As life seems to be slowly returning to the streets of Kyiv, a new series of Russian air strikes came as a reminder this weekend that the war in the Ukrainian capital is far from over.
After two weeks of relative calm, Russian forces on Friday destroyed a plant allegedly producing one of the missiles used to sink the Moscow warship in the Black Sea. The attack was the Kremlin’s most significant revenge attack since the sinking of Russia’s flagship.
Then, on Saturday, it was alleged that Russian missiles hit a military equipment factory in the capital’s Darnytskyi district. “They are making us pay for the destruction of Moscow,” Andrei Sizov, the 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop, told AFP.
The recent strikes on the Ukrainian capital are among the first since invading Russian forces began withdrawing from regions around Kyiv. Day after day, the city tried to return to normal. Many shops began to reopen and citizens dared to return to the streets.
Prior to the invasion, the greater Kyiv area had a lively population of 3.5 million, and the streets were crowded with singers and bars. But after the first bombings, the capital began to look like a ghost town.
By the end of March, half of Kyiv’s population had moved west. For weeks, the surrounding towns of Irpen and Bucha were occupied and bombed, killing thousands of civilians and burying hundreds in mass graves. But in early April, Russian forces began to withdraw.
However, as thousands of citizens who have left since the invasion are preparing to return, Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on Saturday that renewed air strikes mean it is not the time to return.
Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv. Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
“Once again, I urge everyone: please do not ignore the air alarms!” Klitschko said on his official Telegram channel. “And those Kyivites who left earlier and will now return to the capital, please refrain from this and stay in safer places.
The sudden turn of events is inexorably linked to the destruction of Russian naval jewelry by Ukrainian forces during a combat operation in the Black Sea on Wednesday – a blow to Vladimir Putin’s military plans and the prestige of his army. The Kremlin initially tried to downplay the incident, claiming the incident caused a fire on board. Then it is said that the damage was controlled and the ship was towed to the port of Sevastopol. Finally, late Thursday, the ministry announced that the ship had sunk into a stormy sea.
The Kremlin has not given any details about possible casualties among Moscow’s 510th crew and has not released photos of the wrecked ship or its survivors, but Russian TV presenters and experts have spoken out loud about the destruction of Ukraine following the destruction of the flagship. .
But it is not only Kyiv that is paying the price for the destruction of Moscow and for Russia’s humiliation. All of Ukraine is preparing for revenge attacks by Russia after the “significant and symbolic” sinking of the flagship.
Air raids sounded overnight in Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Kryvyi Rih and Dnipropetrovsk. Explosions were also heard in the western city of Lviv as the war intensified in the east, with Russia sending additional troops to try to drive Ukrainian forces out of Donbass.
At least two Ukrainians were killed overnight in Russian airstrikes on cities in the east of the country. Authorities reported deaths in Poltava, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk. Russia also said it had struck a factory for repairing military vehicles in Nikolaev, near the southern front.
President Vladimir Zelensky has said up to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, with no civilian casualties yet.
Meanwhile, the fate of Mariupol hangs in the balance. For weeks, the port city of southeastern Ukraine has been facing a humanitarian catastrophe, besieged by Russian tanks advancing toward the center, hour after hour, an explosion, destroying everything in its path. The battle for control continues. If Moscow captures Mariupol, home to 400,000 people before the invasion, it will be the first major city to fall.
“The situation is very difficult” in Mariupol, Zelenski told the Ukrainian Pravda news portal on Saturday. “Our soldiers are blocked; the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis … However, the boys are defending themselves. “
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