Ukraine’s central government plans to send dozens of buses to the southern port city of Mariupol to aid the evacuation of refugees from fighting there amid a continuing onslaught by invading Russian forces.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said nearly 50 buses were set to arrive in the city on March 21.

She said that 3,985 people were evacuated on March 20 from Mariupol to the city of Zaporizhzhya about 225 kilometers away.

Overall, she said, 7,295 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on March 20, with four out of the seven planned routes working.

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

An estimated 350,000 people remain in besieged Mariupol, which Russia is seeking to seize to establish a link between Crimea -- which it seized in 2014 -- to connect with territories controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Municipal officials report a humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol, with residents trapped without basic services, such as water, food, and fuel, as fighting rages in the city.

According to Russian state media, Moscow has agreed to open “humanitarian corridors” for two hours on March 21.

Moscow has agreed to allow residents to leave cities in the past, but residents have reported Russian attacks on some of the evacuation routes.

Based on reporting by Reuters

The deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been killed in battle near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Kremlin-installed governor of the Russia-occupied city of Sevastopol said.

"Captain 1st Rank Andrei Nikolayevich Paly was killed in the fighting [near Mariupol]," Mikhail Razvozhayev said on his Telegram channel.

Reports said the general was 51 years old.

The Russian Navy did not respond to a request for comment.

Sevastopol, a port city on the Crimea Peninsula, is the base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Crimea was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014.

If confirmed, it would mark the latest fatality among Russia’s top military officers following reports of several being killed in action during the invasion of Ukraine.

On March 19, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed that the commander of the Russian Eighth Army, Lieutenant General Andrei Mordvichev, had been killed at the Chornobaivka airfield near the city of Kherson.

The Ukrainian Presidency at the time said the general was the fifth top-ranking officer killed since the invasion began on February 24, an unprecedented number of fatalities among a military leadership in such a short period of time.

The claims could not be independently confirmed.

With reporting by Reuters

The Moscow TV editor who protested the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine during a live state TV newscast says many Russians oppose Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war and she called on them to speak up against the military action.

“You know, first of all, I want to say to everyone: The Russian people are really against the war,” Marina Ovsyannikova said in an interview broadcast on March 20 on ABC in the United States.

“It’s Putin’s war, not the Russian people’s war,” she said, speaking from Moscow through a translator.

On March 14, Ovsyannikova appeared suddenly behind the host of Vremya on Russia's Channel One newscast holding a poster reading “NO WAR" in English and "Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you,” in Russian.

The bottom line of the poster said “Russians against war” in English. She also shouted "Stop the war. No to war."

She could be seen and heard for several seconds before the channel switched to a different report.

She was later fined on a charge of calling for unsanctioned protests, although it is not clear what other charges she might still face in criminal courts.

She has since turned down an offer of asylum by French authorities.

Speaking from Moscow through an interpreter, she said: "I have publicly refused to take political asylum in France because I am a patriot. I don't want to immigrate and lose another 10 years of my life to assimilate in some other country."

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'Only We Can Stop This Madness': Can One Woman's Protest On Russian State TV Make A Difference?

She told ABC that her protest was a "spontaneous" decision but that her feelings of dissatisfaction with the government had been growing for years. She added that many of her colleagues had the same feelings.

"The propaganda on our state channels was becoming more and more distorted, and the pressure that has been applied in Russian politics could not leave us indifferent," she said.

"When I spoke to my friends and colleagues, everyone until the last moment could not believe that such a thing could happen -- that this gruesome war could take place," she said.

"As soon as the war began, I could not sleep, I could not eat. I came to work, and after a week of coverage of this situation, the atmosphere on [Channel One] was so unpleasant that I realized I could not go back there."

Ovsyannikova, who has resigned her job, said she hoped to "maybe stimulate some people to speak up against the war."

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, ABC, MSN, and AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Israel that now was the time for the country to clearly express support for Ukraine and end its attempt to remain neutral following Russia’s invasion of his country.

Zelenskiy, who has often highlighted his Jewish background, spoke on March 20 to Israeli lawmakers by videoconference in the latest such speech to foreign legislatures, including to the U.S. Congress, the British House of Commons, and the German Bundestag.

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you all of the latest on Russia's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. The Live Briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.

Zelenskiy at several points compared Russia’s aggression to the Holocaust and said that "Ukraine made the choice to save Jews 80 years ago."

"Now it's time for Israel to make its choice," he told Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.

Zelenskiy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to carry out a “final solution” against Ukraine -- using the term utilized by Nazi Germany for its genocide of some 6 million Jews during World War II.

Zelenskiy also pointed out that a Russian missile attack recently struck Babyn Yar in Ukraine, where more than 30,000 Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis over two days in 1941.

“You know what this place means, where the victims of the Holocaust are buried,” he said of the site that is now Ukraine’s main Holocaust memorial.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government has sought to maintain neutrality in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, citing his nation’s close ties to both countries.

Bennett has sought to mediate between the two sides and has held phone talks with Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also met with Putin in Moscow on March 5.

In his remarks, Zelenskiy suggested that Bennett’s efforts to mediate had been a mistake.

"We can mediate between states but not between good and evil," Zelenskiy said.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

A dual U.S.-British citizen who was temporarily furloughed from an Iranian prison just days ago has been returned to jail, his family and lawyer said on March 20.

Morad Tahbaz, a 66-year-old environmentalist, was released on March 16, the same day as two high-profile British citizens who had been detained for more than five years were freed and flown home to Britain.

But his lawyer said that Iranian security officers had forced Tahbaz -- who also has Iranian citizenship -- to return to Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.

“Unfortunately, we have no idea if or when he is going to be released,” Hojjat Kermani told the AP. “He is back in Evin for the time being.”

It was not immediately clear if Tahbaz’s return to prison was a temporary move or if he would be required to serve the final years of his 10-year sentence.

British and U.S. officials said they had been told he was returning to prison only to have an ankle tag attached, but his lawyer and family said they had no information on that.

Tahbaz's family said they had received "devastating news" that he had been returned to prison.

"We the family are distraught at this moment," they said in a statement.

SEE ALSO:

British-Iranians Welcomed In Emotional Return After Years In Iranian Prison

British-Iranians Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori arrived in Britain on March 17 after being released from Iranian prisons following more than five years of detention.

The United States, Britain, and other countries have sought to secure the release of dozens of dual nationals detained by Iran. Family members and human rights activists have accused Tehran of arresting the dual nationals on trumped-up charges to squeeze concessions out of Western nations.

The release of Tahbaz, Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori was reached as world leaders try to revive the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear pact. Negotiations on renewing the deal have stalled over Russia’s demand that its trade with Iran be guaranteed amid massive sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Tahbaz, a board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, was arrested in January 2018 during a crackdown on environmental activists. He and seven others were accused of compiling classified information while pretending to carry out environmental work.

Tahbaz was sentenced to 10 years in prison with the others on vague allegations of spying for the United States and undermining Iranian security.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on March 16 said Tahbaz had been released to his home in Tehran on furlough.

Iranian officials did not respond to requests for comment and did not acknowledge his return to prison.

The British Foreign Office said: "We hope to see him returned to his home in the coming hours. Morad Tahbaz is a tri-national, and we are working closely with the United States to secure Morad's permanent release."

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, the BBC, and AP

Germany says it has reached a long-term energy partnership with the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar as Berlin looks to become less dependent on uncertain Russian energy sources following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Although we might still need Russian gas this year, in the future it won't be so any more. And this is only the start," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on March 20 during a visit to Doha.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has for years been reliant on energy supplies from Russia and had been reluctant to place sanctions on Moscow following the Kremlin’s aggressive moves in Eastern Europe.

However, after Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has moved closer to the United States and other Western leaders in efforts to punish the Kremlin for its actions and has expressed the need to diversify Germany’s energy purchases.

Scholz announced last month that a key document required for the certification of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany would be withdrawn, essentially ending the long-awaited but controversial project for now.

In Doha on March 20, Habeck met Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the two discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations, with a focus on the energy sector, Qatar said in a statement.

Qatar is the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas and has the third-largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran.

Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa

Pope Francis, in some of his harshest implied criticism yet of Russia, decried the “violent aggression” against Ukraine and said there was no justification for the “senseless massacre” that is occurring in the besieged country.

"The violent aggression against Ukraine is unfortunately not slowing down," the pontiff told about 30,000 people in St. Peter's Square during his weekly address on March 20.

"It is a senseless massacre where every day slaughters and atrocities are being repeated," said the pope. Francis has so far avoided mentioning Russia by name, continuing a tradition in which the pontiff refrains from condemning by name one side or the other in a war.

"There is no justification for this," he said.

"I beg all the players in the international community to truly commit themselves to stopping this repugnant war," the pope said.

"Even this week, missiles and bombs hit civilians, the elderly, children, and pregnant mothers," he said.

Russia denies targeting civilians, despite widespread evidence of deadly attacks on nonmilitary sites, many of them documented by RFE/RL correspondents.

Francis on March 19 visited a Vatican-run Rome hospital that is treating children wounded in Ukraine.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP

Ten million people -- about one-quarter of the population -- have now fled their homes in Ukraine due to Russia’s unprovoked war, the United Nations refugee chief said on March 20.

"Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, everywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi tweeted.

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you all of the latest on Russia's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. The Live Briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.

"The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad," he added.

According to UNHCR figures, more than 3.4 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have left their country since the Russian invasion began on February 24.

Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military call-up and cannot leave.

The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said more than 1.5 million children are among those who have fled abroad.

The refugees are crossing to neighboring countries to the west, such as Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova.

The European Union has granted Ukrainians who flee the war the right to stay and work throughout the 27-nation bloc for up to three years.

Meanwhile, authorities in the besieged city of Mariupol claim that several thousand residents have been forcibly relocated to Russia in recent days.

"The occupiers are sending the residents of Mariupol to filtration camps, checking their phones, and seizing [their] Ukrainian documents," Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said.

Many of Mariupol's 400,000 residents have been trapped for more than two weeks as Russia seeks to take control of the strategic port city, bombarding it relentlessly and cutting it off from energy, food, and water supplies.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP, and the BBC

Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has suspended 11 pro-Russian political parties while martial law is in place in the country.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the decision in a video message early on March 20.

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you all of the latest on Russia's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. The Live Briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.

The largest of the parties with links to Russia is the Opposition Platform For Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in Ukraine’s parliament.

The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who has friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter.

"The activities of those politicians aimed at division or collusion will not succeed, but will receive a harsh response," Zelenskiy said.

The list of the Moscow-friendly parties also includes the Nashi (Ours) party led by Yevhen Murayev. British authorities had warned that Russia wanted to install Murayev as the leader of Ukraine.

Moscow “is looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine,” and Murayev “is being considered as a potential candidate,” the British Foreign Office said in January.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine's Justice Ministry has been instructed to implement the decision.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy renewed his call for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as he and others accused Moscow of war crimes and as deadly street fighting raged in the key southern port city of Mariupol, where a major evacuation is set for March 21.

"I'm ready for negotiations with him," Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview on March 20 as Russia’s widely condemned, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine entered its fourth week.

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you all of the latest on Russia's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. The Live Briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.

"I think without negotiations, we cannot end this war," Zelenskiy said through a translator.

"If there is just a 1 percent chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance...to have the possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin," he said.

"If these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war."

Separately Turkey's foreign minister said in an interview that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were nearing agreement on "critical" issues and that he was hopeful for a potential cease-fire soon in the conflict.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier this month hosted talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in the Turkish city of Antalya, but those talks did not appear to yield concrete results.

As Zelenskiy spoke to CNN, fighting continued in Mariupol, a strategic city that had a population of 400,000 before the war broke out. Residents have for the past two weeks been trapped without basic supplies, such as water, food, and fuel.

Russia is seeking to take control of the city, which would allow it to link Crimea -- which it seized in 2014 -- with territory controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian military said it had given Ukraine until the early hours of March 21 to surrender the city, according to Russian media.

But Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said early on March 21 that "there can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this."

Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of war crimes after the Russian military bombed a Mariupol art school where some 400 people had sought refuge from the intense fighting.

Local officials on March 20 said on their Telegram channel that the school’s building was destroyed and that people could remain under the rubble. There was no immediate word on casualties.

“To do this to a peaceful city -- what the occupiers did -- is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskiy said in a video address to the nation early on March 20.

The attack on the art school came after Russian air strikes on March 16 flattened a theater in Mariupol where civilians were sheltering. City authorities said 130 people were rescued but that many more could remain under the debris. Rescue workers were still searching for survivors.

Earlier in the war, Russian forces bombed a maternity hospital in the city.

Russia denies targeting civilians despite widespread evidence of deadly attacks on nonmilitary sites.

Late on March 20, Ukraine’s central government said it plans to send dozens of buses to Mariupol to aid the evacuation of refugees fleeing fighting there.

Deputy Prime Minister Vereshchuk said nearly 50 buses were set to arrive in the city on March 21.

She said that 3,985 people were evacuated on March 20 from Mariupol to the city of Zaporizhzhya about 225 kilometers away.

WATCH: Russian forces are meeting fierce resistance and taking casualties as they try to move towards the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. On March 18, a Ukrainian special search group collected the dead bodies of Russian soldiers in the hope they could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

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Ukrainian Team Collects Dead Russian Soldiers To Exchange For Ukrainian POWs

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While the Russian invasion has reportedly bogged down in much of the country and has resulted in heavy losses of troops and military equipment, Russian forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities amid international condemnation and calls for an immediate cease-fire.

Observers have speculated that Russian military momentum has been stopped by Ukrainian forces in many parts of the country and that the sides could be heading for a long, protracted stalemate in the war, which began on February 24 with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

In the capital, Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said late on March 20 that shelling had hit residential areas and a shopping district in the Podil district after a relatively quiet day.

"Several explosions in the capital's Podil district," Klitschko said on his Telegram channel.

Nearly one-fourth of Ukraine’s population has been displaced by the invasion, according to UN figures released on March 20.

Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), said on Twitter that at least 10 million of Ukraine's population of 44 million people have fled their homes.

About 3.4 million have fled across Ukraine's borders to neighboring countries, with the bulk of them arriving in Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union.

The UN human rights office estimated on March 20 that 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 injured in Ukraine as of the end of March 19. It said, though, that the actual toll is likely to be much higher as it has not been able to verify reports in several badly damaged cities.

The UN said most of the casualties were through shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and air strikes.

When asked by British broadcaster Sky News if Russia was committing genocide in her country, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said: "It's not a question. It's simply the reality we all face."

WATCH: Two-year-old Stepan Shpak was killed in Novye Petrivtsy, near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on March 16 in shelling by the Russian Army. His father spoke to Current Time on March 17.

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Father Of Child Killed In Russian Shelling: 'What Is All This For? For What?'

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Protests against Russia’s invasion continued in several cities around the world, including in Russia itself, despite police crackdowns on demonstrators.

Demonstrations took Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Vladivostok, among other cities, according to OVD-Info, an NGO that monitors arrests during protests.

Since the invasion began, there have been more than 15,000 detentions at anti-war protests, OVD-Info reported.

Military casualty figures on both sides remain difficult to confirm.

Zelenskiy said in a video message targeting the Russian public on March 20 that some 14,000 Russians have died in the invasion.

"That's 14,000 mothers, 14,000 fathers, wives, children, relatives, friends -- and you don't notice?" he said.

Moscow has only acknowledged 498 deaths, a total announced early in the invasion with no subsequent updates.

WATCH: Belarus has withdrawn all of its diplomats from Ukraine. When Ambassador Ihar Sokol was leaving on March 18, a Ukrainian border officer tried to hand him "30 pieces of silver" -- a reference to the biblical story of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. Russian troops who were deployed in Belarus for military exercises joined the invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.

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Belarus's Ambassador Offered '30 Pieces Of Silver' As He Left Ukraine

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Ukraine said a week ago that about 1,300 of its soldiers had been killed. That number cannot be independently confirmed.

Global condemnation of Russia's invasion continued, with Pope Francis calling it a "senseless massacre" and a "repugnant war."

However, Russian ally China has not joined in the criticism of Russia or participated in financial sanctions placed on Moscow.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Beijing to take a stand against the invasion.

"As time goes on, and as the number of Russian atrocities mounts up, I think it becomes steadily more difficult and politically embarrassing for people either actively or passively to condone Putin's invasion," he told The Times newspaper.

U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel in the upcoming week to Europe for emergency NATO talks on the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian officials have invited Biden to come to the country to see the situation for himself, but the White House said the president has no plans to visit the war-torn nation during this trip.

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, BBC, and Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pressed Indian leader Narendra Modi to take a tougher stand against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying it had shaken the "foundation of international order" and required a clear response.

However, a joint statement issued following their March 19 meeting in New Delhi fell short of specifically condemning the Kremlin's unprovoked attack.

Kishida told a joint news conference that he and the Indian leader had held an "in-depth discussion" and that "Russia's invasion...shakes the very foundations of the international order and must be dealt with firmly."

Modi made no direct mention of Ukraine and a joint written statement afterward called only "for an immediate cessation of violence and noted that there was no other choice but the path of dialogue and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict."

The statement said that the leaders "emphasized the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law without resorting to threat or use of force or any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo."

Japan has joined its Western partners is deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has slapped financial sanctions on Moscow and on several individuals and entities.

However, India has abstained in UN votes condemning Russia's actions and has only called for a halt to the violence while continuing to purchase badly needed Russian oil.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Pope Francis has visited with some of the Ukrainian children who escaped the Russian invasion of their country and are being treated at the Vatican's pediatric hospital in Rome.

The Vatican on March 19 said the Bambino Gesu hospital was treating 19 Ukrainian refugees.

It added that about 50 refugee children had passed through the facility in recent weeks.

Some were suffering oncological, neurological, and other problems before the war and fled in the early days of the invasion.

The 84-year-old pontiff has been a vocal critic of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, speaking out about the "barbarity" of the war and the harm caused to Ukrainian children.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

Russian officials have denied reports in the West that suggested Russian cosmonauts who joined the International Space Station (ISS) had donned yellow suits with blue trim in support of Ukraine.

"The flight suits of the new crew are made in the colors of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from," the press service of Russian space agency Roskosmos said on March 19 on its Telegram channel.

"To see the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything is crazy," it said. "Sometimes yellow is just yellow."

In a livestreamed news conference from the ISS, mission commander Oleg Artemyev said that "every crew picks a color that looks different."

"It was our turn to pick a color. The truth is, we had accumulated a lot of yellow fabric, so we needed to use it up. That's why we had to wear yellow flight suits," he said.

He was quoted on the Roskosmos Telegram channel as saying the suits had been made six months ago.

"Color is just color. It has nothing to do with Ukraine," he said.

"In these days, even though we are in space, we are together with our president and people!"

Ukraine, which was invaded by Russian forces on February 24, has a blue and yellow flag.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a video address has urged Switzerland to crack down on Russian oligarchs living in the country who he said were helping the Kremlin wage war on Ukraine.

In a speech on March 19 to thousands of people attending an anti-war protest in Bern, the Ukrainian leader thanked Switzerland for its support since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of his country.

But he also urged the Swiss financial sector to take action against the Russian millionaires who are using financial institutions in Switzerland to help fund Russia's war.

"Your banks are where the money of the people who unleashed this war lies. That is painful. That is also a fight against evil, that their accounts are frozen. That would also be a fight, and you can do this," he told the crowd through a translator in the video linkup.

"Ukrainians feel what it is when cities are destroyed. They are being destroyed on the orders of people who live in European, in beautiful Swiss towns, who enjoy property in your cities. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege."

In a rare move for the normally neutral country, Switzerland has fully adopted European Union sanctions against Russian individuals and entities and has ordered a freeze on their assets in Swiss banks.

Still, some ultrawealthy Russians -- said to have close ties to President Vladimir Putin -- continue to do business in Switzerland and have so far not been subject to financial sanctions.

No official figures have been released on Russian assets in the country, but the country's financial industry association estimates that Switzerland's secretive banks hold up to $213 billion of overall Russian wealth.

In his address, Zelenskiy -- wearing a short-sleeved, camouflage T-shirt -- also criticized the Swiss-based Nestle food company, which has so far decided not to withdraw from Russia, unlike many other companies.

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis greeted Zelenskiy from a stage on the Swiss capital's main square.

"We are impressed by the courage with which your people are fighting for freedom and peace," Cassis said.

"We are impressed by the way you defend the fundamental values of the free world, which are also our fundamental values."

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

SOFIA -- The United States will deploy a Stryker armored-vehicle infantry company for a NATO battle group being established in Bulgaria as the Western alliance moves to shore up its eastern flank in the face of Russian aggression in the region.

The announcement came during a March 19 joint news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

"The USA agreed to provide a Stryker company. This is a strong sign to all of our allies in NATO," Petkov said.

Details on the U.S. deployment or when it might take place were not disclosed during the news conference. The Stryker is an eight-wheeled, highly mobile armored combat vehicle that has been used in conflicts around the globe, including in Iraq.

NATO has in the past several years been boosting its assets in the alliance’s Central and Eastern European member states -- known as its "eastern flank" -- amid aggressive military action by Russia.

Bulgaria is establishing a battle group of some 1,000 troops under the operational command of the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and featuring troops from various alliance members.

Austin said that "I wanted to underscore the importance of the announcement that Bulgaria has established and is leading a NATO multinational battle group. It is an important step and we fully support it."

Austin is on a two-day trip to Bulgaria following a visit to Brussels and the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

The Financial Times reported that the purpose of his visit was to request Soviet- and Russian-made anti-aircraft systems from countries that have similar types of weapons, such as Bulgaria and Slovakia, to be sent to Ukraine for use by Kyiv's military.

Slovak defense chief Yaroslav Nad said in Bratislava that Slovakia was ready to provide its C-300 systems if NATO allies provided a replacement system.

Petkov has made it clear that Bulgaria does not plan to send military aid to Ukraine, but he said the country would continue to send humanitarian assistance. He also said Bulgaria would help take in Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has warned against supplying weapons to Ukraine, citing the dangers of involving the Black Sea country more directly in the war.

Petkov's announcement came after Sofia on March 18 said it was expelling 10 Russian diplomats, accusing them of carrying out activities deemed incompatible with their diplomatic status, a move followed up quickly by the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

SEE ALSO:

Bulgaria Expels 10 Russian Diplomats, Baltics Follow Suit With Another 10 Expulsions

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

YEREVAN -- Armenia has demanded that the United Nations take steps "to restore its neutral position in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" as it protested the participation of UN officials in an Azerbaijani event in a key Karabakh town this week.

Lila Pieters Yahia, the acting UN resident coordinator in Armenia, was summoned by Armenia's Foreign Ministry on March 19 and told that the government "strongly condemns the involvement of the UN Office in Azerbaijan in the event organized in Shushi on March 18."

Azerbaijan organized an event in the Baku-controlled town -- known as Susa in Azeri and Shushi in Armenian -- dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Azerbaijan's membership in the UN.

Baku said the UN resident coordinator in Azerbaijan and other representatives of the organization participated in the event, during which a UN flag was raised in the town.

UN officials did not immediately comment on the protest.

SEE ALSO:

France Ready To Support Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Talks

The town is a key site in Nagorno-Karabakh contested by Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Ethnic Armenians took control of the town in 1992 as they fought a separatist war against Azerbaijan following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijani forces regained control of the town during the second Karabakh war in 2020. The capture of the strategic area by Azerbaijan marked a turning point in the hostilities and was followed by a Moscow-brokered cease-fire that brought Russian peacekeepers to the region.

Nagorno-Karabakh's de facto authorities consider the town and other areas of the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region proper currently controlled by Azerbaijan to be occupied territories.

Azerbaijani authorities consider the town to be part of the country.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has announced that France and Austria will replace the Russian and Belarusian teams at the men's ice-hockey championships in Finland.

The move announced on March 19 represents another blow to the Russian sports and cultural community following the Kremlin's unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

Belarus, closely allied with Russia, has also been penalized by world organizations.

"The IIHF Council determined that France and Austria, the next-ranked countries in the 2021 IIHF Men's World Ranking, will take part in the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship," it said on its website.

The tournament is scheduled for May 13-29 in the two Finnish cities.

The IIHF suspended the Russian and Belarusian teams on February 28 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ice hockey is an extremely popular sport in both Russia and Belarus.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has vowed that his country will take care of the "wives and children" among the more than 3 million people who have fled Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"I have informed Ukrainian friends that we will take care of their wives and children," Fiala said on Twitter on March 19.

"The speed and size of the refugee wave is incomparable with past waves [but] the Czech Republic can handle it."

Fiala also called on the European Union to aid countries that have taken on the flood of people leaving war-torn Ukraine.

The Czech Republic, with a population of about 11 million people but which does not border Ukraine, has taken in more than 270,000 refugees, according to government figures.

"We do not want the EU to introduce quotas, but to have financial solidarity with the countries most affected by the refugee wave," he added.

Fiala this week returned to Prague following a dramatic trip with his Polish and Slovenian counterparts to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the besieged Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Most of those fleeing the Russian invasion have been women and children, with conscription-age men largely forbidden to leave by the Ukraine government.

Those fleeing have crossed into EU countries at border points into Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Many have moved on to other EU countries.

More than 2 million of the refugees have crossed into Poland.

Non-EU Moldova has also taken in people fleeing Ukraine.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the West should not attempt to "renormalize relations" with Russian President Vladimir Putin following his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at a Conservative Party conference on March 19, Johnson called Russia's military action against its neighbor a "turning point for the world."

"There are some around the world...who say that we're better off making accommodations with tyranny.... I believe they are profoundly wrong," the British leader said in the northwestern city of Blackpool.

"To try to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake again, and that is why Putin must fail.

"This is a turning point for the world and it's a moment of choice. It's a choice between freedom and oppression," he said.

The prime minister's comments came as his foreign secretary, Liz Truss, told The Times newspaper that the Kremlin appeared to be using peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv as a "smokescreen" for more extreme Russian military actions.

"I'm very skeptical," Truss said in an interview. "What we've seen is an attempt to create space for the Russians to regroup. Their invasion isn't going according to plan.

"I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I don't think we're yet at a point for negotiation," she added.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said that France is ready, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, to support negotiations between Yerevan and Baku aimed at a peace deal.

In separate telephone conversations this week with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov, Le Drian highlighted the importance of stability and peace in the South Caucasus, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

In recent months the two countries have engaged in border clashes that resulted in the deaths of both Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers.

The violence, coming after the two countries fought a bloody six-week war in 2020 over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, renewed international calls for the two neighbors to engage in a process of demarcating their Soviet-era border.

The 2020 war resulted in Baku gaining control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as seven adjacent districts that had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a separatist war in 1994. Some 2,000 Russian troops were deployed to monitor the cease-fire.

Armenia's Foreign Ministry said on March 14 that it had applied to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (France, the United States, and Russia) to organize Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on a peace treaty "on the basis of the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Helsinki Final Act."

The announcement followed a statement by Azerbaijan's Bayramov that Baku had submitted a five-point proposal to Yerevan to normalize relations.

In his conversations with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Le Drian also reportedly expressed concern about the recent tensions on the ground and called for all possible measures to be taken to reduce them.

The top French diplomat, in particular, stressed the importance of contacts between the sides on the issue of restoring gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, which were disrupted earlier this month due to a damaged pipeline passing through Baku-controlled territory.

Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leadership on March 19 said that gas supplies to the region had been partially restored after the completion of maintenance work on the pipeline.

They had earlier accused Baku of not allowing Armenian maintenance workers to enter the territory controlled by Azerbaijan for repairs, as a result of which the region was deprived of gas supplies for 11 days amid freezing temperatures.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov, son of long-standing autocratic Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, has taken office as president.

The younger Berdymukhammedov was sworn in as president during an inauguration ceremony at the Palace of Spirituality in the capital, Ashgabat.

"This day will become a special milestone in the history of the independent and neutral fatherland, marking the irreversibility of the democratic transformations launched in our country," the state news agency TDH said in its coverage of the event.

Turkmenistan, which is widely considered to be an authoritarian state, received Freedom House's lowest ranking in terms of democratic progress in 2020.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov's victory in a snap presidential election on March 12 came after his 64-year-old father, who came to power in late 2006, announced in February that he was stepping down to give way to "young leaders."

The next day, the country's rubber-stamp parliament set the date for the early presidential vote.

SEE ALSO:

Turkmenistan's President-In-Waiting: Who Is Serdar Berdymukhammedov?

In September 2021, Serdar Berdymukhammedov turned 40, the minimum age to run for president. He ran against eight other candidates, all of whom were known for being loyal to his father, and won with nearly 73 percent of the vote.

Since the country became independent in 1991, no election in Turkmenistan has been deemed free and fair by right groups and Western election monitors.

RFE/RL correspondents reported massive violations during the March 12 vote and election campaign, including ballot substitution, voters casting multiple ballots, and pressures on voters to vote for Serdar Berdymukhammedov.

His rise to the country's highest office followed a series of promotions.

In July he was appointed deputy prime minister for economic and banking issues and for international financial organizations. He previously served as chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber and on the State Security Council.

Under Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, living standards have plummeted despite the country sitting on the world's fourth-largest reserves of natural gas and the price for the commodity surging.

The open-source investigative group Bellingcat has published an interactive map of civilian facilities destroyed by Russia in the course of its invasion of Ukraine.

The map is based on video and photographic evidence documented by Bellingcat, and charts by time and place several hundred incidents that have potentially harmed or affected civilians since Russia's war in Ukraine began on February 24.

Among the incidents are "missile hits in residential areas, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the obvious presence of injured civilians or the motionless bodies of civilians," Bellingcat said.

The investigative group said that documenting such cases was "very important in light of the statements by the Russian authorities that they do not seek to attack civilians and avoid hitting civilian infrastructure."

The World Health Organization has said it has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities in Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of 12 people and injuries to 34.

The United Nations estimates that more than 3 million Ukrainian refugees have left the country to escape the fighting.

Soldiers, officials, and residents in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have desperately pleaded for Western help as invading Russian troops pushed deeper into the city center amid heavy fighting that has already shut down a massive steel plant.

The fighting came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for fresh talks with Moscow more than three weeks into Russia's invasion of his country and as the Kremlin said it had for the first time in battle used hypersonic missiles in the west of Ukraine.

While the invasion has reportedly bogged down in much of the country and has resulted in heavy losses of troops and military equipment, Russian forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities amid international condemnation and calls for an immediate cease-fire.

The Russian military has blasted major cities, including military and civilian sites alike, into rubble and has set siege to urban areas. British intelligence says an increasingly frustrated Kremlin has begun a strategy of attrition and is preparing for a extended battle.

SEE ALSO:

Communication Breakdown: How Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine Bogged Down

In the strategic city of Mariupol, "children and the elderly are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth," Mariupol police officer Mykhaylo Vershnin said in a video addressed to Western leaders and authenticated by the Associated Press.

Russia's heavy bombardment of the city, including a strike on a theater where hundreds of civilians were sheltering, has led to allegations that Russia was committing war crimes.

On March 18, Zelenskiy said that 130 people had been rescued from the theater but that "hundreds" more are still trapped under the rubble. No further details were available as of late on March 19.

Some 350,000 people remain inside the city in horrific conditions, aid workers say.

Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said in televised remarks that Ukrainian and Russian forces were on March 19 battling at Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant.

"One of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is actually being destroyed," he said.

Russian forces appear intent on cutting the city off from the Sea of Azov and linking the Crimea Peninsula -- which was seized by Moscow in 2014 -- to territory controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said it had "temporarily" lost access to the Sea of Azov as a result of Russian military operations.

In another Black Sea port city, Mykolayiv, local authorities and witnesses on March 19 reported that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in a Russian air strike on a military barracks.

A 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier was quoted by AFP as saying that "no fewer than 200 soldiers were sleeping in the barracks" when Russian forces struck.

The regional governor also said an attack occurred but did not provide details. The reports could not immediately be independently confirmed.

Ukraine announced on March 19 that 10 humanitarian corridors had been set up with Moscow's agreement to allow civilians to escape fighting in cities around the country, including Mariupol, the capital, Kyiv, and for the evacuation of civilians in the eastern Luhansk region.

The open-source investigative group Bellingcat has published an interactive map of civilian facilities destroyed by Russia in the course of the war, based on video and photographic documenting several hundred incidents that have potentially harmed or affected civilians.

SEE ALSO:

Investigative Group Publishes Map Of Destroyed Civilian Targets In Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported that Russian troops were concentrating their shelling on eastern and southern Ukraine, and were regrouping near the capital, Kyiv.

Most regions sounded air alarms on the night of March 18-19, according to the service, but that shelling had become less intense in areas other than Mariupol, Mykolayiv, and areas adjacent to separatist-held parts of the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Zelenskiy remained highly visible amid the invasion of his country.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine's Zelenskiy Thanks Swiss Protesters, Urges Oligarch Crackdown

In a video posted to Facebook on March 19, Zelenskiy accused Russia of attempting to destroy Ukraine and starve its cities into submission, but he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to direct talks to prevent unnecessary loss of life.

"This is the time to meet, to talk, time for renewing territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that several generations will not recover," he said.

Russia has provided only limited information on casualties, giving an early death toll of 498 soldiers, but Ukrainian and Western officials put the figure at several thousand, with several thousand more injured.

WATCH: A Ukrainian special search group collected the dead bodies of Russian soldiers in the hope they could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

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Ukrainian Team Collects Dead Russian Soldiers To Exchange For Ukrainian POWs

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Ukrainian casualty figures are also difficult to confirm.

In his video, shot on the streets of Kyiv, Zelenskiy denounced a huge March 18 rally in Moscow that Putin attended.

Zelenskiy said the estimated 100,000 people who reportedly gathered in front of Luzhniki stadium, along with the reported 95,000 who were inside the stadium itself, roughly corresponded to the number of Russian troops that had invaded Ukraine.

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you all of the latest on Russia's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. The Live Briefing presents the latest developments and analysis, updated throughout the day.

Referring to Ukrainian estimates of Russian troop losses since the war began on February 24, Zelenskiy said, "And now imagine 14,000 corpses in this stadium, in addition to the tens of thousands more wounded and maimed people."

"The war must end, Ukraine's proposals are on the table," he added.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has led millions of civilians to flee the country. The Polish Border Guard service has reported that more than 2 million refugees had entered Poland, while the United Nations has said more than 3 million have fled the fighting in Ukraine overall.

The World Health Organization said it had verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities in Ukraine, killing 12 people and injuring 34.

The UN said at least 847 civilians have been killed and 1,399 wounded in Ukraine through March 18. The actual toll is thought to be much higher as the UN has not yet been able to verify casualty reports from several badly hit cities, it said.

On March 19, the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office said 112 children had been killed and 140 wounded.

Most of the casualties in Ukraine have resulted from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, according to the UN human rights office.

Russia's military said it used its latest hypersonic missile for the first time in combat. It said Kinzhal missiles destroyed an underground site storing Ukrainian missiles and ammunition in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, which is less than 150 kilometers north of Romania and 250 kilometers from Hungary.

Russia has long boasted about its arsenal of Kinzhals, which are carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, and fly 10 times the speed of sound.

The Pentagon on March 19 said it could not confirm whether Russia had used a hypersonic missile in the attack.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP