March 23, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol has accused occupying Russian forces of seizing businesses as living conditions for civilians deteriorate.

Mayor Ivan Fedorov was detained on March 11 but freed five days later as part of a prisoner exchange.

In comments on Wednesday, Fedorov said the "situation is difficult, because Russian soldiers have declared themselves as authorities but of course, they don't care about people and their problems, they only care about taking the money from the businessmen, seize their businesses."

The mayor said the city was sending requests to Russia every day to allow humanitarian aid to enter the city and people to evacuate. "So far, no reply," he said. 

He also said Russian forces were intimidating the population and had detained a number of journalists.

Three Melitopol-based journalists, along with a retired newspaper publisher and his family, were detained by Russian forces on Monday and held for several hours before being released, according to Ukraine’s national journalists’ union.  

The four – former publisher Mykhailo Kumok, editor Yevhenia Boryan, and reporters Yulia Olkhovska and Lyubov Chaika – are all associated with the newspaper Melitopolskie Vedomosti. 

Food giant Nestle is suspending KitKat and Nesquik brands among others in Russia after criticism over the weekend by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over its ties to Russia.

Nestle said its activities in Russia will focus on providing essential food, such as infant food and medical/hospital nutrition and not on making a profit.

“This approach is in line with our purpose and values. It upholds the principle of ensuring the basic right to food,” Nestle said. 

Some background: Over the weekend Zelensky called out Nestle for its continued relationship with Russia. 

“'Good food. Good life.' This is the slogan of Nestlé. Your company that refuses to leave Russia,” Zelensky said Saturday during an address to the people of Switzerland. “Even now — when there are threats from Russia to other European countries. Not only to us. When there is even nuclear blackmail from Russia.” 

A Nestle spokesperson told CNN Wednesday, “We are focused on providing essential foods such as baby food and medical/hospital nutrition products. This means we will suspend the vast majority of our pre-war volume in Russia.”

The company said that is identifying solutions for its people and its factories in Russia. “We will continue to pay our people,” it said. 

It added that it will suspend the vast majority of categories, such as coffee and pet food.

Nestle announced on March 11 that it suspended exports of its products from Russia except for essential items like baby food. Nestlé also said it stopped importing Nespresso and other products into Russia, except for essential goods including baby food, cereal, tailored nutrition and therapeutic pet foods.   

US President Joe Biden warned Wednesday that the threat of Russia using chemical weapons in its ongoing attack of Ukraine was “real” as he departed the White House for a high-stakes trip to Europe to tout Western unity and support for Ukraine. 

Asked by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond about the threat of chemical warfare in Ukraine, Biden said, “I think it’s a real threat,” but declined to elaborate further before boarding Marine One. 

And asked his message to European partners, he said, “I’m going to say that to their face, I’m going to say all that I have to say, I’m going to say it when I get there. But I’ll be happy to talk to you guys when I get back.”

French authorities have frozen $800 million in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs as part of sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal told journalists Wednesday. 

“There will be no taboo if we need to go further,” Attal said about any additional sanctions.

The European Union’s latest round of sanctions in early March against Russia included measures targeting 160 oligarchs and Russian politicians. 

Russian forces have looted and destroyed a lab close to the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was used to monitor radioactive waste, according to Ukraine’s government.

The site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster fell into Russian hands in the first week of Russia’s invasion, triggering fears that safety standards inside the exclusion zone could be compromised.

According to a Ukrainian government agency, the laboratory was part of a European Union-funded attempt to improve radioactive waste management through on-site analysis of waste samples as well as the packaging used to dispose of waste. 

The government agency also reported that samples of radionuclides — unstable atoms that can emit high levels of radiation — had been removed from the lab. It said it hoped Russia would use the samples to “harm itself, and not the civilized world.”

It is the latest scare to emerge from the infamous Ukrainian site that sits close to the border with Belarus.

More background on Chernobyl: Staff working there on the day it was captured at the end of February only recently had the chance to go home, three weeks after they were due to rotate with an incoming team. 

Fomichev said that more than 100 people were shift personnel who should have been relieved after 12 hours.

Earlier this month, the site was forced to get power from emergency diesel generators for several days before being reconnected to the national electricity grid after repairs to damaged lines.

And on Tuesday, Ukraine’s government also warned of several fires close to the plant, which it said had probably been triggered by Russian artillery or arson.

Anatoly Chubais, a Russian government insider for decades, is leaving his job as President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on the environment, Russian state news agency TASS reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed source.

Chubais is the highest-profile Russian official to quit since the war began.

Reuters reported that Chubais had left Russia and did not plan to return, also citing an unnamed source.

CNN is seeking comment from Chubais himself and has not independently confirmed that he has left Russia or the reason for his resignation.

Chubais had been in the environment job since December 2020, TASS said. He rose to prominence as Boris Yeltsin’s finance minister in the 1990s.

Eighty people have escaped towns in east Ukraine on Wednesday morning after another night of attacks by Russian forces, a regional official said. 

Authorities posted the addresses of collection points on Facebook, where people could pick up buses and small vans to drive them to railway stations and then onward to the west of Ukraine. 

The humanitarian corridor was one of nine announced by Ukraine’s government for Wednesday – others include the key link between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast. 

The head of the Luhansk region, which includes Rubizhne, has been reporting intense Russian assaults in his region for many days. 

Serhii Haidai said there were ongoing battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces for control of territory with Russian aircraft also targeting Rubizhne. 

Oleksandr Markushyn, mayor of the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, said the Ukrainian armed forces, territorial defense and police "have 80% of our city under control."

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Markushyn said, "Our city is being constantly shelled by GRAD systems. Very massively. They are pounding the residential area, multi-story buildings."

Despite mass evacuations in recent weeks, Markushyn, who said his own house had been destroyed on Wednesday, estimated that up to 6,000 people are still in Irpin and that small groups are being evacuated each day.

The national police on Wednesday said they are resuming work in Irpin, much of which was occupied by Russian forces. It was another possible sign that Ukrainian security forces are regaining territory around the capital of Kyiv.

Irpin, a suburb located to the northwest of Kyiv, has seen weeks of fierce fighting and heavy shelling since Russia's invasion was launched nearly four weeks ago.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to address the European Council at a summit this week, European Council President Charles Michel told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. 

In an exclusive interview ahead of Thursday’s meeting, Michel confirmed that “we have proposed to him to address the summit.”  

He added that the European Council was the first assembly Zelensky addressed after the start of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

Michel said he has spoken with Zelensky and the Russian president multiple times since Russia invaded Ukraine, hoping to help them reach “a ceasefire and to make possible a sincere track in order to negotiate.”

“It’s extremely difficult, because we are not certain that the Russian government is sincere,” he added. “We are not naïve – we think that they are trying to attack military in order to strengthen their positions in the negotiation talks.”

“But on the other hand, we must change the balance of power in order to give to President Zelensky a better position in those direct talks with Russia,” Michel said.

The European Council meeting is scheduled to run from March 24-25, with Ukraine as the main topic on the agenda. US President Joe Biden is confirmed to attend Thursday to discuss Ukraine and transatlantic cooperation. 

Michel also discussed sanctions, saying the European Union “must be intelligent” on sanctions against Russia.

“We have decided unprecedented sanctions” against Russia, he said, adding "we are targeting oligarchs, we are targeting the economic sectors in Russia.” 

“It’s why we must be intelligent. The goal is to target Russia, the goal is to be painful against Russia. The goal is not to be painful for ourselves,” he said.

When pressed on Europe’s reliance on Russia for its energy supplies, Michel conceded that “we are too much dependent on Russian gas.” However, he added this was not a recent realization, pointing to the 2020 European Green Deal as one long term solution to over-reliance on Russia.