LVIV, UKRAINE: Like many residents of the besieged city of Ukraine chernihivLinguistics scholar Ihar Kazmerchak spends his nights in a bomb shelter and begins his day searching for the little potable water that the authorities have left to hand over.
surrounded by Russian army And under constant bombardment, the northern city known for its eclectic monasteries has no electricity, heating or running water. Pharmacies’ lists of drugs that are no longer available grow day by day.
“In the basement at night, everyone is talking about one thing: Chernihiv is becoming the next” Mariupol’” Kazmerchak, 38, said, referring to the southern port city 845 kilometers (525 mi) away, which has since been facing the worst horrors. Russia invades Ukraine,
Fear is not wrong. Russian bomb on Wednesday destroyed the Chernihiv main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv; On Friday, artillery shells made the remaining foot bridge impassable, cutting off the last possible route for people to exit or for food and medical supplies.
Just over a month into the attack, Russian attack When its forces are trying to subjugate cities such as Chernihiv, it is slowed down in a grinding war of exodus. The bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites, such as the Mariupol Theatre, where Ukrainian officials said a Russian airstrike believed to have killed some 300 people last week, have given rise to war crimes charges.
Questions about the direction of Russia’s attack came to the fore on Friday after a high-ranking military official said the main objective of the first phase of the operation was to reduce Ukraine’s combat capability. The chief of the Russian General Staff said the Russian military could now focus on the ‘main goal, the liberation of the Donbass’.
The Donbass is a largely Russian-speaking eastern region where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 and where many residents want closer ties with Moscow. Mariupol is located there, although outside the two areas controlled by the separatists.
US officials said it appeared Russian troops have halted their ground attack aimed at capturing the capital Kyiv, and are focusing more on gaining control of the Donbass region in the country’s southeast.
However, British defense officials said on Saturday that Russian forces were continuing to surround several other major Ukrainian cities, including Chernihiv, which lies 146 kilometers (91 miles) from Kyiv.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence briefing, “It is likely that Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it seeks to limit its already considerable damage, and civilian casualties.” At the expense of.” Warning.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, introduced by video-link at Qatar’s Doha Forum, compared the destruction of Mariupol on Saturday to the Syrian and Russian destruction on the city of Aleppo.
“They are destroying our ports,” Zelensky said. “The absence of exports from Ukraine will be a blow to countries around the world.”
He called on countries to increase their exports of energy to give European countries an alternative to Russian oil and gas.
“Europe’s future rests on your efforts,” he said.
In Kyiv, the ashes of the dead are being deposited at the main crematorium because so many relatives have left unclaimed urns. For civilians who have decided to stay or are unable to leave under constant shelling, the suffering is becoming more severe.
In Yasnohorodka, a village about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Kyiv, captured by Russian troops earlier in the week, was pushed out by Ukrainian forces as part of a retaliatory strike. The houses on the main square are in dilapidated condition. The tower of the village church was damaged.
“You can see for yourself what happened here. People were killed here. Our soldiers died here, ”said Valery Puzhakov, a resident of Yasnohorodka.
In Chernihiv, hospitals are no longer functioning, and residents cook over an open fire in the street due to a power outage.
Chernihiv Mayor Vladislav Atroshenko has said that more than half of the city’s 280,000 residents fled amid continued attacks.
Russian military, he told Ukrainian television, “are deliberately destroying civilian infrastructure – schools, kindergartens, churches, residential buildings and even local football stadiums.”
It is impossible to count the dead, but Atroshenko estimated the figure to be “in the hundreds”.
Located about 70 kilometers (45 mi) from the border with Belarus on the road to Kyiv, Chernihiv was attacked in the early days of the war and besieged by Russian troops this month, but its defenders have so far held a position. The acquisition has been halted.
“Chernihiv has become a symbol of the Russian military’s unsuccessful blitzkrieg, in which the plan was to capture the city in one day and advance towards Kiev,” said Mykola Sunhurovsky, a military analyst at the Kyiv-based Razumkov Center think tank.
Kazmerchak began spending his night in a bomb shelter after a Russian bomb struck a Stalin-era movie theater next to the 12-story residential building where he lived. A Russian missile also destroyed the hotel a short distance from his home.
“The walls were shaking so much that I thought my house would collapse at any moment and I would be left under the rubble,” Kazmerchak said.
The dwindling supply led to long lines at some grocery stores that still had food. On 16 March, 10 civilians were killed in the shelling as they waited outside to buy bread. Kazmerchak said residents knelt down and stayed home, but as the siege ended, some gave up trying to stay safe.
“The house, the fire, the corpses in the street, the giant plane bomb that didn’t explode in the courtyard, no longer surprises anyone,” he said. “People are just tired of being scared and don’t always go to the basement.”
surrounded by Russian army And under constant bombardment, the northern city known for its eclectic monasteries has no electricity, heating or running water. Pharmacies’ lists of drugs that are no longer available grow day by day.
“In the basement at night, everyone is talking about one thing: Chernihiv is becoming the next” Mariupol’” Kazmerchak, 38, said, referring to the southern port city 845 kilometers (525 mi) away, which has since been facing the worst horrors. Russia invades Ukraine,
Fear is not wrong. Russian bomb on Wednesday destroyed the Chernihiv main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv; On Friday, artillery shells made the remaining foot bridge impassable, cutting off the last possible route for people to exit or for food and medical supplies.
Just over a month into the attack, Russian attack When its forces are trying to subjugate cities such as Chernihiv, it is slowed down in a grinding war of exodus. The bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites, such as the Mariupol Theatre, where Ukrainian officials said a Russian airstrike believed to have killed some 300 people last week, have given rise to war crimes charges.
Questions about the direction of Russia’s attack came to the fore on Friday after a high-ranking military official said the main objective of the first phase of the operation was to reduce Ukraine’s combat capability. The chief of the Russian General Staff said the Russian military could now focus on the ‘main goal, the liberation of the Donbass’.
The Donbass is a largely Russian-speaking eastern region where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 and where many residents want closer ties with Moscow. Mariupol is located there, although outside the two areas controlled by the separatists.
US officials said it appeared Russian troops have halted their ground attack aimed at capturing the capital Kyiv, and are focusing more on gaining control of the Donbass region in the country’s southeast.
However, British defense officials said on Saturday that Russian forces were continuing to surround several other major Ukrainian cities, including Chernihiv, which lies 146 kilometers (91 miles) from Kyiv.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence briefing, “It is likely that Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it seeks to limit its already considerable damage, and civilian casualties.” At the expense of.” Warning.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, introduced by video-link at Qatar’s Doha Forum, compared the destruction of Mariupol on Saturday to the Syrian and Russian destruction on the city of Aleppo.
“They are destroying our ports,” Zelensky said. “The absence of exports from Ukraine will be a blow to countries around the world.”
He called on countries to increase their exports of energy to give European countries an alternative to Russian oil and gas.
“Europe’s future rests on your efforts,” he said.
In Kyiv, the ashes of the dead are being deposited at the main crematorium because so many relatives have left unclaimed urns. For civilians who have decided to stay or are unable to leave under constant shelling, the suffering is becoming more severe.
In Yasnohorodka, a village about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Kyiv, captured by Russian troops earlier in the week, was pushed out by Ukrainian forces as part of a retaliatory strike. The houses on the main square are in dilapidated condition. The tower of the village church was damaged.
“You can see for yourself what happened here. People were killed here. Our soldiers died here, ”said Valery Puzhakov, a resident of Yasnohorodka.
In Chernihiv, hospitals are no longer functioning, and residents cook over an open fire in the street due to a power outage.
Chernihiv Mayor Vladislav Atroshenko has said that more than half of the city’s 280,000 residents fled amid continued attacks.
Russian military, he told Ukrainian television, “are deliberately destroying civilian infrastructure – schools, kindergartens, churches, residential buildings and even local football stadiums.”
It is impossible to count the dead, but Atroshenko estimated the figure to be “in the hundreds”.
Located about 70 kilometers (45 mi) from the border with Belarus on the road to Kyiv, Chernihiv was attacked in the early days of the war and besieged by Russian troops this month, but its defenders have so far held a position. The acquisition has been halted.
“Chernihiv has become a symbol of the Russian military’s unsuccessful blitzkrieg, in which the plan was to capture the city in one day and advance towards Kiev,” said Mykola Sunhurovsky, a military analyst at the Kyiv-based Razumkov Center think tank.
Kazmerchak began spending his night in a bomb shelter after a Russian bomb struck a Stalin-era movie theater next to the 12-story residential building where he lived. A Russian missile also destroyed the hotel a short distance from his home.
“The walls were shaking so much that I thought my house would collapse at any moment and I would be left under the rubble,” Kazmerchak said.
The dwindling supply led to long lines at some grocery stores that still had food. On 16 March, 10 civilians were killed in the shelling as they waited outside to buy bread. Kazmerchak said residents knelt down and stayed home, but as the siege ended, some gave up trying to stay safe.
“The house, the fire, the corpses in the street, the giant plane bomb that didn’t explode in the courtyard, no longer surprises anyone,” he said. “People are just tired of being scared and don’t always go to the basement.”