12 March 2022

March 2022 in brief

UNHCR said 1,002,860 people had left Ukraine in the war's first seven days, and by mid-March IOM said movements out of the country had reached three million, nine in ten of them women and children according to UNICEF. ^[1][2][3] In encircled Mariupol an airstrike hit the maternity and children's hospital complex, killing three people according to the city council, and another destroyed the drama theatre where hundreds of civilians were sheltering, which Amnesty International said was almost certainly struck by Russian aircraft; Russia denied striking the theatre. ^[1][2] Missiles struck the regional administration buildings in Kharkiv, where the regional head gave a preliminary toll of 7 killed and 24 injured, and in Mykolaiv, where Ukraine's State Emergency Service count reached 36 killed. ^[1][2] The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission had individually verified 1,276 civilians killed and 1,981 injured across Ukraine by the end of March, and said the actual figures were considerably higher. ^[1][2] Russian forces entered Kherson, the first regional capital they took, seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after fighting set a training building on fire, and struck the Yavoriv training centre near the Polish border, where Lviv's governor said at least 35 people were killed. ^[1][2][3] Russia's General Staff said the main aims of the first stage were accomplished and it would focus on Donbas, and after Istanbul talks in which Ukraine tabled neutrality proposals, Russia said it would cut military activity near Kyiv and Chernihiv; its forces handed Chornobyl back to Ukrainian staff at the end of the month. ^[2][4] The UN General Assembly demanded Russia's withdrawal by 141 votes to 5, the International Court of Justice ordered Russia to suspend its military operations, and the United States banned imports of Russian oil, gas and coal. ^[1][2][3]

Written from the records it cites; every figure appears in a cited record.