Freedom of Information

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Pope meets with Ukrainian child refugees in hospital
Photo: Pope Francis blesses an Ukrainian child receiving treatment at Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital Copyright: Getty Images

Pope Francis has made a surprise visit to Ukrainian war refugees being treated at the Vatican's children's hospital in Rome.
About 50 children from Ukraine have been treated at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital since the war began.

Nineteen are currently patients there. Some had fled Ukraine in the early days of the war and had neurological conditions or cancer, while others were being treated for "serious blast wounds" the Vatican said.
"Let us pray for them... the children at the Bambino Gesu wounded by war," Pope Francis said earlier on Saturday as he addressed a children's choir.



'There were no safe places' - Mariupol refugee
Photo: OLEKSANDR BEZIMOV Copyright: Reuters
Image caption: Oleksandr there are "shell craters everywhere" in Mariupol

A refugee from Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine, has recalled his family's escape from the besieged city, after shelling hit the area of the basement they were sheltering in.
Oleksandr Bezimov and his family fled to Lviv, in the west of the country. He told Reuters new agency "When the artillery sound is non-stop, when planes fly over all night and bombard the city, it is very loud, it feels very nervous".
Oleksandr escaped with his wife and stepdaughter, but he hasn't seen his son since 2 March.

"The outskirts of the city were simply destroyed. And then I realised there were no safe places in the city anymore," he continued.
As many 300,000 civilians are unable to evacuate Mariupol, after Russian troops made their way through armoured columns that were protecting the city.
In footage filmed by Oleksandr, apartment buildings devastated by the bombardment can be seen.

Image: A destroyed apartment block in Mariupol -Copyright: Reuters
Mariupol is one of the most heavily bombarded cities in Ukraine



4:51
Air sirens signal new day in Ukraine
It is nearly 7am in Ukraine, and BBC correspondents in the western city of Lviv have reported hearing air sirens in the past hour - followed by the all clear signal.

Residents in many other cities and regions across Ukraine have also been woken up by air sirens, in what has become a daily occurrence. These include the capital Kyiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, according to local media.

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Orphan babies evacuated from Sumy
Ukraine authorities say they've managed to move 71 children from a baby orphanage in Sumy to a safer area. The infants had been sheltering in a bunker for the past weeks.
Russian troops have encircled the city in the north-east and there's been shelling this week.

"With the first opportunity to evacuate through the humanitarian corridor, we took the children out of the specialised orphanage in the combat zone," said Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the region's governor.
He shared photos of the children on Facebook.
"These are children who do not have parents (for various reasons) and most of them need constant medical attention."
He said some remained under the care of hospital staff.

Photos:
Two babies crawl towards a doorway -Copyright: Dmytro Zhyvytskyi
Six babes, bundled up in warm clothes, lie together in a cot - Copyright: Dmytro Zhyvytskyi
A group of infants lie on mattresses pushed together as a volunteer attends to one of them - Copyright: Dmytro Zhyvytskyi




Ukrainians paint a desperate picture in Mariupol
Hugo Bachega -BBC News, Lviv

Photo: Residents walk among rubble in Mariupol -Copyright: Reuters

Every person we interview and every account we hear paint a desperate situation in Mariupol, which has been completely surrounded by Russian troops. An estimated 300,000 people are trapped, with no electricity, running water or heating.

Amid relentless Russian attacks, civilians spend most of their days in shelters and basements, as it’s too dangerous to go out, according to residents who have managed to escape. Communication with the city is difficult, with the phone network said to be operational just a few hours a day.

No place seems to have been spared. The mayor, Vadym Boichenko, told me earlier this week that over 80% of residential buildings had been either damaged or destroyed, a third of them beyond repair.

“There’s no city centre left,” he said. “There isn’t a small piece of land in the city that doesn’t have signs of war.”

Food and medical supplies are running low, as Russia has prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid. City officials estimate that at least 2,500 people have died in the three-week war, although they admit this is an underestimate as they are unable to count who is being killed.

Some of the dead are being left in the streets, as it is too risky to get to them. When they are finally collected, many end up buried in mass graves - another symbol of the horror there.




6:56 BREAKING
Ukraine officials: Russia attacked school sheltering 400 people
The Mariupol city council says Russian forces bombed a school where 400 people were taking shelter on Saturday.

In an update on Telegram, it says the building was destroyed and people are under the rubble. Women, children and the elderly had been in the school, the officials said.
There's no information on casualties yet.

Communication with Mariupol is incredibly difficult, and the BBC has been unable to immediately verify the claim.




8:01
Mariupol residents being taken to Russia
City officials in embattled Mariupol on Saturday accused Russia of taking thousands of locals across the border against their will over the past week.

The BBC is yet to verify these claims – but more testimonies are emerging of such events.

One official, Pyotr Andryuschenko, told the New York Times between 4,000 and 4,500 residents had been moved to Tangarog, a city in the Rostov region which borders Ukraine’s south-east corner. He added that they had been taken without their passports.

One Ukrainian man also told the newspaper he had been in contact with three families who had been forcibly relocated.

“Now the Russians are walking through the basements, and if there are people left there, they forcibly take them to Taganrog,” said Eduard Zarubin, a doctor who left the city earlier this week.

Russia has not directly addressed the claim, but its defence ministry on Friday claimed thousands of Ukrainians wished to "escape to Russia" and its government was helping them.

Mariupol is currently the scene of intense street battles between Russian and Ukrainian troops. The city has been shelled continuously over the past two weeks and local officials estimate 2,400 people have died already.

Communication with the city is difficult as phone lines are down. Residents have no electricity, gas or running water, and are rationing their food supplies. Ukraine says Russia has also stopped convoys of humanitarian aid making their way into the city.




Russian bombardment limiting humanitarian work - Unicef
Photo Joe English -Copyright: BBC
A worker with the United Nations children's agency Unicef has told the BBC that residents in the besieged south-eastern city of Mariupol are in desperate need of humanitarian help, but that Russia's constant bombardment is making aid work almost impossible.

Speaking from the western city of Lviv, Joe English told BBC Breakfast "there aren't words sufficient to describe" the severity of the situation in the city, but that many aid workers are being put in "the line of fire" when they try to help.

"As we've seen with humanitarian corridors, they can be agreed in principle but the reality on the ground is very different," he said.

He emphasized the importance of allowing humanitarian groups to work effectively, noting that its not just "a case of getting people out of these areas, we also need to be able to get humanitarian supplies in because not everyone is going to be able to leave".

English also spoke of a "children's crisis" erupting across the country.

"Yesterday I met with a kid called Danilo whose got T-cell leukaemia," he said. "This is a kid who needs dedicated medical support and he can't get it here."

"But every day we're hearing these stories. The day before that it was Andrei, 15, blown up in a landmine accident and lost his mum. The day before that it was a 10-week-old baby called Anna whose mother made the impossible decision to leave her in a maternity hospital in Kyiv because Anna has a heart defect and will need intense medical support and her mother didn't feel she could provide that."

"Inside the country this is a children's crisis. For children who've fled across the border this is a children's crisis. It's simply staggering," English concluded.

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Russia trying to bomb Ukraine 'into submission'
The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Lviv says that as Russia's military advance comes to a halt, Moscow may be moving into a new phase of the war where its forces try to bomb Ukraine "into submission".

Speaking from the western Ukrainian city, Fisher told BBC Breakfast that Russian forces have "effectively ground to a halt" in most parts of Ukraine.

"It does appear now that the Russians are shifting focus from trying to move vehicles and tanks and armour in on the ground to instead shelling and targeting cities from the air. We've seen that in Mariupol, we've seen it in Kharkiv and we've seen it to a certain extent in Kyiv as well," Fisher said.

Meanwhile, the BBC's James Waterhouse in Kyiv says the war could be entering "a deadly holding pattern".

Speaking from the capital city, Waterhouse said Russia's failure to gain control of the Ukrainian airspace and intense resistance from its troops has forced its Moscow to re-evaluate their advance and resort to broad bombardments of cities from afar.

"The other problem they're facing is they're spreading themselves too thin," Waterhouse said. "Even if Mariupol was to fall in the south-east, the cost of that for the Russians, because of the level of Ukrainian resistance, means that they won't be able to keep pushing forward."

"We understand they've shelved plans for now to try and advance on the southern city of Odesa, another significant strategic location," he added.

"That's why the worry is here in Kyiv that troops... will resort to getting in positions where they can bombard the city like we've seen elsewhere because they don't currently have the numbers to surround it."




UK: Russia shelling Ukrainian cities indiscriminately
The UK's ministry of defence has said Russian forces are shelling Ukrainian cities "indiscriminately" as their advance stalls in eastern regions.

In a daily update posted to social media, defence officials say Russian shelling of a large number of cities has resulted in "widespread destruction" and huge numbers of civilian casualties.

The post also said that Russian forces "are continuing to encircle a number of cities across eastern Ukraine" but noted that they have made just "limited progress" in capturing these key targets over the past week.

Official warned that it is likely Moscow's forces will unleash "heavy firepower to support assaults on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties".

A Ukrainian assessment released on Saturday claimed that over 14,000 Russian troops have been killed so far, though the BBC cannot independently verify this figure. Western officials believe at least 7,000 troops are dead.


One of Europe's biggest steelworks said to be destroyed
Following earlier reports of explosions at the iron and steelworks in Mariupol, known as the Azovstal factory, Ukrainian lawmakers now say it was "destroyed" by Russian shelling.

Azovstol's director general said on Telegram that the factory was hit, but did not specify the extent of the damage.

He said factory workers had taken safety measures since the war began so that it would not pose a wider risk to residents.

The steelworks had a been key asset in Mariupol, on the Sea of Asov, which Moscow has been battling for two weeks to take.

It's a small city but strategic for Russia so it can have a land corridor between the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, controlled by Russian-backed separatists, and Crimea, the peninsula Russia invaded and annexed in 2014.



Russia says dozens of 'mercenaries' killed in missile strike
Russia's defence ministry says it has killed dozens of "mercenaries" in a missile strike on a training centre in western Ukraine, the state-run RIA news agency has reported.

Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, a spokesperson for the ministry, said more than 100 Ukrainian troops and "foreign mercenaries" were killed when a "high-precision missile" hit a Ukrainian base near Ovruch in the Zhytomyr Oblast.

"High-precision air-launched missiles struck at the training centre for special operations forces of the Ukrainian armed forces, where foreign mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine were based," Konashenkov said.

The BBC cannot independently verify the claim.



Russian airborne unit fully destroyed, Ukraine claims

Ukrainian defense officials have claimed that Russia's Kostroma 331st Guards Airborne Regiment has been destroyed by its forces.

In an update posted to the Ukrainian General Staff's Facebook page, officials said that the regiment had been involved in engagements around the capital city of Kyiv and that just one member of the unit had survived an encounter with Ukrainian troops.

The update also claimed that the commandant's office in the Russian city of Belgorod was investigating a case against 10 servicemen of the 138th motorised rifle brigade who mutinied after taking heavy losses during an offensive in the eastern city of Kharkiv.

The BBC cannot independently verify these claims.

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Russia engaged in genocide against Ukraine, deputy prime minister says

Photo: Olha Stefanishyna at a news confernece -Copyright: Getty Images
Ukraine's deputy prime minister has accused Russia of committing acts of "genocide" during its invasion of her country.

Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge programme, Olha Stefanishyna said she "absolutely believes" that acts of genocide have been committed by the Russian regime, and said that President Vladimir Putin and leaders in the Kremlin "are war criminals".

Stefanishyna said that the number of "civilian victims" killed and injured during the Russian invasion has been "far greater than the armed forces of Ukraine," and alleged that "women have been raped for hours and then murdered" by Russian soldiers.

But she pledged that "Ukraine will resist for as long as needed" and said the country's public prosecutor will seek to charge Russian troops suspected of war crimes, noting that some 2,000 cases have already been opened.

She also praised Turkish and Israeli leaders for their roles in seeking to broker a peace deal, but warned that Ukraine will not agree to any settlement which would see Russia claim its territory, which she said was the country's "red line" in discussions.

However, she said there may be some space for discussions on the "reintegration" of separatist eastern regions which have been "occupied" for the past eight years.

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School attack adds to claim Russia is targeting civilian buildings in Mariupol

Hugo Bachega -BBC News, Lviv

If confirmed, the attack on a school in Mariupol would be the latest civilian building to have been targeted by Russia in the besieged city. About 400 people were sheltering there, the city council said.

Pictures from Mariupol show entire neighbourhoods in ruins, with countless apartment blocks and other non-military facilities, including a hospital and a church, damaged by shelling.

Russia, however, denies attacking civilian sites.

Last Wednesday, the city authorities accused Russia of bombing a theatre in the city centre, which had been clearly marked as a civilian shelter, with the word “children” in Russian written on the ground outside the building. Moscow rejected the accusation.

The theatre’s basement withstood the attack, and about 130 people have left the site, authorities said. But 1,300 are estimated to remain there, mostly women, children and elderly people. On Saturday, the mayor told me fighting in the area was hampering efforts to rescue them.

Communication with the city is difficult, which makes it hard to independently verify the claims. This difficulty also fuels the agony of so many waiting to hear from their loved ones trapped inside.

Satellite Photo showing theatre and art school in Mariupol - They appear to be close to one another Source Maxar 14 March 2022.

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Russian tank 'shells Ukraine care home'
BBC Monitoring -The world through its media

A Russian tank fired at a care home in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kreminna, according to the head of the Luhansk military civil administration.

Writing on the Telegram messaging service, Serhiy Hayday said Russian forces "cynically and deliberately" opened fire killing 56 residents.

Hayday alleged that the 15 survivors were "abducted by the occupiers" before being taken to a "regional geriatric home" in Svatove.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the official's account.

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Pope urges leaders to end 'this repugnant war'
Pope Francis used his Sunday blessing and address in Vatican City to say the conflict in Ukraine was an unjustified "senseless massacre" and called on leaders to stop "this repugnant war".

"The violent aggression against Ukraine is unfortunately not slowing down," the Pope said to the thousands of people who had gathered in St Peter's Square.

"It is a senseless massacre where every day slaughters and atrocities are being repeated," he added.

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Russian trains send Mariupol refugees to distant cities
Photo of Ukrainian refugees in Taganrog sports hall, 17 Mar 22 Copyright: Getty Images
Image caption: Russia has housed some Mariupol refugees in a sports hall in Taganrog

We’ve been trying to establish the facts around Ukrainian allegations that Mariupol refugees are being forcibly transferred to Russia.

Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights ombudswoman, said Russian forces besieging Mariupol had taken several thousand residents – mostly women and children – to a holding camp, then to Taganrog. That Russian coastal city is 112km (70 miles) east of Mariupol. From there some were sent to other parts of Russia, she told Ukraine’s 24tv.ua news.

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko called it the “kidnapping” of Mariupol residents by Russian troops, likening it to what the Nazis did to civilians in World War Two.

Fierce fighting is raging in the streets of Mariupol. Intense Russian shelling - for more than two weeks - has damaged or destroyed most of the port city’s buildings.

Reuters news agency interviewed some Mariupol refugees at a Taganrog sports hall on Thursday. An elderly couple - Lyudmila and Viktor Slivka – said Russian troops had given them just 10 minutes to pack some belongings and leave home.

Russian media allege that Ukrainian troops are using Mariupol residents as “human shields”. But Ukraine says its forces are resisting indiscriminate Russian shelling of homes and public buildings. Satellite and drone pictures show a devastated city.

Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports that 500 refugees arrived in Yaroslavl on Saturday – a city some 1,400km north of Taganrog.

Another group of Mariupol refugees told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency in Taganrog that they were leaving by train for Ryazan, 1,000km to the north. RIA did not say how many were in that group.

It was not clear from the Russian reports what relocation help was provided for the refugees, nor whether they were transferred willingly.

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Ukraine and Russia make progress on negotiations - Turkey
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who is mediating peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, has said the two sides are close to an agreement.

Cavusoglu told the AFP news agency "it is not an easy thing to come to terms with while the war is going on, while civilians are killed" but he added "we see that the parties are close to an agreement".

Cavusoglu visited Russia and Ukraine this week, as Turkey has strong bonds with the two sides.

He added that Turkey was in contact with the negotiating teams but refused to speak about the details of the talks as Turkey plays "an honest mediator and facilitator role".

The two sides are negotiating on six key points

Ukraine's neutrality
disarmament and security guarantees
the so-called "de-Nazification" of Ukraine
the removal of obstacles on the use of the Russian language in Ukraine
the status of the breakaway Donbass region
the status of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video on Saturday: "This is the time to meet, to talk, time for renewing territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine".

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Designers lay out two million tulips in Kyiv square
Lyse Doucet and Anna Chornous
BBC News, Kyiv
Pictures by Robbie Wright - Copyright: BBC News

Photo: Kateryna and Olena Mamonova

What can you do with two million tulips left over from International Women’s Day when the mall housing your warehouse in Kyiv is hit by a Russian missile?

The task was set for designer Kateryna Mamonova, her twin sister Olena, and their friends across Kyiv. By the next day volunteers of all ages were laying down tulips of all colours to form a three-pronged spear, Ukraine’s symbol, in cobbled St Sophia’s square.

“The trident is an ancient symbol of the unity of Ukraine and we want to send a message of the beauty of peace to the world,” Kateryna explains while young and old go back and forth, arms full of flowers.

Photo of Tulips in St Sophia’s square, Kyiv

It also sends a message that, for all the air raid sirens and booms of Russian artillery fire on the outskirts of Kyiv, they’re here to stay.

“My grand grand grand fathers and mothers were born and died in this city. For me, Kyiv is my heart,” declares restauranteur Tetyana Mytrofanova, one of the organisers in sparkling red boots and a yellow jumpsuit and blue beret, the colours of Ukraine.

“I do a lot of little things,” she says, listing how she’s helping to feed people and help those displaced from cities like Mariupol and Kharkiv where fighting rages. “Everyone plays their part.”

There’s a ripple of excitement when Ukrainian rock star Oleg Skrypka rocks up.

“Absolutely, we can stop Russian tanks with our culture,” he insists. “With music I found a channel to provide emotional support to our people, and unite people around the world."

Photo of Oleg Skrypka with tulips in background.

He breaks into a rousing rendition of Ukraine’s national anthem, his deep voice booming across a tulip-covered square.

Next stop for the tulips: hospitals across the city to share the cheer.