Russia reinforces troops and intensifies bombings against Kiev and Kharkov

On the sixth day of the offensive against Ukraine, Russia, pressured by Western sanctions, bombed several cities and reinforced its troops near the capital, where a kilometric column of vehicles awaits the order to attack and where it carried out an attack aimed at a tower of TV.

The order to expand the offensive given by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was noted this Tuesday on all fronts: the south, the north and the east, with the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, warning that Russia will continue the “special operation” launched in Ukraine on February 24 until it “achieves its objectives.”

Already on Monday Putin made it clear that he will only stop the invasion if Russia’s “legitimate security interests are taken into account, including its sovereignty over Crimea”, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014, as well as the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine. and a neutral status of that country with respect to NATO.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also recalled in a video message to the UN Conference on Disarmament that there are other requirements that must be resolved before stopping the offensive against Ukraine, which continue to be the security guarantees that Russia requested from the United States. .and NATO to prevent the expansion of the Alliance and the deployment of offensive weapons near the Russian borders.

“It is high time that the American nuclear weapons are taken home and the associated infrastructure in Europe is completely dismantled,” said the head of Russian diplomacy, who was unable to travel to Geneva due to sanctions.

bombing increased

Despite being cornered by unprecedented sanctions and the upcoming hearings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on allegations of genocide, Putin intensified the bombing.

According CNNSince the beginning of the war, Russia has fired more than 400 missiles at Ukrainian cities.

This Tuesday the bombardments reached Kiev, whose television tower was destroyed by a missile, although the worst part was taken by the second city of this nation, Kharkov, where Russian artillery hit the largest square in the country.

The attack on the capital, a bombardment that the Russian Ministry of Defense warned in advance, took place after the alarm was sounded by the publication of images of a gigantic convoy with Russian tanks dangerously approaching the city.

“No one can come to our land and tell us that it is not our home. Kiev is our home,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), during an interview with EFE.

A missile hit the same tower and another fell near a nearby subway station, impacts that damaged the electrical substation that feeds the building and the hardware of the installation itself.

As a result, five bystanders were killed and another five people were injured, according to preliminary data. Several television channels stopped broadcasting immediately.

The authorities highlighted that the tower is located in the territory of Babi Yar, scene of one of the biggest crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II.

Shortly before, Russia had warned the Kievites of imminent bombings on their city, which had not experienced something like this since the Nazi invasion in 1941, and ordered those who lived near the relay nodes to leave their homes.

Kiev may be the ultimate target of the enemy’s military campaign, but Kharkov is now taking almost every hit from the Russian war machine.

In the most serious attack against civilians since the beginning of the invasion, a projectile hit this morning in front of the regional government building.

In the images released, it is seen how the shell hit several vehicles that were circulating or were parked in the square, killing 10 people and injuring 35.

“We have woken up to a new reality. The center of Kharkov, the largest square in Europe, the object of an attack. Horrible!” Stefanchuk explained.

He recalled that Kharkov is a university city, where the majority of its population speaks Russian, even if they feel Ukrainian.

Meanwhile, in the east, the pro-Russian separatists in Donbas claimed to have taken control of 29 towns hitherto dominated by the Ukrainian Army, and denounced artillery attacks by Kiev forces against the city of Górlovka, in the Donetsk region. , where 16 civilians would have been injured.

In the northeast, in the Sumy region, more than 70 soldiers and civilians were killed in Russian shelling with multiple GRAD launchers, according to Ukraine.

In turn, in the south, the assault by Russian forces on the city of Kherson began at dawn, on the shores of the Black Sea and next to the Dnieper River, and in Mariúpol the citizens were left practically without electricity due to the Russian attacks.

Kiev beefed up security

As the hours progressed, security measures and defense lines were reinforced in Kiev. The trucks deposited sand in several strategic places to make sandbags, which already cover the doors and windows of the main government buildings.

In anticipation, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky appointed a general, Nikolai Zhirnov, as head of the Kiev military administration.

“The defense of the capital is above all else. We must prevent the enemy from gaining access to our capital,” he explained.

He stressed that at this time Kiev and Kharkov are the priorities of the head of the Kremlin, who uses “terror” to break the resistance of the Ukrainians.

“He advances towards our capital, just like towards Kharkov. We will defend Kiev and we will defend the state. Kiev is the heart of the city. And it must beat. And it will continue beating for life to win,” said the president.

Ukraine asks to join the EU

For all these reasons, the president of the Rada assured that joining the European Union “is very important now” that the country is at war, although “the Government, the Parliament and the banking system continue to function”.

“It would also be a big step for the world. The Ukrainian people are fighting for European values. I do not know if there is another country that has shed so much blood in its aspiration to be a member of the EU”, Stefanchuk argued.

He recalled that 67% of Ukrainians want their country to join the Twenty-seven as a member.

“I hope that the European Parliaments help us to enter. I have spoken with many presidents of parliaments and they tell me that they are with us. We are prepared. Now it is your decision,” he noted. (I)