Ukraine fears a further advance of Russian troops after they completely take the port city of Mariupol and the Azov Steelworks (see video above). Ukraine’s military governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, reported on Saturday of massive fighting in the Donbass. For example, the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk has been under fire for days, with dead and wounded.
“The Russians are destroying Sieverodonetsk just like Mariupol. There is fighting in the outskirts of the city,” Hajdaj told Telegram. The governor complained about aerial bombardments in the region and that Russia wanted to reduce the area to rubble. At the same time, he dismissed statements by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the Luhansk region was about to be completely conquered as “nonsense”. Shoigu no longer has an overview of the situation of his own armed forces.
Danger of air strikes from Belarus
The Ukrainian General Staff registered a large number of Russian attacks in the country. According to Saturday’s situation report, the focus of the fighting is further east in Ukraine. There, eleven enemy attacks were repulsed and eight tanks were destroyed, among other things. Artillery shelling of Ukrainian positions also continues, it said. Ukraine also sees itself threatened by its Russian ally Belarus, which is not officially participating in the war. The General Staff pointed out the danger of air strikes from the neighboring country.
Russian Navy ships are en route in the Black Sea and Azov Sea for combat operations and reconnaissance, personnel in Kiev said. The army complained that the Russian occupiers also used terror on the ground against the Ukrainian civilian population. For example, they prevented people from their occupied Kherson region from fleeing to the Ukraine-controlled area. The opening of humanitarian corridors is also blocked, so that food and medicines cannot be brought into the area. The elderly, the sick and children are locked up there.
Moscow: Weapons Shipments Destroyed
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had fired missiles at Ukrainian targets from ships in the Black Sea. For example, in the Zhytomyr region, weapons supplied by Europe and the US were destroyed with Kalibr cruise missiles, Moscow sources said. In addition, a military training camp near the port city of Odessa was attacked with rockets and artillery.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that the last Ukrainian fighters at the Azov steel plant in Mariupol had surrendered — more than 2,000 in all. This means the city is completely under Russian control, it said. The Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev said the enemy had begun clearing the area around the port to make it operational again.
According to the General Staff, Russian armed forces are still trying to gain full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to secure a land corridor to Crimea’s Black Sea peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. From the Russian point of view, the capture of Mariupol is considered an important partial success.
New attacks on Kharkiv
Ukrainian authorities also reported new Russian attacks in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov. Shots were fired at the market in the Kiev district of the megacity on Friday evening. Several merchant pavilions burned down. The published photos of the heavy destruction were initially unverifiable.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
