germany. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made explicit reference to the Holocaust in an address to German lawmakers Thursday.

“Every year politicians say never again. Now I see that these words are worthless. In Europe a people is being destroyed," he said while speaking to lawmakers via a video address at the Bundestag.

Watch:

4:19 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

Over 1.9 million refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine

From CNN’s Antonia Mortensen

More than 1.9 million refugees have entered Poland from Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24, the country’s Border Guard agency said in a tweet Wednesday.

Of those:

About 593,000 people, or 31% of the refugees, entered Poland by passenger cars.
About 440,000 people, or 23%, entered by buses.
About 402,000, or 21%, entered on foot.
And about 210,000, or 11%, entered by trains, according to the country’s Border Guard agency.

Overall, more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion, according to the UN Refugee Agency, with the majority of those refugees going to Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia.

The population of Ukraine was more than 43 million people before the invasion.

3:57 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

China will "never attack Ukraine," says Beijing's envoy in Lviv

From CNN’s Hannah Ritchie

In this file photo, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, left, shakes hands with Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2020. (Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua/Getty Images)

China will "never attack Ukraine," its top diplomat inside the country told officials Monday, according to a news release from the Lviv regional government.

"China will never attack Ukraine. We will help, especially economically…In this situation, which you have now, we will act responsibly," China’s ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong told Maksym Kozytsky, the head of the regional military administration in Lviv during a meeting.
"China is a friendly country to the Ukrainian people. As an Ambassador, I can responsibly say that China will always be a force of good for Ukraine both economically and politically."

Fan said the Chinese Embassy had moved from Kyiv to Lviv and would remain there for the time being, according to Kozytsky.

Some context: On Tuesday, China’s Ambassador to the US Qin Gang published an op-ed in the Washington Post reiterating that Beijing wanted to see an end to the conflict in Ukraine and dispelling "rumors" that "China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported" the war.

"Conflict between Russia and Ukraine does no good for China. Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it," Qin wrote.

His comments followed claims from US intelligence officials that Russia had asked China for military support in Ukraine — something that Beijing and Moscow have denied.

3:52 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

UK Defense Ministry: Russian troop advance into Ukraine has largely stalled

From CNN's Irene Nasser

A destroyed Russian army multiple rocket launcher on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 16. (Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images)

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts, the UK Defense Ministry said Thursday on its official Twitter account.

"Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days" and continue to suffer heavy losses, the ministry said, adding that Ukrainian resistance remains strong.
"The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands."

An earlier intelligence report from the ministry said Russia is resorting to the use of older, less precise weapons that are less militarily effective and more likely to result in civilian casualties.

Due to the delays in "achieving their objectives and failure to control Ukrainian airspace," the UK Ministry of Defence's intelligence update said Russia has probably “expended far more stand-off air launched weapons than originally planned,” leading them to resort to weapons that are less militarily effective.

Some context: This is not the first report suggesting Russia's advance is slowing in Ukraine.

A senior US defense official used similar language Monday during a background briefing with reporters, describing that "almost all" Russian advances "remain stalled." The forces moving on Kyiv, including the infamous convoy to the north, had not appreciably progressed over the weekend, the official said, though the US did see Russia trying to “flow in forces behind the advance elements” moving to the north of Kyiv.

3:11 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific is no longer flying over Russian airspace

From CNN's Isaac Yee

Cathay Pacific aircraft at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, China, on March 9, 2021. (Kyle Lam/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Hong Kong's flag carrier, Cathay Pacific, is no longer routing flights over Russian airspace, the airline said Thursday.

"We regularly review our flight routings internally and also with information provided by external parties. We are currently not flying through Russian airspace," Cathay Pacific said in a statement to CNN.

Some context: Airlines have experienced major disruption due to the war in Ukraine.

The European Union closed all airspace across its 27 countries to Russian airplanes in late February.
In response to the EU ban, the Russian Civil Aviation Authority closed off its airspace to the carriers of 36 countries. The list included the United Kingdom and Canada, which had both banned Russian aircraft.
On March 1, President Joe Biden said the US would follow suit and ban Russian aircraft from US airspace.

A glance at flight-tracking site FlightRadar24 on Thursday showed few planes over Russian skies. They included at least one Air China flight but most were for domestic Russian airlines.

2:28 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

Russian troops use tear gas to disperse Ukrainians protesting against detention of city officials

From CNN's Paul P. Murphy and Josh Pennington

Ukrainian protesters in the Russian-occupied city of Skadovsk, Ukraine, on March 16. (obtained by CNN)

Russian forces tear-gassed Ukrainian protesters in the Russian-occupied city of Skadovsk on Wednesday when they demonstrated against the detention of the mayor and two other officials, according to a citizen who will not be named for safety issues.

Russian troops detained Mayor Alexander Yakolev, his deputy Alexander Grischenko and the city council secretary Yuri Palyukha on Wednesday morning, the citizen said. Dozens of residents of the Black Sea port city then gathered around noon outside the government building, where the three were being held.

According to a video of the incident and the citizen, Russian troops fired tear gas at the protesters as they demonstrated peacefully, sang and chanted, and tried to mediate for the release of the three officials.

Yakolev was released, according to a video he posted on Telegram, but the fate of his deputy and the city council secretary is not known.

Some context: This is the first known instance of tear gas being used by the Russian military against Ukrainians in occupied territory since the invasion began three weeks ago.

Russian troops have frequently tried to disperse protesters with gunfire, shooting over their heads. On March 5, at least one protester was shot in the leg in the eastern town of Novopskov in such an instance.

2:36 a.m. ET, March 17, 2022

Star ballerina Olga Smirnova quits Bolshoi Ballet over Russia's invasion of Ukraine

From CNN's Oscar Holland

Olga Smirnova as Odette/Odile and Semyon Chudin as Prince Siegfried in The Bolshoi Ballet's production of Swan Lake at The Royal Opera House on August 2, 2019, in London, England. (Robbie Jack/Corbis/Getty Images)

One of the stars of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, Olga Smirnova, has quit the company over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and will instead dance for the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam.

Smirnova, whose grandfather is Ukrainian, wrote on Telegram that she is "against war with all the fibers of my soul."

"I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia," she wrote in the statement, which was later republished by the Dutch National Ballet. "I have always been proud of talented Russian people, of our cultural and athletic achievements. But now I feel that a line has been drawn that separates the before and the after.
"It hurts that people are dying, that people are losing the roofs over their heads or are forced to abandon their homes. And who would have thought a few weeks ago that all of this would happen? We may not be at the epicenter of the military conflict, but we cannot remain indifferent to this global catastrophe."

Smirnova joined the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet in 2011, before taking lead roles in performances of "Swan Lake" and "Giselle," among others. She has since toured internationally with the troupe and has appeared as a guest performer for the American Ballet Theatre and the Vienna State Ballet.

The announcement comes a little over a week after two other Bolshoi members — Brazilian soloist David Motta Soares and Italian principal dancer Jacopo Tissi — both announced they were resigning. Explaining his decision via Instagram, Tissi said Russia's actions left him "unable to continue with my career in Moscow," adding "no war can be justified."

Read more:

'We cannot remain indifferent': Russian star ballerina Olga Smirnova quits Bolshoi Ballet

Oscar Holland, CNN