Evidence of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians was evident on Thursday when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres toured the region outside the capital, Kyiv, and visited mass graves.
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, which the Canadian House of Commons unanimously voted to recognize as an act of genocide, has shifted to Donbass after withdrawing from the Kyiv region following fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Donbass is a predominantly Russian-speaking eastern region, partly held by Kremlin-backed rebels since 2014.
As a reminder of the horrific casualties of the war since early February 24, Guterres visited cities, including Bucha, where evidence of massacres was found.
“Civilians always pay the highest price,” Guterres said as he visited the bombed-out suburb of Irpin. “And this is something that everyone should remember, everywhere in the world. Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians.”
Men wearing protective equipment exhume the bodies of civilians killed during the Russian occupation of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 13. (Ephraim Lukacki / Associated Press)
Russia’s offensive is gaining momentum
Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Russia’s offensive has gained momentum in the east, with several cities under intense attack as Moscow forces try to encircle Ukrainian troops.
Fighting picked up after Russia abruptly cut off natural gas to two NATO countries on Wednesday in what was seen as an attempt to punish and divide the West for supporting Ukraine before a potentially key battle in the eastern industrial region of Donbass.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said that Russian forces were “exerting intense fire” in several places as they continued with the second phase of their invasion. The most intense action was around Donetsk and near Kharkiv, which is outside Donbass, but is seen as key to Russia’s apparent attempt to encircle Ukrainian troops there.
An injured man is waiting for emergency workers after a Russian bombing in Kharkov, Ukraine, on Wednesday. (Felipe Dana / Associated Press)
Tatiana Pirogova talks about the strong fear of living under constant bombing.
“It’s not just scary. That’s when your stomach shrinks in pain,” said the Kharkiv resident. “When they shoot during the day, it’s still OK, but when the evening comes, I can’t describe how scary it is.”
The General Staff said that in the last 24 hours, Ukrainian forces had repulsed six attacks in Donbass, control of which is now Moscow’s main focus since its initial offensive failed and failed to capture the Ukrainian capital.
Luhansk Governor Sergei Haidai said the Russian army had shelled a residential area in his region “29 times with planes, rocket-propelled grenades, pipe artillery and mortars”.
The photos reveal attacks in the Mariupol steel industry
In the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press show evidence of intensifying Russian fire against a steel plant in recent days.
The images show how concentrated attacks have caused extensive damage to a central facility at the Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the key battlefield city.
Satellite images taken on April 27 and analyzed by the Associated Press show that the Russian fire is intensifying in the steel plant, which is the last Ukrainian-controlled area in the city of Mariupol. Planet Labs PBC images show that the concentrated attacks caused extensive damage to a central facility at the Azovstal steel plant. (Planet Labs PBC / Associated Press)
Approximately 1,000 civilians, along with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters, are housed in the steel plant, a massive Soviet-era complex with numerous underground facilities built to withstand air strikes.
The UN said on Wednesday that its humanitarian office was mobilizing a team to co-ordinate the complex evacuation of civilians from the besieged steel plant with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle on the involvement of the UN and the ICRC in the evacuation of the plant during talks earlier this week.
UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said the UN was trying to turn the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle “into an agreement in detail and an agreement on the ground”.
The explosions signal a possible Ukrainian counterattack
Meanwhile, in what could be a further Ukrainian counterattack, a series of explosions erupted near a TV tower late Wednesday in Kherson in southern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war.
The blasts at least temporarily took Russian channels off the air, Ukrainian and Russian news organizations reported.
Ukraine has called on its allies to send even more military equipment so that it can continue its fight.
Tetyana Boykiv (right) meets and hugs her neighbor Svetlana Priymachenko during her husband’s funeral in the village of Ozera, near Bucha, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Her husband, Nikolai Moroz, was captured by the Russian army at his home on March 13 and taken to an unknown location only to be found shot about 15 kilometers from his home. (Emilio Morenati / Associated Press)
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that “so far NATO allies have promised and provided at least $ 8 billion in military support for Ukraine. And we see the importance of further strengthening our support for Ukraine.”
While Russia’s initial flash was stunted – and it suffered the humiliating loss of a massive warship – the British Ministry of Defense said the Russian navy still had the ability to strike coastal targets in Ukraine.
In an intelligence briefing released Thursday morning, the ministry said about 20 Russian naval ships, including submarines, were currently operating in the Black Sea area.
But the ministry says Russia is unable to replace the missile cruiser Moscow, which sank earlier this month in the Black Sea, as the Bosphorus remains closed to all non-Turkish warships. Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosions and fire on March 24.
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