Russian blockade tightens in Kyiv – Open fronts in central and eastern Ukraine

LAST UPDATE: 17.20

They are more and more intense signs of escalation of tension in Kyiv. Ukrainian troops have stepped up their defenses around Kyiv (11th day of the war), digging trenches, blocking roads and communicating with civil defense units as Russian forces bombarded surrounding areas and attacked nearby towns and villages.

As the armed forces and civilian volunteers dig trenches, thousands of people continue to try to flee the city of 3.4 million as fears of a full-blown attack spread. At the same time, Russian rockets completely destroyed the Vinnytsia regional airport, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Information transmitted by Bild, Russian tanks are trying to understand northwest of the capital.

After the Ukrainian soldiers managed to partially recapture the suburbs Irpin, the Buha and Hostel in recent days, Russia is launching a new attack on the aforementioned strategically important cities today and so on in the capital Kyiv according to the same sources. The move, Bild reports, is supported by the fact that Russian troops also launched an attack northeast of Kiev, targeting cities. Mpovari and Borispilwhere Kiev’s political airport is located.

According to the New York Times, shells fell for the first time at a distance of about 100 meters from a bridge used by citizens to escape from the Irpin near the Ukrainian capital. A shell fell on a road where civilians were fleeing, leaving a family – a mother, a father, a teenage son and a daughter who appeared to be about 8 years old – lying on the ground. The mother and children were killed, while the father was seriously injured.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian military warned that Russian forces were seeking to seize control of the country. hydroelectric power station dam of strategic importance south of the capital, Kiev.

The General Staff clarified that the dam is now in the focus of the Russian troops Cannibal, located about 150 kilometers south of Kiev, on the Dnieper River.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian forces are also trying to infiltrate the southwestern suburbs of the capital.

On Saturday night, the air defense sirens sounded several times in the Ukrainian capital.

Russian forces also tried to advance on him highway near Kiev International Airport, always at the Ukrainian army.

In Kozelets, about 70 kilometers northeast of Kiev, there were movements heavy forces with heavy weapons, including rocket launchers.

The evacuation of Mariupol was interrupted for the 2nd time

THE second removal attempt the civilian population of Mariupol, which is surrounded by Russian forces and their allies, “interrupted”announced today at noon the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which had opened the passage.

“In the midst of devastating scenes of human suffering in Mariupol, a second attempt today to begin evacuating some 200,000 people from the city has stalled,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement.

A convoy carrying civilians for safe evacuation could not leave the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol today as Russian forces continued bombing despite a temporary ceasefire agreement, local authorities said.

“It is extremely dangerous to evict people under such conditions,” the city council said in a statement posted online.

As for the ceasefire in Mariupol, it started from 10 am and would last until 9 pm while the discharge of the city had started at 12 noon, according to what it announced Mariupol City Council in southern Ukraine.

However, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine’s National Guard have been accused of failing to set up a humanitarian corridor outside the Ukrainian city of Mariupol the second time the parties tried to settle it, according to Reuters.

Ukrainian TV 24 showed a fighter of the Azov National Guard Regiment saying that Russian and pro-Russian forces surrounding the port city of about 400,000 continued to bomb safe-haven areas.

The Interfax news agency quoted an official from the Donetsk separatist administration as accusing Ukrainian forces of failing to comply with the limited ceasefire.

The separatist official said that only about 300 people have left the city. Ukrainian authorities had earlier said they planned to evacuate more than 200,000 people from Mariupol.

Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boitshenko told a Ukrainian television network yesterday that its residents had been confronted with “humanitarian blockade”, as they are now deprived of all basic services. He pointed out that the priority is to help many of the 400,000 people who want to leave the city.

Russian troops cut off all 15 power lines and Mariupol has not had electricity for five days. “People are suffering from the cold in their homes as the heating units are running on electricity, while the mobile networks are also down,” he explained.

The other fronts

The cities Sumi and the Lebedin, in northeastern Ukraine, Russian attacks continue. Conflicts are noted in Kharkiv.

On the Russian side, it is reported, according to Reuters, that the military air base in Starokostiantinif was hit and destroyed.

Russian forces continue to encircle Kyiv, Kharkiv (east) and Mykolaif (south).

Russian forces are preparing for the bombing of Odessa, according to Ukrainian President Zelensky, at a time when a ceasefire is in place in Mariupol.

This is as Russia turns its attention to the southern front of the Russian-Ukrainian war, aiming to cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea, a Ukrainian security official said, according to Reuters.

The official also stressed that Russia is gathering forces to encircle the Dnipro, which is the third largest city in Ukraine.

Sumy and Lebedin, in northeastern Ukraine, continue to be under Russian attack today, Dmitry Sivitsky, head of the Sumy region authorities, told the Telegram.

Russian planes destroyed a warehouse with food and construction materials, as well as a parking lot yesterday Saturday, while a factory that generates electricity and guarantees the heating of homes was destroyed the day before yesterday, he said.

Russian forces have been trying to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv and other key areas in Ukraine since February 24.

There is no heating in Ochtyrka, between Sumi and Lebedin, and water and electricity have also been cut off in some areas.

“All I can say is that Ochtyrka herself is partly lost,” Sivicki wrote. Authorities say seventy Ukrainian soldiers were killed there on Tuesday.

The information provided by the official cannot be independently verified.