NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) -- The battle for Ukraine's strategic port of Mariupol raged on Monday, as Ukraine rejected a Russian offer to evacuate its troops from the besieged city and Russian bombardment continued. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about 400 civilians were taking shelter at an art school in the Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb. Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its 26th day, shows no signs of abating. The invasion has wreaked devastation and destruction, exacting a heavy toll on civilians. The U.N. says more than 3.38 million people have fled Ukraine. There have been about 6.5 million internally displaced Ukrainians estimated by the United Nations refugee agency.
Monday, March 21, 2022
6:15 p.m. - Zelenskyy praises protests in Russian occupied city of Kherson
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed protesters in an occupied city for their courage in confronting the Russian troops who fired shots to disperse the demonstration.
Russian troops on Monday used stun grenades and fired in the air to break up demonstrators in the southern city of Kherson.
Speaking in a video address, Zelenskyy said that “we saw slaves shooting at free people, slaves of propaganda that replaced their conscience.”
He added that the war has turned ordinary Ukrainians into heroes and “the enemy doesn’t believe it’s all real.”
“There is no need to organize resistance,” Zelenskyy added. “Resistance for Ukrainians is part of their soul.”
3:15 p.m.- Biden warns of possible Russian cyberattacks as part of nation's 'playbook'
President Joe Biden warned that the Russian government could plan cyberattacks against the U.S. and reiterated that the country will use "every tool" to deter such attacks.
"This is a critical moment to accelerate our work to improve domestic cybersecurity and bolster our national resilience," Biden said in a statement Monday. "I have previously warned about the potential that Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States, including as a response to the unprecedented economic costs we’ve imposed on Russia alongside our allies and partners. It’s part of Russia’s playbook. Today, my Administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks."
He added, "My Administration will continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt, and if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure."
Biden urged the private sector to "harden" their cyberdefenses as well as arguing that the federal government can't act alone.
The administration also released a readout of his conversation with French, German, Italian and British leaders in which the White House said they "discussed their serious concerns about Russia’s brutal tactics in Ukraine, including its attacks on civilians."
2:30 p.m. - Russian military to continue use of hypersonic missile attacks: Russian defense spokesperson
The Russian military says it will continue using its state-of-the-art hypersonic missile to hit particularly important targets in Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Monday that the Kinzhal hypersonic missile “has proven its efficiency in destroying heavily fortified special facilities.”
He said that a Kinzhal missile was used Friday to hit a Soviet-era arsenal for storing missiles near the western town of Deliatyn in the Carpathian Mountains, the first time the new weapon was used in combat. It also was used in a strike on the fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv over the weekend. Konashenkov noted that Kinzhal was used for these strikes due to its high kinetic energy and its ability to penetrate defenses.
Konashenkov said that Kinzhal missiles were fired at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers (over 620 miles).
Kinzhal, one of an array of hypersonic weapons developed by Russian in recent years, has a range of 2,000 kilometers(1,250 miles) and flies at a speed 10 times the speed of sound. It’s carried by specially redesigned MiG-31 fighter jets.
1 p.m. - Dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy returns to Poland for humanitarian relief
Ukrainian-born Maksim Chmerkovskiy, a former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant, has returned to Poland to aid humanitarian efforts.
Chmerkovskiy had previously said that he planned his return after feeling "survivor's remorse" fleeing the war-torn region.
"I enjoyed some of that Los Angeles weather, saw my family, saw my friends, you know, obviously, spent some time, and we’ve been working on tangible opportunities to help," said in an Instagram live post.
The 42-year-old said he'll be in Poland to organize and distribute aid through his new charity, Baranova 27, which is named after the Ukrainian street where he grew up, as well as to help Bethenny Frankel's charitable organization BStrong.
12:35 p.m. - Pope Francis issues anti-war statement as conflict continues
Pope Francis criticized the war in Ukraine as the conflict entered its 26th day.
Francis made the comments in a speech at the Vatican's Clementine Hall.
"Why not rather unite our forces and our resources to fight together the true battles of civilization: the fight against hunger and thirst; the fight against disease and epidemics; the fight against epidemics; the fight against the poverty and slavery of today?" the pope said. "We must create the consciousness that continuing to spend on weapons dirties the soul, it dirties the heart, it dirties humanity."
Francis' latest comments came a day after he called the invasion "repugnant" during an afternoon prayer in St. Peter's Square.
11:15 a.m. - Russia warns relations between U.S. are at 'verge of rupture'
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan on Monday in condemnation of the "unacceptable statements" by President Joe Biden over labeling Putin last week as a "war criminal."
The foreign ministry added that relations between the U.S. and Russia are "on the verge of rupture."
Biden told reporters last Wednesday that Putin is a "war criminal" for his attacks on Ukraine.
It was the first time Biden labeled Putin with that term.
9:45 a.m. - Ukraine rejects Russia's demand for Mariupol surrender
Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down their arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city.
As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities.
In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoking ruin after being hit late Sunday by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials. The attack shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise.
Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, sending toxic ammonia leaking into the air, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles.
9 a.m. - Biden to visit Poland during Europe trip this week
President Joe Biden has added a stop in Poland to his trip this week to Europe for urgent talks with NATO and European allies, as Russian forces concentrate their fire upon cities and trapped civilians in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine.
Biden will first travel to Brussels and then to Poland to meet with leaders there, press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday night.
Poland is a crucial ally in the Ukraine crisis. It is hosting thousands of American troops and is taking in more people fleeing the war in Ukraine — more than 2 million — than any other nation in the midst of the largest European refugee crisis in decades.
Biden will head to Warsaw for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda scheduled for Saturday. Biden will discuss how the U.S., along with its allies and partners, is responding to “the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” Psaki said.
8:30 a.m. - Russian bond trading reopens for 1st time since Ukraine war
Russia’s central bank has cautiously reopened bond trading on the Moscow exchange for the first time since the country invaded Ukraine.
The price of Russia’s ruble-denominated government debt fell Monday, sending borrowing costs higher. Stock trading has remained closed, with no word on when it might reopen.
The central bank bought bonds to support prices. It has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on financial transactions to try to stabilize markets and combat the severe fallout from Western sanctions that have sent the ruble sharply lower against the U.S. dollar and the euro.
Ratings agencies have downgraded Russia’s bonds to “junk” status. Russia’s finance ministry last week flirted with default by threatening to pay foreign holders of dollar bonds in massively devalued rubles before sending the money in dollars.
Stocks last traded on Feb. 25, the day after the invasion started and sent the main stock index sharply lower.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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