WAR IN UKRAINE: March 28, 2022 — Michael Bociurkiw

BREAKING NEWS: The investigative journalism outfit, Bellingcat, confirms three members of the delegation attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on the night of 3 to 4 March 2022 experienced symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons. The shock revelation could likely scuttle the prospect of future talks, especially those possibly involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Bellingcat’s Twitter thread: “One of victims was Russian entrepreneur Roman Abramovich, who, along with another Russian entrepreneur, had taken part in the negotiations alongside Ukraine’s MP Rustem Umerov. The negotiation round on the afternoon of 3 March took place on Ukrainian territory, and lasted until about 10 pm. Three members of the negotiating team retreated to an apartment in Kyiv later that night and felt initial symptoms - including eye and skin inflammation and piercing pain in the eyes - later that night. The symptoms did not abate until the morning. The next day the group of negotiators drove from Kyiv to Lviv on the way to Poland and then Istanbul, to continue informal negotiations with the Russian side. A Bellingcat investigator was asked to help provide an examination by chemical weapons specialists. Based on remote and on-site examinations, the experts concluded that the symptoms are most likely the result of international poisoning with an undefined chemical weapon. An alternative less likely hypothesis was use of microwave irradiation. The symptoms gradually subsided in the course of the following week. The three men experiencing the symptoms consumed only chocolate and water in the hours before the symptoms appeared. A fourth member of the team who also consumed these did not experience symptoms. According to two consulted CW experts and a doctor, the symptoms were most consistent with variants of porphyrin, organophosphates, or bicyclic substances. A definitive determination was not possible due to the absence of specialized laboratory equipment near the victims. The experts said the dosage and type of toxin used was likely insufficient to cause life-threatening damage, and most likely was intended to scare the victims as opposed to cause permanent damage. The victims said they were not aware of who might have had an interest in an attack. Bellingcat chose not to report this story earlier due to concern about the safety of the victims. Given the choice of the targeted individuals to speak up, Bellingcat and its investigative partner, The Insider, intend to publish an investigation into the presumed poisonings.”

*Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during an interview with Russian journalists. Credit: Presidential Administration*

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 32

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to accept a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia but any agreement would have to be put to the Ukrainian people in a referendum. His comments to Russian journalists come as the next round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will be held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Tuesday, according to the Turkish presidency. The news comes as Russian forces continued to bombard across Ukraine Sunday evening, including the cities of Lutsk, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Rivne - CNN
Ukraine says it won't open humanitarian corridors from its cities today due to warnings of Russian "provocations" on routes. Corridors had been set up to allow civilians to leave some towns that are surrounded by Russian forces.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, has said the besieged port city is "beyond the line of a humanitarian catastrophe,” and must be completely evacuated. The strategic port city - which had a pre-war population equal to the City of Miami - continues to be heavily bombed by the Russians, with many still trapped in shelters underground. The mayor estimated that roughly 160,000 of the city's pre-invasion population of more than 400,000 people remain in Mariupol. Three women who worked as border guards and fled the city for the safety of Lviv late last week described to me scenes of hell on earth. Russian President Putin is believed to be intent on claiming the city as he erroneously sees it as part of historic Russian lands, wants to demolish the base of the despised Azov battalion, and needs the city as it lies strategically along a land corridor connecting illegally-annexed Crimea with mainland Russia. The city was shelled in 2015 by Russian backed rebels in Donetsk.
At least $63 billion in damage to infrastructure from Russia’s war on Ukraine. The losses include more than 4,400 residential buildings, 92 warehouses or factories, 138 health care facilities, 12 airports and 378 education institutions, according to the calculation by the Kyiv School of Economics. Global economic losses are about $543–600 billion. Full story here
Premature babies struggling for life in bombed cities in Ukraine. BBC reports that moms are having problems due to infections, bad nutrition and lack of medical attention.
Ukrainian politicians lambast refugee agencies such as UNHCR for their allegedly shoddy handling of the crisis: Lviv mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, was particularly scathing, accusing organisations of watching “with concern over wine and coffee.” Full story here
Recommended read: Escape from Irpin: frail residents helped to safety after month of hell. By Shaun Walker. Click here

“You have to look death in the eyes and not be scared. You should live as a human being, and leave this earth as a human being, with dignity. I wasn’t going to sit in any basement”

— Tamara Osypchuk, 72, Irpin pensioner