(Moscow) The Russian army was ordered on Saturday to expand its offensive on Ukraine, despite a growing international outcry that Kiev had refused negotiations.
Posted at 10:54 a.m.
Updated at 11:04 a.m.
“Today all units received orders to expand the offensive in all directions, in accordance with the offensive plan,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. in a press release.
He claimed pro-Russian separatists in the east, backed by the Russian military, were registering “success”.
He further maintained that Ukrainian ships had attacked Russian warships in the Black Sea, considering it “highly probable” that American observation drones had “guided” them.
These claims were not immediately independently verifiable.
On the third day of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, fighting was taking place in the capital Kiev and other cities in the pro-Western Eastern European country.
Russia invaded Ukraine through Belarus to the north, annexed Crimea to the south, and its own territory to the northeast and east.
Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday that at least 198 civilians had been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, while the bombings increased in Kiev and other cities, such as Kharkiv (east).
Mr Konashenkov reiterated that the Russian army was not carrying out strikes on residential areas, but AFP reporters saw several homes hit by gunfire across the country.
Accusing the Ukrainian authorities of “involving the civilian populations” by “distributing weapons to them in an uncontrolled manner”, he also declared that this “will inevitably lead to accidents and losses”.
The Russian attack was widely condemned across the world, and Western countries implemented economic sanctions to punish Moscow.