Russian invasion of Ukraine: tanks and rocket attacks on the cities. Breaking news

Single picket in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia:

On March 20, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff assessed the threat of an invasion by the Belarusian army allied to the Russian occupiers on Volyn as "high".

Territorial Defence of Irpin with a trophy Arrow of the occupiers on the riverfront:

The head of the Mykolayiv State Administration Vitaliy Kim writes that flags are being lowered in the city to commemorate the dozens of dead from last night's missile attack on the sleeping troops of the 79th Air Assault Brigade.

The Azov Raiding actions

The founder of the Azov regiment, Biletskyy, showed a video with the caption: "A convoy of Russian airborne troops has been sent to hell"

Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Shurma said that Ukraine has enough wheat, corn, sunflower oil and other basic products for two years. "We will definitely feed ourselves".

The Cabinet of Ministers has simplified the financing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defence, as well as trainings for technical education, repair of heating, water and electricity networks, procurement of the materials for shelters' maintenance, and the sowing.

Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu said of the negotiations, according to Hurriyet, that "there are open channels between the leaders (of Ukraine and the Russian occupying country), it is now known".

The Turkish foreign minister says that in the Ukraine-Russia negotiations "there is convergence on both sides on important and critical issues, in particular we see that they are almost the same on the first four points". (Hurriyet)

The UN woke up and confirmed that there are no bioweapons laboratories on our territory in Ukraine, as the Russian propaganda lies about.

Ukrainian caricaturist Oleksandr Grekhov published on Facebook his new work.

Text on the picture:

US secret bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine.

Borsch tasted even better on the second day of the war, but on the 22nd day, it becomes a weapon, that all conventions prohibit.

New life was born in bananas. Danger to humanity is assessed.

Mariupol's citizens with an active pro-Ukrainian views are under threat, so the authorities have been forced "to switch to conserving our agent network", writes an assistant to mayor Petro Andryushchenko.

"Fortunately, all our eyes/ears were successfully withdrawn from the seized territory yesterday, people are safe."

Mariupol mayor's advisor Petro Andryushchenko writes that the occupiers are forcibly deporting residents to Tomsk, Vladimir and Yaroslavl along the left bank, near Azovstalskaya Street.

The head of Donetsk State Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko writes that there is evidence that the Russians have already forcibly evacuated more than 1,000 residents. We are talking primarily about people from the Left-bank district (the residents of Ukrainian Cossacks Street and Azovstal Street are definitely known), residents of Vinohradny, as well as those who were hiding from Russian bombing in the sports club on the 17th microdistrict.

The SBU reminds us that the Ukrainian armed forces are assisted by reconnaissance, drones and messages from civilians to target the enemy. In other words, if you see an occupier's equipment, report it to the police, to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to the Territorial defence forces, or write to a telegram bot, or share your information via the Diya app.

Peoples' deputy Yegor Chernev on observing China: " Without taking into account some peculiarities of China's views on today's geopolitics, there is a significant shift there in relation to the war in Ukraine".

Kharkiv special forces of the National Police delivered sweets and cookies for the residents of the bomb shelters. Ukraine will defeat evil.

Ukrainian restaurateurs opened social cafe for the elderly people, where they can eat for free

Details about 7 humanitarian corridors that will try to work today (in Ukrainian).

What humanitarian corridors are planned for today, 20 March:

In Donetsk region, rescuers will again try to transport people from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhya, and from Mangush to temporarily occupied Berdyansk, and also to Zaporizhzhya.

In Kyiv region, rescuers will try to transport people from the villages of Bobryk and Tarasovka to Brovary, and from Borodyanka to Bila Tserkva.

From Kharkiv, cargo will travel for residents of Volchansk, Rogan and Nowa Rogan.

"Suddenly came and the earth trembled..." © Pyryatyn band

The National Security and Defense Council has ordered all Ukrainian news channels to broadcast a joint telethon "United News #UArazom" about the course of Ukraine's defense against the Russian occupiers.

Summary at 08:00 from the regional military administrations.

Kyiv Region.

The night passed relatively quietly in spite of the constant air raids. The enemy abandoned active operations and actively entrenched, erected fortifications, and tried to establish logistics.

Fighting and shelling in Makarov, Bucha, Hostomel and Vorzel. The invaders are shelling social infrastructure and residential areas in a chaotic manner.

Enemy displacement has been noticed in Vyshgorod and Brovary districts.

Chernihiv Region

Defense of Chernihiv, shelling of the city, yesterday high-rise buildings and industrial areas were shelled. Overnight there were air raids in Chernihiv and the region. In Chernihiv there is no electricity, heating, there are communication problems, most of the city lost gas.

Sumy region

The shelling of the suburbs of Sumy has been going on for a week, this night was not without them. There was also an air-raid alarm last night.

Kharkiv Region

Overnight in Kharkiv there were several attacks, there is a fire of residential buildings, rescuers are working. In the evening, the last shelling near the KhTZ killed 2 civilians, including a 9-year-old child.

Air raids on Kharkiv have decreased significantly. Reconnaissance aircraft were noticed. Armed Forces of Ukraine switched to counterattacks in some directions.They break up enemy columns moving towards Kharkiv. Yesterday in the Dergachevskyy district, a mobile unit of the National Guard destroyed a large number of manpower and equipment of the invaders.

The Russians are trying to break through in the direction of Izyum, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting.

Luhansk Region

There was shelling of Lysychansk and Rubizhne at night. Yesterday there was a humanitarian corridor, so the situation was more or less calm in Severodonetsk. But during the day there and in Rubizhne about 30 objects were damaged or destroyed.

Donetsk Region

The night was turbulent. Shelling all along the line: Avdiyivka, Marinka, Toretsk. Marinka - attempts to break through. The city is badly damaged.

The situation in Mariupol is difficult. There is hunger and street fighting in the city. People are trying to leave on their own. Many refugees have gathered in the occupied villages near Mariupol (Manhush, Melekino).

In the rest of the region, the situation is tense, but mostly under control, except for Volnovakha.

Mykolaiv Region

There was shelling of the city from BM-21 Grad, air raid. Fighting continues in the region. The evacuation from the defended villages and delivery of humanitarian aid are carried out. Part of the settlements lost heat and electricity.

Kherson Region

The night is turbulent, sounds of explosions, shelling can be heard across the region. Information is being updated. The situation is getting closer to critical with each passing day. In most remote areas and communities where the invaders are, there is almost a humanitarian disaster. The number of places where the invaders distribute their humanitarian aid is increasing daily. All this is done under the filming of the Rashist media.

Zaporizhzhia Region.

The night passed without change. By order of the military from 16:00 Saturday a curfew was imposed until Monday morning.

Rivne Region

Several air-raid alarms during the night.

Volyn Region

The night was quiet. In the morning there was an air-raid alarm.

Zakarpattia Region

The night was quiet.

Khmelnytskyy Region

As of the morning, the situation was quiet, there were alarms at night.

Ternopil Region

Air alerts at night, by morning all is quiet.

Cherkasy Region

The night was quiet.

Lviv Region

The situation is quiet.

Poltava Region

Night was quiet in Poltava region, but in the morning there was an air raid alarm.

Chernivtsi Region

The night was quiet.

Ivano-Frankovsk Region

Relatively quiet, one air-raid alarm.

Odesa Region

The night was quiet, in the morning there was an air raid alarm.

Zhytomyr Region

"Standard" night alarms. Rocket attack on one of the villages of Korosten district: an industrial building was destroyed. No casualties.

Kirovohrad Region

It is quiet in Kirovohrad region, one alarm at night.

Dnipropetrovsk Region

There was one alarm in the morning. In general, the situation is quiet.

The head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation Fedorov writes that the company Epic Games will donate profits from the new season of Fortnite to help Ukraine: it is the most popular game among young people, 400 million people play it around the world.

"Ultra-precise" missile strikes by the invaders on the night of March 20 apparently struck a strategically important collective farm barn in Korosten district. There were no casualties, Zhytomyr Region rescuers report.

Maxar showed a satellite image of the Drama Theater in Mariupol shelled by Russian occupants, which was a shelter for civilians

On March 19, Russian invaders dropped bombs on Art School No. 12 in the Livoberezhny District of Mariupol: about 400 Mariupol residents - women, children and the elderly - were hiding there. The building was destroyed, the local authorities said, and there are still people under the rubble. The number of victims and casualties is still unknown.

Tonight, the Russians shelled the Industrialny District of Kharkiv: five civilians were killed (including a child), Assistant Chief of Regional Police Markov reports.

War Infographic by the Office of the Prosecutor General (click to zoom in).

Let's remind the hotline of the missing persons bureau (Ukrainian prisoners of war, dead, missing, illegally detained by the invaders, including civilians) - 1648, for calls from abroad: +38 (044) 287-81-65.

Four military men were awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine and the Gold Star, eight were awarded posthumously. Here is the full list of other military men who were awarded orders.

A Patriot air defense system battery was apparently seen on a Czech road yesterday, which was "probably" heading towards Slovakia. This country is ready to transfer a S-300 missile system division to Ukraine, but NATO should compensate it with three Patriot air defense systems. 

The Armed Forces of Ukraine showed the Russians' ruined military equipment, on which the invaders had written quotes from the movie "Brother-2". The Army promises that such "landscapes" will become more and more frequent: "Russians, stop, no one is waiting for you here. God, give these unfortunates some common sense".

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council recommends a bot-assistant against fake news, unverified information, outright lies, and propaganda of the Russian Federation, which will help identify false information. Just send the news or reference to the bot and you'll get a response within minutes.

The legendary captain of the An-225 plane Dmytro Antonov said he had been threatened for his statement and his cell phone number got blocked. Few days before he told that the Mriya plane, which burned down in the Hostomel shelling, was not saved because of the inaction of the "Antonov" company management, although NATO before the war suggested relocating the giant, other aircraft and their crews.

In Kharkiv, on the 25th day of the Patriotic War, the Russians have already destroyed almost 600 apartment buildings. Thousands of families lost their homes, the National Police reports.

Yakub-Tomasz Nowakowski, a veteran of the Polish Armia Krajowa (Home Army), supported the Ukrainians: "Hold on in your heroic struggle just as we did during the German and Soviet occupations".

A veteran of the Polish Home Army and participant in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising shows his support to the Ukrainian people by singing in Ukrainian. A moving message. Please pass it on! Let’s show our support for the brave souls defending Ukraine

Former head of the British intelligence service MI6 Sawers believes that President Putin now communicates only with "a handful of people close to him" who share his paranoid ideas and views on the world. That is, he lives in a very small information bubble, where he gets only the information he likes, writes the BBC.

Johnson offered Zelenskyy to flee to Britain in the early days of the Russian invasion, but he declined. The country's prime minister told the Sunday Times, calling the Ukrainian president "an absolutely charming guy" whom the war "has turned into a heroic military leader".

Kiesewetter, head of the Bundestag Committee for the Control of Special Services of the Federal Republic of Germany, is convinced that Ukraine-Russia negotiations are meaningless, because "neutrality or a similar result is unlikely to mean long-term peace. There will be no more peace with Putin". (DW)

During the talks with Biden, Xi Jinping suggested how to end Russia's war against Ukraine, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said.

This is, first, "working together to facilitate dialogue and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, to end hostilities as soon as possible, and to prevent civilian casualties, in particular to prevent the humanitarian crisis from worsening".

Second, "a reliable solution would be to abandon the Cold War mentality, refrain from blocs confrontation and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in the region to ensure lasting peace and security on the European continent." (CTGN)

Lars Klingbeil, head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, called Putin a war criminal and renounced his friendship with pro-Russian former Chancellor Schröder. (Bild am Sonntag)

Over the past 24 hours, the invaders destroyed 24 houses (12 apartment buildings and 12 private houses) in Rubizhne and Severodonetsk. Seven people were rescued from under the rubble. In Rubizhne, three people were killed, including two children, and two people were injured (one child). (Luhansk Regional Military Administration)

In the Luhansk region, 23 settlements completely and 7 partially lost gas (a total of about 35,000 people). Without electricity - 26, 12 and 98,364 respectively. (Luhansk Regional Military Administration)

Main information from the General Staff summary as of 06:00 am:

→ Anti-aircraft systems shot down 3 Russian attack helicopters in 24 hours;

→ The enemy did not carry out any active offensive actions;

→ The invaders are forcing people into collaborationism in the occupied territories, not allowing humanitarian aid to be delivered there from the territory of free Ukraine, and handing out various financial promises;

→ of the combined unit of the 331st Kostroma Guards Airborne Regiment of the Russian Armed Forces, which took part in combat actions in the Kyiv direction, one soldier survived and is in a hospital;

→ Another wave of mobilization was announced in the temporarily occupied Donetsk region: the age limit was raised to 65 years. The same is about to happen in the temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk Region;

→ Russian saboteurs have been reported to massively use the uniforms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct subversive and discrediting activities.

The U.S. offers Turkey to transfer to Ukraine Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, the same ones that caused the scandal between Ankara and NATO, above all the Americans. (Reuters)

Zelenskyy is sure that the village of Chornobayivka near Kherson will be remembered in the history of wars as "the place where the Russian military and their commanders showed themselves for what they are: talentless, capable of simply turning their men in for slaughter".

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed Russian aircraft and other military equipment in this place six (!) times, but the Russians are stubbornly walking straight into the fire. The situation sparked a bunch of memes from Ukrainians. For example:

"Chornobayivka, Chornobayivka, Chornobayivka"

Pope Francis visited Ukrainian children at the Bambino Gesùu Pediatric Hospital in Rome.

The Russian propaganda media source RIA Novosti released a new fake: as if the Armed Forces of Ukraine store chemicals (for chemical weapons, of course!) at one of the schools in the Nikolaev region. There is nothing to comment.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has told his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had shaken the "foundation of international order" and required a clear response, Reuters reports.  

"We (Kishida and Modi) confirmed any unilateral change to the status quo by force cannot be forgiven in any region, and it is necessary to seek peaceful resolutions of disputes based on international law," Kishida told.

Modi refrained from commenting directly on Ukraine.

US officials confirmed that Russia launched powerful hypersonic missiles against Ukraine last week. This was reported by CNN.

US top officials believe the launches were likely intended to test the weapons and send a message to the West about Russian capabilities. This is the first known use of such missiles in combat.

Hypersonic weapons are difficult to detect, posing a challenge to missile defense systems. Hypersonic missiles can travel at a far lower trajectory than high-arcing ballistic missiles, which can be easily detectable. Hypersonics can also maneuver and evade missile defense systems.