Gas distribution facility in Crimea catches fire following explosion

In a Russian attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia on the morning of March 21, a father and mother of two girls were killed, and 6 people injured, including two girls aged 11 and 15, Fedorov said. The girls are daughters of the parents killed in the strike, Ukraine's State Emergency Service later said.

The attacks targeted the cities of Saratov and Engels in Saratov Oblast and Tolyatti in Samara Oblast. The towns host key Russian military and industrial assets, including the Saratov oil refinery and Engels-2 military airfield.

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on March 21 that by releasing the 140 million barrels of sanctioned Iranian oil that China is hoarding at low prices, the U.S. could quickly ease temporary supply pressures in global markets.

The number includes 1,240 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russian citizens Yurii Korzhavin and Lidiya Korzhavina were removed from the U.S. sanctions list on March 20, along with other individuals and entities linked to Russia. The Korzhavins were sanctioned in 2024 for their ties to the Russian transport and logistics company Elfor TL.

Nearly 30 drones were shot down over Moscow and the surrounding region on March 20-21, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed. Hundreds of Ukrainian drones have reportedly targeted Moscow in the past week.

The facility belongs to Czech defense firm LPP Holding, which manufactures AI drones used on the battlefield in Ukraine. The investigation follows reports that a group protesting Israeli weapons claimed responsibility.

Volodymyr Balukh, a political activist and former political prisoner, was reportedly beaten at a military recruitment center in Kyiv.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant in Russian-occupied Luhansk oblast was hit during overnight operations on March 20.

The U.S. has rejected the proposal, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the U.S.-Russia negotiations.

The latest strike brings the total number of Russian helicopters shot down by Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion to 350, according to the General Staff.

Russia is extensively militarizing Ukrainian children and youth in the occupied territories to "raise future soldiers" and involve them in the fight against their own people, Taya Avram, a lawyer within the Donbas SOS NGO, told the Kyiv Independent on March 20.

Russia’s takeover of Crimea did not begin in 2014. In the second part of "Crimea: The War Before the War," the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit examines how Moscow moved from early pressure to direct attempts to seize Ukrainian territory.