Residents urged to evacuate Ukrainian town amid constant Russian attacks

The car of a top Russian commander was blown up in the occupied southern port city of Mariupol on Monday morning, Ukrainian officials said.

"According to preliminary information, the car of one of the occupiers' commanders exploded," Mariupol's city council said.

The council said the blast occurred in a central area of the city's Primorskyi district. It did not name the Russian officer or say whether the explosion caused any casualties.

Russia is yet to comment.

Both Ukrainian and Russian officials have reported explosions Monday morning in the occupied city of Melitopol in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Social media video and images showed thick smoke rising in the middle of the city, which is a hub for Russian occupying forces nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front lines.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said it was "loud" in the city around 8:15 a.m. local time.

Rogov said “the air defense system worked" but he also posted video of emergency services working at the site of a strike. He said “information about casualties and damage is being clarified.”

The local Russian-appointed administration said a building in central Melitopol “was partially destroyed."

"According to preliminary information, four people were injured and several buildings were damaged,” it said.

Rogov said the building struck was close to a college where classes were ongoing. But Fedorov said the building was occupied by Russian security forces.

Oleksandr Havriluk with some of the Russian anti-tank mines he dug up in his fields using a metal detector. (Rebecca Wright/CNN)

The first time Oleksandr Havriluk returned to his farm after it had been stormed and occupied by Russian troops, tears rolled down his face when he saw what they had left behind.

His farm buildings were almost completely destroyed, millions of dollars worth of heavy machinery had been left in ruins, and last year’s wheat harvest had been incinerated.

But the most pressing problem for Havriluk were the land mines which had been buried across his 12 square miles of surrounding fields.

Now, the 69-year-old is digging them up by hand, in a desperate effort to clear some of his fields before planting season begins in early April.

So far, Havriluk says he has removed around 20 mines from his fields in Valika Komyshuvaha, close to the city of Izium, using only a metal detector he purchased himself.

“You go, you find it, take a stick, tap it to determine the size, and then you dig it up,” he said. “And then you pick it up gently and take it out.”

The work is dangerous, he admits, but he adds, “I don’t have any other choice.”

Read more here.

A residential building damaged by a Russian military strike is seen in Avdiivka, Ukraine, on March 20. (Alex Babenko/Reuters)

Authorities in the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka — located in the eastern Donetsk region — are urging people to evacuate as critical resources like mobile service and electricity are disrupted by Russian shelling, a top regional official said.

Starting Sunday, the town’s utilities will be shut off as “more and more of the town is shelled and destroyed daily," Vitalii Barabash, the head of Avdiivka military administration, said in a Telegram post.

The regional leader said mobile coverage for the town will be shut off, too. He also cautioned that people will not be able to charge their phones, because in the coming days there will be nobody to service the generators or run the mobile tower.

“That's why you need to move out, you need to get ready for this. Especially those with children,” he said, “Real life shows that basements will not save you at the rate they are hitting the town with airstrikes now. Soon, I think Avdiivka may become a second Marinka — that is, nothing of the town will remain.”

About Avdiivka: The town is located just north of Donetsk city, a large metropolitan area.

The industrial town, home to a large smelting plant, has been shelled persistently since the Russian invasion began. However, in recent weeks Russian ground attacks in the area have intensified.

Some Ukrainian officials have said the town could become a second Bakhmut, the mostly abandoned city where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought for weeks to what is, at this moment, a bloody stalemate.

Barabash has said in previous updates that civilian evacuations from the town are perilous, with a "road of death" leading out of town that's monitored by Russian troops who "immediately open fire."

CNN's Svitlana Vlasova contributed to this report.

Vladimir Putin says he plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the neighboring ally from which he staged part of his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. When the Russian president uses the word “nuclear” the world pays attention and that appears to be a major reason why he said it.

As usual with Putin, the world should read the fine print and check the context. The weapons Putin plans to move to Belarus are not strategic nuclear weapons, those giant intercontinental ballistic missiles that, if fired, could end life on earth.

Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller, but powerful, and can be used on the battlefield. Putin has been threatening the possibility of nuclear war for the past year, especially when his military operation in Ukraine is faltering.

That could help to explain the context of Putin’s announcement. He’s a man with a lot of problems right now. Russian forces are bombarding Ukrainian cities from the air, but their ground war is not making much headway.

Aside from several new trade agreements with China, Putin didn’t get much out of his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. If anything, Russia now appears to be China’s junior partner.

Then there’s the International Criminal Court and the arrest warrant it has issued for Putin.

Now, about that fine print: Putin is blaming his decision on the other side, saying he made it in response to the United Kingdom supplying Ukraine with anti-tank ammunition that contains depleted uranium.

That, Putin charges, is a dangerous escalation. The UK denies this, explaining that the ammunition is used only for conventional purposes.

Putin says Russia already is constructing a storage facility for the tactical nukes that will be ready by July. He gave no specific date on which the tactical weapons would arrive.

What’s more, he notes, Russia already has 10 aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons, as well as several short-range Iskander missile systems that could carry nuclear weapons.

Significantly, the Russian leader said he will not transfer control of the tactical nuclear weapons to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been requesting the weapons for a long time.

Read the full analysis here.

For US troops, the training is nothing new: Applying tourniquets, clearing someone’s airway, recognizing signs of traumatic brain injuries.

But to the Ukrainian troops receiving it, the training is literally a matter of life or death on the battlefield in the war against Russia.

US troops have been providing critical medical instruction and combat casualty care to Ukrainians at Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany for almost a year, in between other significant training on weapon systems. And while it may not be as high profile as that on tanks, Patriot missile systems, or combined arms tactics, it could arguably have an even more immediate impact on the battlefield.

Ballard and Capt. Christina Whitler, the field artillery squadron physician assistant, were among the medics on-site last May as Ukrainians were training on M777 Howitzers. It’s typical for medics to be present at a range during training, and hoping to be as useful as possible, Whitler told CNN she spoke with a Ukrainian leader on the ground to see what else they might need.

The answer was clear: More medical training.

Read the full story here.

Russia says a Ukrainian drone caused an explosion that wounded three people in the country's Tula region, about 140 miles south of Moscow, Russian state news agency Tass reported Sunday. 

According to Tass, “two young men received fragmentation wounds and one more person was slightly hurt. Three apartment blocks and four household structures were damaged.” 

Ukraine has not commented on the incident so far, and CNN has not been able to independently verify Moscow's claim.

Russia’s private military group Wagner has taken “full control” of the AZOM metallurgical plant in the north of the city of Bakhmut, according to video posted by Russian state media and verified by CNN.

CNN cannot independently verify RIA’s claim and has reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for comment but is yet to receive a response.

Bakhmut has become a focal point of Russia’s invasion, with Moscow pressing hard to capture the city after failing to make major gains elsewhere.

The exact status of the battle for the city is unclear, but if confirmed Wagner’s claims would suggest Russia has made gains despite positive signals from Ukraine this week.

On Thursday one of Kyiv’s top generals said Russian forces are depleted in Bakhmut and a Ukrainian counteroffensive could soon be launched.

Read more here.

The sight of Ukrainian flags flying along Wembley Way — the road approaching the iconic Wembley Stadium — took on extra significance Sunday as Ukraine faced England in its Euro 2024 qualifier.

While the horrors of war continue to cast a shadow over its country, here was the Ukrainian men’s national team facing one of the best sides in the world on the global stage.

Win or lose, the Ukrainian players wanted to put on a show for its fans and offer those back home 90 minutes of respite.

However, the team knew it needed something of a miracle to beat England at Wembley and one was not forthcoming.

Ranked 21 places higher than Ukraine, England had too much quality on the pitch and its experience shone through.

Goals from England men’s all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka was all it needed as the 2-0 victory earned another three points in its qualifying campaign.

Read more here.