After an apparent deceleration of the Russian offensive, the Ukrainian government said on Saturday (12) that it expects a new wave of attacks in Kiev, the city of Kharkiv and the Donbass, a region in which pro-Moscow separatists recognized as independent by President Vladimir are located. Putin.
The speech by Oleksi Arestovich, adviser to the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff, Volodymyr Zelensky, is accompanied by the approach of the capital by Russian troops, 25 km from the center of Kiev, in addition to the siege and bombing of several other cities, according to with the UK Ministry of Defence.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Verechtchuk said she hoped that humanitarian corridors would be opened on Saturday to enable thousands of residents to leave attacked places, such as the outskirts of Kiev and the cities of Sumi and Mariupol, where, according to the Ukrainian chancellery, a mosque with more than 80 adults and children, including citizens of Turkey, was reportedly bombed on Saturday.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was bombed by Russian invaders,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Twitter, without specifying whether there were dead or wounded there. Moscow denies attacking civilian areas.
Although Verechchuk expressed the hope that residents would be able to leave the affected areas, the governor of the Kiev region said fighting and threats of Russian air strikes continued during the withdrawal attempts, and the governor of the eastern Donetsk region said said the constant bombing is making it difficult for aid to reach Mariupol.
At least 1,582 civilians have been killed in the port city, according to the local town hall, as a result of the attacks and a 12-day blockade. The reported figure could not be independently verified. In the latest update made by the UN’s human rights arm, this Friday, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, 564 civilian deaths have been confirmed across the country, including 41 children.
Air raid sirens sounded in many cities on Saturday morning, urging people to seek shelter, after Zelensky said the war had reached a “strategic turning point”.
Efforts to isolate Russia economically have intensified, with the United States imposing new sanctions on high-ranking Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs and the European Union poised to announce an end to privileged trade status with the Putin-ruled country.
At the fighting sites, however, the scenario appears to be reversed, with continuing bombardments in several cities and satellite images showing Russian troops approaching Kiev. According to the American company Maxar, which provides the images, artillery fire was fired in residential areas, such as in Moschun, northwest of the capital, a municipality where houses and buildings were on fire.
Since the beginning of the war, which the Kremlin wants the Russians to call a “special military operation”, at risk of a 15-year prison sentence for statements considered fake news against the country’s Armed Forces, more than 2.5 million people left Ukraine, according to the UN. The situation provoked a refugee crisis in neighboring countries, especially Poland, which received most of the refugees.
