These are the biggest updates so far on Friday as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth week:
Fight on the ground: Ukrainian forces have retaken towns and defensive positions on the eastern outskirts of Kyiv, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence update on Friday.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed on Friday that Russian forces destroyed “the largest of the remaining fuel depots” near Kyiv in an attack using sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles.
Survivors of the Mariupol Theater: An aide to the Mariupol mayor said about 600 people survived a March 16 Russian airstrike on a theater in the city.
The Mariupol City Council previously said that based on eyewitness accounts, it now believes that around 300 people died in the strike. CNN has not independently verified the death toll. New footage has surfaced on social media showing people fleeing the theater.
Biden in Poland: US President Joe Biden praised the bravery of Ukrainian civilians as he spoke to US troops in Poland, saying they had “a lot of backbone”. He also addressed the growing refugee crisis and thanked humanitarian organizations in Poland for helping to Ukraine and supporting refugees. According to a statement by the UN Children’s Fund on Thursday, one in two Ukrainian children has been displaced since Russia began its invasion on February 24.
According to the White House, he will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Saturday and give a “big speech”. Read more about Biden’s events in Poland here.
Russia Provides Update on Military Deaths: The Russian military said in a briefing on Friday that more than 1,300 military personnel had been killed and over 3,800 wounded in Ukraine, in the first major casualty update since March 2. Estimates by the USA, Ukraine and NATO assume drastically higher Russian troop losses.
Two senior NATO military officials on Wednesday estimated the number of Russian soldiers killed in action in Ukraine at between 7,000 and 15,000. Other US officials have estimated Russian losses in a similar range – between 7,000 and 14,000 Russian soldiers killed – but have expressed “little confidence” in these estimates.
Ukrainian forces also said they killed a Russian general in the Kherson region.
Putin Claims “Cancel Culture:” Russian President Vladimir Putin filed a complaint about so-called “abandon culture” in a video conference on Friday, in which he said the West is trying to break off Russia.
He likened his country’s treatment to a public backlash against “Harry Potter” creator JK Rowling, who had been criticized in the past for what she described as transphobic views. Putin, who presents himself as the standard-bearer of conservative cultural values, has railed against transgender and gay rights. Rowling responded, saying that criticism of the culture of demolitions is “not done best” by these “slaughtered civilians” in Ukraine, and posted a link to a news article about jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.
In his remarks, Putin went on to compare the current situation of Russian culture in the West with censorship in Nazi Germany. Putin has portrayed his invasion of Ukraine – a country with a Jewish president – as a campaign of “denazification,” a description roundly dismissed by historians and political observers.