On Tuesday, Russia’s offensive in Ukraine moved closer to central Kyiv, with a series of strikes targeting a residential zone, as the leaders of three NATO member countries prepared to visit Ukraine’s besieged capital.
Large explosions erupted throughout Kyiv shortly before dawn, which Ukrainian authorities attributed to artillery attacks. In a 15-story residential building, the shelling sparked a massive fire and a frenetic rescue effort. One person has been killed, while others are still trapped inside.
The entrance to a downtown subway station that had been used as a bomb shelter was also destroyed by shockwaves from an explosion. Trains will no longer stop at the station, according to city officials, who tweeted a photograph of the blown-out facade.
As Russia intensified its attack on Kyiv, the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia planned to visit Ukraine’s capital on Tuesday as part of a European Union mission to show solidarity.
In a tweet, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated, “The goal of the visit is to show the European Union’s unequivocal support for Ukraine, its freedom and independence.”
He will be accompanied by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jana, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s deputy prime minister for security, and the conservative ruling party’s leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
As Russia’s incursion in Ukraine began its 21st day, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed to have a second day of talks.
Fear of an impending invasion seized Kyiv when Russia initiated the war over three weeks ago, as residents slept in metro stations or rushed onto trains to evacuate. However, when the Russian advance slowed, Kyiv experienced a brief respite.
In recent days, fighting has risen on the edges of the city, and sporadic air raid sirens can be heard inside the capital.
President Volodymyr Zelensky wants martial law to be extended until April 24 and for men aged 18 to 60 to be required to stay in the nation to fight. The extension was filed to parliament in the form of a bill, which is anticipated to be voted on this week.
While the Biden administration supports Ukraine’s involvement in the negotiations with Russia, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that in order to demonstrate good faith, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to show signs of de-escalation.
During a meeting with a top Chinese ambassador in Rome, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan urged China against assisting Russia.
Two administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said China had indicated to Moscow that it would be willing to provide both military and financial support in Ukraine to help mitigate the effects of Western sanctions, including a fourth set of EU sanctions announced late Monday.
The Kremlin has denied requesting military supplies from China for use in Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Russia’s government, said the operation was “unfolding in accordance with the plan and would be completed on time and in full.”
The early morning bangs in Kyiv were artillery strikes, according to the Ukrainian military. They struck the Svyatoshynskyi area of western Kyiv, which is close to the Irpin suburb, which has seen some of the war’s worst engagements.
As firefighters ascended ladders to rescue individuals, flames erupted from the 15-story apartment complex. The air was thick with smoke. One person died, and other people were rescued, according to a firefighter on the scene, while others remained trapped inside as rescuers attempted to reach them.
Damage to a 10-story apartment building in Kyiv’s Podilsky neighborhood, north of the government sector, was caused by undetermined ammunition. According to the state emergency department, one person was taken to the hospital.
The Russian military also increased strikes overnight on the northwest suburbs of Irpin, Hostomel, and Bucha, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv region.
“Many streets (in those places) have become a mush of steel and concrete. “People have been hiding in basements for weeks and are frightened to leave their homes, even for evacuations,” Kuleba said on Ukrainian television.
According to a senior US defense official, Russian forces were still around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Kyiv’s center on Monday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share the Pentagon’s assessment, said that nearly all of Russia’s military offensives made minimal headway over the weekend.
According to the official, Russian forces have launched over 900 missiles but have yet to establish control of the airspace above Ukraine.
The facts of two deadly Russian assaults the day before were disclosed by the Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office on Tuesday. An artillery bombardment killed ten people at a university and an open-air market, according to the office, while a 65-year-old lady was shot on a bus transporting residents from a Kyiv neighborhood.
Authorities claimed Russian artillery fire also hit a nine-story apartment building in the city’s northern Obolonskyi area, killing two more people. Officials stated a town councilor from Brovary, east of Kyiv, was killed in the battle.
And, according to Ukraine’s emergency agency, a Russian bombing near a Ukrainian checkpoint caused considerable damage to a downtown Kyiv neighborhood, killing one person.
Kateryna Lot said she was in her flat doing homework with her toddler when they heard a huge explosion and fled for safety.
“The kid started laughing uncontrollably. Our balcony and windows were shattered. “A section of the floor collapsed,” she explained. “It was quite frightening.”
Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was hurt while reporting outside of Kyiv and was taken to the hospital, according to the network.
In Russia, a woman walked into the studio waving a pro-war banner, briefly interrupting the live main evening news broadcast on state television. She was identified as a Channel 1 staffer and put into police custody, according to the OVD-Info website, which tracks political arrests.
The municipal council announced Monday that a convoy of 160 civilian automobiles left following an approved humanitarian route, providing a rare ray of hope in the besieged port city of Mariupol. The deadly siege has destroyed homes and other buildings over the last ten days or so, leaving people in severe need of food, water, heat, and medication.
The city government in Mariupol, where the fighting has caused the most hardship, refused to specify how many people were in the convoy of cars heading west to Zaporizhzhia. A cease-fire along the highway, however, appeared to be holding, according to the report.
Attempts to evacuate inhabitants and bring humanitarian goods to the 430,000-strong southern metropolis have been hindered in the past due to conflict.
Russian forces attempted to take control of Mariupol on Monday but were forced to flee, according to Ukraine’s military. Maxar Technologies satellite photographs revealed fires raging throughout the city, with several high-rise residential complexes severely damaged or destroyed.
In the battle for Mariupol, Ukraine claims to have killed 150 Russian troops and damaged two Russian tanks.
Chechen fighters are leading the onslaught on Mariupol, according to the Kremlin-backed leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya, who said so on a messaging app.
A ballistic missile fired by Ukrainian forces killed 20 civilians in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to the Russian military. It was not possible to independently verify the assertion.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the United Nations has recorded at least 596 civilian deaths, though it believes the true toll is significantly higher. Millions more have abandoned their homes, with over 2.8 million pouring into Poland and neighboring countries in what the United Nations has dubbed Europe’s worst refugee crisis since WWII.
Although Russia’s military is larger and better armed than Ukraine’s, its troops have faced stiffer-than-expected resistance, aided by Western-supplied armaments.
