Mariupol crushed as Russians lay siege to Ukrainian cities

Nine days after Putin ordered the invasion, Russian troops have continued to assault key Ukrainian cities, killing a minimum of 47 civilians in Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, whereas persevering with to put siege to residential areas in Mariupol, Kharkiv within the north-east and Borodyanka in central Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin additionally stepped up a crackdown on media shops reporting on the struggle, blocking Facebook and Twitter and signing into regulation a invoice that criminalises the intentional spreading of what Moscow deems to be “fake” studies.

The transfer towards the social media giants adopted blocks imposed on the BBC, the US government-funded Voice of America and German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, whereas establishing even tighter controls over what info the home viewers sees concerning the invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke with Ukrainian President Zelensky on Saturday night time about doable methods wherein Australia and the worldwide neighborhood might help additional towards “Russia’s aggression and unprovoked assault”.

Mr Zelensky informed Mr Morrison he was deeply involved about Russia’s actions towards Ukraine’s nuclear services.

The Ukrainian chief has elevated his criticism of NATO’s refusal to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying the alliance had given Russia the “green light” to proceed its bombing marketing campaign.

NATO on Friday rejected Kyiv’s request to determine a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid fears that it might drag Western international locations into direct navy battle with Russia.

Zelensky stated the NATO gathering was “weak” and “confused” and stated the alliance knew that additional Russian aggression was probably. He accused the physique of getting blood on its fingers.

“All the people who die starting today will also die because of you. Because of your weakness, because of your disconnection,” Zelensky stated.

“Today the leadership of the alliance gave the green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages, refusing to make a no-fly zone.”

Zelensky – who has been the topic of a number of foiled assassination makes an attempt from Russian-back mercenaries – posted a video on his official Instagram refuting suspected Kremlin-backed studies he had fled the nation.

“Every two days information comes out that I have fled somewhere — fled from Ukraine, from Kyiv, from my office. As you can see, I am here in my place… Nobody has fled anywhere. Here, we are working,” he stated.

“We like jogging, but now we don’t have time for that, for various cardio exercises,” he joked. “Working. Glory to Ukraine.”

An assault at Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, was condemned by Western leaders and raised the prospect of widening the struggle. No military has beforehand attacked an energetic nuclear facility.

About 150 kilometres from the facility plant, life was eerily regular in Ukraine’s fourth-largest metropolis Dnipro.

The metropolis was as soon as one of many world’s most essential centres of Jewish tradition and civilisation and nonetheless has a major proportion of the inhabitants with Jewish ancestry.

Despite struggle raging simply 200 kilometres north in Kharkiv and 85 kilometres south the place the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant is situated, snow-covered Dnipro has but to be attacked.

A reserve main in Ukraine’s armed forces stated he wasn’t certain whether or not Russia would assault Dnipro within the coming days, however the metropolis and the navy have been ready to defend it.

But he feared for the civilians within the metropolis who had no coaching in the way to combat.

“Today the problem is … the enemy could be from the sky because there could be bombing or missiles,” he stated. “Here in the city, there are my friends and family who are not military – they have no helmet or ballistic vests.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated extra assist within the type of navy {hardware} was on its approach, however stated the West’s duty was to forestall the struggle from escalating past Ukraine.

“Because that would be even more dangerous, more devastating and would cause even more human suffering,” Stoltenberg stated.

“Here in the city, there are my friends and family who are not military – they have no helmet or ballistic vests.”

Ukrainian main, Dnipro

More than 22 NATO nations and a handful of others have stated they may ship navy help to Ukraine, together with antitank missiles, artillery ammunition and Stinger surface-to-air missiles

But the supply of weapons donated by the West throughout the borders has been slowed in current days, with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania offering the one entry however east-west roads that may deal with truck transport are clogged with refugees fleeing the nation.

Amid evident fears {that a} wider world struggle is perhaps triggered unintentionally, the Pentagon on Friday confirmed that it had established a brand new hotline with Russia’s ministry of defence to forestall “miscalculation, military incidents and escalation” within the area.

Hours earlier than Mairupol was given an opportunity to evacuate civilians, Boychenko stated the town of 400,000 residents was with out water, warmth or electrical energy and was operating out of meals.

“We are simply being destroyed,” he stated in a televised enchantment. “They want to wipe Mariupol and Mariupol residents off the face of the Earth.”

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that “radioactive clouds” might unfold over Europe if the West doesn’t act following Russia’s unprecedented assault on a nuclear energy plant.

Russia has claimed it had retaken Hostomel airport, a strategic goal for the Kremlin because the struggle started, however a British defence intelligence replace stated there was “renewed fighting” across the airfield on the entrance finish of the 60-kilometre-long Russian armoured convoy that has change into slowed down en path to the capital.

The intelligence briefing stated the column had made “little discernible progress in over four days”.

Western intelligence officers informed American broadcaster CNN there was a continued shift in Russian technique from navy targets to civilians, with extra assaults changing into targeted on inhabitants centres. They worry a pickup within the tempo and energy of strikes might embody a major enhance within the variety of civilian casualties.

“It’s a very crude approach,” the official stated. “The heavier weapons are not just heavier in the weight, they’re also heavier in terms of the damage that they can inflict. And they’re far less discriminant.”

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