On the eve of intensifying Russian attacks on Ukraine, with the prospect of an intensification of the conflict that will end 50 days this week, an image was used to symbolize the cruelty of the war: the piles of twisted and charred civilian cars who are trying to escape the bombing raids. “Some wrote the word ‘children’ on the glass next to bullet holes,” said Russian Chancellor Dmytro Kuleba, who posted a video of the scene on social media.
The socalled “cemeteries” of burntout cars are proliferating in bombed urban centers. “This is one of the targeted car junkyards in the Kyiv region,” says the Foreign Minister. “Peaceful people, families escaping the war drove in these cars, most of them completely burned,” he added. The images appear with the seal of the Ukrainian government, but it is not possible to independently verify their accuracy.
At least 2,072 civilians, including 169 children, have been killed in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, according to the latest UN survey. Increased attacks on strategic areas of Ukrainian territory, such as the port city of Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks, are to be expected in the next few hours.