[ad_1]
A senior Ukrainian official said russian army A civilian evacuation convoy was shelled Saturday in the northeast of the country, killing 20 people. The bombardment intensified as the war escalated sharply and Moscow illegally annexed large swathes of Ukraine.
Kharkiv state governor Oleh Syniehubov said the convoy was attacked in the Kupiansy district, which he described as “unjustifiable cruelty” against people trying to flee the area to avoid shelling.
Russian troops have not acknowledged or commented on the attack, apparently the second attack on a humanitarian convoy in two days. After a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive last month, Russian troops withdrew from much of the Kharkiv region but continued to shell the area.
The attack came at a critical moment Russian President Vladimir Putin’s WarIn the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Putin stepped up the threat of nuclear force this week and used his most aggressive anti-Western rhetoric to date.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his army have vowed to keep fighting to liberate annexed regions and other areas occupied by Russia.
watch | Biden threatens Putin after Russia annexes 15% of Ukraine
Ukrainian officials said Saturday that their forces had surrounded thousands of Russian troops that controlled the strategic eastern city of Lehman, one of four merged regions. Zelensky formally applied for Ukraine to join NATO on Friday, increasing pressure on Western allies to help defend the country.
Ukraine’s nuclear power supplier also said Saturday that Russian troops blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. This appears to be to ensure Moscow’s control of the newly annexed territory.
Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said Russian troops occupied Ihor Murashov, the director-general of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, at around 4 p.m. on Friday. That was hours after Putin signed a treaty to incorporate Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia, including the area around the nuclear power plant.
Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov’s car, blindfolded him, and took him to an undisclosed location.
Russia did not immediately acknowledge the seizure of the factory director. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has staff at the plant, said it was aware of reports of Murashov’s arrest and had contacted Russian authorities to clarify what happened.
“His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant,” said Energoatom president Petro Kotin, demanding the immediate release of the director.
The plant has been caught in the crossfire of the Ukrainian war many times. After Russian troops captured the power station, Ukrainian technicians continued to run it, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precaution amid continued shelling nearby.
Amid mounting international sanctions and condemnation of Russia, the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has embarrassed the Kremlin appears to be about to regain more ground.
The Russian-occupied city of Leman is under siege, with about 5,000 Russian troops trapped there, a Ukrainian official said on Saturday. Luhansk Governor Shershi Heyday claimed that all routes to supply Russian troops in Lehman were blocked.
“The occupiers offered their leaders the opportunity to leave, and they refused,” Haidai said in a TV interview. “Now they have three options: try to break through, surrender or die together.”
His claims could not be immediately confirmed. Russia has not confirmed that its troops have been cut off, and Russian analysts have said Moscow is sending more troops to the region.
The Washington-based think tank Institute for War said Ukraine could retake Lehman within the next few days.
Citing Russian reports, the institute said Russian troops appeared to be retreating from Lehman, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. This corresponds to an online video that allegedly showed some Russian troops retreating as a Ukrainian soldier said they had reached the outskirts of Lehman.
It said Ukraine had also made “incremental” gains near Kupiansk and the east bank of the Oskir River, which have become key fronts since the Ukrainian counteroffensive regained control of the Kharkiv region in September.
Russian troops attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Nikolayev twice overnight, once with drones and second with missiles, according to regional governor Vitaliy Kim. He said on Telegram that the first attack was carried out with Iran’s Shahed-136 kamikaze drone and the second with S-300 missiles.
One of the rockets hit a five-story apartment building in the city center, blowing out the windows of surrounding houses. In another part of the city, a private residence and a two-storey residential building suffered extensive damage. Five people were injured, including a 3-month-old baby, King said.
On Friday, the Russian military attacked Ukrainian cities with missiles, rockets and suicide drones in the most violent attack in weeks, killing 30 and killing 88 in an attack in the regional capital of Zaporozhye Injuried.
In a daily intelligence briefing on Saturday, the British Ministry of Defence said the Russians “almost certainly” attacked the humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The British military said Russia was increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles against the ground, possibly due to a lack of ammunition.
“Russia is depleting military assets of strategic value in an attempt to gain tactical advantage and in the process kills civilians it now claims to be its own citizens,” it said.
The attack came as Putin was preparing to sign an annexation treaty that included the Zaporozhye region. Russian officials in Poirotia have accused the Ukrainian army, but have provided no evidence.
Russia now claims 15 percent of Ukraine in what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called “the largest attempt to annex European territory by force since World War II.” The NATO chief met with the Danish prime minister on Saturday to investigate a Russian pipeline explosion in the Baltic Sea.
[ad_2]
Source link