Kyiv Post Daily Thread – The Latest News From and About Ukraine on March 20

In a series of interviews with KyivPost reporters, fighters from the mercenary company Wagner, who were recently captured by the Ukrainian military, justified their participation in a war of aggression, denied committing war crimes and confirmed crippling casualties suffered by Russian forces attacking Bakhmut.

Read the full report here. 

The UK has signed a historic digital trade agreement with Ukraine, which will support the country's economy and significantly strengthen UK-Ukraine trade and investment relations.

Source: This was said in a statement on the website of the British government, reports European Pravda. 

Details: Business and Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch said that the agreement signed today opens the way to a new era of modern trade between Britain and Ukraine.

Quote: "We are also extending tariff free trade on imports from Ukraine to early 2024, providing much needed support to Ukrainian businesses. These initiatives will help protect jobs, livelihoods and families now and in Ukraine’s post-war future," she said.

You can read more on Ukrainska Pravda.

European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday on a two-billion-euro plan to raid their own arsenals and jointly purchase desperately needed artillery shells for Ukraine, diplomats said.

Meeting in Brussels, the ministers backed a multipronged initiative -- to be endorsed by EU leaders at a summit this week -- that aims to provide Ukraine with one million shells in the next 12 months as well as replenish EU stocks.

Kyiv has complained that its forces are having to ration firepower as Russia's year-long invasion has turned into a grinding war of attrition.

Ukraine has told the EU it wants 350,000 shells a month to help its troops hold back Moscow's onslaught and allow them to launch fresh counter-offensives later in the year.

"More artillery ammunition for Ukraine as fast as possible," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged in a social media post. France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna insisted "we have to help Ukraine more, quicker and now."

The first part of the plan commits a further one billion euros ($1.06 billion) of shared funding to try to get EU states to tap their already stretched stocks for ammunition that can be sent quickly.

The second part would see the bloc use another one billion euros to order 155-millimetre shells for Ukraine as part of a massive joint procurement push intended to spur EU defence firms to ramp up production.

Buying weaponry together on this scale is a major new step for the EU, which has seen long-standing efforts to work more in unison on defence propelled forward by Russia's war.

Countries have been wrangling over details, like whether it should be the EU's defence agency or the member states who negotiate the orders and if they should buy only from producers in Europe.

Diplomats said the plan targets sending the first one billion euro's worth of shells to Ukraine by the end of May and signing the joint contracts by the start of September.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the ambition was to supply one million rounds over the next year, but it was not set in stone. "It is possible that we might not be able to reach it," he admitted.

The Ukrainian-affiliated branch of the Russian Orthodox Church is being told to vacate the centuries-old Monastery of the Caves, known better as the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra, in another move by Kyiv to reclaim its historical and spiritual heritage.

The church group, which allegedly has had close affiliations with Russian intelligence, has been a promoter of Kremlin policy and has often been allegedly supportive of subversive groups since 2014 and before, was issued an eviction notice on March 10 by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.

The compound is owned by the Ukrainian government and is a UNESCO cultural heritage site.

Read the full story here. 

The Kremlin on Monday accused Washington of stirring up the conflict in Ukraine, ahead of a visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping that was expected to focus on Beijing's proposals for peace.

"The US is sticking to its position aimed at fanning the conflict, creating obstacles to lowering the intensity of the fighting and continuing the supply of arms to Ukraine," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Read more about the visit here.

A UN report published earlier this week found that despite committing “a wide range of war crimes," Russia’s aggression against Ukraine since the launch of the full-scale invasion last year did not yet amount to genocide.

Despite presenting evidence of murders, torture and rape of civilians by the Russian military, and the deportation of Ukrainian children, the report's authors said there was no direct evidence that they were motivated by genocidal intent, but did add that the issue warrants further investigation.

Read the full story here

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Russia launched a missile attack on Kramatorsk overnight and shelled Avdiivka with artillery and Grad multiple rocket launchers this morning.

Read the full story on Ukrinform.