What happened on 3 March 2022, day eight

What did the eighth day of Russia's full-scale invasion look like on the ground and in diplomacy? On 3 March 2022, the picture was one of attacks on residential and civilian sites, a growing exodus of people, and a mix of calls for talks and statements that the war would go on.

Strikes on cities

In Chernihiv, the governor of Chernihiv Oblast, Vyacheslav Chaus, said that at least 33 people had been killed and at least 18 others injured in Russian airstrikes on residential areas.

In Kharkiv, thirteen students were killed after a Russian shell struck a dormitory at the Academy of Culture of the National University of Kharkiv. Five of the dead were foreign students: four Chinese and one Indian.

In Izium, eight civilians were reported killed when the city's central hospital was, as reported at the time, heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike.

At sea and in the south

The Ukrainian Navy patrol vessel Sloviansk was destroyed in a Russian anti-ship missile strike off the Port of Odesa, and all of its crew disappeared.

A day earlier, on 2 March 2022, Russian Ground Forces had said they had captured the Black Sea port of Kherson. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denied the claim and said the battle was continuing. Also on 2 March, Ukrainian forces began an offensive towards Horlivka.

People leaving the country

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that more than one million Ukrainians had fled the country since the invasion began.

Talk of talks, and of the war's duration

President Zelenskyy called for a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to end the war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, however, said the war would continue "until the end" and accused Zelenskyy of allowing "a society where Nazism is flourishing". Lavrov also said Russia was not planning a nuclear war.

Separately, Russia and the United States established a hotline in an effort to prevent escalation between the two nuclear powers.

Sanctions and the straits

French authorities seized the yacht of Russian oligarch Igor Sechin in La Ciotat after the European Union blacklisted Sechin and froze his assets.

On 2 March 2022, Turkey said the Russian Navy had cancelled the transit of four of its warships through the Bosporus upon request, after Turkey triggered the wartime clause of the Montreux Convention. The clause allows Turkey to close the Bosporus and the Dardanelles to foreign warships.

The day in sum

By 3 March 2022, the reported casualties in Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Izium, the loss of the Sloviansk and the refugee figure from the UN refugee agency showed the war reaching cities and civilians across the country. The diplomatic record that day was split: an appeal for a direct meeting from Kyiv, a declaration of continued war from Moscow's foreign minister, and a new communication channel between Moscow and Washington.