Because the conflict enters its 752nd day, these are the primary developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
The struggle
- Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy has condemned a Russian missile assault on the Black Sea port metropolis of Odessa through which no less than 21 individuals had been killed and 75 injured.
- Zelenskyy stated Russia would obtain a “truthful response” from Ukrainian forces for what he known as a “vile” strike on a metropolis that has been attacked by Russian drones or missiles virtually on daily basis this month.
- Ukrainian authorities have begun the mass evacuation of communities within the northern Sumy area, close to the Russian border, after extended intervals of intense shelling of the world, native officers stated.
- Ukrainian drones hit two oil refineries belonging to Russian state oil big Rosneft within the Samara area, Governor Dmitry Azarov stated on Telegram.
- There have been no casualties, however the Syzran refinery within the Volga River area was on fireplace, he stated, whereas an assault on the Novokuibyshevsk refinery was thwarted.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish Ukraine for what he stated was an election day bombing that hit civilian targets on Russian soil. Russians have voted in elections that finish on Sunday, with Putin extensively anticipated to win a fifth time period.
Politics and diplomacy
- Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, stated that the elections within the Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed within the 2014, they had been “illegitimate”.
- “Having elections within the territory of one other UN member state with out its consent is in manifest contempt for the rules of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Such elections haven’t any validity in worldwide regulation,” stated Kyslytsya in a joint declaration with the international locations of the European Union, america, the UK and different nations.
- A UN fee of inquiry into Ukraine stated it had gathered extra proof that Russia systematically tortured Ukrainian prisoners of conflict, by means of threats of violence and the usage of electrical shocks on the genitals. Some Ukrainian prisoners had been so hungry in Russian detention facilities that they resorted to consuming cleaning soap, worms and leftover pet food, the report stated.
- The Group of Seven (G7) international locations warned Iran in opposition to supplying ballistic missiles to Russia to be used in its conflict in opposition to Ukraine and stated it will “reply rapidly” with new sanctions, together with presumably ban Iran Air from Europe.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin for pressing talks on how greatest to assist Ukraine, which lacks the navy assets wanted to definitively cease Russia's invasion.
