Russian forces continued to shell the port city of Mariupol. The shells reportedly hit a mosque housing more than 80 people, including children, according to the Ukrainian government.
Many other towns have been shelled while fighting also rages in the outskirts of Kyiv.
The toll of the bombing of the elegant mosque in downtown Mariupol is unknown. The encircled city is plunged into misery, the incessant bombardments preventing supplies from reaching the trapped inhabitants. The shells also prevent the burial of the dead.
The death toll reached 1,500 on Friday, according to the mayor’s office. The Médecins sans frontières organization indicates that many died because of the lack of medicines. Some try to drink the water from the radiators.
An Associated Press reporter saw tanks shelling a nine-story apartment building. He was accompanying rescue workers when they were targeted by a sniper. One of them was injured in the hip.
Living conditions in the hospital continue to deteriorate: electricity is reserved for surgical operations. People are waiting in the corridors, not knowing where to go.
Anastasiya Erashova is one of them. She trembles as a child sleeps in her arms. Her other child was killed, as was her brother’s, she said.
“We went to my brother. The women and children went to the cellar. Mortars hit the building. We were imprisoned in the basement and two children died. No one could save them. »
The Ukrainian military command has acknowledged that Russian forces have seized the eastern outskirts of Mariupol, strengthening their grip on the strategic port. Seizing Mariupol and other Azov Sea ports will allow the Russians to establish a corridor with Crimea, a territory it has occupied since 2014.
In a video, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged his people to continue resisting the invaders. “It is impossible to predict how many days it will take to liberate our territory, but it is possible to say that we will achieve it,” he said.
Later, in a press conference, he indicated that the fighting had claimed the lives of around 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers since the start of the invasion.
Mr. Zelensky also said that the Russians will have to bombard Kyev massively and kill all its inhabitants if they want to seize the capital. “If that’s their goal, let them come!” »
According to the British Ministry of Defence, Russian ground forces massed north of Kyiv approached 25 kilometers from the center of the Ukrainian capital. They try to surround the city.
Artillery continued to shell the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv. Columns of white and black smoke rose into the sky after an ammunition depot was hit in Vasylkiv, causing hundreds of small explosions. A frozen food warehouse was also hit.
The Ukrainian army says it is preparing for an all-out attack. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitscheko said around half of the city’s four million people had fled. “Every street and every house is being fortified,” he warned.
The tactics employed by the Russian military resemble those it has previously employed in Syria and Chechnya.
According to the World Health Organization, the Russians have reached around 20 hospitals since the start of the invasion. Artillery fire damaged an oncology hospital in Mykolaiv, a town 489 km west of Mariupol.
A third Russian general was reportedly killed in the fighting. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, announced that Major General Andrei Kolesnikov was allegedly killed near Mariupol. Russia, stingy with information, has not confirmed this death.
Russians threaten to crack down on shipments of military equipment to Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned the United States that “these convoys could be considered legitimate targets”.