36-hour curfew in Kyiv, Russian offensive in southern Ukraine… noon update

The live broadcast is conducted by Anna Vilshenon and Pierre Bouvier.

• On the twentieth day of the war in Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 15, the Russian army is slowly advancing and expanding its bombing campaign throughout Ukraine. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian army, “the enemy continues to carry out missile and bomb, artillery and tank strikes on infrastructure and residential areas” in a number of large and medium-sized cities.
• Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, will be subject to a thirty-six-hour curfew starting Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. At dawn, several explosions sounded in Svyatochyn and Podil, residential areas of the city. Russian troops will be about 15 kilometers from the city center. For several days now, fierce fighting has been going on in the northwestern outskirts, in the cities of Irpin, Gostomel or Bucha. But “Kyiv is still open to the south (…), the southern roads are passable, which allows the people of Kiev to escape and supply the capital,” according to our special correspondent Remy Hourdan.
• The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are traveling to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and show “clear support” from the EU.
• On South, a place Mariupol, a strategic port city, has been going on for more than a week. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) speaks of living conditions “which are nothing short of a nightmare” for the approximately 400,000 people who are still there. As fighting continues between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the north of the metropolis, Russian missiles fall and destroy civilian and military buildings. IN Nikolaev, a port city on the Black Sea, shelling also continues. Russian troops are closing in, but Odessa remains their target to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea. The Russian Ministry of Defense has assured, according to several official Russian agencies, that the army is now in control of the sea. The whole region around Kherson. This city of 290,000, which fell almost ten days ago, is the only major Ukrainian metropolitan area under Russian control since the invasion began.
• To the East, the Russians are still trying to take Kharkov, the second largest city in the country, according to the army headquarters. The ICRC announces that a convoy of thirty buses is ready to leave the city Sumy, a few miles from here. Valentin Reznichenko, regional governor Dnieperclaims that the Russian army shelled the city’s international airport on the night of Monday to Tuesday, destroying, in particular, the runway.
• in human losses is still very uncertain. At least 636 civilians have been killed since the beginning of this war, according to a UN calculation Sunday, highlighting that estimate is likely much lower than reality. Nearly 3 million people fled the fighting and shelling, including 1.6 million children, and about 2 million people were internally displaced. According to the President of Ukraine, about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, while Russia released only one report on March 2: 498 soldiers were killed.
• The fourth round of talks to find a solution to the war is due to resume today after a “technical break” announced late last night by head of Ukrainian negotiators Mykhailo Podolyak.
• Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee of the influential Russian public broadcaster Channel One, held a banner during a live TV news broadcast condemning the attack on Ukraine and Russian propaganda. She may be prosecuted for “compromising the use of the Russian armed forces.”
• Member states of the European Union on Monday adopted the fourth round of sanctions against Russian companies and oligarchs. Earlier, 862 people and 53 Russian organizations have already been included in this black list, which prohibits entry into the territory of the European Union and allows them to seize their assets.

Read all our articles, analyzes and reports about the war in Ukraine:

Report. A minibus with seven teachers for children was fired upon in Ukraine

Service. Sergey Guryev, economist: “Vladimir Putin will destroy the Russian economy”

Analyze. Why France has kept the export of military equipment to Russia after 2014

Report. Ski resort Bukovel, an elite bomb shelter

Tribune. Rafael Glucksmann: “If we don’t defend Ukraine because of our principles, then let’s do it for our vital interests”

Transcripts. Left in Russia, TotalEnergies’ controversial bet

Our live stream from Monday 14 March can be found here.