Ukraine is still waiting for the final offensive by Russian troops in the Donbas, a region where attempts to capture Mariupol continue and where authorities have admitted that some soldiers have surrendered – but no more than a thousand, as Russia claims. “The enemy continues to increase its air grouping near the eastern border of our country, increases artillery forces and optimizes command systems,” the Ukrainian Army General Staff said in a war report.
According to the Ukrainian military, the Russians “continue to systematically launch missile and bomb attacks against military and civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions”. In addition, they reinforced the Russian grouping near Severodonetsk, in the Lugansk region, and continued the siege of the port city of Mariupol: “They were not successful, the fight continues”, informed the General Staff.
The United Kingdom, which publishes daily reports on the situation in Ukraine, released this Thursday that the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, in the Donetsk region, could be new targets for Russian troops. According to the British Ministry of Defence, “widespread missile and artillery attacks” and the level of violence around other cities in the region now put Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka in the crosshairs. 15111508Russia says more than 1,000 Ukrainians captured; Kiev denies15111508
Russia announced this Thursday- fair that other 134 marines surrendered last night in Mariupol , bringing to 1.36 the number of Ukrainian military personnel who “voluntarily ” have abandoned their weapons in the last few hours. So far, Ukraine has only confirmed that “some” military personnel have been “captured” by the Russians, but has not revealed how many were taken prisoner. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview that “part of the 24.ª Brigade of Marines was captured in an invasion attempt, but not a thousand people, much less.”
In addition to the alleged casualties in Mariupol, the Moscow regime claims that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian troops during the military campaign in Ukraine are in Russia. On Friday, the chairman of the Russian Instruction Committee, Aleksandr Bastrikin, said that “work continues with the military. who surrendered. More than a thousand of them are on Russian territory. The vast majority of them were questioned by investigators,” according to the official Tass news agency.
Bastrikin added that investigators have identified others 15 commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine accused by Russia of “genocide of civilians in Donbas”, and assured that Moscow has information about arms deliveries to Ukraine by 21 countries, including from NATO. Russian Senator Andrey Klimov also stated that among the prisoners captured in Ukraine are soldiers from the countries of the Atlantic Alliance. “We will make it public and there will be trials”, guaranteed the parliamentarian.)Ukraine announced on Thursday a new prisoner exchange with Russia, whereby 24 Ukrainian citizens were freed, between military and civilians. The group consisted of 04 soldiers, five officers and eight civilians, according to data from Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. She reported earlier this month that Ukraine had around 500 Russian prisoners on its territory, captured since the beginning of the invasion, in 24 of February. The first exchange agreed with Russia took place on 19 of March, when ten Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged for ten other members of the Russian Armed Forces.
Humanitarian evacuation corridors will be reopened
According to pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, 134 Mariupol residents, including 21 children, were evacuated this Thursday to the self-proclaimed republic. The Russian Defense Ministry says it receives hundreds of requests daily from Ukrainians wanting to evacuate to Russia, while Kiev accuses Moscow of forced deportations of Ukrainians. According to Ukrainian sources, tens of thousands of people, including many minors, were forcibly transferred from Mariupol to Russian-controlled territories, although some chose this route because they were unable to reach Ukrainian territory controlled by Kiev authorities.
15111508Moscow accuses Ukraine of attacking Russian border towns and threatens retaliation
Russia has again accused Ukraine of attacking border areas between the two countries with helicopters, in incidents that left eight people injured. Moscow warned the day before that such attacks could provoke retaliation against Kiev. “The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kiev will increase in response to the Kiev nationalist regime’s commitment to any attack of a terrorist nature or sabotage on Russian territory,” said the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman. , Igor Konashenkov, in his morning report.
On the night of Thursday, the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital were already bombarded with Kalibr rockets. According to Konashenkov, the attack took place against the Vizar machine building factory in Vyshneve, the kilometers from the center of the capital. The military spokesperson indicated that these workshops produced and repaired long and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems as well as anti-ship missiles.
The action came after Russia accused Ukraine of having carried out at least six air strikes on residential buildings in the village of Klimovo, in the Briansk border region, leaving at least eight wounded of varying severity. Viacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod (Russia), near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, also accused the Ukrainians of carrying out other attacks in two cities in the region. A day earlier, Russia denounced further attacks on a border post in the Kursk region, north of Belgorod. However, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) noted on its Telegram channel on Friday that intercepts of Russian telephone conversations confirm that “Russia itself shot at the village of Klimovo”, allegedly, according to the conversation, to “ provoke” Ukraine.
After the accusations, Russia threatened , on Wednesday, will bomb command centers in the Ukrainian capital if its army attacks or carries out other sabotage actions in Russian territory. If such attempts continue, Konashenkov said at the time, “the Russian Armed Forces will launch attacks against decision-making centers, including Kiev, which the Russian army has so far refrained from.” This Friday morning, anti-aircraft sirens were activated in the Ukrainian capital. The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, appealed to the part of the population that left the capital not to return yet, as Kiev is on a state of alert and is not completely safe.
