NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880/AP) -- As fighting continued to rage in Ukraine's east on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country could declare neutrality, offer security guarantees to Russia and potentially accept a compromise on contested areas to secure peace "without delay,” though he said only a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin could end the war. Zelenskyy's comments came ahead of another round of talks in Istanbul on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Moscow called President Biden’s recent remarks about Putin “alarming.” And Russian shares slumped as its stock market resumed trading of all companies Monday after a monthlong halt.
Monday, March 28, 2022
9:15 p.m.- Russian forces still attacking Kyiv: Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Russian forces are still attacking Kyiv, despite being driven out of Irpin, a suburb northwest of the capital that has seen heavy fighting.
He said the Russians remain in control of northern suburbs and are trying to regroup after losing Irpin on Monday. He urged Ukrainians not to let up in the war.
“We still have to fight, we have to endure,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation. “We can’t express our emotions now. We can’t raise expectations, simply so that we don’t burn out.”
Zelenskyy said the situation remains tense in the northeast, around Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkhiv, and also in the eastern Donbas region and in the south around Mariupol, which remains blockaded by Russian troops.
The president said no humanitarian corridors could be opened Monday out of the besieged city.
6:45 p.m. - Ukrainian official downplays alleged Russian poisoning
A senior Ukrainian official has rejected reports that Ukrainian officials and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich were poisoned as earlier reported.
Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, told the BBC on Monday that he hadn't spoken to Abramovich or his people, but "the members of the Ukrainian delegation are fine; I was in contact with one of them, and they said the story was false."
Multiple reports said Ukrainian peace negotiators and Abramovich suffered symptoms from an alleged poisoning earlier this month.
5:30 p.m. - Missile targets 2nd Western Ukrainian oil facility in days: mayor
5:30 p.m. - Missile targets 2nd Western Ukrainian oil facility in days: mayor
A missile attack hit an oil depot in western Ukraine late Monday, Rivne’s regional governor said, marking the second attack on oil facilities in the region and the latest in a series of such attacks in recent days.
Western Ukraine has not seen ground combat, but missiles have struck oil depots and a military plant in Lviv, a major city close to Poland where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have gone to escape fighting elsewhere.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested in an interview with Russian journalists released on Sunday that the attacks on oil depots are intended to disrupt the planting season in Ukraine, which is a major grain producer.
4 p.m. - Biden stands by Putin remark, says it was about 'moral outrage'
President Joe Biden says he is "not walking anything back" after his weekend remarks that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," although Biden insists he's not calling for regime change in Moscow.
"I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man," he said Monday. "I wasn't articulating a policy change."
Biden said he was not concerned that his comments would escalate tensions over the war in Ukraine.
"This is just stating a simple fact, that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable," he said.
2:15 p.m. - Nearly 4 million people have fled Ukraine: UN
The number of refugees who have flooded out of Ukraine is nearing 4 million, but data shows fewer people have crossed the border in recent days.
Border guards, aid agencies and refugees say Russia’s unpredictable war on Ukraine offers few signs as to whether it’s just a pause or a permanent drop-off.
In the first two weeks after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, about 2.5 million people in Ukraine’s pre-war population of 44 million left the country to avoid the bombs and bloodshed. In the second two weeks, the number of refugees was roughly half that.
The total exodus through Sunday now stands at 3.87 million, according to the latest tally announced Monday from UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency. In the previous 24 hours, only 45,000 people crossed Ukraine’s borders to seek safety, the slowest one-day count yet.
“People who were determined to leave when war breaks out fled in the first days,” said Anna Michalska, a spokeswoman for the Polish border guards.
UNHCR says the war has triggered Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, and the speed and breadth of refugees fleeing to countries including Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia — as well as Russia — is unprecedented in recent times. Poland alone has taken in 2.3 million refugees and Romania nearly 600,000. The United States has vowed to take in 100,000.
12:30 p.m. - Plane carrying Russian delegation arrives in Turkey ahead of talks
A plane carrying members of a Russian delegation has landed in Istanbul ahead of talks with Ukrainian negotiators aimed at ending the month-long war.
Turkey’s private DHA news agency said the Russian government plane landed at Istanbul Airport on Monday. The face-to-face talks between the two sides are scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine could declare neutrality, potentially accept a compromise on contested areas in the country’s east, and offer security guarantees to Russia to secure peace “without delay.” He said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia’s leader could end the war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the two presidents could meet, but only after the key elements of a potential deal are negotiated.
Earlier talks have failed to make progress on ending the war that has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including almost 4 million from their country.
NATO-member Turkey has close relations with both Ukraine and Russia. Earlier this month, it hosted a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers.
9:45 a.m. - Russian stocks slide as trading resumes for all companies
Russian shares slumped as its stock market resumed trading of all companies Monday after a monthlong halt following the invasion of Ukraine.
The benchmark MOEX index slid 2.2% after the Moscow Exchange reopened for all of its several hundred listed companies, but with restrictions still in place to limit volatility. State-owned energy giant Gazprom fell 3.7%, while airline Aeroflot was up 3%.
The last full trading session in Moscow was on Feb. 25, a day after the index tumbled by a third after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
Prices whipsawed last week when the exchange tentatively reopened for two days of limited trading, with investors allowed to trade only 33 of the MOEX index's 50 companies.
Some restrictions remained in place Monday to prevent another big selloff. The daily session is shortened to four hours and there is a ban on short-selling, which essentially involves betting on stock prices to go down. Foreigners also are unable to sell shares until Friday.
9 a.m. - Kremlin calls Biden’s comment on Putin “alarming”
The Kremlin voiced concern about President Biden’s comment about the Russian President Vladimir Putin and said it will carefully follow his rhetoric.
Capping a four-day trip to Europe Saturday, Biden said of Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” words the White House immediately sought to downplay.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that Biden’s statement “undoubtedly causes alarm." He added that the Kremlin will carefully monitor the U.S. president’s statements.
Peskov said previously that “it’s not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that neither NATO nor Biden aim to bring about regime change in Russia.
Asked during an appearance Sunday on ARD television whether Putin’s removal is in fact the real aim, Scholz replied: “This is not the aim of NATO, and also not that of the American president.”
Scholz added: “We both agree completely that regime change is not an object and aim of policy that we pursue together.”
9 a.m. - Russia accuses Ukraine of only wanting to “imitate talks” as negotiators ready for another round
Russia’s foreign minister said the presidents of Russia and Ukraine could meet for talks only after the key elements of a potential deal are negotiated.
Sergey Lavrov said Monday that “the meeting is necessary once we have clarity regarding solutions on all key issues.”
Lavrov’s comments follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement that he’s ready to discuss Ukraine’s neutrality and security guarantees with Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure peace “without delay.” Zelenskyy added that only a face-to-face meeting with Russia’s leader could end the war.
Russian and Turkish negotiators are set to hold another round of talks in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday to try to draft an agreement.
Speaking in an online interview with Serbian media, Lavrov alleged that Ukraine only want to “imitate talks” while Russia needs specific results that would be secured by the countries’ leaders.
8:30 a.m. - Heineken: “We have decided to leave Russia”
Dutch brewing giant Heineken said it is pulling out of Russia amid Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
The company said Monday that its business in Russia “is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment. As a result, we have decided to leave Russia.”
It said it is seeking an “orderly transfer of our business to a new owner in full compliance with international and local laws.”
Heineken will continue to pay its 1,800 staff in Russia through the end of the year.
The company said Monday that it continues to “hope that a path to a peaceful outcome emerges in the near term.”
8 a.m. - UN confirms 1,119 civilian deaths in Ukraine
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it has recorded 1,119 civilian deaths and 1,790 people injured since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The UN agency said Sunday most casualties were caused by use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes. It said it believes actual figures are “considerably higher,” given delays in obtaining information and in corroborating the reports.
Of those killed, 224 were men, 168 women, 15 girls and 32 boys. The sex of another 52 children and 628 adults has not yet been determined.
The report said allegations of many civilian casualties in the besieged southern city of Mariupol and in Volnovakha, Izium, Popasna, Rubizhne and Trostianets were still being corroborated and are not included in the latest totals.
7:30 a.m. - Ukraine could declare neutrality to secure peace, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine could declare neutrality, offer security guarantees to Russia and potentially accept a compromise on contested areas in the country’s east to secure peace "without delay,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of another planned round of talks.
While hinting at possible concessions, Zelenskyy also stressed that Ukraine's priority is ensuring its sovereignty and its “territorial integrity” — preventing Russia from carving up the country, something Ukraine and the West say could now be Moscow's goal.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state — we are ready to go for it,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with independent Russian media outlets.
“We are looking for peace, really, without delay,” he said. “There is an opportunity and a need for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey. This is not bad. Let’s see the outcome.”
The Ukrainian leader has suggested as much before, but rarely so forcefully, and the latest remarks could create momentum for talks set to resume Tuesday. Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining the western NATO alliance, which Moscow sees as a threat.
Zelenskyy told the reporters that the issue of neutrality — and agreeing to stay out of NATO — should be put to Ukrainian voters in a referendum after Russian troops withdraw. He said that a vote could take place within a few months once Russian troops leave.
Zelenskyy said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader could end the war.
“We must come to an agreement with the president of the Russian Federation, and in order to reach an agreement, he needs to get out of there on his own feet ... and come to meet me," he also said in an interview that Russia barred its media from publishing.
Russia quickly banned Zelenskyy’s interview from being published. Roskomnadzor, which regulates communications for Moscow, issued the ban Sunday, saying there could be action taken against the Russia-based media outlets that took part, which included “those that are foreign media outlets acting as foreign agents.”
Zelenskyy responded by saying Moscow was afraid of a relatively short conversation with journalists. “It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic,” he said, according to the Ukrainian news agency RBK Ukraina.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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