Russian troops enter Ukraine’s second largest city
Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the streets of Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on Sunday, said regional Governor Oleh Sinegubov.
“Russian light vehicles have broken into Kharkiv, including the city centre,” Sinegubov said. Videos published showed several light military vehicles moving along a street and, separately, a burning tank. Russian forces attacked oil and gas facilities, sparking huge explosions.
Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet on the border of Ukraine and Belarus near the Pripyat River for talks about ending Russian attacks, Ukraine’s Presidential Office said Sunday. Ukraine had earlier ruled out a meeting in Belarus because Russian forces launched attacks from there but agreed to meet “without preconditions” on the border near the Pripyat River.
Kyiv announced the agreement after phone calls Sunday between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday put nuclear deterrent forces onto high alert, in response to sanctions and what he called “aggressive statements” from the West against Russia.
It’s a major escalation of tensions with NATO after Western nations announced plans to restrict the Russian central bank from its foreign currency reserves and cut off certain Russian banks from the SWIFT financial system.
Ukrainian Forces were holding off Russian troops advancing on the capital, Kyiv, said President Volodymyr Zelensky as the biggest assault on a European state since World War II entered its fourth day. The pace
of Russia’s advance appeared to slow, with Zelensky saying that his country’s fighters had “withstood and successfully repelled enemy attacks.” Ukraine’s armed forces, backed by growing ranks of citizen soldiers, said on Sunday that they were targeting Russian supply lines, aiming to deprive the advancing forces of “timely replenishment of fuel and ammunition.” The Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 975 Ukrainian military infrastructure objects, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Sunday.
A total of 471 Ukrainian servicemen have been detained and will be sent to their families after paperwork, he added.
Russia has lost 14 planes, eight helicopters, 102 tanks, 536 BBM, 15 heavy machine guns, and 1 BUK missile since February 24, according to Ukraine’s military. The Kremlin also lost over 3,500 soldiers, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Saturday. Nearly 200 Service Members have been kept hostage, Kiev Independent reported. Russian forces have killed at least 198 people, including three children, and 1,115 people, including 33 children, have been wounded, according to the Ukrainian National Guard, and a U.N. official said more than 150,000 Ukrainian refugees had fled.
Russia has begun redeploying reserve units in the areas bordering Ukraine and continues to carry out airstrikes on airfields, military depots, and civilians.
Airstrikes targeted Sumy, Poltava, Mariupol, and Kyiv which saw heavy fighting overnight. Russia launched naval-based cruise missiles across Ukraine from the Black Sea. Russia’s aviation assets are launched from Belarus and Crimea.
Twitter has temporarily suspended the display of advertisements on its platform in Ukraine and Russia in a declared effort to make people’s safety a priority amid the military conflict between the two countries. Twitter noted that ads could distract users from the critical information.
“We are temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads do not detract from it,” the company declared in a statement on Friday.” Russia has shut down its airspace for passenger airlines owned by companies in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, or registered in those countries, on Saturday after the three banned Russian flights over their territory, citing the conflict in Ukraine.
Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia also announced on Saturday that they will shut down their airspace to Russian planes. Some 368,000 Ukrainians have fled to European neighbors mainly to Poland, as well as to Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania since Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, the United Nations refugee agency said.
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