March 22, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The town of Avdiivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk is coming under heavy attacks by Russian artillery and rocket systems, according to the head of the local military administration.

Avdiivka, a town with a large smelting plant just north of Donetsk, has been shelled persistently since the Russian invasion began. However, in recent weeks Russian ground attacks in the area have intensified.

Some Ukrainian officials have said that the town could become a second Bakhmut, the mostly abandoned city where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought for weeks to what is, at this moment, a bloody stalemate.

Local official Vitalii Barabash told CNN that "the situation is really changing."

Fighting along the city's outskirts: Barabash said there had been massive shelling of the central part of the town late Tuesday. The rest of the night, he said, was "relatively calm."

However, the defense line around the city was "shelled all night."

"There was heavy shelling, and small arms fighting was going on in all directions, from the south and the north."

Geolocated social media videos over the past week indicate that Russian forces have moved closer to access routes from Avdiivka to the north and west. 

Barabash said that on Wednesday morning there were more shelling and artillery attacks, killing one woman.

Evacuation difficulties: Civilian evacuations are continuing but the way out of town is a "road of death," with the stretch of road monitored by Russian troops who "immediately open fire" Barabash said.

He added that 180 people left the town in the last three weeks and Ukrainian officials estimate that there are some 2,000 people left in Avdiivka. Among them, according to Barabash, are six children. One child evacuated Tuesday, and authorities plan to evacuate another one on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he is not surprised by what he called a "hostile" reaction from Western nations to the visit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.

Peskov's comments came after John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Beijing and Moscow are deepening their relationship in large part due to their mutual interest in challenging the US' global influence.

Kirby also pushed back on China's claim that it had staked out an impartial position regarding the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, did not discuss a Kyiv-proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine during their visit this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

Peskov said that Kyiv’s proposal was a matter of Sino-Ukraine relations.

The 10-point peace plan was first presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video at a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in November.

The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine.

Xi spent three days Moscow this week. His visit ended with Beijing and Moscow concluding more than dozen agreements bolstering cooperation in areas from trade and technology to state propaganda, according to a Kremlin list. The leaders’ central statement focused on how the two countries would "deepen" their relationship.

However, the two sides failed to move the needle on bringing a resolution to the war.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to supply Ukraine with a $15.6 billion loan to help stave off financial woes due to the war with Russia, it said in a statement Tuesday.

The package — which is subject to approval by the IMF's executive board — aims to support Ukraine’s recovery as the invasion perpetrated by Russia "continues to have a devastating impact on the economy," said Gavin Gray, the IMF's mission chief for Ukraine.

The funds are being delivered as part of a four-year agreement reached between the IMF and Ukraine.

A fourth victim of a nighttime drone attack in the region of Kyiv has been found in the rubble of a dormitory in the town of Rzhyshchiv, police said.

The deceased has been identified as a 40-year old man.

Andrii Niebytov, the Kyiv region's police chief, said earlier that three people had been killed and seven others injured in the attack. More than 200 people were evacuated from the building and more than 20 were hospitalized. At the time when Niebytov spoke, five were missing, he said.

A total of 21 drones were launched against Ukraine from the north shortly before midnight local time on Tuesday, 16 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have made a sweeping affirmation of their alignment across a host of issues — and shared mistrust of the United States — in a lengthy statement following talks between the two leaders in Moscow this week.

Their meeting, which took place under the shadow of Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine, left no question about Beijing’s commitment to developing its rapport with Moscow, despite Putin’s growing isolation on the global stage as its devastating war continues into its second year.

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Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has warned the United States that Moscow would take "countermeasures" against any further drone flights over part of the Black Sea following an incident last week in which a Russian jet intercepted a US drone, state media reported Wednesday.

Referring to the incident last week, he said the US drone "was in a zone where we introduced a special regime associated with conducting military exercises.”

Russia's security would be ensured “by all means available,” he added, and “no American drones, whether reconnaissance, strike, strategic or any other kind,” could “shake their determination.” 

Some background: CNN reported Tuesday that the US is flying surveillance drones further south above the Black Sea after a Russian jet collided with a US drone last week, citing two US officials.

The drone flights have remained in international airspace, but since the collision between one of the Russian jets and the MQ-9 Reaper drone last Tuesday, the US has moved its drone flights further away from airspace surrounding the Crimean peninsula and eastern portions of the Black Sea.

One of the officials said the routes are part of an effort “to avoid being too provocative,” as the Biden administration remains careful to avoid an incident that could potentially escalate into a direct conflict between US and Russian forces.

The official said the drone flights would continue this way “for the time being,” but added there is already “an appetite” to return to the routes closer to Russian-held territory. The officials also said Russia may try to unilaterally declare a broader closure of airspace around southern and eastern Ukraine in an attempt to force US drone flights further out. 

Three people were killed in the Kyiv region overnight following a wave of Russian attacks with Iran-made Shahed drones, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Andrii Niebytov, the Kyiv region's police chief, said seven others were injured when a drone struck a dormitory building in the town of Rzhyshchiv.

Police and emergency services evacuated more than 200 people and more than 20 were taken to the hospital — but five people remain missing, Niebytov said.

Four people may be trapped under the rubble, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.

A total of 21 drones were launched against Ukraine from the north shortly before midnight local time on Tuesday, 16 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said eight drones were shot down near the capital, where an air alert was in force for more than four hours.

In the Zhytomyr region to the west of Kyiv, three drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, according to the local military administration.

A drone attack was “thwarted” in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol early on Wednesday, according to a local Russia-backed official.

CNN could not independently verify Razvozhaev’s claim.

Sevastopol is the largest city in the annexed Crimean peninsula and home to Russia's Black Sea fleet. Some of Russia’s most important warships have been docked there, including surface ships equipped with cruise missiles.

The US has previously accused Russia of using cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea to hit civilian targets in Ukraine. 

Train strike: The report Tuesday comes after Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said late Monday that a strike destroyed Russian “Kalibr” cruise missiles that were being transported by train in the Crimean town of Dzhankoi.

Ukrainian authorities did not directly claim responsibility for that strike but said it serves to further “demilitarize Russia and prepare the Crimean peninsula for de-occupation.”