Russia-Ukraine war: 2,389 children ‘kidnapped’ by Russian forces, US says; Kherson food running low – live | World news

It is 7pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand now:

• Russian forces are now inside the besieged southern city of Mariupol, a senior US defence official said. Two “super powerful bombs” rocked Mariupol on Tuesday even as rescue efforts were ongoing, local authorities said. More than 200,000 people are trapped in the city, where the situation has been described as a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings”, Human Rights Watch said.

• About 300,000 people in the occupied southern city of Kherson were running out of food and medical supplies, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry said. The city of Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city to fall into the hands of Russian troops after they invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

• Russian forces have “kidnapped” 2,389 children from the Russian-controlled territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, the US embassy in Kyiv said today,
  citing figures by Ukraine’s foreign ministry. The embassy said: “This is not assistance. It is kidnapping.”

• At least one person has died after drones attacked a scientific institute in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, AFP reports. Rescuers were seen removing a body from the scene, as smoke rose from the seven-storey building at the Institute for Superhard Materials in north-west Kyiv, part of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine.

• The Ukrainian health minister, Viktor Lyashko, said 10 hospitals had been completely destroyed since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. Other hospitals could not be restocked with medicines and supplies because of nearby fighting, the minister added.

• Russia plans to unleash a “great terror” on the southern occupied city of Kherson by kidnapping residents and taking them across the Russian border, an FSB whistleblower has claimed. The Kremlin was no longer willing to “play nicely” with protesters in the Ukrainian city, a letter said.

• A Russian court has sentenced jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to nine years in prison after convicting him of fraud and contempt of court. Navalny is already serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence at a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he says were trumped up.

• The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has described the war in Ukraine as “unwinnable”. Speaking to reporters today, Guterres said Ukrainians are enduring a “living hell” and the reverberations of the war in Ukraine are being felt worldwide.

• The Ukrainian military has claimed Russian forces have stockpiles of ammunition and food that will last for “no more than three days”. A UK official said the Ukrainian military claim “sounds entirely plausible”.

• The wife of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has thanked France’s first lady and other leaders’ wives for helping to ensure sick children reached safety. Writing to Le Parisien newspaper, Olena Zelenska paid tribute to Europeans who have been housing and helping Ukrainian refugees, saying they deserved a Nobel peace prize.

• A journalist at Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper has said that a story that appeared on its website yesterday claiming nearly 10,000 Russian troops had been killed in Ukraine so far was the result of a “hack” on the website.

Hello, I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I will continue to bring you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. As always, feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag. You can reach me on Twitter or via email.

Some Russian forces are now inside the besieged southern city of Mariupol, a senior US defence official said.

From Foreign Policy magazine’s Jack Detsch:

More than 200,000 people are trapped in Mariupol, where the situation has been described as a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings”, Human Rights Watch said.

Two “super powerful bombs” rocked the city today even as rescue efforts were ongoing, local authorities said.

It is clear that the occupiers are not interested in the city of Mariupol, they want to raze it to the ground, to reduce it to ashes.

A Ukrainian journalist who was reportedly held captive by Russian forces has been released, Ukrainian outlet Hromadske said.

In a statement published today, Hromadske said one of their journalists, Victoria Roshchyna, was released by Russian troops on Monday after being taken prisoner on 16 March.

Now she is in the area that is controlled by the Ukrainian government. She is travelling to Zaporizhzhia, where she has to meet her relatives.

The media outlet said pro-Russian media had shared a video in which Roshchyna said Russian soldiers had saved her life.

This record was a condition for her liberation, it was shooted under the pressure of the Russian occupiers. All truth about her detention and captivity Victoria will tell herself very soon.

Russia plans to unleash a “great terror” on the southern occupied city of Kherson by kidnapping residents and taking them across the Russian border, an FSB whistleblower has claimed, the Times reports.

A letter, thought to have been written by a member of Russia’s domestic security service and dated from Monday, said the Kremlin was no longer willing to “play nicely” with protesters in the Ukrainian city, where residents have staged regular rallies against the occupiers.

People will be taken from their homes in the middle of the night, the letter said.

Even if we have to deport as many as half the city — we are ready for that.

The letter also said:

If it were possible to identify protest leaders, they would have been liquidated already.

Protesters are saved only by the fact that it is unclear who exactly needs to be captured.

There are also fears that a move to violence may end in a real riot, which could only be suppressed by large-scale fighting.

In the past few days, an order had been given “from the very top” for a solution to be found, the whistleblower said.

A “great terror” coordinated by the security services would aim to reduce protest with “extremely strict methods of dispersal”, including “severe injury” to individual demonstrators.

A second phase would involve “door-to-door terror” with residents kidnapped and taken abroad, the letter said.

The letter is thought to have been written by the FSB insider known only by his codename Wind of Change. Earlier letters have been deemed authentic by Russian security service experts, the Times writes.

At least one person has died after drones attacked a scientific institute in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday, AFP reports.

Military rescuers were seen removing a body covered with a black plastic sheet from the scene, as smoke rose from the seven-storey building at the Institute for Superhard Materials in north-west Kyiv, which is part of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine.

A Russian defence ministry intelligence official said three people had been killed, but there was no other confirmation of the toll.

The official, who asked not to be identified by name, told AFP:

During today’s air raid the armed forces of the Russian Federation used Orlan drones, one of which dropped a bomb, as a result of which the premises caught fire.

Later two more drones appeared and also tried drop bombs, they were downed. It used to be an industrial workshop here, a civilian institution. No military.

Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said about 300,000 people in the occupied southern city of Kherson were running out of food and medical supplies.

The city of Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city to fall into the hands of Russian troops after they invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

On Monday, Ukrainian armed forces said Russian troops used stun grenades and gunfire to disperse a rally of anti-occupation protesters in Kherson.

Video footage showed protesters in Kherson’s Freedom Square running to escape as projectiles landed around them, as loud bangs and gunfire was heard.

Footage shared on social media suggested that Russian forces continued to respond violently to peaceful protesters today.

From ABC News’ Patrick Reevell:

Democrat majority leader Chuck Schumer has called on the the US Senate to revoke Russia’s trade status as a “most favoured nation”.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation to remove Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for Russia on 17 March.

Reuters quote Schumer saying “Putin’s regime is wicked and the best message we can send him is to pass PNTR legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support.”