Russian troops intensify their offensive in Ukraine, where they bombed for the first time the city of Dnipro (center) and two military airfields in the west of the country, while tightening the siege around Kiev, the capital, this Friday, amid complaints about new attacks against civilians.
More than two weeks after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped under bombardment, with more than 2.5 million fleeing the country, according to UN estimates.
Western countries have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia and sent funding and military reinforcements to Ukraine, but have failed to stop Russia’s advance, which carried out multiple bombing raids early Friday.
The first high-level negotiations between the two sides on Thursday did not lead to any progress towards a ceasefire, but Russian President Vladimir Putin said he saw some “positive steps” in conversations.
According to him, the negotiationsnow they take place almost every day”.
On the ground, three missiles hit civilian buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Friday, destroying a shoe factory and killing a security guard.
Until now, the city had suffered very few attacks, so it became a coordination center for humanitarian aid and reception of displaced people.
“Today we were supposed to welcome people who need a lot of support. Now we can’t help anyone”, said Svetlana Kalenecheko, who lives and works in a clinic damaged by the attack.
The night bombardments also reached the cities of Chernigov (north), Sumy (northeast) and Kharkov (east), heavily impacted by the Russian offensive. The attacks caused damage to residential buildings and water and electricity supply infrastructure.
Near Oskil, in the Kharkov region, a facility for people with disabilities was targeted by Russian bombardment, a local official said on Friday.
“The Russians again carried out a brutal attack on civilians”, lamented Oleh Sinegubov on Telegram, indicating that no victims were recorded. There were 330 people in the center at the time of the attack, 73 of whom were able to be evacuated.
This attack came two days after the bombing of a pediatric hospital in Mariupol (south), which caused the death of three people, including a girl. In that city, on the shores of the Sea of Azov, the situation is described as “apocalyptic”.
According to its mayor, Vadim Boishenko, more than 1,200 residents died in Mariupol after ten days of siege.
The local representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Sasha Volkov, warned that some residents “they have started fighting over food” and that many were left without drinking water.
“mercenariesSyrians
In addition, the Lutsk military airfield in the northwest was also shelled and four Ukrainian servicemen were killed, local authorities reported. Moscow said the airport was left “Out of service”.
The Ukrainian army warned in a report that “the enemy is trying to eliminate the defenses of the Ukrainian forces” in numerous locations to the west and north of Kiev with the aim of “blockade the capital”.
This source did not excludean enemy movement to the east in the direction of Brovary”, at the gates of Kiev.
The mayor of the capital, the famous former boxer Vitali Klichkó, said that half the population had left and that the city, previously with almost three million inhabitants, “had been transformed into a fortress”. “Every street, every building, every checkpoint has been fortified”, he assured.
Since the beginning of the offensive, on February 24, the invading forces have surrounded at least four large Ukrainian cities and have sent armed vehicles to the northeast flank of Kiev, where suburbs such as Irpin or Busha have been bombed for days.
Ukrainian soldiers described heavy fighting to control the main highway leading to the capital.
The British Ministry of Defense indicated that this strategy of surrounding cities “it will reduce the number of forces available to advance and slow Russian progress.”
This Friday, the Kremlin pointed out that citizens of Syria and other parts of the Middle East could be authorized to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky accused Russia of hiring “murderers from Syria, a country where everything has been destroyed by the occupiers, something they are putting us through.”
Avoid a “open war”
In a recorded message outside the presidential office in Kiev, Zelensky also urged the European Union (EU) to “do more” to help Ukraine.
Western countries have so far offered military and humanitarian support to Ukraine, and are considering increasing sanctions against Moscow.
The head of diplomacy of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell, said this Friday that he proposed to the leaders of the block, meeting at a summit in France, an additional contribution of 500 million euros (US $ 548 million) in aid military to Ukraine.
In addition, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, whose country presides over the EU this semester, warned that there will be new “massive sanctions” if the war continues.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Friday that the Alliance has “the responsibility to prevent this conflict from escalating beyond Ukraine’s borders and turning into an open war between Russia and NATO.”
Russia launches legal action against Facebook parent company
However, there are areas where the humanitarian corridors are working. Nearly 100,000 people have been able to leave the northeastern city of Sumy, eastern Izium and areas northwest of Kiev in the past two days, Ukrainian authorities said.
The Russian government promised to open daily humanitarian corridors for Ukrainians to flee the fighting and reach Russia, but Ukraine refuses to evacuate its citizens to Russia and claims humanitarian corridors within its borders.
On Friday, the UN Security Council will hold an urgent meeting on this issue at Russia’s request.
On the other hand, Russia announced that it initiated actions against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, “in the face of illegal calls for the murder of Russians” after the company relaxed its rules on violent messages.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern on Friday at Meta’s announcement to make exceptions to its rules regarding messages hostile to the Russian military and government.
Source: Gestion
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