WAR IN UKRAINE: March 20, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 390
Europe's push to make arms for Ukraine has been hobbled by a shortage of explosives, which industry insiders fear will delay efforts to strengthen Kyiv’s position on the frontlines - FT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid a surprise visit to Mariupol in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, a day after visiting Crimea. It is believed to be his first visit to a newly-occupied Ukrainian territory. Reports say he arrived by helicopter, and at one point he was shown on state television as driving a vehicle around the city with an official. The visit comes after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children - many of whom came from Mariupol. One Russian video showed Putin greeting supposed locals and in another visiting an empty theater.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the ongoing Russian shelling of Ukrainian cities and villages, killing civilians. “The evil state will be held accountable for every act of terror against Ukrainians,” he said in his nightly video address. “This week has finally brought a truly significant international legal result for Ukraine, for justice. There is a warrant of the International Criminal Court for the arrest of the Russian leader, and this is a turning point,” he said, for Russia to face consequences for its crimes in Ukraine. “Responsibility for every strike on Ukraine, for every destroyed life, for every deported Ukrainian child... And, of course, for every manifestation of destabilization of the world caused by Russian aggression,” he said - VOA
Speaking on Russian state television Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 rather than earlier because of economic and military factors, The Kyiv Independent reported. Putin explained that Russia didn't wage a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2014, when it invaded Crimea and started a war in the eastern Donbas region because it wasn't ready militarily in 2014 for a full-scale war, primarily because it didn't have "hypersonic weapons." Russia's hypersonic missile Kinzhal entered service in 2014. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, both Russia and Ukraine have said that Russia had launched Kinzhal missiles at targets in Ukraine. The missiles are considered impossible to intercept. Putin also said that Russia had been preparing economically to withstand the cost of the war. He cited good harvests, import substitution policies, and “improving” the country’s financial system as the factors that allowed him to start the invasion.