Russian forces also captured strategic areas of the city as it continued its offensive to capture Mariupol. Ukraine says Russia has completely occupied the route to the Sea of Azov. However, there is no confirmation that the city is under Russian control. The capture of Mariupol would be a handful of corridors from Russia to Crimea. Russia and Ukraine are important as the main port on the Azov coast.
The situation worsened in Mariupol, where tens of thousands more were trapped. As many as 300,000 people are facing death in the bitter cold without food, water and medicine as Russian tanks pound cities. Ukraine has accused the Russian military of failing to deliver food and medicine stored for them. There are indications that 1,300 people are still trapped in the Mariupol theater, which was destroyed in a Russian attack the previous day. Eighty percent of the city’s buildings, including populated areas, were destroyed in the attack.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had reached an agreement with Russia to build 10 new safe lanes to rescue people stranded in Mariupol and various parts of Kiev. The confrontation is strong in Harkiv as well. Here, however, the Russian army’s weapons capability has dwindled. Ukrainian troops return to resistance in Russian-controlled Kherson.
Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Koneshenkov has said that hypersonic missiles were used to destroy a military depot in the western Ukrainian village of Deliaton. Russia is the first country in Ukraine to launch a hypersonic missile with a range of 2000 km and 10 times the speed of sound.
Content Highlight: Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine Crisis, Russia-Ukraine War