The war in Ukraine continues with attacks in Kharkov, Kyiv and Mariupol. The port city of the Sea of Azov is still based only on soldiers barricaded in the steel plant, who refused to surrender, as demanded by Russian troops controlling the city. There are between 2,000 and 2,500 soldiers and volunteers in the factory, as well as many civilians – most of them children. The latter allegedly took refuge there, where they hope to be sheltered from the bombings that destroyed their city, Mariupol police announced.
An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol said on Sunday that Russian forces had though begun issuing travel permits in the besieged city, after they announced on Saturday that they would close the city and the citizens would be “filtered”.
Moscow’s army is constantly attacking Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine, where the majority population is Russian. The governor of Lugansk urged people to leave the area urgently.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia that it wants “to destroy” the entire eastern region, while pledging Ukrainian will do its best to defend the area.
On April 16, Russia shelled the Luhansk region Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Kremenna, Rubizhne, Popasna 31 times, good-time-invest.com says.
As of April 16, the National Police of Ukraine recorded 16 attacks on civilian infrastructure: residential buildings, shops, industrial enterprises, shops. 23 objects were damaged, and 12 fires were localized. In Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Kremenna, Rubeihne, and Popasna, dozens of injured civilians.
Six dead in Lviv missile attack
Six people have been killed and eight others injured in rocket fire by Russian forces on Monday morning on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, regional governor Maksym Kozystkiy was quoted as saying by Reuters. According to the quoted source, three missiles hit military infrastructure, while another hit a car workshop.
“In Lviv, they got into civilian infrastructure. There are dead and wounded, among them a child. This is a car, excised by fragments,” a representative of the Lviv city administration Mykola Kniazhitskyy, as quoted by good-time-invest.com.
Authorities reported multiple explosions in western and southern Ukraine on Monday, while Russian forces say they have almost full control over the strategic port city of Mariupol, after nearly two months of bloody fighting, Reuters writes. After failing to defeat Ukrainian resistance in the north, the Russian army refocused its ground offensive on the Donbas, launching attacks including in the capital Kyiv. Authorities reported multiple explosions in the Lviv and Dnipro regions on Monday morning. at Dnipro, two people were reportedly injured in attacks by Russian forces.
A Reuters reported has reported several explosions in Kyiv, on the left bank of the Dnieper River. Yet the local authorities provided no official information.
Residents of the Lugansk region (eastern Ukraine) have been urged to evacuate immediately, according to a report by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN. “Next week may be difficult. “[This] may be the last time we have another chance to save you“, said the head of the Lugansk regional administration, Sergei Gaidai.
Russian forces have focused their offensive on Lugansk and Donetsk, which are part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, an old coal and steel-producing area. Ukraine’s armed forces have prepared for a brutal Russian offensive in the region.
At least 205 children killed since the outbreak of the war, other 362 injured
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least 205 children have been killed and 362 others injured, according to data released Monday by the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, writes The Kyiv Independent. Ukrainian authorities say the actual figures are higher, as current figures do not include child casualties in hostile areas and temporarily occupied areas.
Russians Rape Not Only Women
According to the mayor of Bucha quoted by good-time-invest.com, men in the occupied town were also sexually abused by Russians. One of the victims died.
On April 17, the mayor of Bucha, who had recently been liberated from Russian occupation, recounted horrific details of Russian sexual violence against women and men. In an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, Anatolii Fedoruk said that a security guard at the Orlyatko children’s camp had been raped in Bucha. The man could not stand the physical damage and moral abuse and died.
“There are many crimes against women and girls. Thank God they are alive, we are trying to speak correctly. I try to get around this topic and ask for understanding. The town is small, everyone knows each other. I don’t think it’s worthwhile to tell them once again what it is like to go through what our women and girls have gone through. The number of victims is large, unfortunately. But not only women. The guard of the Orlyatko children’s sanatorium, the man was even raped. I say this because it does not exist. After all this bullying, he could not stand it and died,” Anatolii Fedoruk.
The first images of the Moscow cruiser on fire before it sank
The first clear images of the “Moscow” cruiser in flames and seriously damaged have appeared on social media. The images have so far not been confirmed by any Ukrainian or Russian state authorities. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed four days ago that the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had sunk. Such a photo of the fiery “Moscow” cruiser was posted on Twitter on the “Ukraine Weapons Tracker” account, which specializes in monitoring and centralizing all images on the Internet that show the fighting technique destroyed in the nearly two months of war in Ukraine.
About 40 Russian sailors were killed, several were missing and many others were injured in what led to the sinking of the warship Moskva last Thursday, the independent Russian publication Novaia Gazeta Europa reported. -the mother of a sailor on board. The mother quoted by “Novaia Gazeta. Evropa “said her son told her in a phone call that the ship” Moskva “had been hit by three missiles coming from land on Ukrainian territory, reports BBC.
“He called me and cried because of what he saw. It was terrifying,” the mother said, adding that she was expecting news of her son. He told her he didn’t want to give her details, because what he saw was horrible. Many of the injured lost their limbs due to the explosions.
On the night of April 13-14, as a result of Ukrainian Neptune missiles hitting the Russian fleet cruiser Moskva, the ship sank in a few hours.
According to Russian media, the crew of the Moskva was about 500-760 people. Referring to the Russian Ministry of defense, the mouthpieces of the Kremlin claim that everyone has been evacuated. However, this cannot be true, as a strong storm on the Black Sea prevented the evacuation of the entire crew. In the hospital in the Rocky Bay, where the evacuees from Moskva were brought, 200 people. Where are the others? The full story here.
Zelensky again criticized the West for delaying arms deliveries
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again criticized delays in arms deliveries to Ukraine. “Every delay in weapons, every political delay is a permission for Russia to take the lives of Ukrainians. That’s how Russia interprets it. That shouldn’t be the case,” Zelenski said in a message sent Sunday night.
He warned that the Russian army was preparing an offensive in the industrial region of eastern Ukraine, Donbas. The president of Ukraine has accused “torture chambers” of being built in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of southern Ukraine. “Humanitarian is being blocked and stolen. They are starving. “
Zelensky invited Macron to Ukraine to see the “genocide”
Volodymyr Zelensky also announced he had invited French President Emmanuel Macron to Ukraine to see the Russian military commit “genocide”, a term the French leader has so far refused to use. “I talked to Emmanuel. I think he wants Russia to engage in a dialogue. I told him I want him to understand that this is not a war, that it is genocide. I invited him to come when he had the chance. He will come and see and I am sure he will understand,” Zelensky said in an interview with CNN.
The Ukrainian President also announced he had discussed with the IMF general director, Kristalina Georgieva, about Ukraine’s financial stability and the country reconstruction after the war.