LIVE – War in Ukraine: a mosque housing 80 civilians bombed in Mariupol

Italian authorities announced on Saturday that they had frozen a yacht worth 530 million euros belonging to Russian oligarch Andrei Melnichenko, targeted by European Union sanctions, after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

The “SY A”, moored in the port of Trieste in northeastern Italy, is said to be the largest private motor sailing yacht in the world.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said on Saturday that a mosque in Mariupol had been bombed.

Inside were 80 civilians, including Turks. No report has yet been released.

“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana in Mariupol was bombed by Russian invaders,” the ministry said in a tweet.

Residents of Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine, are currently demonstrating against the arrest of their mayor on Friday by the Russian army which is occupying the city, as reported The Kyiv Independent.

According to Kyrylo Tymoshenki, chief of staff of Volodymyr Zelensky, nearly 2,000 people gathered near the town hall for a demonstration.

Mariupol, port city of Ukraine located on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov, suffered for more than two weeks from incessant Russian bombardments.

Stephen Cornish, the head of Doctors Without Borders Switzerland, explained that the city was in a “desperate” situation, and called for action to avoid “an unimaginable tragedy”.

“Hundreds of thousands of people (…) are literally under siege,” he continued.

· Russia says sanctions could bring down the International Space Station. This Saturday, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency, indicated that the operation of Russian vessels supplying the ISS would be disrupted by Western sanctions taken against Russia.

· Russian forces surround Kiev. Vladimir Putin’s army is on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital this Saturday morning. Taking it is one of Moscow’s main objectives.

· Mariupol risks an “unimaginable tragedy”. Stephen Cornish, the head of Doctors Without Borders Switzerland, said the port city of Mariupol was in a “desperate situation” after more than two weeks of Russian bombardment.

· A mayor of a southern city kidnapped by the Russian army. The mayor of Melitopol, a town in southern Ukraine, has been kidnapped by the Russian army, which is occupying his town. “This is obviously a sign of weakness of the invaders,” reacted Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia said on Saturday that the sanctions taken against it by the West following the invasion of Ukraine could bring down the International Space Station.

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The mayor of Melitopol was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the southern Ukrainian city, as confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“A group of ten occupants kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov”, indicated on its Twitter account the Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament. “He refused to cooperate with the enemy,” she added.

“This is obviously a sign of weakness of the invaders… They have moved to a new stage of terror in which they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of legitimate local Ukrainian authorities,” Volodymyr stressed. Zelensky.

This Saturday morning, Russian forces are positioned around Kiev, while the capture of the capital is presented as one of Vladimir Putin’s main war objectives.

Present in the suburbs of the capital, the Russian forces seek to eliminate the defense forces in several localities located to the west and north of the city.

“Kiev is a symbol of resistance”, which is preparing for a “relentless defense”, proclaimed in a video Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Welcome to this live broadcast devoted to the news of the Ukrainian conflict, which is entering its seventeenth day.