attacks on Ukrainian cities go further
Several Ukrainian cities were again targeted by Russian airstrikes on Sunday evening. According to Ukrainian media reports, several heavy explosions shook the capital Kyiv, as well as Lutsk, Rivne and Kharkiv. A fuel depot was hit in Lutsk in the northwest in the evening. Air alerts had previously been raised in all regions of the country.
“All-out rocket attacks” against cities
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leadership accused the Russian military of “inhumane tactics”. These included the “partial or total blockade of humanitarian corridors, blockade of besieged cities,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter.
In addition, Russia is continuing “all-out rocket attacks” against Ukrainian cities. In addition, the port city of Mariupol is being carpet-bombed. “The Russians no longer have a language, humanism or civilization,” wrote Podoliak. “Only rockets and bombs to wipe Ukraine off the map as much as possible.”
counteroffensive Cherson
Earlier, among other things, the battle line seemed to be moving away from the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, and the bombing of the city, which had been under siege by the Russian army for weeks, seemed to be easing. Ukrainian soldiers launched a counter-offensive near Cherson, around 80 kilometers to the south-east.
According to eyewitness reports, around 500 people protested against the Russian occupying forces on Sunday in Cherson itself, the only major Ukrainian city captured by Russian troops so far. The peaceful demonstration was broken up with tear gas and smoke grenades, a paramedic told the AFP news agency by telephone.
According to Ukrainian sources, two people were killed by Russian shelling in a village near Cherson. In addition, on the outskirts of Kharkov, the Drobyzky Yar Holocaust memorial was damaged, which commemorates the 15,000 Jews killed there by the Nazis. Also in Irpin and around Kyiv there were again Russian attacks. In return, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported the recapture of a village near the border with Russia.
Concentration on “Liberation” of the Donbass region?
Russia’s deputy chief of staff, Sergei Rudskoy, surprisingly announced on Friday that the army would in future focus on the “liberation” of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. So far, the Kremlin’s declared war goal has been to “denazify” all of Ukraine, to smash the Ukrainian armed forces and to overthrow head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, 1,100 people were evacuated from contested areas of their country on Sunday.