Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that the night had been “hard” in Ukraine, with Russian bombardments having targeted inhabited areas according to him.
“Last night was hard, again shots, again bombardments of inhabited neighborhoods, of civilian infrastructure. There is nothing today that the occupier does not consider a legitimate target,” he said in a video posted on social networks.
“Vassilkiv, Kiev, Cherniguiv, Sumi, Kharkiv and many other cities live in conditions that we had not seen on our lands […] since the Second World War,” underlined the Ukrainian President.
He addressed the Belarusians, whose country serves as a rear base for Russian forces that invaded Ukraine on Thursday to attack Kiev.
“From your territory, it is our children who are being killed”, he said, “how are you going to be able to look your children in the eye, how are you going to look each other in the eye ? How are you going to look your neighbors in the eye? Your neighbors are us”.
Ukrainian forces control Kharkiv
On the fourth day of the Russian offensive, Ukrainian forces have full control of Kharkiv, a northeastern city of 1.4 million people on the Russian border, according to local governor Oleg Sinegoubov.
They said on Sunday they had repelled a Russian breakthrough in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city where street fighting is taking place, and the number of refugees is approaching 400,000 as international pressure on Russia mounts.
Kharkiv is under our full control,” M. Sinegoubov wrote on social media, assuring that an “elimination of enemies in the city” was underway. »
In the morning, a journalist from Agence France-Presse reported street fighting and saw Russian tanks, abandoned or on fire.
Several countries including Germany, Italy, the Scandinavian countries and Belgium announced on Sunday in turn the closure of their airspace to Russian planes, of which Paris is studying “the principle”. The day before, the West excluded Russian banks from the Swift interbank platform, a decision with which Japan joined on Sunday, and announced that it would deliver more weapons to Ukraine.
Ukraine has appealed to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to order Moscow to cease hostilities, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“International Legion”
“Vassilkiv, Kiev, Cherniguiv, Sumi, Kharkiv and many other cities live in conditions that we had not seen on our lands […] since the Second World War”, launched Mr. Zelensky, accusing Russia of considering the inhabited areas “As a legitimate target”.
He hailed the formation of an international “anti-war coalition” to support Ukraine and called on foreigners to come and fight “against Russian war criminals” in the “International Legion” being formed by the country.
Since Thursday, some 368,000 refugees have fled the fighting in Ukraine for neighboring countries and their number “continues to increase”, announced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Poland had some 156,000, and Germany made trains free for all Ukrainians coming from that country.
Pope Francis called for the “urgent” opening of humanitarian corridors and asked “that the guns be silenced” in Ukraine.
The Russian army, whose President Vladimir Putin hailed Sunday “heroism”, received the order on Saturday to widen its offensive on the grounds that Kiev had refused negotiations. In his Sunday sermon, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill called opponents of Moscow in Ukraine “forces of evil.”
The Kremlin, which says it wants to end an alleged “genocide” of Russians in Ukraine, accused Ukraine on Sunday of not “seizing the opportunity” for talks after a new offer to talk to Belarus, hence the Russia has invaded its neighbor.
“Sabotage”
Mr. Zelensky said he was ready to negotiate but not from this country which serves as a rear base for the Russian army, before announcing that he had discussed with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Loukatechnko.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday accused Ukraine of not “seizing the opportunity” of these talks.
In Kiev, under curfew until Monday 08:00 (06:00 GMT), the morning was calm after clashes during the night “with subversive groups” according to the mayor’s office. Soldiers nervously patrolled the streets with their weapons drawn and planes streaked overhead.
“I can’t say I’m not scared,” admits Flora Stepanova, 41, out to breathe in a park, “but it’s better than sitting in front of the television and watching the news all the time because it makes crazy “.
About 30 kilometers south-west of Kiev, fighting continues for control of the Vassylkiv air base, preventing firefighters from intervening at dawn to put out the major fire at an oil depot struck in at night near this city, according to the head of the administration of the Kyiv region, Oleksy Kouleba.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, the Russian army “has not achieved” its “main objective (which) is to lock Kiev” and is resorting to “sabotage” with “reconnaissance groups which destroy the civil infrastructure “.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have surrounded two large cities in the South, Kherson and Berdiansk, which have 290,000 and 110,000 inhabitants respectively. “The town of Genichesk and the Chernobayevka airfield near Kherson were also taken under control,” a statement said.
A different world
He also claims territorial gains for pro-Russian separatists in the east, backed by the Russian military and who have advanced, according to Moscow, by 52 km since the start of the offensive.
In total, the Russian army claims to have destroyed 975 Ukrainian military installations.
So far, the Russian Defense Ministry has not mentioned an offensive on Kiev, citing cruise missile fire on military infrastructure, advances in the East – where the army supports the separatists territories of Donetsk and Lugansk – and in southern Ukraine, where Russian forces entered Thursday from the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The UN recorded Saturday at least 64 dead among civilians and hundreds of thousands of people without water or electricity.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, at least 198 civilians, including three children, have been killed and 1,115 people injured since Thursday.
Dozens of Ukrainian servicemen lost their lives in the fighting. Kiev, according to which the Ukrainian army has killed more than 4,300 Russian soldiers, has launched a website allowing relatives of killed Russian soldiers to know their fate. Moscow keeps silent about its losses.
Westerners reserve “the right to impose” new sanctions on Moscow, warned German Chancellor Olad Scholz while saying he was still open to discussions. “The world after will no longer be the same as the world before,” he insisted.
New sanctions
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also announced new sanctions to come against the oligarchs, believing that the conflict could last “several years”.
In their new package of sanctions adopted on Saturday, the West notably excluded many Russian banks from the Swift interbank platform, an essential cog in global finance.
They also promised more weapons for Ukraine. Germany, breaking with its traditional policy of refusing to export lethal weapons in conflict zones, will provide a thousand anti-tank rocket launchers and 500 surface-to-air missiles.
Washington promises new military aid of 350 million dollars. The Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and the Czech Republic will provide lethal weapons and France an “additional delivery of defense equipment”.
Greece, which accuses Russia of having killed Ukrainians from the Greek minority, Portugal and Romania promised military equipment on Sunday.
The International Judo Federation has announced the “suspension” of Mr. Putin’s status as honorary president. The Czech Football Federation will refuse to face Russia for the 2022 World Cup, like Poland and Sweden.
And US internet giant Google has “suspended” the ability for Russian state-funded media to generate money on its platforms.
A meeting of European interior ministers is being held on Sunday to prepare for a possible influx of refugees, followed by a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.