Inside Politics: Kyiv rocked by fresh bombardment but Russian advance stalled

Explosions heard in capital as US says Kremlin’s military offensives remained stalled after making little progress over the weekend, writes Matt Mathers

Tuesday 15 March 2022 04:47 EDT

(AFP via Getty Images)

Have we, in the west, greatly overestimated Vladimir Putin? The Russian president and former KGB agent has, over the past two decades, acquired almost mythic status as a master strategist. Yet as we enter day 20 of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s troops have so far failed to capture the capital, Kyiv. Beset by logistical problems and stiff Ukrainian resistance, the judo black belt’s forces have resorted to indiscriminate bombing campaigns in several other cities, including Mariupol, many parts of which now resemble scenes from a disaster film.

Following two weeks of repeated denials, we’ve now had the first concession from Moscow that its invasion isn’t going exactly to plan. “Yes, not everything is going as fast as we would like,” Viktor Zolotov, the head of Russia’s National Guard and a member of the Kremlin’s security council, said, perhaps unwittingly, during a church service on Sunday, organised to help the military fight off Ukraine’s “evil forces”.

Russia has far more military firepower than Ukraine, and might well still achieve its objectives, albeit just over a longer timeframe. But history is littered with examples of smaller armies driving out invaders; the former Soviet Union’s humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 is just one. Whatever the conclusion of the war in Ukraine, the first 20 days of the conflict have served at the very least to dispel the image of Putin as a master tactician – not to mention strengthening western alliances.

Inside the bubble

Chief politics commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for:

Cabinet meets this morning. The prime minister will host leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden at Lancaster House. The Commons sits from 11.30am with Treasury questions followed by a general debate on Ukraine. Look out for news lines from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which will take evidence from 10am from Sir Philip Mawer and Sir Alex Allan, the two most recent independent advisers on ministerial interests.

Coming up:

– Europe minister James Cleverly on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.20am

– Shadow leveling up secretary Lisa Nandy on Times Radio Breakfast at 8.35am

Daily Briefing

ADVANCE STALLED: Putin’s forces have continued shelling Kyiv this morning; multiple explosions have been heard and at least two residential buildings set on fire, although reports in the past few hours say one of those has been extinguished. Evacuation corridors for civilians to get out of Sumy in the northeast are in place between 9am and 9pm local time tonight. According to the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, Russian soldiers have also begun a renewed assault on the important port city of Mariupol in the south, where the first convoy of civilians has been able to escape, and unleashed new artillery strikes on Kharkiv in the east. But overall, nearly all of the Kremlin’s military offensives remained stalled after making little progress over the weekend, according to a senior US defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment. Russian troops were still about 9 miles (15km) from the centre of Kyiv, the official added. The latest negotiations between the two countries, held by video Monday, ended without a breakthrough after several hours, with an aide to Volodymyr Zelensky saying the negotiators took “a technical pause” and planned to meet again later today. Zelesnky himself is due to address the US Congress later. We’ll have all the latest updates on our liveblog.

STOP THE WAR: There has been a significant level of opposition to Putin’s war domestically and the Russian president faced yet another embarrassing moment yesterday when a journalist burst onto the country’s most-watched live nightly newscast with a protest sign condemning the war in Ukraine. In the footage, an anchor is reading the news on Monday when the woman shows up in the background holding a sign that says “NO WAR”. “Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They’re lying to you,” the sign reads. According to Financial Times Moscow bureau chief Max Seddon – himself citing Russian media sources – the woman is Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One – a key arm of the Kremlin’s propaganda machine. She has reportedly already been arrested and charged with “discrediting the Russian armed forces”. Channel One’s legal defence foundation is planning on defending her against the charges. Meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine, thousands of protesters took to the streets in the occupied city of Kherson to show their support for president Zelensky. Artem Ivanov, 42, said Russian soldiers shot bullets into the air as people congregated in the city centre at midday on Sunday.

HOMES FOR UKRAINE: After coming under increasing pressure for weeks to take a more compassionate approach to those fleeing the conflict, the government launched its ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme yesterday and by 9.30pm last night, some 43,000 people had registered their interest in taking in a refugee. Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, told MPs it will allow Ukrainians with no family links to come to the UK and benefit from “unrestricted access” to benefits, employment and healthcare. He added there would be “no limit” to the number of Ukrainians who can benefit from the scheme. Nearly three million people have fled Ukraine since Putin’s tank rolled in on 24 February and civilians have continued to find themselves caught up in the fighting. Under the new scheme, sponsors can provide a route for Ukrainians without family ties to come to the UK for the first time. Sponsors can be of any nationality as long as they have permission to be in the UK for at least six months. Those putting up refugees can receive a tax-free monthly payment of £350 for each family they look after. More details of the scheme can be found here. Critics and opposition MPs described the scheme as a “DIY assignment” scheme because the government will play no role on matching refugees to hosts.

SANCTIONS LATEST: Boris Johnson’s government is poised to impose further sanctions against Russian oligarchs and organisations linked to Putin as MPs fast-track key legislation. It comes as the long-awaited Economic Crime Bill — designed to tackle “dirty money” in Britain, according to ministers — cleared its parliamentary hurdles on Monday evening. With the Bill having received Royal Assent, the government can now announce a raft of new sanctions, targeting those close to the Russian president as the Kremlin continues to wage war on Ukraine. Elsewhere, the prime minister is urging the west to end its “addiction” to Russian energy as he prepares to head to Saudi Arabia to push for increased oil and gas production. Later, the PM is set to travel to Saudi for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the hope the kingdom can increase its production of oil and gas to make up for reduced reliance on Russia. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Johnson said western leaders had made a “terrible mistake” by letting Putin “get away with” annexing Crimea in 2014 and subsequently becoming “more dependent” on Russian power sources. Meanwhile, campaigners are calling on the PM to scrap plans for a post-Brexit trade accord with Saudi Arabia amid concern about the government’s mass executions. The oil-rich autocracy executed 81 people over the weekend, thought to be the largest such killing in the country’s history.

CLIMATE CONCERNS: Johnson has told oil and gas companies he wants to “remove barriers” to increased extraction of fossil fuels from the North Sea as part of his plan to wean the UK off reliance on Russian energy. In a Downing Street roundtable with bosses of giants including BP and Shell, the prime minister said he wanted to accelerate investment and development of domestic gas supplies and ensure new projects come on stream more quickly.The development was the latest evidence of how UK energy policy has been turned on its head by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, just months after the PM’s publication of an ambitious strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Johnson last week announced the UK would cease use of Russian oil – but not gas – by the end of 2022, but made clear that homegrown hydrocarbons are expected to take up much of the slack. Environmentalists warned that global warming targets risk being pushed to the side in the race to break the energy dominance which allows Putin to fund his military adventure.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

On the record

“I would like to say that yes, not everything is going as fast as we would like. But we are going towards our goal step by step and victory will be for us, and this icon will protect the Russian army and accelerate our victory.”

Viktor Zolotov, the head of Russia’s National Guard, admits invasion is not going to plan.

From the Twitterati

“In a world with so little good news it’s genuinely heart-warming to hear 20,000 British people have filled in the forms starting the process of taking Ukrainian refugees in their homes.”