- Ukraine says a civilian auto repair shop in Lviv was hit
- Russia says it hit hundreds of military targets
- Ukrainian fighters hold out in parts of Mariupol
- The commander of Mariupol asks the Pope for help to save lives
LVIV/Kyiv, April 18 – Ukraine said on Monday that Russia had launched an expected new offensive in the east, while a Russian missile attack killed seven people in Lviv, the first civilian casualties in the some 60 km (40 miles) distant Weststadt ) from Poland.
Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling killed four people in the eastern Donetsk region on Monday, while a man and woman were killed in Kharkiv when shells hit a playground near a residential building. Continue reading
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that Russian forces had started the “Battle for Donbass” after senior officials said Moscow had launched a new offensive push along most of Ukraine’s eastern flank. Continue reading
“A very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive,” he said, adding: “No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves.”
Earlier, Ukraine’s top security official Oleksiy Danilov said that on Monday morning Russian forces attempted to breach Ukraine’s defenses “along almost the entire front line of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.”
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak called it “the second phase of the war” and assured the Ukrainians that their forces could repel the offensive. “Believe in our army, it’s very strong,” he said. Continue reading
Maksym Kozytskyy, the governor of Lviv, said preliminary reports indicate four strikes have taken place there, three on warehouses not used by the military and another on an auto repair shop.
“It was a barbaric strike at a gas station, it’s a completely civilian facility,” he told a news conference.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said the youngest person killed was 30 years old. The blast also wounded 11 and shattered windows at a hotel housing evacuees from other parts of the country, he added. Continue reading
“Seven peaceful people had life plans, but today their life stopped,” he said.
Pushed back by Ukrainian resistance in the north, Moscow has refocused its ground offensive in the two eastern provinces known as Donbass, while launching long-range attacks on other targets, including the capital Kyiv.
Kharkiv regional governor said authorities continued evacuating people from two areas where they expect fighting.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it hit hundreds of military targets in Ukraine overnight. Missiles fired from the air destroyed 16 military installations in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions and the port of Mykolayiv, located in southern and eastern Ukraine.
It added that the Russian Air Force launched attacks on 108 areas where Ukrainian forces were concentrated, and Russian artillery hit 315 Ukrainian military targets. Continue reading
HOWITZER TRAINING
Smoke rises after military strikes as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues April 18, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine. REUTERS/Roman Baluk
Continue reading
Western capitals and Kyiv have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of unprovoked aggression.
Russia denies targeting civilians in a so-called special operation to demilitarize Ukraine and root out dangerous nationalists. She dismisses what Ukraine calls evidence of atrocities, saying Ukraine staged them to undermine peace talks.
Last week, US President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine and expanded aid to include heavy artillery ahead of a major Russian attack expected in eastern Ukraine.
The US military expects to start training Ukrainians how to use howitzer artillery in the coming days, a senior US defense official said Monday, adding that the training will take place outside of Ukraine. Continue reading
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday his dialogue with Putin has stalled after mass killings in Ukraine were discovered. Continue reading
‘HELL OF EARTH’
Russia is seeking full control of the southeastern port city of Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks and would be a huge strategic asset, by linking pro-Russian separatist-held territory to the east with the Crimea region annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Major Serhiy Volyna, commander of Ukraine’s 36th Naval Brigade, which is still fighting in Mariupol, wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking for help, saying women and children were trapped between militants at the city’s steel mills.
“This is what hell on earth looks like… It is time (for) help, not only through prayers. Save our lives from satanic hands,” the letter said, according to excerpts tweeted by Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican.
No fewer than 1,000 civilians were hiding in underground shelters under Azovstal’s huge steelworks, the city council said on Monday. Continue reading
Video and audio footage showed explosions and smoke billowing from the steel mill, which is home to countless buildings, blast furnaces and rails.
Azovstal is the main remaining stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol. The city’s defenders include Ukrainian marines, motorized brigades, a National Guard brigade and the Azov Regiment, a militia created by far-right nationalists and later incorporated into the National Guard.
Denis Prokopenko, a lieutenant colonel in the Azov regiment, said in a Telegram video post that during his stay at the steel plant, Russian and Separatist forces would drop anti-bunker bombs and blast the area with rockets and other weapons, including ships. “I know there are civilians here.”
Russia’s invasion has damaged or destroyed up to 30% of Ukraine’s infrastructure at a cost of US$100 billion, a Ukrainian minister said, adding reconstruction could be achieved in two years by using frozen Russian assets for financing would be used. Continue reading
The United Nations said on Monday the civilian death toll from the war had surpassed 2,000 and reached 2,072 at midnight on April 17 since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
About 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country.
Reporting by Reuters journalists in Kyiv and Lviv; Additional reporting by Reuters offices worldwide; writing by Alexandra Hudson, Keith Weir and David Brunnstrom; Edited by Edmund Blair, Nick Macfie and Cynthia Osterman