Fierce fighting broke out between Russian and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine on Saturday shattered hopes of a ceasefire to mark the Orthodox Easter celebrations.
At least that is what the Ukrainian Council Presidency indicated Five people were killed and 18 injured in Russian shelling of the city of Odessa.In the south of the country.
The south and east of Ukraine have become designated targets for the Russian offensive, which turns two months old on Sunday. In that time, more than five million Ukrainians have fled the country and seven million have been internally displaced, the largest exodus in Europe since World War II.
The army Russia announced Saturday morning that it had carried out 1,098 artillery strikes and rockets in the last 24 hours.
“They are literally shelling everything… all the time,” East Luhansk Region governor Sergei Gaidai wrote on Telegram.
Gaidai reported two dead and two wounded in Zolote (southeast) after being shelled by Russian artillery and interviewed people living near the front line “Vacate the place if you have the opportunity”.
The governor of the eastern Kharkov region, Oleg Sinegubov, assured by telegram that Ukrainian forces had recaptured three villages near the Russian border after “fierce fighting”.
Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces of Russia’s Central Military District Rustam Minnekayev said Friday that “the second phase of the special operation” — as Moscow is calling the invasion — aims to “gain complete control of Donbass and southern Ukraine.” .
In this way, he added, “a land corridor” would be established between the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the eastern Donbass region with the Crimea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
The capture of southern Ukraine would also help separatists in Moldova’s Transnistria region“where we also observe cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population,” said the official, raising Moldova’s protest.
war crimes
US satellite imaging company Maxar Technologies released photos on Friday that are said to show two large mass graves in the cities of Manhush and Vynohradne in the Mariupol region.
On the same day, the UN warned of possible Russian “war crimes” in Ukraine. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Moscow and Kyiv next week.
ghost town
After two months of sustained Russian artillery fire The city of Lysychansk, just 14 kilometers from Russian ground forces, has become a ghost town.
Only a small covered market in the center of town continues to function, providing the remaining residents with food and other supplies.
“It’s going to end badly,” said an elderly woman who was waiting in line to buy vegetables, fearing shelling similar to the one that struck May 8.
In Kharkov (east) the inhabitants tell of a night of terror. “We couldn’t sleep, we spent the whole night in a corridor,” Yelena, a mother, told AFP.
With or without a ceasefire, the conflict promises to be a long one.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “realistic” for the war to last until the end of 2023. And the United States on Tuesday invited 40 countries to Germany for a meeting to discuss Ukraine’s long-term security needs.
*With information from AFP.
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