Board Game Arena

8:11 22 Mar
'Children are dying from dehydration' - Mariupol evacuee

BBC Radio 5 Live

Destroyed buildings and vehicles after Russian attacks in Mariupol -Copyright: Getty Images
Image caption: The Russian bombardment of Mariupol has destroyed residential areas

Victoria, 27, who managed to escape from the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, tells 5 Live Breakfast how she left family behind as she fled to a village about 20km (12.5 miles) away.

"My city is absolutely destroyed," she says, her voice trembling as she describes hearing the daily shelling of Russian attacks.

"People stay in the basement, but that isn't safe. They are bombing so hard basements are being destroyed."

She says many people don't have access to food and water.

"Three children I know died of dehydration. It is the 21st Century and children are dying from dehydration in my city. They are starving now."

Victoria adds that she was unable to help other family members leave Mariupol and is desperate to "take them out".

"I will stay in Ukraine and try and save my family in Mariupol. Mariupol is my life, I don't understand why I should leave my city, my country because of Russia."

Posted at 9:35 22 Mar9:35 22 Mar
Is a diplomatic solution possible with Zelensky-Putin talks?

James Waterhouse -Kyiv correspondent, BBC News

As Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reaches out once again to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, saying direct talks are needed to end this war, it's difficult to know where this might lead.

While Zelensky says he's willing to discuss with the Russian leader the territorial integrity of his country - including the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine - one of his officials is saying that those very issues will not be compromised on.

In addition, Zelensky has said he would like any compromises - on sovereignty and security, such as potential alliances with other nations - to be put to a referendum, allowing the Ukrainian people to choose.

Over the years and over the decades, the more aggressive Russia has become towards Ukraine, the more it appears to have politically strengthened Ukrainians' sense of national identity - and the more they have leaned towards the West.

Will the brutality of this war, the hunger for peace, change public opinion?

In order for there to be some kind of diplomatic outcome, Zelensky, I believe, may be relying on Putin to look to minimise further losses in his invasion, especially if he finds himself in the position of bringing in reinforcements of lesser-trained soldiers.

10:41 22 Mar
Zelensky speaks to Pope and calls for Vatican to mediate

Volodymyr Zelensky this week suggested Jerusalem could be a location for future peace talksImage caption: Volodymyr Zelensky this week suggested Jerusalem could be a location for future peace talks
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken to Pope Francis and suggested the Vatican could play a mediating role in ending the war with Russia.

In a post on Twitter, Zelensky said he told the Pope of the "difficult humanitarian situation" and how rescue corridors were being blocked by Russian troops.

Zelensky added: "The mediating role of the Holy See [the jurisdiction of the Pope] in ending human suffering would be appreciated."

It comes after Zelensky said on Monday that Jerusalem could potentially be a location for future top-level peace talks between Ukraine and Moscow.



12:01 22 Mar
What's happened today?
If you're just joining us, here are some of today's main developments for the war in Ukraine:

"We are on the brink of surviving war", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tells Italian MPs as he addresses them via video link
He has also spoken to Pope Francis and suggested the Vatican could play a mediating role in ending the war
The mayor of Boryspil city near Kyiv has told residents to "leave town ASAP" as fighting against Russian forces draws closer
More than 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the start of the war, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence has claimed - the BBC cannot verify this figure
US President Joe Biden has warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may be preparing to use chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine
Russian forces appear to be 'stalled in place', according to the UK's Ministry of Defence, as Ukrainian forces 'continue to repulse' attempts to occupy the besieged southern city of Mariupol

Escaping from Mariupol: 'The Russians started to shoot the cars'
Mykola Trofymenko, the head of Mariupol State University who is also on the city council, has told the BBC about his dramatic escape from Mariupol last week with his wife and five-year-old son. They're now living in the western city of Lviv, where he is trying to re-establish Mariupol university.

Before they left, they had spent a couple of weeks hiding with some 80 neighbours in a basement shelter while the city was under attack before deciding to escape.

He said they joined a huge column of cars led by the International Red Cross which was attacked by the Russians:

"The citizens of Mariupol formed a huge column of cars... for kilometres, it was thousands of cars. We were able to flee from the city. We reached Vasylivka, not far from Zaporizhzhia, [after going through] 15 checkpoints of the Russians," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"There, the national police of Ukraine helped the big column of cars to cross the minefields.

Quote Message: We saw a couple of cars that were hit by bombs because they were not able to cross the minefields. So it was very dangerous.
We saw a couple of cars that were hit by bombs because they were not able to cross the minefields. So it was very dangerous.

"At the entrance to one of the Ukrainian checkpoints, the Russians started to shoot the cars with white ribbons on the doors [and] the inscription 'children' on the windows, and they hit one car seven or eight cars [away] from of me; my car jumped; they hit this car with two children inside.

"I don't know what people could do this. Of course, we are blaming Putin, that he's doing this to Ukraine, but regular soldiers are shooting these civilians."




11:35 22 Mar
WHO reports 62 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities

Imogen Foulkes -BBC News, Geneva

Photo: Civilians, fleeing from Ukraine due to ongoing Russian attacks, are seen after crossing the Medyka border in Przemysl, Poland
Copyright: Getty Images
Image caption: Health workers at Poland's borders have reported elderly Ukrainians arriving without medicines for underlying conditions

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it has verified 62 separate attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began almost four weeks ago.

The organisation said 15 people had died in the attacks, and at least 37 others had been injured.

Meanwhile, WHO officials in Poland say a rapid assessment suggests that about half a million refugees who have arrived there are suffering from mental health problems, primarily due to trauma.

In addition, health workers at the borders report children and mothers arriving who are suffering exhaustion and dehydration, while many older people arrive after travelling for days without medicines for underlying conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) now reports 3.557 million people have fled Ukraine. This figure is getting close to its original planning for four million, and the agency acknowledged today that it could be exceeded soon.

So far the UNHCR has not revised its planning figure, but both it and the WHO say they are preparing - if the conflict continues - for "massive" numbers of people arriving very quickly.




At least 117 children killed in invasion - Ukraine officials
Photo: Municipal workers and volunteers remove debris of a damaged residential building in Kharkiv, 21 March 2022 Copyright: Reuters

Russian shelling has destroyed many buildings in Kharkiv, UkraineImage caption: Russian shelling has destroyed many buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February, at least 117 children have been killed and more than 155 others injured in the country, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine reports.

It says most of the fatalities and injuries have been reported in or around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv (58) and in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv (40).

It adds that in Kharkiv, a Russian tank reportedly struck a car belonging to a family travelling with two children.

While in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, it says, evacuation buses carrying children were hit by Russian shelling.

Prosecutors also say they have recorded 548 instances where schools and other educational facilities were hit, 72 of which they say were "completely destroyed".

They add that the figures they report are not conclusive due to difficulties accessing or inspecting sites in some parts of the country.

12:26 22 Mar- Russian paper says 'hack' led to publication of casualty figures
Alistair Coleman -BBC Monitoring

Photo: A paragraph saying nearly 10,000 Russian soldiers had died stayed on the website for six hours
Copyright: Komsomolskaya Pravda/Web Archive

A Russian newspaper claimed its website was hacked after it published casualty figures running into thousands.

The story on tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda’s website, citing a Russian Defence Ministry briefing, initially reported 9,861 Russian soldiers had been killed and 16,153 were wounded.

No other Russian media carried these figures.

The story was later removed, and the paper issued a statement saying that the “website admin interface was hacked and a fake was added to a publication”.

Russian casualty figures are contested. The last official figures from the Russian government claim that 498 soldiers have died.
But a BBC Russian investigation has identified 557 named Russian soldiers who have died during the conflict. That figure doesn’t include reports where casualties could not be identified.
The Ukrainian government claims more than 14,000 Russian soldiers have died, while a US intelligence report last week put the toll at more than 7,000, calling it a “conservative estimate”.

Despite the hacking claim, Kevin Rothrock, editor of the independent Latvia-based Meduza news outlet, speculated that publication of the figures might have been a legitimate error, or there might be “another Ovsyannikova” at large - a reference to Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV editor who gate-crashed a news bulletin to protest against the war.

Ukraine war was red line I could not cross - Russian journalist

Hugh Schofield -BBC News, Paris

Photo: Russian journalist Zhanna Agalakova in Paris, France, on 22 March 2022 -Copyright: Reuters

A senior foreign correspondent for the Russian TV station Channel One has told a news conference in Paris she resigned from her post earlier this month in opposition to the war in Ukraine.

Zhanna Agalakova, who was a news presenter before taking up postings in Paris and New York, said she had long been troubled by the "propaganda" put out by news media in Russia, but that the war was a "red line" she could not cross.

When the war broke out she said there was "no question" of continuing and calling it an operation for peace.

"It was war," she said.

"I know they will accuse me of being a spy. But no-one paid me. I work for no-one except my country. I want my people to be able to see propaganda for what it is; to seek other sources of information; to stop being turned into zombies."

Agalakova, who began her career in 1991 for the Russian news agency Novosti, added: "We've got to a situation where, in the media, we only get one point of view, the Kremlin's."

Agalakova said that as a news anchor in the early 2000s, she "felt already heavy pressure. Every day we had to show this one person... [And then] he became our second president. It was we [journalists] who set him up. We forged his image".

But she said that in New York in 2013 - leading up to the first Ukrainian war - she was under constant pressure to produce only bad news about the US.

"I never told lies. But that is how propaganda works. You take facts that are true, you arrange them, and you deliver a great big lie," she said.
"Each fact is true, but taken together, it's propaganda."

Bereaved relatives in Russia 'ordered to stay silent'

Olga Ivshina -BBC Russian Service

Photo: A charred Russian tank is seen on the front line in the Kyiv region, Ukraine March 20, 2022 -Copyright: Reuters

Ever since the start of the Russian invasion, information on Russian casualties has been scarce.

While the Ukrainian government now claims over 15,000 Russian servicemen have been killed, the Russian authorities admitted to just under 500 deaths on 2 March.

BBC Russian has conducted a detailed investigation, confirming the names and ranks of 557 Russian soldiers and officers killed in Ukraine by sifting through social media and local announcements as well as speaking to the relatives.

The investigation found that 15 of Russia’s 85 regions had not published any information about local servicemen killed in Ukraine.

But in one such area - the Kemerovo region in Siberia – BBC Russian (with the help of local residents who asked not to be identified) established identities and burial places of seven soldiers and officers.

A few hours after the BBC investigation was published, the Kemerovo authorities announced that 13 servicemen had been buried in the region since the start of the war.

But there is evidence of growing pressure on local journalists - some earlier reports about soldiers killed in action have been deleted.

One Siberian journalist told the BBC: "At the level of the regional government, all local media outlets were instructed not to publish any data on losses in Ukraine. There are cases when local officials put pressure on the relatives of the victims, ordering them to stay silent.

"They say: 'There is no need to make a fuss now, we will find a way to commemorate your boys later.'"

16:24 22 Mar
Ukrainian journalist freed after praising Russians

BBC Monitoring

Russian troops have released journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna after putting her "under pressure" to praise them for saving her life on film, Ukrainian website Ukrayinska Pravda (UP) reports.

Pro-Russian media and Telegram channels have published a video in which the Ukrainian reporter Roshchyna says Russian troops had saved her life and treated her well in captivity.

Viktoriya's heading to Zaporizhzhya in southeastern Ukraine and is a journalist with web-based Hromadsk TV, UP said.

Since the start of the Russian invasion, and before being captured, Roshchyna has reported across eastern and southern Ukraine.



16:48 22 Mar
10,000 Russian deaths a reasonable estimate - Western official

Gordon Corera- Security correspondent, BBC News
Photo: Charred and captured Russian tanks in the Sumy region -Copyright: Reuters

Charred and captured Russian tanks in the Sumy regionImage caption: Charred and captured Russian tanks in the Sumy region
The figure of 10,000 Russian soldiers killed during the war in Ukraine is a "reasonable estimate", a Western official has said.

The number briefly appeared on a pro-Kremlin website, possibly after being hacked, before being quickly deleted.

The official said this number of losses could mean a further 30-40,000 Russian troops have been wounded or incapacitated in some way.

“This is a very significant drain on Russia’s forces,” they said.

But they added that Russia still had "a lot of combat power" and could continue "to sustain a grinding attritional [drawn out] conflict for some time".

“This is a level of casualties that has not been experienced really since the second World War,” they added.

“The morale of Russian forces and their will to keep fighting in a situation where they are fighting in civilian areas, in a fellow Slavic country is something that we're watching really carefully. It is a conflict on a different scale.”

The most likely scenario is a continuation of the current position, rather than a significant change in which the Russians achieve their objectives or the Ukrainians are able to repel them, the official said.

On chemical weapons, the Western official said the false flag use of a chemical weapon is plausible but not likely.

Asked about the Western role in the targeting of Russian generals by the Ukrainians, the official said they could not speak about any intelligence support that was being provided.

“All I can say is that we are seeking to increase the level of our support in all domains to ensure that the Ukrainians have what they need to defend themselves against Russian attack.”



17:00 22 Mar
Ukrainians are enduring a living hell - Guterres

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said the people of Ukraine are enduring a living hell, and warned that the situation was becoming more destructive and unpredictable by the hour.

"The war is going nowhere, fast," he told reporters in New York, describing it as unwinnable.

"Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible, and militarily nonsensical... It is time to stop the fighting now and give peace a chance."

19:39 22 Mar
Ukraine renews call for aid to be allowed into Mariupol


Ukraine earlier renewed its appeal for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the besieged port city of Mariupol and for civilians to be allowed to leave.

Residents of Mariupol, a key strategic target for Moscow, have endured weeks of Russian bombardment with no power or running water.

Ukraine has previously accused Russian forces of bombing a theatre where civilians were sheltering in Mariupol.

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said: "We demand the opening of a humanitarian corridor for civilians."

Vereshchuk also said Russia's armed forces were preventing humanitarian supplies reaching residents of the southern city of Kherson.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since invading Ukraine.



22:45 22 Mar
Russian oppression to increase - UK

Ukrainian cities under Russian occupation continue to see civilian-led protests, according to the latest intelligence assessment from the UK Ministry of Defence.

"Russian efforts to subdue the population by manipulating the media, spreading propaganda and installing puppet, pro-Kremlin, leaders have so far failed," the report says.

It adds that Russia "will probably respond to these failure by increasingly violent and coercive measures" to suppress the Ukrainian people.



23:22 22 Mar
Zelensky: About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol

"As of today, there are about 100,000 people in the city. In inhumane conditions. In a complete blockade. No food, no water, no medicine. Under constant shelling, under constant bombing," he said in his nightly Facebook address.

He added that efforts to rescue civilians there through humanitarian corridors have been interrupted by Russian "shelling or deliberate terror".

One humanitarian column was captured by Russia on Tuesday, he said, adding that Ukrainian government workers and their bus driver had been taken prisoner.

"Despite all the difficulties," he says, "7,026 Mariupol residents were rescued" from the city on Tuesday.

Zelensky added that Ukraine has received over 100,000 tonnes in humanitarian aid in the past two weeks.

He said new Western sanctions would be unveiled against Russia this week when world leaders attend a Nato conference in Brussels.

Zelensky also said he had spoken to Pope Francis on Tuesday, and invited him to visit Ukraine.

"I believe that we will be able to organise this important visit, which will unequivocally support each of us, each of the Ukrainians," he said.

Russian Nobel winner donates to Ukraine refugees

The editor-in-chief of Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper - an outlet critical of the Kremlin - has pledged to donate his Nobel Peace Prize medal to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.

Dmitry Muratov said in an article on Tuesday that his decision was prompted by the displacement of 10 million Ukrainians from their homes amid the Russian invasion.

"I ask the auction houses to respond and put up for auction this world-famous award," he wrote of the gong he won last year.



Kremlin refusal to rule out nuclear option 'dangerous' - US

The Pentagon has condemned a Kremlin spokesman’s refusal earlier on Tuesday to rule out the use of nuclear weapons during the Ukraine conflict.

Dmitry Peskov told CNN International that such arms could be used if Russia faced an “existential threat”. Russia has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear warheads.

Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said Moscow's nuclear remarks were “dangerous”.

"It's not the way a responsible nuclear power should act," he told reporters.

But Kirby added that Pentagon officials "haven't seen anything that would lead us to conclude that we need to change our strategic deterrent posture”.

"We monitor this as best we can every day," he added.

Former US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also criticised Peskov’s comments.

“I don’t see how you can see it any other way but as dangerous when Russia is looking for a possible excuse for the use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Panetta told CNN.

“And basing it frankly on a very false premise that somehow Russia is being threatened. I think that presents a real concern that Russia at least is considering that possibility.

“I don’t know that it’s going to happen. I still think that Putin has to worry about how the US would respond and he has to worry about his own survival.”

Putin put his country’s nuclear forces on special alert on 27 February, but Western defence officials said afterwards they had not seen any significant sign of Russia's strategic bombers, missiles and submarines being mobilised.



4:16
Russians have destroyed Chernobyl lab - Ukraine
Russian troops occupying the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have "looted and destroyed" a laboratory at the site, Ukrainian officials claim.

The State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management said the Russians had damaged their Central Analytical Labratory - which processed a lot of radioactive waste.

The state agency said in a Facebook post that the laboratory had "highly active samples and samples of radionuclides, which today are in the hands of the enemy".

The lab, which cost about six million euros to set up, had also contained "valuable analytical equipment" that were not available elsewhere in Europe, the agency said.

Chernobyl - the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986 - is not a working power station but still requires constant management.

The Russians captured it in the first few days of the war last month, and had kept workers there for weeks before some were released.

The former nuclear site remains a great concern, and earlier this week Ukraine's parliament reported that forest fires had erupted in the vicinity of the plant, which were picked up in satellite images.