It is hard to determine exactly what is going on with disinformation rampant and social media amplifying military claims. Here are some possible confirmations for Sunday.
What are the most recent developments?
In anticipation of a Russian invasion, huge explosions lit up the skies early Sunday in the south of Kyiv.
According to the mayor of the town, flames rose into the sky from the oil depot close to Vasylkiv’s air base. There has been heavy fighting. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, another explosion was heard at the Zhuliany civilian airport.
Video posted to Ukrainian media and social networking showed Russian vehicles moving through Kharkiv, and small groups of Russian troops roaming around the city. One video showed Ukrainian troops firing on the Russians, and destroying light utility vehicles left behind by them.
Russia claims that its attack on Ukraine is only directed at military targets. However, bridges, schools, and residential areas have been damaged.
ANNOUNCED BY RUSSIAN AUTHORITIIES:
In response to “aggressive remarks” made by NATO leaders, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be on high alert. Fears that Russia’s nuclear weapons could be launched more quickly than usual arose from the directive to Russia.
According to the Russian military, it had blocked strategic cities on Ukraine’s coast while it was pushing its offensive in south. According to them, Russian troops completely blocked the city Kherson on Black Sea and Berdyansk port on the Azov Sea. They also claimed that Russian forces took control of an Air Base near Kherson as well as the city Henichesk (on the Azov Sea).
ANNOUNCED BY UKRAINIAN AUTHORIIES:
Ukraine claims that 3,500 Russian troops were killed in the Ukrainian invasion. Sergiy Kyslytsya (Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations) tweeted Saturday that Ukraine had appealed “to facilitate repatriation of thousands of corpses of Russian soldiers.” A chart accompanying the tweet claimed that 3,500 Russian troops were killed.
Russian forces destroyed a pipeline carrying gas from Kharkiv to the country’s second largest city. Ukrainian authorities warned that the explosion could lead to an environmental disaster and advised residents to protect their windows with gauze or damp cloth and to drink lots of fluids.
Iryna Venediktova is Ukraine’s top prosecutor. She stated that Russian forces could not take Kharkiv where there was a fierce battle. The Russian border is 40 km (25 miles) away from the city of 1.5million.
According to the office of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials will take place at an unspecified location near the Belarusian border.
ANNOUNCED BY THE OFFICIALS ELSEWHERE
Laetitia Courtois is the ICRC’s permanent observer at the U.N. She told The Associated Press that the ICRC could not confirm that the Ukrainian claim that 3500 Russian troops were killed was false because of the “limitations for our teams on ground.”
According to the United Nations refugee agency, 368,000 Ukrainians arrived in Poland, Moldova, and other countries after Thursday’s invasion.
