04/21/2022 06:06 (act 04/21/2022 07:13)
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was more optimistic about his urgent calls for supplies of heavy weapons from partner countries. ©AP; AFP
On Thursday night, another bombing was reported from Ukraine.
At least two skyscrapers in the northeastern Saltivka district and several parked cars caught fire after explosions in the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda reported. While Russia apparently already controls 80 percent of the Luhansk region, Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov announced he would take Mariupol on Thursday.
The Ukrainian Security Council had previously announced that Russia’s major offensive had not yet begun. The attacks that began on Tuesday along the entire front line are likely to be “test attacks”, Council Secretary General Oleksiy Danilov said in a radio interview, the internet newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported in the evening. from wednesday.
“I wouldn’t be so optimistic”
When the so-called big offensive starts it’s only a matter of time, Danilov said. Moscow may still build new resources and bulk reserves in the next two to four weeks. He also warned against thinking that the battles for Donbass would be the last and decisive battle of the war. “I wouldn’t be too optimistic, there could be a lot of different things ahead.”
For several days, Kiev has been waiting for the start of a major offensive by Russian troops who, after withdrawing from areas around the capital Kiev and in the northeast of the country in early April, are now repositioning themselves on the Russian border. regions with Ukraine or eastern Ukraine. The US Defense Department had earlier said on Tuesday that it saw the latest Russian attacks only as a sign of a major Moscow offensive.
Rubishne and Popasna partially under Russian control
Eight weeks into the war, however, Ukraine acknowledged the loss of much of the eastern Luhansk region. After the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the small town of Krimenna, Russian units now controlled 80% of the Luhansk region, Governor Serhiy Hajdaj announced on Telegram late on Wednesday.
The cities of Rubishne and Popasna in Luhansk are now “partially” under Russian control. There was intense fighting over this for weeks. The bombing has also increased here, Hajdaj continues. At the start of the war on February 24, separatists from the “Luhansk People’s Republic” controlled about 30% of the region.
Talks about an evacuation have failed again
In the fight for the port city of Mariupol, the Chechen ruler Kadyrov predicted the complete capture for Thursday. “Even before or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” he said in an audio message, overlooking the Azovstal Power Plant, the last bastion of Ukrainian forces in the largely conquered city. Negotiations on the evacuation of the remaining fighters failed again on Wednesday. Ukraine has suggested sending a high-level delegation to Mariupol to discuss evacuation there.
Situation “as tense as possible”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was more optimistic about his urgent calls for supplies of heavy weapons from partner countries. He can say with “cautious optimism” that Kiev’s partners “have become more aware of our needs,” he said in his video message every Thursday night. They now understand what weapons Ukraine needs and they need them not in a few weeks, but now – as Russia tries to step up its attacks. The situation in the south and east of the country is “as tense as possible”, he said.
According to Ukrainian sources, two more mass graves were discovered in the Borodyanka suburb of Kiev. It contained a total of nine civilian bodies, men and women, Andriy Nebitov of Kiev region police said Thursday night on Facebook. Some of them showed signs of torture, he said. Borodyanka is one of the most damaged cities in the capital region. Atrocities committed by Russian units that had since withdrawn were reported in the city. The information could not be independently verified.
All news on the live blog:
>> All news about the war in Ukraine on VOL.AT <