Ukrainian authorities reported on March 20 that Russian troops bombed a school where 400 people were sheltering in Mariupol. In addition, the city council denounced that thousands of residents have been forcibly taken to Russian territory. President Volodymyr Zelensky described the siege against that city as acts of “terror”, while Russian forces recognized their second attack with hypersonic missiles, this time against the city of Mikolaiv.
On day 24 of the war in Ukraine, the Russian Army intensifies attacks against several cities, including areas where the civilian population is sheltered, over and above attempts at negotiations and international condemnation.
This Sunday, March 20, Russian troops launched an airstrike on a school where around 400 people were sheltering from gunfire, the city council reported.
The Kremlin is proud of its military power and the Ministry of Defense recognized its second launch of hypersonic missiles, in southern Ukraine, after it claimed on Saturday that it had used them against the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the west of the country.
These are the main news of the day:
- 7:27 (BOG) Pope Francis reproaches “massacre and atrocities” in Ukraine
The highest representative of the Catholic Church continues to openly condemn the war launched by Russia against Ukraine.
During his homily this Sunday in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis referred to the conflict as a “senseless massacre”.
“Unfortunately, the violent aggression against Ukraine is not slowing down (…) It is a senseless massacre where massacres and atrocities are repeated every day. Even this week, missiles and bombs hit civilians, the elderly, children and pregnant mothers. There is no justification for this,” Francis said in his latest strong condemnation of the war.
Pope Francis today:
“The aggression against Ukraine has not ceased…there is no justification for this.”
The pope recalled his visit yesterday to wounded Ukrainian children being treated in Rome and those continuing to flee war.
“All this is inhumane and sacrilegious” pic.twitter.com/G6fCRM5g7D
— Christopher White (@cwwhiteNCR) March 20, 2022
Likewise, the pontiff urged the leaders to stop the hostilities. “I beg all actors in the international community to truly commit to stopping this disgusting war,” the pope said, drawing loud cheers and applause from the crowd.
- 07:00 (BOG) Ukraine announces 7 humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, announced that seven humanitarian corridors would be opened on Sunday to allow civilians to leave areas considered frontline areas of the fighting.
The Ukrainian authorities report that so far they have removed a total of 190,000 people from the areas of greatest risk, since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
However, these operations have been carried out amid constant accusations between Moscow and kyiv of violating temporary ceasefire agreements, which has repeatedly hindered the process of citizens’ departure.
- 06:30 (BOG) Russia says it launched its second hypersonic missile attack
The Russian Ministry of Defense affirmed that its forces used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine for the second time, this time against the city of Mikolaiv, in the south of the country, after on Saturday, March 19, they assured them that they fired them against the Ivano region. -Frankivsk, in the west of the country.
These are projectiles whose speed, maneuverability and altitude make them difficult for missile defense systems to track and intercept.
Moscow claimed that this Sunday it launched these weapons from Crimean airspace. “Kinzhal aviation missile systems with hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large fuel and lubricant storage site of the Ukrainian armed forces near the Kostyantynivka settlement in the Mykolaiv region,” the Russian ministry noted.
Russia said it fired hypersonic “Kinzhal” missiles at Ukraine for the second time in three days to destroy a fuel depot in the Mykolaiv region on Sunday https://t.co/DriYJIT6Kf
—Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) March 20, 2022
Russia recognizes this type of attack while extolling its military might. However, France24’s correspondent in Lviv, Gulliver Cragg, pointed out that people close to the sites that would have been attacked are beginning to seriously doubt this information, since such a weapon would make a very particular noise.
- 6:00 (BOG) Zelensky denounces acts of “terror” and calls for direct conversation with Putin
In a speech to the nation, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, assured that the siege suffered by the city of Mariupol by Russian troops is “a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.”
Zelenski’s statements come after the bombing this Sunday by Kremlin forces against a school where 400 people were sheltering. In addition, in the midst of the City Council’s complaints that thousands of Mariupol residents have been forcibly taken to Russian territory in recent days.
Likewise, a theater in this city where more than a thousand people were sheltered was the object of an air attack last Wednesday, March 16. Local authorities have not yet been able to determine the possible number of deaths or evacuate the survivors, precisely because of the constant bombs and artillery fire in the area.
Against this background, during his speech the Ukrainian president called for direct talks with Vladimir Putin. Zelensky said that his country wants peace and that the ongoing negotiations with Moscow “are not simple or pleasant, but necessary.”
- 05:45 (BOG) Ukraine: Thousands of Mariupol residents have been forcibly taken to Russia
The Mariupol City Council issued a statement saying that thousands of city residents were forcibly taken by Moscow troops to Russian territory last week.
“During the past week, several thousand residents of Mariupol were deported to Russian territory (…) The occupants illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing,” the local authority said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said this month that it had prepared 200 buses to “evacuate” citizens from Mariupol, and Russian state news agencies have reported that the vehicles have transported hundreds of people whom Moscow calls refugees.
On Saturday, March 19, the Russian agency TASS reported that 13 buses were heading to Russia with more than 350 people, about 50 of whom would be sent by rail to the Yaroslavl region and the rest to temporary transition centers in Taganrog, a port city in Rostov.
- 5:20 (BOG) Russian Army bombs a school with 400 refugees in Mariupol
Russian forces bombed an art school that housed 400 refugees in Mariupol, in the southeast of the country, reported the City Council of the strategic port city.
No official figures on possible victims have been released. However, the local authority indicated that the building was destroyed and that there are victims under the rubble.
Ukrainian authorities on Sunday accused Russian forces of bombing a school in the besieged city of Mariupol where some 400 people, including women and children had been sheltering, and of deporting some residents to Russiahttps://t.co/2s299DCF97
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 20, 2022
The besieged city of Mariupol and under constant attacks for days is territorially key for Moscow in its attempt to take full control of the neighboring country.
It is located in the Ukrainian southeast and is the last big city on the edge of the Sea of Azov. Because much of the city has been reduced to rubble, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said last Friday that it had “temporarily” lost access to the Sea of Azov, which connects to the Black Sea. A great loss for the country.
Mariupol is also located near Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2014, one of the points from where Russia launched the large-scale attack against Ukraine on February 24.
With Reuters and AP
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