Ukrainian grandmother and retired economist told how he makes Molotov cocktails after looking for the recipe of Googlepromising to defend his suburb of Kyiv and declaring, “Let these Russian bastards come here.”
Raisa Smatko showed CNNClarissa Ward on Monday around her front yard, in what Ward said was an eastern suburb of Kyiv.
The courtyard was turned into an impromptu starting point for the city’s defenders, with donations of sleeping bags, mats, pickles and food piled high.
Smatko then took Ward to see where the Molotov cocktails were made.
“We are ready to congratulate them,” she said.
Asked how she knew how to make ammunition, she replied: “Google helped.”
Did you Google it, they asked her?
‘Of course.’
Raisa Smatko, a retired economist, told CNN on Monday that she was busy making Molotov cocktails from her home in Kyiv.
Smatko showed CNN Clarissa Ward, where her Molotov cocktail hideout is kept
“Google helped.”
Ukrainka shows CNN’s chief international correspondent @ClarissaWard her homemade Molotov cocktails. She is just one of many Kyiv residents who improvise weapons in an attempt to protect the capital from the Russian armed forces. pic.twitter.com/zgSTUku6s6
– CNN (@CNN) March 1, 2022
Russian troops advanced from the north on Tuesday, controlling the area in red. A TV tower in the center of the capital was shelled. CNN spoke with Smatko at her home in the eastern part of the city
Smatko was asked what would happen if Russian forces came to her neighborhood and tried to take control.
A 40-mile convoy of Russian military vehicles is approaching Kyiv from Belarus on Sunday, heading south to the city with many hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers.
“We will defeat them,” Smatko said.
“They won’t come.” I believe in our Ukraine. I believe in the Ukrainian people. “
Russian forces escalated attacks on crowded urban areas on Tuesday, bombing the central square of Ukraine’s second-largest city and Kiev’s main TV tower in what the country’s president called a screaming campaign of terror.
“No one will forgive. No one will forget, “President Vladimir Zelensky promised after the bloodshed in Kharkiv’s square.
Ukrainian authorities say five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, a few kilometers from the center of Kyiv and a short walk from many apartment buildings.
Smatko showed Ward how she made her Molotov cocktails to protect her home and country
Smatko’s front yard has become a valuable resource for local troops in eastern Kyiv
Smatko’s home is already a hive of activity, with piles of blankets, sleeping bags and food
Piles of bedding are rolled up in Smatko’s front yard, ready for the Ukrainian Defense Forces
A TV control room and an electrical substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels stopped broadcasting briefly, officials said.
Zelenski’s office also reported a powerful rocket attack on the site of the Holocaust Memorial in Babi Yar, near the tower.
A spokesman for the memorial said the Jewish cemetery at the site where the Nazi occupiers killed more than 33,000 Jews in two days in 1941 had been damaged, but the extent would not be clear until daylight.
At the same time, the invading forces also pushed their attacks against other cities, including the strategic ports of Odessa and Mariupol to the south.
Day six of Europe’s biggest land war since World War II has found Russia increasingly isolated – harsh sanctions that have shaken its economy and left the country virtually without friends, with the exception of several nations such as China, Belarus and the North. Korea.
US President Joe Biden plans to use his first address on the state of the Union on Tuesday night to promise to get Putin to “pay the price” for the invasion.
Biden was to underscore the determination of the renewed Western Alliance, which is working to rearm the Ukrainian military and accept sanctions.
“Throughout our history, we have learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay the price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden said, according to preliminary excerpts published by the White House.
“They keep moving.” And the costs and threats to America and the world continue to rise.
As fighting raged in Ukraine, the death toll remained unclear.
Civilian trains to throw Molotov cocktails to protect city as Russian invasion of Ukraine continues in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, on Tuesday
Civilians are seen training to throw Molotov cocktails in Zhytomyr on Tuesday
Kyiv’s TV tower was seen in smoke on Tuesday after Russian attacks
A senior Western intelligence official estimates that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers have been captured or killed. Ukraine did not give an overall assessment of the losses of troops.
The British Ministry of Defense said it had seen an increase in Russian air and artillery strikes on urban areas over the past two days. It also says that three cities – Kharkov, Kherson and Mariupol – are surrounded by Russian forces.
Many military experts are worried that Russia may change its tactics. Moscow’s strategy in Chechnya and Syria was to use artillery and aerial bombardment to smash cities and crush the fighters’ resolve.
In an emotional appeal to the European Parliament, Zelenski later said: “We are also fighting to be equal members of Europe. I believe that today we show everyone what we are. ‘
He said 16 children had been killed around Ukraine on Monday and scoffed at Russia’s claim that it was only for military purposes.
‘Where are the children? What military plants do they work in? What tanks do they go to? said Zelensky.
A 40-mile-long Russian military convoy heads to Kyiv on Tuesday
A local citizen was seen making Molotov cocktails in defense of Kramatorsk, pictured February 28
Human Rights Watch says it has documented a cluster bomb attack in front of a hospital in eastern Ukraine in recent days.
Locals also reported using such weapons in Kharkov and the village of Kiyanka, but the Kremlin has denied using cluster bombs.
The first talks between Russia and Ukraine since the invasion took place on Monday, but ended only with a re-talks agreement. On Tuesday, however, Zelensky said Russia must first stop the bombing.
“As for the dialogue, I think so, but first stop bombing people and start negotiating after that,” he told CNN.
Moscow has made new threats of escalation, days after raising the specter of nuclear war.
A senior Kremlin official has warned that the West’s “economic war” against Russia could become “real.”
In Russia, a leading Kremlin-critical radio station was taken off the air after authorities threatened to shut it down to cover the invasion.
Approximately 660,000 people have fled Ukraine, and countless others have taken refuge underground.
The bombings have left hundreds of thousands of families without drinking water, said UN humanitarian aid coordinator Martin Griffiths.
The UN Office of Human Rights said it had registered 136 civilian deaths. It is believed that the real fee is much higher.