The Kremlin’s rhetoric was growing more fervent and a reprieve form fighting dissolving. Russian troops continued to bombard encircled cities, and the number of Ukrainians expelled from their country grew rapidly to 1.4million . Officials from Ukraine said that Russian forces had increased their bombardment of Mariupol and dropped powerful bombs on Chernihiv (a northern city of Kyiv) by Saturday night.
As despair and bleakness pervade, bereaved mothers grieved the loss of their children. Wounded soldiers were given tourniquets to protect them. Putin continued to place the blame on the Ukrainian leadership, and attacked their resistance to the invasion.
He said, “If they keep doing what they are doing they are calling into doubt the future of Ukrainian Statehood.” “And if they do this, it will be on their conscience.”
He also criticized Western sanctions for having crippled Russia’s economic growth and sent its currency value tumbling.
During a meeting with Russian airline Aeroflot flight attendants, he stated that “these sanctions that are being applied are akin to declaring War.” “But, thank God! We haven’t reached there yet.”
Russia’s financial system was hit yet again by the announcements of Mastercard, Visa and others that they would suspend operations within the country.
Ten days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, the struggle to impose a temporary cease-fire in Mariupol was a sign of the fragility of attempts to end the fighting.
Officials from Ukraine claimed that residents were prevented from leaving the area by Russian airstrikes and artillery fire. Putin accused Ukraine de sabotaging this effort.
According to Davyd Arakhamia (a member of the Ukrainian delegation), Monday will be the third round of talks between Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. He did not provide any additional information, such as where the talks would take place.
Meetings held in Belarus led to the failure to reach a cease-fire to establish humanitarian corridors to evacuate children, women, and older persons from besieged cities. There are hundreds of thousands without food or water, pharmacies are empty, and the wounded have succumbed to their injuries.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Bouchenko stated that thousands of people had gathered to escape the 430,000-strong city when shelling started. The evacuation was stopped and the attack intensified later in the day.
Boychenko stated to Ukrainian TV that the city was under siege. “Relentless bombardment of residential blocks continues, and airplanes have been dropping missiles on residential areas. Russian occupants use heavy artillery including multiple rocket launchers and Grad multiple rocket launchers.
Russia has made important advances in the South, attempting to block Ukraine’s access the sea. Russia could establish a land corridor from Crimea by capturing Mariupol, which it annexed back in 2014.
The head of Chernihiv said that Russia had dropped bombs on residential areas in the same city, with a population of 299,000. Vyacheslav Chaus uploaded a picture online of what he claimed was an undetonated FAB500 bomb, which he described as a 1,100-pound (575-kilogram) weapon.
Chaus stated that “usually this weapon is used against militari-industrial facilities or fortified structures.” “But in Chernihiv it is against residential areas.”
“The 500-kilogram bombs dropped on Ukrainian homes by the 500-kilogram bombs,” President Volodymyr Zeleskyy said in a Saturday speech to Ukrainians. Borodyanka is a place to see. The schools that were destroyed and the kindergartens that were destroyed are all there. The damaged Kharkiv Assumption Cathedral. See what Russia has done.”
The West has generally backed Ukraine, providing weapons and aid, and also imposing severe sanctions on Russia. The fight has been left to the Ukrainians who displayed a mix of courage and despair.
Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, said that Ukraine is in crisis and “but Ukraine hasn’t fallen.”
Russian troops advanced on a third nuke power plant after claiming control of one of the four in the country. The closed Chernobyl plant was also under Russian control, Zelenskyy informed U.S. lawmakers.
Zelenskyy begged the legislators for more help, particularly fighter planes to secure the skies above Ukraine, even though he maintained that Russia was being defeated.
Zelenskyy stated that “we’re inflicting losses upon the occupants they couldn’t see in their worst nightmare,”
This week, Russian troops took control over Kherson, a southern port city. Zelenskyy stated Saturday that despite their encirclement of Kharkiv (Mykolaiv), Chernihiv, Sumy and Chernihiv, the Ukrainian forces managed to retain control over key cities in central- and southeastern Ukraine.
As the U.S. continued to support diplomatic efforts, The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived to Poland to meet the prime minister and foreign secretary. This was just one day after attending a NATO meeting held in Brussels, where the alliance promised to increase support for the eastern flank members.
The Russian Prime Minister Naftali Bennet met Putin in Moscow. Israel has good relations with both Russia, and Ukraine. Bennett offered to be an intermediary in the conflict. However, no details about Saturday’s meeting were available.
Aeroflot, Russia’s state-owned flagship airline, has announced it will stop all international flights to Belarus as a result of Western sanctions.
It was hard to determine the death toll from the conflict. Although the U.N. human right office stated that at least 351 civilians were killed by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, it is likely that there are many more. According to the Russian military, 498 of its troops were killed Wednesday, although it doesn’t provide regular updates about casualties.
Russia is far outmatched in military strength by Ukraine, but the country’s professional and volunteer forces are resilient. Even in fallen cities, there was resistance.
According to the Ukrainian government’s video, Chernihiv residents cheered as a Russian military aircraft fell from the sky. In Kherson, hundreds waved the blue and yellow Ukrainian flags, shouting, “Go home!”
Outside Kyiv, a huge Russian armored column that threatened Ukraine’s capital was still in limbo. Oleksiy Arestovich, the Ukrainian presidential adviser, stated Saturday afternoon that the overall military situation was calmer and that Russian forces had not “taken active action since the morning.”
Zelenskyy has asked for a no fly zone in his country. He also lashed out at NATO, warning that all those who die “from this day forward” will also die due to NATO’s refusal to impose one.
Putin warned that a “no fly zone” would be considered hostile acts. NATO has stated it does not plan to establish one. Officials from the West have stated that the main reason for this is a desire not to expand the conflict beyond Ukraine.
The U.S. Congress has been considering a request to fund $10 billion for emergency humanitarian aid and security. The U.N. stated that it will increase humanitarian operations inside and outside Ukraine. A meeting of the Security Council was scheduled for Monday to discuss the worsening situation.
Russia is cracking down on independent media reporting about the war. Major international news outlets have begun to halt their work in Russia. Putin stated that there is no reason to impose martial law at the moment.
The U.N. World Food Program warned of a hunger crisis and said that millions of people in Ukraine, a major supplier of wheat, would need food assistance “immediately”.
People fleeing from Kyiv throng Kyiv’s central train station. Ksenia, a woman from Kyiv, stated that people just want to live.
