The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that it had conducted an intense wave of attacks against hundreds of military targets in Ukraine overnight.
According to the ministry, the air-launched missile offensive destroyed 16 facilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the regions of Kharkiv, Zaporijia, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Mikolaiv. The attacks reportedly hit 108 areas where Kiev’s troops were concentrated and another 315 military targets in the country.
On the other side of Ukraine, near the Polish border, officials in Lviv said Russian missile attacks destroyed a military installation and a tire-changing station, leaving at least six dead and eight wounded. The blasts also broke the windows of a hotel that houses Ukrainians from other parts of the country who are preparing to cross the border.
Repelled, at least in part, by Ukrainian resistance, Russian forces refocused their ground offensive in the two eastern provinces, Donetsk and Lugansk, while launching long-range attacks on other targets, including the capital Kiev.
Russia is now stepping up its bid to take full control of Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks and which would be a great strategic prize for being the land bridge between the breakaway republics of Donbass and Crimea, annexed by the Russians in 2014.
Moscow set Sunday as a deadline for the surrender of Kiev soldiers still in the city and, in the ultimatum, said those who remained would be “eliminated”.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Chmihal said his country’s forces were still fighting in Mariupol. “The city hasn’t fallen yet,” he said in an interview with American TV.
The scenario in the city, according to international news agencies, is one of tragedy. In addition to the charred buildings and cars, bodies were also seen in the streets, lined up under blankets and waiting for collection.
The governor of Lugansk, Serhii Gaidai, said street fighting continued in the region and made further appeals for the population to leave the province’s cities. According to him, the Russians took the city of Kreminna overnight and shot dead at least four civilians who were trying to leave the site. The information could not be independently confirmed.
Even the evacuation of civilians is expected to come to a halt on Monday due to the lack of an agreement between Moscow and Kiev, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereschuk. “For security reasons, it was decided not to open humanitarian corridors today,” she said in a Telegram channel.
