March 29, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

More than 10 million Ukrainians, including more than half the population of children in Ukraine, have fled their homes since the onset of the war last month, a UN Humanitarian Affairs representative said while addressing the UN Security Council Tuesday.

Of those, 6.5 million are internally displaced and 3.9 million have crossed the borders to neighboring countries, UN Humanitarian Affairs Deputy Emergency Coordinator Joyce Msuya said.

Msuya said humanitarian aid is scaling up every day and now more than 1,230 United Nations personnel are in the country working with more than 100 humanitarian organizations across Ukraine.

She said the first UN convoy reached Sumy on March 18 delivering 130 tons of medical supplies, water, ready-to-eat meals and canned food for 35,000 people among other things. On Monday, a second UN convoy reached Kharkiv providing food and other essential relief support items that were distributed by the Ukraine Red Cross society.

“Countrywide, more than 180 metric tons of medical supplies have been delivered, and more than 470 metric tons are on the way,” Msuya said. “Where we can, we buy supplies from the local market, and work alongside local efforts.”

In order to deliver more humanitarian support “we need detailed, realistic agreements on humanitarian ceasefires and pauses to allow aid in, and people out,” Msuya said. She added that “the situation in Ukraine is a breeding ground for human traffickers and predators taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the instability fueled by the war."

“Humanitarian organizations are worried about the risk of trafficking, as well as sexual violence, exploitation and abuse in Ukraine and the region,” Msuya said. “Predators are luring single parents on the road with promises of transport and accommodation.”

The UN representative said that the organization is scaling up protection services for Ukrainians fleeing the country at the border but also inside the country, “providing information available on safe options and routes, access to helplines and safe shelter.”

US President Joe Biden, when asked to respond to Russia’s claim it will “reduce” its assault on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, told reporters Tuesday, “We'll see. I don't read anything into it until I see what their actions are. We'll see if they follow through what they're suggesting."

In the meantime, Biden said, the US is going to "continue to keep strong the sanctions. We're gonna continue to provide the Ukrainian military with their capacity to defend themselves and we're gonna continue to keep a close eye on what's going on."

The US President's comments came after delegations from Russia and Ukraine met for in-person talks earlier on Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkey.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said the announcement of plans for a de-escalation by the Russian military around Kyiv and Chernihiv "is not a ceasefire."

Here's a look at other key development in the war in Ukraine:

On the ground fighting: Intense fighting continued around the suburbs of Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon, especially in the northwest and northeast of the city, despite an announcement by both Ukrainian and Russian officials that Moscow was pulling some units away from both the capital and Chernihiv.

At least 12 people were killed and 33 injured in a Russian strike on the office of the regional military governor of Ukraine's southwestern Mykolaiv region on Tuesday, Ukraine's State Emergency Services said.

This death toll is an increase to figures provided earlier Tuesday by the Mykolaiv regional media office telegram channel.

US and allies "affirmed" efforts to raising costs on Russia: Biden and his counterparts in France, Germany, Italy and the UK “affirmed their determination to continue raising costs on Russia for its brutal attacks in Ukraine, as well as to continue supplying Ukraine with security assistance to defend itself against this unjustified and unprovoked assault,” on a call this morning, according to a White House statement. 

US troops training Ukrainians on weapons supplied by the West: US troops in Poland have been providing Ukrainians with some instruction on how to use weapons and equipment that the West has been shipping into Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, as part of the United States' efforts to help Ukrainian forces repel Russian attacks. 

Biden said on Monday that those American forces have been “helping train the Ukrainian troops” in Poland. The troops have been deployed there to help bolster NATO’s eastern flank during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Expulsion of Russian diplomats: Multiple countries announced Tuesday they are expelling Russian diplomats from their countries.

According to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands expelled 17 Russian intelligence officers attached to Russian diplomats in the country. It said in a tweet the decision was based on information from Dutch intelligence and security services naming the Russian officers as a threat to national security. 

Belgium said it is expelling 21 Russian diplomats who have been identified as involved in espionage and “influence activities,” Belgium's Foreign Affairs Minister Sophie Wilmes said.

Ukraine invited to a meeting with NATO foreign ministers: Ukraine and a number of non-NATO countries have been invited to attend part of a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers next week, according to a statement from the military alliance headquartered in Brussels.

Here's a look at where things stand in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion:

US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Germany, Italy, France, and the UK “did not” discuss Biden’s off-the-cuff comment in Poland this weekend that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told reporters Tuesday.

“They did not — I spoke with the President about this earlier, they did not,” Bedingfield said about the leaders’ call on Tuesday. “They were incredibly aligned, however, and spoke to some of the key issues that we are focused on here including supply to supplying weapons to Ukraine, including increasing costs on Russia, continuing to increase sanctions, supporting stable energy markets, and of course, the state of diplomatic negotiations.”

Bedingfield dismissed concerns that Biden’s unscripted remarks may have overshadowed the rest of his trip.

The Defense Department cautioned that while “small numbers” of Russian forces have moved away from Kyiv “in the last day or so,” Russia can still inflict “massive brutality” on the country, including on the capital city.

“Nobody should be fooling ourselves by the Kremlin’s now recent claim that it will suddenly just reduce military attacks near Kyiv, or any reports that it’s going to withdraw all its forces," Kirby said.

Kirby said that the number of Russian forces moving away from the Ukrainian capital are “not anywhere near the majority of what they have arrayed against Kyiv,” and that Russia has continued airstrikes against the city “even today.” 

Kirby said that the repositioning Russian forces are moving “more northward,” but that it’s “too early to tell” where their eventual destination is.

“We assess that it is likely more a repositioning to be used elsewhere in Ukraine. Where exactly, we don’t know,” he said.

Watch a moment from the Pentagon press briefing:

After US President Joe Biden offered a cautious reaction to Russian claims that they are scaling back some military operations in Ukraine, a US official says "no one should be fooled by Russia’s announcements" and should brace for more Russian aggression instead. 

"It also does not mean the threat to Kyiv is over. Russia has failed in its objective of capturing Kyiv, and failed in its objective of subjugating all of Ukraine, but it can still inflict massive brutality on the country, including Kyiv," the official said.

Biden said he and European leaders he spoke with Tuesday morning agreed to wait and see what Russia had to offer, while watching their actions in the meantime. 

Intense fighting continued around the suburbs of Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon, especially in the northwest and northeast of the city, despite an announcement by both Ukrainian and Russian officials that Moscow was pulling some units away from both the capital and Chernihiv.

A CNN team visiting a residential area close to the frontlines (5km away from Irpin) in the Eastern part of the capital, heard loud and frequent incoming and outgoing artillery thuds. Multiple Rocket Launch systems could also be heard sporadically.

In the city center, air raid sirens and artillery thuds could also be heard with the same intensity and frequency as in previous days.

At a nearby checkpoint, a member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense forces, Yuryi Matsarski, told CNN the fighting had not decreased in the past 24 hours.

"[There was shelling] all the time yesterday. There was a lot of shelling at night and also today in the morning and right now, in the evening,” he said. “As far as I understand, no targets hit here in Kyiv, so our anti-rocket system is doing its very best.“

Residents that CNN spoke with said they were suspicious of Russia’s announcement that it was withdrawing some of its forces from the region, adding that Moscow could not be trusted.

At least 12 people were killed and 33 injured in a Russian strike on the office of the regional military governor of Ukraine's southwestern Mykolaiv region on Tuesday, Ukraine's State Emergency Services said.

This death toll is an increase to figures provided earlier Tuesday by the Mykolaiv regional media office telegram channel.

More on the strike: The Russian strike demolished half of the building, Gov. Vitalii Kim said.

"They [the Russians] hit the building of the regional administration, demolished half of the building, hit my office. Most people were miraculously saved," Kim said in a statement on Telegram.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said the strike hit the nine-story building Tuesday morning at about 8.45 a.m. local time. 

A top European Union lawmaker on Tuesday said that “as a consequence of its principal position, China has given political support to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.” 

Speaking to journalists ahead of a high-level summit between the EU and China on Friday, Butikofer said, “The veil is threadbare and it fools no one." He added that he hoped that European leaders would “push hard to make China understand that Europe expects them to refrain from further supporting Russia.” 

“I would say that we have to convincingly tell the Chinese side that for us, this is not just a sideshow, this is not just an unnecessary conflict that will be forgotten tomorrow,” the German politician said. 

When asked if he thought China was helping Russia evade sanctions, he said, “China's commercial banks have refrained from obviously breaching the sanctions against Russia. 

“I don't think it's possible to say yet how much China has been helping Russia to overcome the sanctions,” he concluded. 

At Friday’s summit, the EU will be represented by European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and will meet virtually with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang before speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day. 

The European Council said in a statement that “the main focus of the summit will be on the war in Ukraine, the engagement of the international community to support Ukraine,” as well as the “dramatic humanitarian crisis created by Russia's aggression, its destabilizing nature for the international order and its inherent global impact.” 

The two sides will also discuss human rights, climate change, biodiversity and trade, it said. 

US President Joe Biden, when asked to respond to Russia’s claim it will “reduce” its assault on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, told reporters Tuesday, “We’ll see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are.”

Biden also noted that in his call Tuesday morning with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain that were was a “consensus” among the leaders to “let’s just see what they have to offer. We’ll find out what they do.”

“In the meantime, we’re gonna continue to keep strong the sanctions. We’re gonna continue to provide the Ukrainian military with their capacity to defend themselves and we’re gonna continue to keep a close eye on what’s going on,” Biden added.