Ukraine’s leader accused Russia of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on kyiv during a visit by Secretary General António Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital’s tentative return to normality then that the heart of the war was moving east.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were resisting Russia’s attempted advance in the south and east, as efforts continued to ensure safe passage for residents trapped in Mariupol, which has been in high demand. part reduced to rubble during a two-month siege. An official in the president’s office has not ruled out an evacuation on Friday.
Russia pounded targets across Ukraine on Thursday, including the attack on kyiv that hit a residential building and another building. US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty announced the death of its journalist Vira Hyrych, who lived in one of the affected buildings. His body was found in the rubble on Friday.
Ten people were injured in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to Ukrainian emergency services.
In an apparent reference to the same strike, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday it had destroyed “production buildings” at the Artem defense factory in kyiv.
The attack on Kyiv came barely an hour after Mr Zelensky held a press conference with António Guterres, who toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned the attacks on civilians during of his visit.
“It says a lot about Russia’s true attitude towards global institutions, about Russian authorities’ attempts to humiliate the UN and everything the organization stands for,” Zelensky said in a video address to the nation. . Therefore, it requires a corresponding powerful reaction. »
middle finger
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko derided the attack, saying it was Putin’s equivalent of flipping the “middle finger” at Guterres.
The strikes represent the most daring Russian bombardment of the capital since Moscow forces withdrew weeks ago after failing to take the city in what they hoped would be a lightning offensive. Instead, strong Ukrainian resistance, bolstered by Western weapons, blocked Mr Putin’s advance and forced his troops to withdraw to regroup.
Some have now begun to penetrate the eastern industrial heartland of the country, the Donbass, which Moscow says is now its target. Getting a full picture of the battle unfolding in the east is difficult, as airstrikes and artillery barrages make it extremely dangerous for journalists to travel. Ukraine and Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east have also introduced strict restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.
But so far Russian troops and separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains, and the British Ministry of Defense said on Friday these had been achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.
One of the purposes of António Guterres’ visit was to ensure the evacuation of people from the ruined port city of Mariupol, including a destroyed steel mill where Ukrainian defenders are locked up and hundreds of civilians are also sheltering . Previous evacuation attempts failed.
“I cannot confirm the exact details of the operation to ensure that it is safe for our people and for the civilians stranded in Mariupol,” explained Saviano Abreu, the spokesman for the humanitarian office of the UN.
An official in Mr. Zelensky’s office said negotiations were underway with UN mediation and did not rule out an evacuation of the factory on Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
100,000 people
Mariupol experienced some of the most dramatic suffering of the war. Under siege since the early days of the invasion, many of its residents have found themselves trapped with limited access to food, water, medicine or electricity.
It is estimated that around 100,000 people are still in the city, and the city council warned on Thursday that a lack of clean water or the absence of a working sewage system could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera and dysentery. He added that bodies lay decomposing under the rubble.
Russian forces largely control the city, but some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are entrenched in the steelworks, the last known pocket of resistance. About 1,000 civilians are with them, and fighters say recent concentrated shelling has caused casualties.
A video uploaded by the Ukrainian Azov regiment inside the steelworks shows people combing through the rubble to remove the dead and help the injured. The regiment said the Russians hit a makeshift underground hospital and its operating room, killing an unknown number of people. The video could not be independently verified.
A day after Russia shelled a large area of Ukraine, the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said two towns in the region were hit by Russian Grad rockets on Friday. There was no immediate knowledge of casualties or damage. Separately, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said a border post came under mortar fire from Ukraine and Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.
Thursday’s explosions in the Shevchenkivsky district of northwestern Kyiv rocked the city, and flames poured out of the windows of the residential tower and another building. The capital has been relatively spared in recent weeks, and cafes and other businesses have started to reopen, while increasing numbers of people are walking around, enjoying the spring weather.
The terrible human cost of the war, which has driven more than 11 million Ukrainians from their homes, continues to mount.