Kyiv Post Daily Thread – The Latest News From and About Ukraine on March 22

A Russian missile has struck residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, killing at least one person, and injuring 25 others.

Read the full report here.

“It is not NATO, Poland or Slovakia that are mounting ever more pressure, but Russia, which has invaded Ukraine. Russia, which is seizing its territories. Russia, which is killing its people. And Russia, which is abducting Ukrainian children. Therefore, either Ukraine will defend its independence today, or we will have to enter this conflict. Because our main values, which were the basis of our civilization and our culture will be threatened. Therefore, we will have no choice but to enter the conflict,” the Polish Ambassador to France, Jan Emeryk Rościszewski, stated in an interview on March 18.

There is nothing alarming or extraordinary about the statement except its level of clarity. Eastern European countries do not support the Ukrainian fight for its right to exist – its sovereignty and independence – out of kindness alone, but primarily as a defense of their own country.

You can read more here. 

The U.K. Minister of State for Defence, Annabel Goldie, has confirmed the U.K. will provide Ukraine with depleted uranium (DU) armor piercing ammunition.

“Alongside… a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armor piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium,” Goldie reported in response to a written parliamentary question from a member of the House of Lords.

“Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armored vehicles.”

You can read more here. 

On Tuesday Vladimir Putin warned the U.K. against sending Ukraine depleted uranium shells. Maria Zakharova immediately called this plan the “Yugoslavia scenario,” accusing NATO of using ammunition that caused cancer during its military intervention in 1999 in Yugoslavia. This is a well-known script that the Kremlin has been using for years, and this Friday the Kremlin will not miss the opportunity to conduct information warfare against the West.

You can read more here. 

The March 20 Moscow meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin was upstaged and ruined on March 17 when the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant to arrest Putin for war crimes involving tens of thousands of Ukrainians. This is a stunning development that demolishes his reputation for all time by accusing him personally of committing despicable acts involving kids, intentionally torn from their families and culture. Large-scale child abuse, based on ethnicity, constitutes genocide, and will most certainly impede any hope of a closer alliance with China.

You can read more here.

Even as Americans prepare for the spectacle of Donald Trump's various arrests and trials, his patron Vladimir Putin finds himself confronted by a far more demanding set of legal predicaments. In the past few days, a number of very interesting things have happened, which I thought I would signal in this post. 

You can read more here.

The United States said Tuesday it does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator between Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine.

It was the most direct US criticism yet of China's aim to be a middleman in efforts to end the war.

"I don't think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

You can read more here.

The Russians attacked Zaporizhzhia with missiles. Residential, multi-story buildings and the island of Khortytsia were hit, Andriy Yermak, the head of the President's Office, reported via Telegram on Wednesday, Mar. 22.

"The Russians are shelling Zaporizhzhia. Residential buildings, as well as the island of Khortytsia, are under enemy fire," he emphasized. "Ukrinform" also reports that several powerful explosions were heard in the city, and an air-raid warning signal went off. According to preliminary data, a missile hit a multi-story building.

Good morning from Kyiv.

Three people were killed and seven others wounded in a Russian drone attack overnight in the Kyiv region, authorities have said.

“A civilian site was damaged as a result of the night drone attack in the Kyiv region,” which caused a fire, the regional military administration said.

Tou can read more here.

The Russian navy “repelled” a drone attack on the port of Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea early on Wednesday, the Kremlin-backed governor of the city said.

The peninsula, seized by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, is home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet and has been hit by a series of drone attacks since the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine.

The attack came just four days after President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Sevastopol.

You can read more here.

China’s leader Xi Jinping left Moscow on Wednesday morning after a two-day summit with Vladimir Putin marked with pomp, ceremony and some stern words for the West.

Here are the 7 key things you need to know about the trip.