Ukraine and Russia: deadly attacks in kyiv before new negotiations

At least two people were killed Tuesday morning in attacks on residential areas in kyiv, ahead of the expected resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine that began the day before to end the conflict.

Partially surrounded by Russian troops, the Ukrainian capital awoke with three deep explosions. The emergency services later indicated that they corresponded to attacks on residential areas in different districts.

(Follow here the minute by minute of the war between Ukraine and Russia).

In Sviatoshyn, in western kyiv, a shelling hit a 16-story buildingwhere “the bodies of two people were recovered and 27 people were rescued“, they indicated in a statement on Facebook.

There was also a victimless attack on a house in Osokorky (southeast) and artillery fire that caused a fire, later extinguished, in a residential building in Podilsk (northwest), where one person was hospitalized.

In that place, covered with glass and rubble, a column of smoke came out of the huge hole left by the impact while the neighbors threw the ruins of their houses through the broken windows, said an ‘AFP’ journalist.

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The expected negotiations

The attack comes before the planned resumption of talks between the two sides that began by videoconference the day before and which, according to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, were “fairly good“.

“But we will see, they will continue tomorrow (Tuesday)“, he nuanced.

On paper, the positions are far apart. Moscow demands that Ukraine withdraw from NATO and recognize the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east of the country, whose independence was recognized by Russian President Vladimir Putin days before the invasion that began on February 24. For its part, kyiv calls for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from its territory.

Previously, both sides held three face-to-face meetings in Belarus, in addition to a meeting of their respective foreign ministers in Turkey.

Nearly three weeks after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the former Soviet republic, Russian forces have shelled and surrounded numerous Ukrainian cities and towns.

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The capital has seen half of its three million inhabitants leave and is surrounded by north and east. Only the roads to the south remain open, where municipal authorities have set up checkpoints and residents are stocking up on food and medicine. Kyiv is “a city under siegesaid a Zelensky adviser. The United Nations estimates that 2.8 million people fled the country and that some 636 civilians died, although the real balance is suspected to be higher.

slower than expected

However, the progress of the Russian armed forces, a priori more powerful than the Ukrainian ones, has been slower and more problematic than expected. The head of Russia’s national guard, Viktor Zolotov, has admitted that the operation “it’s not going as fast as we would have liked“, but stressed that victory will come step by step.

Vladimir Putin had so far ordered his forces “contain any immediate assault on large cities“, said the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, although he did not rule out the possibility of putting these large cities “that are already almost surrounded under his full control“.

One of these besieged cities is Mariúpol, on the coast of the Azov Sea (southeast), where the authorities assured that almost 2,200 people died.

on the eve, some 210 vehicles were able to leave for the first time in several days through a humanitarian corridor in that citywhose inhabitants have spent days in basements without water, electricity, heating or food.

The Ukrainian General Staff indicated at night that its troops had repelled an attack by some 150 Russian soldiers against that city and indicated that the Moscow forces foresee “reinforce the regrouping of troops in the direction of Kharkiv“, the second city of the country (northeast).

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Ukraine’s Western allies imposed harsh sanctions on Russia, where dissenting voices from the Kremlin appear despite the imposed repression and censorship. During the most watched news broadcast in the country, an employee entered the studio with a banner that read “Not to the war. Don’t believe the propaganda“. The woman was arrested and taken to the police station, according to the NGO OVD-Info.

A possible nuclear conflict

The effects of the invasion extend to more and more parts of Ukraine, to areas considered safe until now such as the city of Dnipro, in the center, or the eastern fringe near Poland, which suffered bombing.

In a village on the outskirts of Rivne (northwest), local authorities said that nine people were killed and the same were injured in an attack on a television tower.

On the other side, pro-Russian separatists denounced a Ukrainian shelling in the city center of Donetsk that killed 23 people. The rebels published images of bloodied bodies lying in the streets, although the Ukrainian army denied any responsibility.

Following a bombing that caused 35 deaths a few kilometers from the border of Poland, a NATO member, Zelensky renewed his call for the transatlantic alliance to impose a no-fly zone over his country. But so far, the United States and its European allies have ruled out this option to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, a nuclear power, and have limited themselves to supplying Ukraine with different military material.

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NATO fighting Russia “is World War III,” said US President Joe Biden.

The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, warned about the dangers of a conflict between atomic powers, a perspective “once unthinkable” but “now back to the realm of possibility“.

EFE