March 31, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The chief of French military intelligence, Gen. Eric Vidaud, was told to step down from his post partly for “failing to anticipate” the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a military source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

The source added that Ukraine was not the “only reason” for his departure but that “an internal reorganization of the Directorate of Military Intelligence” was also behind the decision. 

Asked what went wrong with Vidaud’s assessment in Ukraine, the source referred to comments made by the Chief of Staff Gen. Thierry Burkhard to the French newspaper Le Monde on March 6 where he recognized shortcomings in the French intelligence assessment of the situation on the ground. 

“The Americans said the Russians were going to invade and they were right,” said Burkhard to the French newspaper, while “our services rather thought that the invasion of Ukraine would have a huge cost and that the Russians had other options.”

According to the AFP news agency, Alexandre Papaemmanuel, an intelligence expert and professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, said France was aware that its own intelligence had failed on this occasion. But Papaemmanuel said that Vidaud’s Directorate of Military Intelligence isn’t the only branch of the security services to take the blame. 

Le Monde reported that other entities, such as the powerful foreign intelligence service the General Directorate for External Security, had sidelined the DRM. And a military source told AFP that the DRM's main role was to provide intelligence on operations, not on intentions.

Its services had concluded that Russia "had the means to invade Ukraine and what happened showed that it was right," the source said.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said there’s some indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is self-isolating and punishing some of his advisers, but added that the US doesn’t have much hard evidence to say that with certainty. 

When CNN’s MJ Lee asked the President how badly the Russian president is being misinformed by his advisers, Biden responded:

“But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time, because we don’t have that much hard evidence,” he added. 

US government officials have expressed confidence this week in the intelligence assessment indicating Putin was being led astray by military advisers on the success of the Russian military’s performance during the war, which has gone on for more than a month.

Biden also noted that he is "skeptical" that Putin will withdraw all of his forces from around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.  

"Thus far there is no clear evidence that he's pulling all of his forces out of Kyiv,” Biden said. “There's also evidence that he is beefing up his troops down in the Donbas area. Depending on your view of Putin, I'm a little skeptical.” 

He added, "I don't know the answer, but it appears so far that he has not pulled all of -- the idea he's pulling of his troops out from around Kyiv and moving south, there's no evidence that he's done that," Biden told reporters following remarks on the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

Biden, however, added that there is evidence Putin is "beefing up" his forces in the Donbas area of Ukraine.

What Moscow is saying: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday before Biden spoke that Moscow finds it worrisome that the US allegedly lacks understanding of Moscow’s decision-making process, Russian state news agency TASS reported.  

Dismissing comments from the US on Wednesday that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers, the Kremlin said it regrets that its style of work remains unclear to Washington, and such “misunderstanding” results in “careless decisions that have very bad consequences,” Peskov said, according to TASS.  

CNN’s Zahra Ullah contributed reporting to this post.

A bus convoy for the evacuation of civilians was moving toward Mariupol, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration said Thursday.

However, it was unclear when the vehicles would reach the besieged city, the official revealed.

Kyrylenko noted that shelling had intensified elsewhere in the region, particularly along the frontline.

"We are conducting some fortification of positions in the south and north directions in order to not just withstand the enemy,, but to defeat them. But now I see not just regrouping of the enemy — this is my subjective opinion — but it seems to me, based on the information that I receive, that there might be more professional servicemen coming in for the enemy to succeed at least in some directions. From what we see, looks like they are re-formatting their groups and relocating their troops in the Donetsk region suburbs."

The Russian military has said it will be refocusing its military efforts in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved a plan to extend the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean through the summer as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, according to two US defense officials. 

The carrier’s aircraft have been flying in support of US and NATO efforts to bolster the eastern flank of NATO in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The carrier deployed from the US East Coast in December and is now expected to be in the region possibly through August, one of the officials said. A typical carrier deployment is six months. Three Navy warships that are part of the Truman overall strike group are also being extended. 

The extension comes as the Pentagon is now grappling with how to eventually rotate the units it has sent to Europe due to the invasion. It is expected that the 82nd Airborne Division troop in Europe could be the next to be extended, because their rapid response capabilities are considered vital.

In February, the US Army extended a brigade combat team of about 4,000 soldiers that had already been on a rotational deployment to Germany for an additional 60 days. 

Even as the bombs began to fall, Yevhenia Khomenko didn’t want to leave her home in Kyiv, Ukraine. “I would rather die there,” the 94-year-old said. But eventually, it became too much, and her daughter convinced her to leave the home she had known her entire life.

When Khomenko was a child, she lived through the Great Famine of Ukraine — one that killed millions, driven by Josef Stalin. Years later, she fled her home during World War II as her country was targeted by Adolf Hitler. She’s now had to flee once more over an invasion prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian attacks have reminded Khomenko of the bombing, shooting and violence during World War II, she told CNN.

The bombs then, as they are now, were unpredictable, and she recalled running anywhere to escape them. Khomenko returned to Kyiv after World War II to help rebuild the city’s main square, she said. Now, she’s worried the city may never be the same — and that, given her age, she may never return.

Her 73-year-old daughter, Raisa Makhnovets, is also worried about that fate. Through tears, she told CNN how difficult it was to persuade her mother to leave Kyiv, and how their attempts to do so quickly became a “horror movie.”

They had no other family in the city, and first spent two days in a bomb shelter before trying to flee the country by train. The station was overrun with others trying to do the same.

Makhnovets said it took roughly 20 hours to get from Kyiv to Lviv, in the western part of Ukraine, and then out of the country altogether. She and her mother were then able to fly to the United States on a visa they had obtained years ago. They reunited in Sacramento with five generations of their family, as a great great grandmother and a great grandmother.

In Sacramento, Khomenko noted the peace in the California air.

Her feelings now are familiar to those from a lifetime ago, Khomenko said, but in her youth, she didn’t really understand war in the way she does now.

She then told CNN, “I wish you a good life and to not have to endure what we’ve had to. I hope for friendship between us and all peoples.”

Read more here.

US President Joe Biden tied the increase in US gas prices directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, repeatedly calling it "Putin's price hike."

In remarks from the White House, Biden said gas in the US is averaging about $4.20 or $4.22 per gallon, up from $3.30 at the beginning of the year.

Earlier today, the White House said that Biden would be announcing an unprecedented release of oil from US reserves and taking steps to punish oil companies for not increasing production from unused leases on federal land.

"Our prices are rising because of Putin's action. There isn't enough supply. And the bottom line is if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now," he added.

"This is a wartime bridge to increase oil supply until production ramps up later this year, and it is by far the largest release of our national reserve in our history," he said.

Biden said he coordinated the release of oil with allies and partners around the world.

"Already, we have commitments from other countries to release tens of millions of additional barrels into the market. Together, our combined efforts will supply well over a million barrels a day," he said. "Nations coming together to deny Putin the ability to weaponize his energy resources against American families and families and democracies around the world."

Watch US President Joe Biden explain why "Putin's price hike is hitting Americans at the pump":

The evacuation corridor in Mariupol agreed by Ukrainian and Russian officials, announced on Thursday, is “insufficient” to allow the rescue of civilians “in the right conditions,” the Elysee Palace said.

French President Emmanuel Macron had been working with Turkey and Greece to organize the evacuation of the remaining civilians in the Mariupol. An Elysee source told CNN on March 29 that some 170,000 civilians remained trapped in the city.  

Russia announced Thursday that it has blocked the European Union's "top leadership" from entering the country, in a reciprocal move against the bloc sanctioning Russian citizens and companies. 

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said that "on the basis of reciprocity" it is "expanding significantly the list of representatives of EU Member States and institutions who will be denied entry to the Russian Federation."  

No individuals were named in either the Russian or English language versions of the statement. CNN has reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for a list of the individuals' names.  

The foreign ministry said that the so-called Russian "blacklist" also includes "high-level officials including government and parliament members of some EU Member States, public and media figures who are personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inflaming Russophobic sentiments and infringing on the rights and freedoms of Russian-speakers."  

The EU has sanctioned a host of leading figures in Russian politics, business and industry, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, CEO of Russian oil firm, Rosneft, Igor Sechin and Chelsea Football Club Roman Abramovich.   

Russia maintained in the statement that the bloc's "actions are not only driving the relationship with Russia into a deadlock but are similarly jeopardizing the well-being and security of its own citizens, as well as the stability of the global financial and economic system." 

"Any further unfriendly action by the EU and its member states will inevitably be met with a forceful response," it added.

Actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have raised more than $30 million in donations for Ukrainians fleeing the war, and they outlined their next steps for helping Ukraine to CNN+'s Chris Wallace on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?"

Kunis said sanctions imposed on Russia by Western nations has been successful, but the public needs to keep up pressure on companies working with Russia.

"Sanctions work. ... In the meantime, the thing that the people can do on the Internet, in the world, is reach out to these companies and ask them to stop producing and stop working and close their doors in Russia," Kunis said.

Kutcher said that in addition to publishing an index of companies that are still doing business with Russia, the couple will be organizing 20,000 bulletproof vests to send to Ukraine and work to track children leaving Ukraine without parents or guardians to thwart human trafficking.

"There's so much more that can be done. This is just the beginning of our work," he said. "This is going to be a long war, because Putin doesn't seem to step down and face the reality that he made a huge mistake," also calling on China to "wake up."

"We're not going to stand down," he said.

Kunis was was born in Ukraine in 1983 and her family moved to the US eight years later.

Watch some of the interview here.