Published: Publish Date – 12:33 am, Wed – 2 March 22
Photo: AP
Kyiv: The Russian military on Tuesday intensified its attacks on crowded urban areas, Ukraine’s president said in what Ukraine’s second-largest city, Central Square, and Ukraine’s president’s main TV tower have said. lamps.
“No one will forgive. No one will forget,” President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed after bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv.
Ukrainian officials said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, which is a few miles from central Kyiv and a short distance from several apartment buildings.
Officials said a TV control room and an electricity substation were affected and at least some Ukrainian channels temporarily stopped broadcasting.
Zelensky’s office also reported a powerful missile attack on the site of the Babin Yar Holocaust Memorial near the tower.
At the same time, after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to topple Ukraine’s government and establish a friendly Kremlin, fearing the West, a 40-mile (64-kilometer) convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles is slowly moving towards Kyiv. But move on. There was a quote. Administration.
Many military experts worry that the Kharkiv attacks mean Russia may change its strategy. Moscow’s strategy in Chechnya and Syria was to use artillery and aerial bombardment to crush cities and crush the resolve of fighters.
Russian forces also launched attacks on other towns and cities across the country, including the strategic ports of Odessa and Mariupol in the south.
Russia, the sixth day of the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, found Russia increasingly isolated, surrounded by tighter sanctions that threw its economy into turmoil, and some countries such as China, Belarus and North Korea. The joining of countries made the country practically friendless.
The attack on the TV tower comes after Russia’s Defense Ministry announced it would target transmission facilities in the capital used by Ukraine’s intelligence agency. It urged people living near such places to leave their homes.
The total death toll from the fighting is unclear, but a senior Western intelligence official, briefed by multiple intelligence agencies, estimated on Tuesday that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers were captured or killed. ,
Britain’s Defense Ministry said it had seen an increase in Russian air and artillery attacks on populated urban areas over the past two days.
The ministry also said that three cities Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol have been surrounded by Russian forces.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city with a population of about 1.5 million, at least six people were killed when the area’s Soviet-era administrative building on Freedom Square was believed to be missiles.
The attack on Ukraine’s largest plaza and Freedom Square—the center of the city’s public life—was seen by many Ukrainians as shameless proof that the Russian offensive was not just about hitting military targets, but about crushing their spirits. was in It was about to break.
The bombardment blew out the windows and walls of the buildings, which surrounded the vast square, which was high with rubble and dust. Inside one building, pieces of plaster were scattered, and doors, torn from their hinges, lay in the hallway.
“People are under the ruins. We have taken out the bodies,” said Yevgeny Vasilenko, an emergency officer.
Zelensky declared the attack on the main square a “clear, undeniable terror” and a war crime. “This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” he said.
Later in an emotional appeal to the European Parliament, Zelensky said: “We are also fighting for Europe to be equal members. I believe today we are showing everyone what we are. He said on Monday. ” 16 children were killed around Ukraine, and they scoffed at Russia’s claim that it was only pursuing military goals.
“Where are the children, in what kind of military factories do they work? Which tank are they going into, launching cruise missiles?” Zelensky said.
Human Rights Watch said it had documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine’s east in recent days. Local residents also reported the use of weapons in Kharkiv and Kianka villages, although there was no independent confirmation. The Kremlin denied the use of such weapons.
If the charges are confirmed, it would represent a new level of brutality in the war and could further isolate Russia.
Despite Western condemnation, days after Russian officials raised the threat of nuclear war, their threats of escalation escalated.
A top Kremlin official has warned that the West’s “economic war” against Russia could turn into a “real war”. Across the country, many Ukrainian citizens spent another night in shelters, basements or corridors. More than half a million people have fled the country, and the United Nations Human Rights Office said it had recorded 136 civilian deaths. The actual toll is believed to be much higher.
“It is a nightmare, and it holds you very tightly inside. It cannot be explained with words,” said Kharkiv resident Ekaterina Babenko, taking refuge in a basement with neighbors for the fifth day in a row.
“We have little kids, old ones, and to be honest, it’s terrible.” UN humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths said the bombings damaged water pipes and power lines. “Hundreds of thousands of families are without drinking water,” he said.
A Ukrainian military official said Belarusian troops joined the fighting in the Chernihiv region in the north on Tuesday, without giving details.
But just before that, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country had no plans to engage in the fight.
In Kharkiv, a video verified by the AP showed explosions in one residential area after another. In the background a man pleaded with a woman to leave and a woman cried.
Determined to live life despite the attacks, hospital staff transferred a Kharkiv maternity ward to a bomb shelter.
Between makeshift electrical sockets and mattresses on the walls, pregnant women stepped into the crowded space, as well as the cries of dozens of newborn babies.
Russia’s goals in hitting central Kharkiv were not immediately clear. Western officials speculated that it was trying to pull in Ukrainian forces to defend the city, while a large Russian force surrounded Kyiv.
Russian troops continued their advance toward the capital, a city with a population of about 3 million.
According to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies, the convoy’s leading edge was 17 miles (25 kilometers) from the city centre.
A senior US defense official described the long convoy as an “overrun”, adding that Russia is pausing to reevaluate and reevaluate how to gain momentum in the fighting. Go.
Overall, Russian military movements have been suppressed by fierce resistance on the ground and a surprising inability to completely dominate Ukraine’s airspace.
A senior Western intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the huge convoy packed into narrow streets appeared to be “a big fat target” for Ukrainian forces.
“But it also shows you that the Russians are quite comfortable being out in the open at these concentrations because they don’t think they’re going to come under air strikes or rocket or missile attacks,” the official said.
Ukrainians used whatever they had at hand to try to stop the Russian advance: on a highway between Odessa and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, residents piled up sand-filled tractor tires and tried to stop the convoy. Of. To keep on top with sandbags.
Now you can get selected stories from here Telangana Today Wing wire Everyday. Click on the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today facebook page And Twitter ,