New satellite images show the devastation suffered in Ukraine after it was hit by Russian military strikes, which leveled homes and factories and left some bombs in a smoldering mess.
The photos show Rivnopil, once a clean and green little village near Chernigov, with giant craters in the ground and smoke rising from burning homes on February 28th.
A dozen impact craters can be seen in the images of Maxar Technologies.
In another image, the nearby bridge over the Strizhen River was destroyed, leaving little more than rubble and charred soil around the area.
It is also alleged that the nearby factory suffered immeasurable damage and a Russian convoy was seen making its way through the village.
Other images show burnt remains of Russian military vehicles in a residential area of Bucha, another city near Kyiv. Ukrainian officials say the remains came after Ukraine thwarted an attack by Putin’s army.
Another image shows citizens in Kyiv lining up in front of a grocery store as Putin’s forces approach the capital. The queue curled to the end of the parking lot as people waited patiently for food.
Following the attack by Putin’s army, a thick cloud cover obscured the visualization of most satellites, CNN reported.
The photos show Rivnopil with giant craters in the ground and smoke rising from burning houses (right). Before the attack, the houses were in neat little roads and the grass was green
Other images show a destroyed bridge crossing the Strizhen River near Chernihiv and burnt remains of Russian military vehicles (in the middle of the main road, right).
Homes (left) and a factory stood in the middle of Bucha in western Kyiv, which were flattened by bombs (right)
The photos were published shortly after the news broke that the first major city in Ukraine had fallen to the Russians. Kherson, home to 290,000 people, is 300 miles south of Kyiv. The city is strategically important, located on a Black Sea bay 260 miles west of the separatist enclave of Donetsk.
Igor Kolikhaev, the mayor of Kherson, insisted earlier Wednesday that the city remained under Ukrainian control, but has now fallen.
Vladimir Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, made a video address to the nation in the early hours of Thursday, praising the war optimistically and urging Ukrainians to continue resistance.
“We are a nation that destroyed the enemy’s plans in one week,” he said in a video posted on social media.
“There will be no peace here. They will have no food. They will not have a single quiet moment here.
Zelensky did not comment on whether the Russians had taken several cities, including Kherson.
– If they went somewhere, only temporarily. “We’ll kick them out,” he said.
He said the fighting was affecting the morale of Russian soldiers who “go into grocery stores and try to find something to eat”.
Videos shared on social media show Russian forces looting cities as they pass.
Some claim that the Russians who were captured were found with rations that expired in 2015.
Western officials have said they believe some of Russia’s young soldiers do not want to fight and sabotage their vehicles by puncturing gas tanks.
“These are not superpower warriors,” Zelenski said. “These are confused children who have been used.”
He said the death toll in Russia had reached about 9,000.
“Ukraine does not want to be covered with corpses of soldiers,” he said. ‘Go home.’
In the early hours of Thursday, a huge explosion shook Kyiv – preceded by the sound of air raid sirens around 2 am local time in many neighborhoods in the city.
Then the buildings of Kyiv were illuminated by a powerful bomb blast.
The Kyiv Independent reported that air raid signals had been issued in a number of regions, including Kyiv Oblast, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Frankivsk, Chernihiv and Odessa.
Footage from the capital, taken from windows overlooking the city, showed at least one massive explosion that illuminated the night sky and seemed to cause a shock wave.
Another video, shot by CBS News reporters moments after signing after the report, showed two flashes of light over Kyiv.
Although the explosions were not shot directly, their intensity is enough to shock the reporter and his crew, who are some distance away from the explosions.
Hours earlier, a Russian missile struck near the southern main railway station of Kyiv, where thousands of women and children are being evacuated, said in a statement the Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsya.
The station building has suffered minor damage and the death toll is still unknown, he said, adding that trains were still running despite the blast.
Adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry Anton Herashchenko said the blast was caused by the remains of a downed Russian cruise missile, not a direct missile strike.
The trains kept moving. Herashchenko added that the strike may have interrupted central heating in parts of the Ukrainian capital amid low winter temperatures.
Russian tanks and a military truck moved through the streets of Kherson on Wednesday
Kherson, 300 miles south of Kyiv, is considered an important strategic asset as it is located at the entrance to the Black Sea.
According to unverified reports, two missiles were fired at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and one was shot down. The headquarters and the railway station are located opposite each other in Kyiv.
Kherson has been at the center of fierce fighting all Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, a US official told the AP: “Our opinion is that Kherson is a very contested city.”
Kolikhaev said later in the evening that Russian soldiers were in the city and had come to the city administration building.
He said he had asked them not to shoot at civilians and to allow crews to collect bodies from the streets.
“I just asked them not to shoot at people,” he said in a statement.
“We have no Ukrainian forces in the city, only civilians and people here who want to LIVE.”
Kolikhaev said he never imagined that he would eventually fight a war.
“Everything that is happening in our city now is politics that I hate,” he wrote.
“I came to the office to upgrade the infrastructure, to invest in Kherson, to build houses, roads, parks and a new life for my hometown.
“Now I’m looking for special packages for the dead.”
War in Ukraine: the latest
- The President of Ukraine again addressed the nation in the early hours of Thursday, giving an optimistic assessment of progress
- “These are not superpower warriors,” he said. “These are confused children who have been used”
- Kyiv is the target of a new attack in the early hours of Thursday morning
- Russian paratroopers landed on Wednesday in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv amid heavy fighting
- “There are practically no areas left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not hit yet”: Interior Ministry official
- Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a “dictator” in his annual address on the state of the Union as he bans Russian planes from US airspace
- Russia is stepping up its bombing and rocket attacks, hitting Kyiv’s main TV tower, two apartment buildings west of the city and Belaya Tserkov south of the capital.
- Russian attacks leave Mariupol, another Black Sea port further west, without electricity
- More than 677,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the UN refugee agency said.
- The UN International Court of Justice has said it will hold public hearings on March 7th and 8th over Ukraine’s accusations of “genocide” by Russia.
- Russia blocks independent TV channel and liberal radio station, delays virtual media shutdown
- A number of Western companies have announced they are freezing or reducing their business with Russia
- The Russians are vying to withdraw cash after the introduction of capital controls and after the ruble reaches record lows
- Russia’s Nord Stream 2 is bankrupt after Germany shut down the pipeline following Moscow’s invasion
- Oil prices exceed $ 110 a barrel, despite agreements to release 60 million barrels from reserves
- World Bank prepares $ 3 billion aid package for Ukraine, including $ 350 million immediate funds