Photo: ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP / Getty Images
In kyiv, the sound of anti-aircraft alarms has returned, once again changing the dynamic of those who were already leaving to the street and the absence of warnings of possible bombings. Between Thursday night and Saturday morning the alarms have been heard on several occasions. The mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has confirmed on his Telegram channel an attack at dawn in the Darnitskii district, on the outskirts of the city. The bombardment has destroyed several buildings of an armored vehicle production plant, the Russian agency Interfax reported. citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, which specifies that long-range and high-precision weapons were used.
The mayor of kyiv has reported that that the attack has caused one fatality and several injuries, and has asked the population not to ignore the anti-aircraft alarms. “kyiv was and still is a target of the aggressor,” Klitschko stressed, while he urged citizens who fled at the start of the war not to return. “I ask you to refrain from going back and stay in safer places,” he said.
In Lviv ―where many displaced from hardest-hit areas of Ukraine – explosions were heard this Saturday. The head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, later noted on his Telegram account that the Ukrainian Air Force intercepted four cruise missiles launched over the area by Russian fighters. In Mikolaiv a military workshop has been bombed, according to the Russian agency Interfax.
The offensive also continues in the south and east. In Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, seven people, including a child, were killed and 34 injured on Friday by a shelling of a residential building, according to municipal authorities. Another missile attack this Saturday has killed one person and injured others 18, while in Lugansk and Poltava at least two people have lost their lives and four others have been injured.
In addition, the besieged Mariupol continues to be attacked by Putin’s army. In the port area, Russian units have launched assault operations and used Tu-22H3 long-range bombers for the first time. , according to the spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Oleksandr Motuzianik, assured on Friday. The port and the Illich steel factory are the two points where the fighting continues, accompanied by aerial bombardments of the city. The Russian government has already announced in recent weeks the seizure of the airport, the municipal buildings and the theater.
Motuzianik pointed out that there were still “active fighting” around Ilich – which Russia claims to already control – one of the city’s two metallurgical plants and the scene of the heaviest fighting in recent weeks. However, the Ukrainian government has denied the Russian information about its conquest.
“The situation in Mariupol is difficult and harsh. The fighting is taking place right now. The Russian Army is constantly bringing in new units to raze the city. But, for the time being, the Russians have not managed to fully capture it”, assured Motuzianik.
In kyiv, they registered with the Friday morning the most important explosions since the Russian troops withdrew from the area 04 days ago. Although life has not come to a standstill, some activities have been moved to underground shelters.
The Russian bombardment on Friday, with cruise missiles , destroyed a factory on the outskirts of kyiv in which, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, missiles, some of them anti-ship, were manufactured and repaired. That same day the Moskva missile cruiser sank. It was being towed after an explosion that Ukraine attributes to an attack by its troops and Russia to an unspecified fire that blew up the ammunition it was carrying.
Although it does not recognize that the ship suffered an attack, the Ministry of Russian defense has threatened a response. “The number and scale of missile attacks on targets in kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attack or act of sabotage on Russian territory by the nationalist regime in kyiv,” it said in a statement.
The spokeswoman for the Armed Forces in southern Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, assured that she understands the threats they face, since Russia will surely increase the attacks. “He will seek revenge, including missile strikes and artillery shelling, and we are not ruling out a ground operation. We understand what we are facing. We are aware of the economic consequences and in terms of weapons, but also of image. It is a hybrid war and the image has a psychological impact that is also important. they won’t forgive him . Our troops have done something quite symbolic, “he said this Friday in a video conference with journalists.