04/07/2022 07:11 (act 04/07/2022 07:11)
Blog LIVE about the war in Ukraine on Thursday. ©REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Apparently, Russia is launching a new offensive in eastern Ukraine in the Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy fears the worst for Mariupol. We report the day’s events on the LIVE blog.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of blocking humanitarian access to the city of Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks, to cover up “thousands” of victims. “I think they fear the world will see what is happening there until everything is ‘cleaned up’ by Russian soldiers,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday in an interview with Turkish TV channel Habertürk, which his office posted online.
Worst suspect: Russia wants to cover up victims in Mariupol
Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, has been cut off from all supplies for weeks and is under heavy fire from Russian forces. The situation in the city is catastrophic. Previous coordinated attempts to evacuate the city have failed. However, some residents managed to escape on their own.
He assumes that “thousands of people were killed” in Mariupol, Selenskyj said. However, the Russian military was unable to keep the number of victims secret indefinitely. “You can’t hide a number like that.”
Russian soldiers dispose of bodies in Mariupol
Lyudmyla Denisova, human rights commissioner in the Ukrainian parliament, citing testimonies, said Russian troops have “mobile incinerators” and “macerators” at their disposal to dispose of the bodies. She posted a photo on Telegram that was supposed to show such an incinerator on a semi-trailer. The authenticity of the image could not be independently confirmed.
LIVE blog about the war in Ukraine on Thursday
Tens of thousands of feared victims in Mariupol
Russia continued its attacks on Mariupol on Wednesday, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said this week that about 90% of the city has been completely destroyed since the Russian attacks began.
The Mariupol City Council on Wednesday corrected previous estimates of the number of deaths in the city. So far, at least 5,000 deaths have been reported. However, given the size of the city and the length of the lockdown, “there could have been tens of thousands of civilian casualties,” the city council told Telegram.
Civilian bodies found in garage in Hostomel
According to Ukrainian sources, eleven bodies were found in a garage in the Kiev suburb of Hostomel. Police discovered them on Wednesday, Ukrainian newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda reported on Thursday night, citing a telegram entry by former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. Thus, the dead are considered civilians. They say they were killed by Russian soldiers. The information could not be independently verified.
Hostomel, northwest of the capital Kiev, with the airfield nearby, was heavily contested from the start of the war. Most of the original 16,000 residents fled. A few days ago, Ukrainian troops regained control of Hostomel, as well as the neighboring towns of Bucha and Irpin. It was only on Tuesday that the head of the local military administration said about 400 residents of Hostomel were missing and that authorities now wanted to inspect the basement.
Mayor of Kharkiv reassured: still no need to flee
After Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk called on people in Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions to flee, worried about a new Russian offensive in the east of the country, the mayor of Kharkiv is trying to calm people down. Neither he nor the military currently consider it necessary to carry out a centralized evacuation of the country’s second-largest city, Ihor Terekhov said in a video message posted on Telegram late on Wednesday.
The city of Kharkiv is well-armed and ready for defense, the mayor said. Whether one wants to leave the city in view of the ongoing bombing is up to each individual. The evacuation order applies to Losowa and Barvinkove districts in the Kharkiv region, he said. These are south of Kharkiv, near the Donbass. The military there expected the military situation to deteriorate.
Small towns in eastern Ukraine bombed by Russian troops
According to Ukrainian sources, the small town of Lozova has already been fired upon by Russian troops with rockets. The announcement was made by the mayor of Lozova, Serhiy Zelenskyy, in a video posted on Telegram late on Wednesday. There were no deaths or injuries, Zelenskyj said. There was no further information about the bombing target.
Three days ago, the mayor called on the residents of the city of 55,000 to leave. According to local media reports, around 10,000 people were evacuated from the city in two days. It is important mainly because of its rail junction.
The bombing of the small town of Popasna, in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, also continues, according to Ukrainian sources. The target is units of the Ukrainian armed forces, the staff said in its report on Thursday morning. Russian troops wanted to resume their offensive in the cities of Rubishne and Nizhnye, north and south of the city of Sievjerodonetsk, in the Luhansk region.
In Novotoschkivske, also in the Luhansk region, Russian troops tried “unsuccessfully” to break through the Ukrainian defense lines. In areas occupied by Russian troops, they continued to use violence against civilians, according to the report. In addition, Russian units carried out a “forced relocation” of the population of Mariupol to areas of the Donetsk region they occupied. The information could not be independently verified.