Kyiv mayor announces 36-hour curfew after series of explosions

Update on the situation in Ukraine

The Russian army advances slowly and continues its bombardment campaign. While the negotiations between the two camps continue, without result for the moment, the Russian military operation extends to all of Ukraine. The Ukrainian army general staff says that “the enemy continues to carry out strikes with missiles and bombs, artillery and tanks on infrastructure and civilian neighborhoods” in several large and medium-sized cities. The front lines have remained much the same since the start of the weekend, with the fiercest fighting in northwest kyiv and around the city of Mariupol, near the Black Sea.

In kyiv, another night of bombardments. Several powerful explosions were heard in residential areas of Svyatochyn and Podil this morning. Firefighters extinguished a ten-storey building in flames at dawn. According to the emergency services, at least two people were killed. Heavy fighting has been going on for several days on the northwestern outskirts, in the towns of Irpin, Hostomel or Boutcha. “Many streets have become a mush of steel and concrete. People have been hiding in basements for weeks”, said Oleksi Kouleba, leader of the region. According to a senior US official, quoted by AP, Russian troops are about 15 kilometers from the city center.

The siege of Mariupol continues. This strategic southern port city has been under a dramatic siege for more than a week now. While fighting between Ukrainian and Russian armed forces takes place in the north of the metropolis, Russian missiles fall and pulverize civilian and military buildings, without distinction. The Ukrainian army claims to have repelled, on Monday, a Russian breakthrough in the city, and to have destroyed, since the beginning of the fighting, more than 150 tanks.

A humanitarian convoy with tons of food and water is still blocked by Russian soldiers, according to Ukrainian authorities. On the other hand, nearly 160 cars were able to leave for the city of Zaporizhie on Monday, with the authorization of the Russian army, according to a representative of the city council. Nearly 400,000 people still survive in Mariupol, deprived of water, electricity, heating and food. According to a town hall report, at least 2,187 civilians have died there since February 24. The International Committee of the Red Cross talks about living conditions “which are nothing less than a nightmare”.

The Russians are still trying to take Kharkiv in the northeast. Several artillery fire fell in the center of Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to the army general staff. “According to available information, the enemy plans to reinforce the troop consolidation (…) in the direction of Kharkiv »he adds. According to Michel Goya, military historian and former colonel, “a quarter of the forces [russes] are devoted to the seats of Mariupol and Kharkiv”or “Ukrainian forces are resisting and even counter-attacking, but for how long? »

A human toll still uncertain. At least 596 civilians since the start of this war, according to the count made on Sunday by the UN, which underlines that this assessment is probably much lower than the reality. More than 2.8 million people have fled the fighting and shelling and around 2 million others have been internally displaced.


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