Like a repeat of the previous days, a louder tone. This Thursday morning, the 22nd day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the front lines have not changed, but the conflict is marked by dramatic attacks on the theater of Mariupol on Wednesday evening, where more than 500 civilians are located, according to Human Rights Watch. Watch, hoping you’ve found shelter. Russia denies, the US blames, a day after President Zelensky’s glowing speech to the US Congress. The strike is all the less justified as aerial photographs showed the building on Monday, with the word “children” written in chalk on the front and back of the theatre.
Russian troops in stagnation
According to the UK Department of Defense, “Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, at sea or in the air in recent days” and continue to suffer heavy casualties, the ministry said, adding that Ukrainian resistance remains strong. According to a previous intelligence report from the ministry, Russia is resorting to older, less accurate weapons that are less militarily effective and more likely to cause civilian casualties.
According to many Western observers, the Russians failed to enter the war, assuming weak enemy resistance and a quick victory, and neglecting their own logistical needs. “The inefficiency of Russian combat power and the vigor of Ukrainian military resistance came as a real surprise,” Philippe Gros and Vincent Tourre emphasize in a note from the Strategic Research Foundation (FRS).
All 150,000 Russian soldiers mobilized for this conflict are deployed in the Ukrainian theater of war, according to the Pentagon. And the losses are big. Moscow lost 7,000 casualties in three weeks, more than 300 battlefield deaths a day, according to US intelligence estimates quoted by the New York Times.
Evacuation of civilians under bombs
Urgent evacuation of civilians is becoming increasingly urgent, especially in Mariupol, which is besieged by Russian troops. Its authorities announced the evacuation of 30,000 people in one week. The city has no electricity, heating or water. According to the mayor’s office on Telegram, the situation is “critical” with “continuous” Russian bombardments and “colossal” destruction. “According to initial estimates, about 80% of the city’s housing stock has been destroyed,” she added.
Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday Russia destroyed a theater in which more than a thousand people had taken refuge in besieged Mariupol, the death toll at this stage is not determined. Deputy Sergiu Taruta stated on Facebook, without referring to his sources, that people got out alive from the rubble, the shelter under the theater could not stand it.
Moscow has pledged to open humanitarian corridors daily to allow Ukrainians to reach Russia. But Ukraine, where the population of cities besieged by Russian troops is hiding, is calling for the creation of humanitarian corridors within its borders.
Kharkov and its environs under Russian fire
In Merefa, about thirty kilometers from Kharkov, a Russian bombardment launched around 3:30 am (2:30 am French time) on the night of Wednesday to Thursday destroyed a school and a cultural center. Surrounding houses were damaged, as were the buildings of the Plant Institute. “Russian servicemen fired artillery at the city of Merefa, Kharkiv region,” the prosecutor’s office of the Kharkiv region reported in the afternoon. At least 27 people died.
On Thursday, emergency services tried to put out the fire at the Merefa school. AFP/State Emergency Service of Ukraine
At 30 km Kharkov is still under fire. Air raid sirens sound several times day and night. “The shelling is going on from morning to evening,” Dr. Pavel Nartov, director of the regional clinical infectious diseases hospital, told The Associated Press. “They can strike at any moment. »
Those responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine, where the Russian army is accused of bombing civilians, will be “responsible” to international justice, G7 foreign ministers warned Thursday in a joint statement. “Those who commit war crimes, including the indiscriminate use of weapons against the civilian population, will be held accountable,” the ministers of Germany, France, Italy, America, Japan, Canada and Italy said in a statement.
Explosions all over Ukraine
According to the emergency services of the city, in the Darnitsky district in the south-east of the city, as a result of fragments hit at 6:50 (5:50 French time) on the 16th floor, a residential building was destroyed and fire spread. One person died, three were injured. 30 people have been evacuated, demining work continues in search of possible additional victims. Several nearby buildings were also damaged.
In Chernihiv, in the north of the country, numerous strikes were carried out on Wednesday against the city, which has been under siege since February 25. To the ten people who died in the bread line as a result of the strike, and to the three children found dead in the bombed building, forty other civilian casualties must be added.
The city of Rubizhne near Lugansk, which pro-Russian separatists have controlled since 2014, was shelled all Wednesday and overnight, according to local governor Sergei Gaidai. More than twenty houses were destroyed in the “burning” city.
“Ten air targets” destroyed by Ukraine
In its report, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claims that it destroyed two Su-34 fighter-bombers, three Su-34SM fighters, drones, in addition to three Russian military helicopters that were destroyed on Wednesday at Kherson airport, by Russian hands. from the start of the attack. With the start of the offensive, the balance of the Russians will increase to the loss of 84 aircraft and 108 helicopters.
Mayor released after mobilization of residents
On Wednesday morning, Skadovsk Mayor Alexander Yakolev, his deputy Alexander Grishchenko, and city council secretary Yuri Palyukha were arrested by Russian troops occupying the port city on the Black Sea coast. During the day, several dozen residents peacefully gathered in front of the building where the three men were being held to secure their release. Russian forces used tear gas to disperse them.
In a video released the day before, President Zelensky confirmed that the mayor of Melitopol, who was kidnapped on March 11 by Russian troops for refusing to cooperate with units occupying the city, has been released. “Ivan Fedorov, who did not and will not submit to the occupiers, is at large. I spoke to him today,” he said.
Zelensky condemns the new “Stenka”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received applause from the German Bundestag on Thursday morning ahead of a video message in which he called on Germany to tear down the new “wall” erected in Europe against freedom following Russia’s invasion of Israel.
The day after the video speech to the US Congress, the Ukrainian leader was to call again for additional military assistance to Germany. A war in Ukraine will cut Germany’s growth in half in 2022, the IfW Institute also predicted on Thursday.