WAR IN UKRAINE: March 30, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 400
Russia-backed officials said the occupied city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine lost power supply after it was shelled by Ukrainian forces. Melitopol's Ukrainian mayor, who is not in the city, said some districts were without electricity after "explosions” - CNN
Orthodox Christian clerics say they will stay at a historic monastery in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, despite a planned government-ordered eviction of hundreds of priests, monks and students. The Pechersk Lavra is a seat of Ukraine's Orthodox Church (UOC), which split from the Moscow patriarchate after Russia's invasion last year. But Ukrainian officials suspect some of the top clergy have maintained ties with the church in Moscow, which they deny. The UOC has been ordered to leave the site by the end of Wednesday - BBC
Ukraine officially recognizes as abducted by Russia 4,390 children who are orphans, half-orphans or deprived of parental care and the deportation of 16,207 children from the temporarily occupied territories, said Minister of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk - TSN
The International Atomic Energy Agency is working out a new concept for securing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, its head Rafael Grossi said Wednesday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. “We are developing a concept that is aimed at protecting the station more locally," Grossi told reporters during his visit to the plant, RIA Novosti reported “I am working with management in both Kyiv and Moscow to implement measures to protect the plant," he added. Grossi reiterated that the situation at the nuclear facility is not improving and hostilities around it are intensifying. Measures must be taken to protect the station from any attacks, he added, according to RIA Novosti - CNN
Russia begins exercises with its Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system with 3,000 personnel and 300 pieces of equipment, the country’s defense ministry said.
IOC backs return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition as individuals but offers no timeline for Paris Olympics - VOA
