Russia renews attack on Kyiv, claims taking over port city of Mariupol
As Russia and Ukraine enter day 53 of the war, Moscow renewed air strikes on Kyiv and claimed to have taken over Mariupol, the port city in south-eastern Ukraine. Mariupol has seen the worst fighting of the seven-week-long war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that peace talks with Moscow will be scrapped if the last Ukrainian troops in the besieged port city of Mariupol are killed. While over 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the war, millions of civilians from the war-torn nation have been forced to flee the country.
Air strikes om Kyiv
After Moscow warned that it would renew strikes on Kyiv, ‘high-precision long-range’ weapons hit an armaments plant in the capital city. Russian forces scattered attacks on the capital city on Saturday resulted in at least one death. The attack comes after two weeks of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital. Russian forces began withdrawing from regions around Kyiv last month, turning their focus on gaining control of the eastern Donbas region.
Russia’s warning of stepped-up attacks on Kyiv came after it accused Ukraine on Thursday of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed hitting targets in Russia.
There were also reports of intensified shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. A Russian missile strike on a residential district killed at least two people on Saturday and wounded 18 others, the public prosecutor’s office said.
Besieged Mariupol
The worst fighting in the war so far has been seen in Mariupol, port city on the Sea of Azov. Moscow claims to have taken over the control of Mariupol, news agency Reuters reported. Russia said its troops had cleared the urban area of Mariupol and only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters remained inside a huge Azovstal steel mill in the besieged southern port. The claim is yet to be verified by global defence experts. If Moscow’s claims are correct, then Mariupol would be the first big city to fall to the Russians so far.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelensky told Ukrainian media that the continuing siege of Mariupol could ruin attempts to negotiate an end to the war. “The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol — what they are doing now — can put an end to any format of negotiations,” he was quoted as saying on Saturday by news agency AP. Zelensky further said that Ukraine needs more support from the West to have a chance at saving Mariupol.
Zelensky’s warning
Ukrainian {resident also repeated his warning over Russia’s use of nuclear weapons and said, “We shouldn’t wait for the moment when Russia decides to use nuclear weapons, we must prepare for that.” The world should prepare for the possible use by Russia of nuclear weapons, Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainian news media. Anti-radiation medicine and air raid shelters would be needed, he said. The Russians, he said, “can use any weapon, I’m convinced of it”.
Meanwhile, Russia announced the death of Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov, whose troops have been among those besieging Mariupol. He was buried in St Petersburg after dying in battle. Ukraine has claimed that several Russian generals and dozens of other high-ranking officers have been killed during the war.
(With Agency inputs)
