Kharkiv region
Ukraine reports heavy Russian missile attacks in the east – Moscow is said to be taking suburbs
Russian missiles fly from the Belgorod region of Russia towards Kharkiv, Ukraine.
© Vadim Belikov/AP/DPA
The city and region of Kharkiv are under massive Russian fire, Kyiv reports. Meanwhile, Moscow is reporting a gain in territory in the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian military has reported new heavy Russian rocket attacks in the east of the country. The city and region of Kharkov had been heavily shelled, the Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday.
Three people, including a 13-year-old boy, were injured in the Kharkiv region and taken to the hospital, it said. In the Zaporizhia region, authorities warned people not to take to the streets because Russian troops would fire in the direction of the nuclear power plant. The information could not be independently verified. Russia has occupied the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Moscow, in turn, accuses the Ukrainian troops of shelling the power plant. Internationally, there is great concern about a possible nuclear incident. Despite the fighting in the region, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been trying for weeks to gain access to the nuclear power plant.
Russia confirms shelling in eastern Ukraine
In its situation report, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow confirmed the rocket and artillery fire in the Kharkiv and Cherson regions, among other places. The focus was therefore still on the Donetsk region, which is to be completely wrested from Ukrainian control as Moscow’s next target in the course of the Russian war of aggression.
The Donetsk suburb of Pisky in the northwest of the city has now been taken, it said. Initially, there was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side.
Russia is February 24 to Ukraine invaded and currently occupies around a fifth of the neighboring country, including the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014, including the regions of Luhansk, Cherson and large parts of the Zaporizhia region. Ukraine is urgently demanding heavy weapons from the West to stop the Russian advance and retake territories.