Kharkov, the country’s second city, suffers an intense bombardment of its residential areas with dozens of civilian victims
The Russian offensive changed tactics on Monday in coincidence with the meeting of the Moscow and Kiev delegations in Belarusian territory in search of a solution to the conflict. The battle of Kiev registered a slight truce to the punishment to which it had been subjected since Friday. The movement of ground troops slowed down, but the Kremlin forces did not stop pulling the trigger, this time focused on launching missiles and the siege of Khartov, considered the second capital of Ukraine, which, like the first, did not fall. The occupiers met strong opposition from Ukrainian soldiers and territorial brigades as they sought to undermine their resistance with repeated shelling of residential districts.
Judging by the Ukrainian war reports and the information spread through social networks, the Russian troops barely advanced this Monday morning, except in the southeastern part of the country, where, according to information from the Ministry of Defense, they took the port city of Berdyansk. Kiev remains under the control of the Ukrainian authorities
In a statement released Monday morning, the Ukrainian Army General Staff maintains that “the Russian occupiers have slowed down the pace of the offensive, but are still trying to achieve success in some areas.” The note refers to the most recent artillery and air strikes “against residential buildings” in the Ukrainian towns of Zhitomir and Chernigov “in violation of international humanitarian law.”
A huge explosion was also reported late Sunday night near the city of Cherkassy, southeast of Kiev, apparently after an ammunition depot was hit by a missile. The Ukrainian military department assures that «the enemy is demoralized and suffers heavy losses. We have seen frequent cases of desertion and disobedience. The enemy realized that propaganda and reality are different».
According to various sources, the number of casualties in the Russian ranks on the fifth day of the invasion exceeds 5,000 soldiers. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov acknowledged on Monday that “there are dead and wounded” among his troops, but did not provide figures. In his usual morning appearance, Konashenkov announced that “aviation has achieved air supremacy over the entire territory of Ukraine.”
Whether or not this is true, artillery and planes unloaded numerous shells on Kharkiv on Monday, possibly with the intention of quickly seizing the country’s second-largest enclave. The explosions destroyed the airport, but also hit several residential buildings, prompting the region’s governor, Oleg Sinegobov, to call the attack “genocide.” The city has almost 1.5 million inhabitants, although many have left for the border in recent days.
The Ministry of the Interior also ruled on the extreme violence of this offensive and said that “this horror should be seen by the whole world.” For his part, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, added that the military campaign is becoming “more brutal every day and the Ukrainian forces respond with courage. Kiev resists, just as Mariupol and Kharkiv resist. Borrell explained that the president, Volodímir Zelenski, requested “geospatial aid” from the EU, which will apparently be assumed by the satellite tracking center in Madrid. “Our support for the Ukrainian forces is crucial,” he noted.
Sinegobov denounced that, among the bombed areas, one of the worst stops was a residential area where there were eleven dead. “The Russian enemy is shelling residential neighborhoods” where there are no military installations, the governor reported on his social media. According to the Kiev Executive, 352 civilians have died since the start of the war, 14 of them children. The UN estimates the fatalities among the population at 102 citizens, including 7 children.
Since the beginning of the “special operation”, the Russian Armed Forces have attacked 1,114 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities, destroyed 314 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 57 multiple rocket launchers, 121 field artillery pieces and mortars, 274 military vehicles”.
“We are prepared”
After Monday’s shelling, the Ukrainian authorities are now concerned about the advance of a large convoy of Russian Army armored vehicles towards Kie from the south. “We know where they are headed and we are prepared,” said Interior Ministry adviser Vadim Denisenko, whose department speculates that the target is the capital. Until now, the Army has attacked this city from the northwest and from the northeast, and there have been clashes in Vasilkov, southeast of Kiev. In none of these cases have the occupants managed to seize power in the capital in the face of fierce resistance from the Army and the Ukrainian militiamen. Some sources suggested last night that Russia was preparing for a crushing offensive after suffering the “frustration” of not having managed to take the capital.
Satellite images show the Russian column more than five kilometers long on its way to Kiev. In it, fuel transport trucks and other logistical means and armored vehicles can be differentiated, which would be about 65 kilometers south of the capital.
The fifteen active nuclear reactors have not been damaged
Ukrainian authorities informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday that the fifteen active nuclear reactors in the country have not been damaged during the Russian military offensive. In any case, the agency is “seriously concerned about atomic safety in the current conflict,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. He warned that “an accident at a nuclear facility in Ukraine could have serious consequences for public health and the environment” throughout Europe.
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