The humanitarian situation in Ukraine’s major cities is deteriorating, and Russian strikes have been raging since the announcement of Vladimir Putin’s invasion three weeks ago.
Since February 24, more than 3.2 million Ukrainians have taken the path of deportation, almost two-thirds of them to Poland, sometimes only one stage before continuing their deportation.
10:35 am: Ukrainian President Zhelensky addresses the Israelis on Sunday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky highlighted his Jewish heritage in his search for support against Russia’s invasion of his country, and Knesset, the country seeking to mediate between Moscow and Kiev, addresses the Israeli parliament via video conference on Sunday. Over the past few days, in order to increase and strengthen support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, President Zhelensky has increased his involvement in foreign parliaments via video conference.
In Israel, according to a parliamentary spokesman, his speech on the Net, scheduled for 6:00 pm (5:00 pm), is expected by the political class and population in a country of more than one million citizens. Former Soviet Union.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Jewish government took a cautious stance, reaffirming the privileged relations between the two countries, especially since the United States, Israel’s historically ally, supported Ukraine, and Russia has troops in neighboring Syria. Jewish state.
In this context, Israeli Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett is seeking to mediate between Ukraine and Russia. Shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bennett also went to Moscow, and Mr. He multiplied telephone conversations with Zhelensky.
10:10 a.m .: A school shelter in Mariupol is bombed
The Russian military has bombed an art school in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine, which serves as a refuge for hundreds of people, local authorities blamed Sunday, and civilians trapped under the rubble.
“Yesterday (Saturday), Russian occupiers bombed the G12 Art School on the left bank of the Mariupol, where 400 Mariupol residents – women, children and the elderly – were refugees,” the port city’s municipality said in a statement. By Moscow forces.
“The building has been demolished and we know peaceful people are still under the rubble. The death toll is being clarified,” he added in a statement issued by the Telegram.
These reports could not be verified immediately and independently.
8:50 a.m .: Russia says it has used hypersonic missiles again
On Sunday, for the second day in a row, Russia said it had used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, this time destroying Ukrainian military fuel reserves in the south of the country.
“Large fuel reserves were destroyed by ‘caliber’ missiles launched from the Caspian Sea and hypersonic ballistic missiles launched by ‘Kinzal’ aeronautical system from Crimean airspace,” the Department of Defense said in a statement. .
The ministry said the strike took place in the Mykolaiv area, but did not specify a date. According to the Ministry, the destroyed target was “the main source of fuel for Ukrainian armored vehicles parked in the south of the country.”
The “Kinzal” (“punch” in Russian) hypersonic ballistic missiles and the “Zircon” cruise missiles belong to the family of new weapons developed by Russia, and its President Vladimir Putin describes them as “invincible”. Enemy defense systems can be bypassed.
On Saturday, Moscow had already announced that it had launched “Kinzal” missiles in Ukraine. If this shot is proven, it will be the first known use in the actual combat conditions of this system, which was first tested in 2018.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow-launched “high-precision missiles” had hit a Ukrainian special forces training center in the Zhytomyr region, 150 km west of Q.
6:04 am: Ukraine bans pro-Russian parties
The National Security Council of Ukraine has suspended the work of several pro-Russian parties, President Volodymyr Zhelensky announced in a video message released overnight from Saturday to Sunday. This includes both parties sitting in parliament.
This decision is valid as long as martial law applies in the region. “The actions of these politicians aimed at secession or cooperation will not succeed, but (rather) will provoke a reaction (on our part),” the Ukrainian head of state declared.
04:40: One of Europe’s largest ironworks damaged in Mariupol
Ukrainian officials said Sunday that the Azovstel steel and metallurgical plant in Mariupol, one of the largest in Europe, had been badly damaged by the shelling. “One of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe was destroyed. The economic losses to Ukraine are enormous,” MP Lesia Vasylenko posted a video on her Twitter account, showing dense columns of smoke on an industrial complex.
Another lawmaker, Serhiy Taruta, wrote on his Facebook page that Russian forces had laid siege to Mariupol and “almost destroyed the factory.”
In a video message released in the Telegram by Enzov Tschitschvili, managing director of Azovstal, his company took precautionary measures at the plant to prevent any damage to the plant since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
“Coke oven batteries will no longer endanger the lives of civilians. We have also shut down the blast furnaces properly,” he said.
Regardless of the extent of the damage, he promised, “We will return to the city, rebuild and revitalize business.”
2:10 am: kyiv calls on Beijing to “condemn Russian barbarism”
Ukraine on Saturday called on Moscow’s strategic ally China to “condemn Russian barbarism” in the wake of the new attacks – including Vladimir Putin’s new hypersonic missile – that killed dozens.
01:50: More than 260 civilians are killed in the cargo from the invasion
Authorities in Ukraine’s second-largest city said Saturday evening that at least 266 civilians, including 14 children, had been killed in fighting around the city of Kharkov. The city in northeastern Ukraine, besieged by the Russians, had a population of nearly one and a half million before the war. According to the Ukrainian news agency Union, it is still the target of bombings. On Saturday evening, several houses were said to have been destroyed, according to reports which could not be verified independently.
01:45: Call for help from the mayor of Chernivtsi
The mayor of the northern city of Chernihiv has made a heart-breaking plea for help as his city is surrounded by Russian troops. Vladislav Atroshenko denounced that “indiscriminate artillery attacks on residential areas continue and kill peaceful people.”
According to the mayor, the city of about 300,000 people, located far from the Russian and Belarusian borders, is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. “There is no electricity, no water, no heat and the city’s infrastructure is completely destroyed.”
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