“Hear explosions” – New air strikes on Ukrainian capital Kiev

“Explosions were heard this morning in the Vyshhorod district. Air defenses fired at enemy targets,” the military governor of the Kiev region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on his Telegram channel on Sunday. According to Kuleba, there was no damage or casualties in the airstrike on Kiev. However, he asked the residents of Kiev to continue to visit the shelters after the air raid sirens. Later, photos appeared on various social networks, allegedly showing traces of a rocket in the sky over the Kiev region.

Russian troops want to advance to Kharkov
According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Russian troops are also trying to advance towards Kharkov and bomb the city again. The situation north of Kharkiv is quite difficult, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the ministry, told Ukrainian television. “Russia is trying to make Kharkov a frontline city.” Kharkiv is located in the northeast and is the second largest city in the country after Kiev.

Meanwhile, the embattled industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk in eastern Ukraine is still under heavy Russian artillery and rocket fire. Areas around the bridges were hit again, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Hajdaj said in an online post. The Azot chemical plant, where hundreds of people are holding out, was hit twice: “The situation in Sievjerodonetsk is very difficult.”

Ukrainian troops resist
However, Ukrainian troops would continue to resist, it was said on Sunday. “The struggle for complete control of the city continues,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily report. However, the army admitted that “the enemy in the village of Metolkine”, southeast of Sieverodonetsk, had been partially successful.

Sieverodonetsk is located in the Luhansk region, which together with the Donetsk region forms the Donbass. The Russian armed forces are currently concentrating their offensive there. Once conquered, the Russian forces will have the entire region under their control.

Fuel depot explodes
A fuel depot in Novomoskovsk in eastern Ukraine exploded after Russian rocket fire. One person was killed and two people were injured, regional government chief Valentyn Resnichenko said. Three Russian missiles hit the camp on Saturday. The fire brigade was still working to extinguish the fire 14 hours after the impact. Resnichenko said 11 people were injured in the attack on Saturday.

Ukrainian troops are repelling Russian troops near the town of Krasnopillya, according to a statement from the Ukrainian General Staff. The Russian soldiers were on a reconnaissance mission and suffered heavy casualties. Ukrainian authorities also reported that places further west in the Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions had been shelled Sunday evening.

“We take back everything that belongs to us”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Sunday morning about his visit to the Ukrainian armed forces in the south of the country the day before. In the video, which appears to have been taken with a moving train, Zelenskyi said he spoke to soldiers, police and the National Guard in the Mykolayiv region, some 550 kilometers south of Kiev. “They all do not doubt our victory,” said Zelenskyj. “We will not give the South to anyone, and what is ours we will take back.”

Stoltenberg: The war can last for years
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not expect the war to end anytime soon. “We have to prepare for the fact that it could take years,” Stoltenberg told Bild am Sonntag. But one should not give up support for Ukraine. “Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, but also because of rising energy and food prices.” But that cannot be compared to the price that Ukrainians with many lives have to pay every day. And if Russian ruler Vladimir Putin learns from this war that he can continue as he did after the war in Georgia of 2008 and the occupation of Crimea in 2014, the West will pay an even higher price.

Stoltenberg said that although the battle in Donbass by Russia was increasingly brutal, Ukrainian soldiers bravely resisted. With more modern weapons, the chances increase that Ukraine can also expel Putin’s troops from the Donbass. On nuclear threats, the NATO chief said Putin should know: “A nuclear war cannot be won and should never be waged. Our clear signal to Russia: NATO protects all member states.”

“NATO continues to support Ukraine, but is not part of the conflict”
However, Stoltenberg confirmed that the Western Alliance would not intervene in the fighting. “NATO will continue to support Ukraine in its self-defence, but it is not part of the conflict. We are helping the country, but we are not sending NATO soldiers to Ukraine.” They have reinforced their own defenses with 40,000 soldiers under NATO command. The alliance territory is secured on land, water and in the air. “This is a clear message to Moscow so that there is no misunderstanding about our preparedness.”

At the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June, the alliance will declare that Russia is no longer a partner, but a threat “to our security, to peace and stability,” Stoltenberg said. China will also appear in a newspaper for the first time. “Because China’s rise is a challenge to our interests, our values ​​and our security.”