Ukraine, Russia in total assault

• Fourth day of war in Ukraine. After the very heavy Russian bombing of Kiev occurred overnight, which hit a fuel depot, a gas pipeline and the airport, the Russian forces invaded Kharkiv, the second largest Ukrainian city. In Kharkiv, a nine-story building was hit by a Russian missile: one woman died and 20 other people were evacuated. Also in the city, a Russian attack blew up a pipelineas reported by the Kyiv Independent. But the Ukrainian forces have regained control of Kharkiv and have driven out the Russian troops. This was announced by the Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv.
• “We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat river.” This was stated in a message on Telegram by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, confirming the start of negotiations with Russia, announced by Moscow. During the telephone conversation with the Belarusian president, “Alexander Lukashenko assumed responsibility for ensuring that all aircraft, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain grounded during the journey, talks and the return of the Ukrainian delegation”, he said. concluded Zelensky.
• In the morning, the Ukrainian president said he was willing to negotiate with Russia to stop the conflict, but not in Belarus – the country from which the Russian troops attacking Kiev have left. “We want this meeting, we want to talk, we want the war to end. Warsaw, Bratislava, Budaspest, Istanbul, Baku. We have offered them all to the Russians, but not Minsk. Any city is fine, but not the one that fires missiles at us, ”said President Zelensky in a video posted on social media. The Ukrainian leader had recounted the last night, the fourth in the war, saying that “it was a hard night”, with Russian troops attacking “areas inhabited by civilians, Moscow fired on homes”, where there is no infrastructure military. Finally he had said succinctly: «The Russians are making a genocide in Ukraine”.
• After the United States, Canada, the European Union, Great Britain and Japan have tightened sanctions against Russia in the past few hours, also excluding it from the swift system for banking transactions, Russian leader Putin has ordered the alerting of the nuclear deterrence system, threatening “consequences such as have never been seen in history”. The orders of the Russian president – according to reports from the Associated Press – intensify the threat that tensions with the West after the invasion of Ukraine could lead to the use of nuclear weapons. Putin has threatened to take severe revenge against the nations who have decided to intervene directly in the conflict in Ukraine. The change in alert status does not mean that Moscow intends to use nuclear weapons.
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• The Kyiv Independent refers to a radioactive waste disposal site in Kiev struck by the Russians. According to a first report by the National Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Ukraine, there are no threats to people outside the health protection zone. The Ukrainian State Emergency Service specified that the bombing of the site did not lead to the depressurization of the storage of radioactive substances: the site fence was hit, while the building remained intact.
• The Ukrainian Armed Forces have made it known that already 37,000 Ukrainian volunteers have enlisted to fight against Russian troops. Over 120,000 Ukrainians have already left the country seeking refuge abroad, but the number of refugees is destined to grow. \
• The provisional balance of the civilian casualties is 64 dead and 240 injuredaccording to data released by the United Nations, but the real number of victims – the UN explained – could be much higher.

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