The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues for the 19th day, while one new round of peace talks is scheduled for today.
During the night, sirens sounded in 19 of the country’s 24 regions.
Continuous are the attacks in the last hours in Kharkiv, Nikolaev, Mariupol, Chernihiv and Sumy, while Kyiv remains on standby.
Five rockets hit his area yesterday coke plant owned by Ukraine’s largest steel company, Metinvest.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, it is not yet clear if there are any victims, but some of the facilities, including a pipeline, have been damaged and the heating supply in the neighboring town of Avdivka has been cut off.
At the same time, fears that the Russian fleet in the Black Seaprepares a large-scale attack in the coming hours, says the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine:
As he points out, there is a grouping of Russian ships off the Black Sea and it is found that they are ready for battle.
In Mariupol, which is under siege by Russian forces, more than 2,100 people have been killed since the beginning of the Russian offensive, according to the city’s municipal authority.
The city council has warned that the city’s latest water and food supplies are running low.
According to the vice-president of the Ukrainian government, the humanitarian convoy did not manage to reach Mariupol yesterday either, due to the Russian bombing.
Meanwhile, the Russian strikes continue in Nikolaev, where according to information, a high school was hit yesterday, while early yesterday morning in air raids in the same city, nine people were killed.
The Ukrainian armed forces are launching counterattacks against Russian troops in the Nikolaev region of southern Ukraine and in the eastern region of Kharkiv, an Interior Ministry official said today.
Asked about the possibility of Russian troops blockading the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, he said: “There is no blockade at the moment and it is not planned for the near future.”
Kiev authorities have said they have secured sufficient food supplies for two weeks in the event of a capital siege.
New round of negotiations
A new round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place at 10.30 in the morning, via teleconference.
The exact start time of the consultations was confirmed last night by one of the three Ukrainian negotiators, David Arahamia, in a post on social media.
The resumption of talks was confirmed earlier yesterday by both Mikhail Pontoliak, a negotiator and adviser to the Ukrainian president, and the representative of the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peshkov.
Russian and Ukrainian officials have even expressed their most optimistic assessments so far about the progress made in talks on the war in Ukraine.
They even hinted that there could be positive results within days.
In a statement, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency said that the talks held yesterday focused mainly on the situation in Mariupol.
