Posted at 9:00 p.m.
Strikes and bombardments
In Mariupol, a theater which housed “hundreds” of civilians “was destroyed in the explosion of a bomb dropped by a Russian plane”, indicated the town hall. A convoy of civilians leaving the city was also targeted by rocket fire.
Three people lost their lives and five were injured in a fire in a market caused by a bombardment in Kharkiv, in the northeast of the country.
Ten people queuing to buy bread in Cherniguiv, 150 km north of Kyiv, died in the morning when soldiers opened fire on them in a “premeditated” manner, the prosecutor’s office said.
In addition, the city of Zaporozhye was targeted for the first time since the start of the conflict, the station having been hit on Wednesday by at least one missile.
Source: Agence France-Presse
Kyiv under pressure
Explosions were again heard in Kyiv, where thick columns of black smoke rose in the morning. Kyiv regional chief Oleksiy Kuleba said Russian forces had intensified fighting in the city’s suburbs.
Across the capital region, “kindergartens, museums, churches, residential blocks and engineering infrastructure are suffering from endless gunfire,” Kuleba said. Russian troops are planning a full-scale attack to seize the capital, he added.
15km
Distance between Russian ground forces and the center of Kyiv, according to assessments by British and American intelligence services
Source: Agence France-Presse