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Russia has opened a long-anticipated new phase of the war in Ukraine, launching its eastern offensive in a bid to seize the country's industrial heartland.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed the move Tuesday, saying the Kremlin's goal was to achieve the “full liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics,” which together make up the Donbas region.
The full-scale assault on Ukraine's east came as the last fighters in Mariupol, the besieged port city that is crucial to Moscow's goals, continued to hold out despite a new Russian deadline to surrender.
It also followed Russian strikes across the country, hitting supply lines and military infrastructure and killing at least seven people in the western city of Lviv.
The United States is expected to announce another package of military aid, which is expected to be similar in size to the $800 million one the administration announced last week, multiple officials said.
While Russia has faced increasing isolation and sanctions, China has highlighted the strong relationship between the two countries. In a meeting Monday, Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said China would continue to strengthen its “strategic coordination” with Russia, regardless of how the "international landscape may change."
Ukraine says direct contact restored with Chernobyl
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator says it has resumed direct communication with the Chernobyl power plant after Russian forces seized the site and held it for five weeks, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The director of the international agency called the re-establishment of phone communication an important step.
Russian forces seized Chernobyl, which was the site of a deadly 1986 nuclear disaster, on the first day of the Feb. 24 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and they held it until they withdrew from the plant March 31, officials said.
Staff members were prevented from rotating for weeks during the occupation. There are radioactive waste management facilities at the site, and the damaged reactor is surrounded by a large exclusion zone.
Ukraine’s regulator said that it lost contact with the site March 10 but that it continued to be informed by senior off-site management, the IAEA said.
"This was clearly not a sustainable situation, and it is very good news that the regulator can now contact the plant directly when it needs to," IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement Tuesday.
Canada set to send heavy artillery to Ukraine
OTTAWA, Ontario — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will send heavy artillery to Ukraine.
Trudeau said he has been in close contact with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that Canada is very responsive to what Ukraine needs. He said there will be more details about the pledge in the days to come and that Ukrainians have “fought like heroes.”
Canada’s government has also hit 14 more Russians with sanctions for their close ties with President Vladimir Putin, including his two adult daughters.
Zelenskyy says Russian attacks in east ‘increased significantly,’ calls for no delay in aid
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Russian attacks in the east have increased significantly and asked that there be no delay in military aid.
“The intensity of fire of the Russian forces in Kharkiv direction, in Donbas, in Dnipropetrovsk oblast increased significantly,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
Zelenskyy also said that “the situation in Mariupol remains, without changes, tough.” The city has been besieged and devastated by what Ukrainian and officials in other countries have said are indiscriminate attacks by Russian forces.
Zelenskyy accused Russia of blocking efforts to organize humanitarian corridors or to otherwise help the people trapped there.
U.K.: Russian shelling, attempted advances increase in the Donbas
Russian forces have increased shelling and strikes in the Donbas line of control in Ukraine’s east, and Ukrainian forces have repelled several attempted advances, the British Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
The United Kingdom reported the increased activity as Russian forces are reportedly mounting a new offensive effort in the Donbas area.
“Russia’s ability to progress continues to be impacted by the environmental, logistical and technical challenges that have beset them so far, combined with the resilience of the highly-motivated Ukrainian armed forces,” the Defense Ministry tweeted in an intelligence update.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the long-anticipated offensive by Russia has begun.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said Tuesday that its war in Ukraine “entered another phase” and that the aim was what he called the “Donetsk and Luhansk republics,” which make up the Donbas.
Ukraine zoo workers who stayed at park to feed animals are found dead
Two employees who stayed at a zoo in Kharkiv, Ukraine, to feed animals but disappeared early last month were found dead Monday, according to a video posted on Feldman Ecopark's Facebook page.
Another zoo worker made the announcement in the video.
“War brings bad news," a caption on the video read.
"When the war started, they stayed in the Ecopark and helped feed the animals. When we came to the Ecopark on March 7, we did not find them there. We searched for them for a long time, connected with law enforcement officers, until the last time we hoped that something irreparable didn’t happen and they were able to survive. But yesterday we received confirmation that their bodies have been found. Our children were shot by enemies, and their bodies were barricaded in the basement. In loving memory of these beautiful brave men, sincere condolences to their family and friends. We believe that the monsters who did this will get punished.”
The names and ages of the reportedly deceased have not been released, and Ecopark did not immediately reply to a request for comment Tuesday.
The Feldman Ecopark was working to evacuate all its animals out of the range of regular shelling, it said on Facebook.
U.N. chief calls for 4-day Holy Week cease-fire in Ukraine
U,N, Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called for a four-day cease-fire in Ukraine to coincide with the Orthodox Christian Holy Week and Easter.
Guterres launched an effort for a possible humanitarian cease-fire late last month, so far without wide agreement.
Guterres said a four-day pause this week would allow the evacuation of civilians, a plea he made as Russian forces have launched an offensive effort in the country’s eastern Donbas region. He said a halt would also allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to reach hard-hit areas like Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.
“Save lives. Stop the bloodshed and destruction. Open a window for dialogue and peace. Keep faith with the meaning and the message of Easter,” Guterres said.
The proposed pause would be from Holy Thursday through Easter on Sunday. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted his support.
U.S. trying to seize $325 million superyacht
The U.S. government is attempting to seize a superyacht docked in Fiji that is widely believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, according to a restraining order application filed by Fijian authorities.
The Amadea is “restrained from leaving Fijian waters” until U.S. authorities finalize their warrant to seize the ship, Fiji’s public prosecutor, Christopher Pryde, said in a statement.
The move comes as Western countries have ramped up efforts to seize and freeze assets around the world owned by sanctioned Russian individuals with ties to President Vladimir Putin. Kerimov has been sanctioned in the U.S. since 2018.