President Zelensky accuses war crimes. Russia says it used a hypersonic missile in a new attack on military installations. Ukrainian defense forces manage to prevent Russian advances in several parts of the country. Ukrainian authorities say that Russian forces bombed this Saturday (19/03) an arts school that served as a shelter for about 400 people in Mariupol.
Reports indicate that the building, which housed women, the elderly and children, was completely destroyed, and that there could be many people under the rubble, but there was still no information about victims.
Last Wednesday, Russian bombing destroyed a theater that was also used as a shelter for hundreds of civilians in Mariupol. The number of victims could not yet be verified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol and the incessant bombings will go down in history as war crimes. He said the attacks on the city were acts of terror that “will be remembered for centuries to come”.
The city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, considered an important strategic point, has been under heavy bombing for at least three weeks, and has become a symbol of the horrors of the war in Ukraine.
The siege left the population of more than 400,000 isolated and without food, water or electricity. Local authorities say at least 2,300 people died, many of them being buried in mass graves.
In recent days, Russian troops have advanced through the city, with reports of intense fighting. The eventual conquest of Mariupol should be considered by the Russians as one of the greatest achievements of their army during the war, while in other parts of the country, the offensive faces a series of obstacles imposed by the strong resistance of the Ukrainian defense forces, in addition to serious problems. of logistics.
New hypersonic missile attack
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its troops had carried out a series of attacks on Ukrainian military installations, using a long-range hypersonic missile and cruise missiles.
Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Ministry, said a Russian-made Kinzhal hypersonic missile hit an armament depot in Kostiantinivka, on the outskirts of Mykolaiv, where, according to Ukrainian sources, Russian shelling killed on Friday. at least 40 Ukrainian soldiers. The spokesman said the attacks destroyed a training base for “foreign mercenaries”.
Kinzhal hypersonic missiles are launched from MiG-31 fighter jets and are capable of hitting targets up to 2,000 kilometers away. They exceed multiple times the speed of sound and travel at 6,000 kilometers per hour while being able to perform maneuvers. There are no defense systems capable of stopping these weapons.
The Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military command, said there was still no way to confirm Russia’s use of hypersonic missiles in Ukraine.
Konashenkov also said that Kalibr cruise missiles, launched from Russian warships in the Caspian Sea, were also used in the attack on Ukrainian installations in Kostiantinivka, and in the destruction of an armored factory in Nizhyn, in the Chernihiv region.
open humanitarian corridors
The evacuation of civilians from Mariupol and other besieged cities continued in eight of the ten humanitarian corridors established following an agreement between the Russians and Ukrainians. This Saturday, 6,600 people were able to leave the conflict zones, said the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Irina Vereshchuk.
She said a humanitarian convoy heading to the town of Kherson, taken by the Russians in the early days of the war, was blocked by invading troops.
rc(AP, AFP)
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