What the reports of 27–28 March 2022 showed Kyiv
A look back at the abducted mayors, a strike on a fuel depot and a Turkish call for a ceasefire.
What did the reports reaching Kyiv's partners just before 29 March 2022 reveal about the war's pressure on Ukrainian public life? Three items stand out, each dated to the days immediately before.
On 28 March 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that some mayors abducted by invading Russian forces had been found dead. The statement concerned local officials, the people who run Ukrainian towns, and it placed the abduction of elected representatives among the consequences of the invasion.
On 27 March 2022, a missile hit an oil depot in Volyn region, according to the head of the regional administration, Yurii Pohuliaiko. The report showed that strikes were reaching a region in the country's north-west, and that regional administration heads were the ones announcing the damage.
The same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone with Vladimir Putin. According to Erdogan's office, he stressed the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine and called for an improvement in the humanitarian situation in the region.
Reading the three together
Taken together, the reports describe three levels of the conflict: the fate of local officials, the effect of strikes on regional infrastructure, and diplomatic appeals for a halt to fighting. The reports do not show any ceasefire agreed by 29 March 2022. They record only the calls for one, alongside continuing attacks and the deaths of abducted mayors.
