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Was 14 March 2022 a day of widening war?
Summary
A look back at strikes near NATO's border, a protest on Russian state television and the diplomatic and economic moves that marked 14 March 2022.
What did the war look like on 14 March 2022, and how close had it come to NATO's borders? Across military, political and diplomatic fronts, reports from that day pointed to a conflict pressing against the edges of the alliance while pressure grew inside Russia.
Strikes near NATO territory
The previous day, 13 March 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had again called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He said it was only a matter of time before Russian rockets fell on NATO territory. As reported at the time, a Russian missile strike on a military training centre in Yavoriv, about 24 kilometres from Ukraine's border with Poland, killed around 35 people. Separately, a Russian Orlan-10 drone crashed near a village in Bistrița-Năsăud County, Romania.
Later in March 2022, NATO rejected Ukrainian requests for a no-fly zone. Of its thirty members, only the Baltic states voiced support. That outcome was not known on 14 March 2022.
In western Ukraine, a Russian Air Force strike on a television tower in Rivne Oblast killed at least nine people, according to Rivne governor Vitaliy Koval.
Mariupol and the talks
In Mariupol, in Donetsk Oblast, local officials said more than 160 cars had left the city in the first successful attempt to arrange a humanitarian corridor. The city was under siege.
The fourth round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations resumed on 14 March 2022 but was delayed until the next day because of technical issues. Russia also denied having requested military assistance from China, as several US officials had alleged.
Dissent and sanctions at home and abroad
The most striking moment inside Russia came on live television. Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian state television journalist, interrupted a live news broadcast on Channel One Russia while holding a sign that opposed the war and told viewers not to believe propaganda. She was promptly arrested. The day before, around 250 anti-war protesters had been detained in Russia.
On sanctions, Andrey Turchak, secretary-general of the ruling United Russia party, declared that the party would draft a bill criminalising compliance with Western sanctions. In London, anti-war protesters seized the mansion of Oleg Deripaska; four protesters seen on its balcony were later arrested.
What the day showed
Taken together, the reports show a war that was no longer confined to the front lines. Strikes and a drone incident touched areas close to Poland and Romania, while Zelenskyy's warning about NATO territory framed the argument over a no-fly zone. Diplomacy continued, with talks resuming, and the first successful evacuation corridor from Mariupol offered a limited humanitarian opening. Meanwhile, Moscow's response to sanctions and to open dissent pointed towards tighter legal and police pressure at home.
