What happened in the war on 8 March 2022?

What did the eleventh-day picture of the war and its diplomatic fallout look like on 8 March 2022? Reports from that day and the one before point to tighter economic pressure on Moscow, firm limits on direct Western military involvement, and continued destruction in Kharkiv.

Sanctions and energy

The Biden administration banned imports of Russian oil, gas and coal to the United States on 8 March 2022. The United Kingdom also announced that it would phase out Russian oil by the end of the year.

Chinese officials, meanwhile, indicated an interest in buying shares in recently distressed Russian energy and minerals companies, seeking supply security. The negotiations were at an early stage.

No-fly zone ruled out

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reaffirmed on 8 March that the United States would not impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

A day earlier, on 7 March, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signed a decree allowing NATO troops to be deployed in western Hungary and lethal weapons to be transferred across its territory to other NATO member states. The decree did not allow weapons shipments across Hungary to Ukraine.

Kharkiv under fire

The Albanian consulate in Kharkiv was destroyed during Russian shelling on 8 March. No casualties were reported.

On 7 March, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, which holds a neutron generator, had been destroyed by Russian shelling. The agency said no radiation release had been detected from the facility, which housed a small inventory of radioactive material.

Also on 7 March, Ukraine said it had killed Vitaly Gerasimov, a general of the 41st Combined Arms Army, in Kharkiv Oblast. He was described as the second general killed by Ukrainian forces after Andrey Sukhovetsky.

Talks and humanitarian pauses

On 7 March, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held a third round of talks at the Belarus–Poland border. Both sides said they had made limited progress on humanitarian corridors, but no ceasefire was agreed. A fourth round was expected to take place in the future. Russia and Ukraine also set up another ceasefire to allow humanitarian evacuations from some cities.

Information and cyber fronts

The New York Times removed all its journalists from Russia on 8 March, fearing arrests under recent changes to the Criminal Code of Russia that penalised what it called falsehoods about the Russian Armed Forces or the invasion of Ukraine.

Also on 8 March, the Irish Times reported that the United Nations had told employees in communications guidance to describe the war as a conflict or military offensive rather than a war or invasion, and not to display the Ukrainian flag on social media accounts to avoid reputational risk. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, wrote in an email to The Guardian that no such recommendation had ever been issued.

On 7 March, it was reported that Belarus had launched a widespread phishing attack against Polish and Ukrainian government and military officials. The attack was later contained.