Update on the situation in Ukraine
The invasion of Ukraine will enter its third week, and even if the Russian army is progressing with difficulty in places, the bombardments continue unabated on several cities, as well as ground fighting in the outskirts of kyiv or Mariupol , a southern city besieged for more than 10 days.
Explosions in kyiv, the capital under curfew. Several loud explosions were heard at dawn in western kyiv. A twelve-storey building was damaged, but no report was given immediately, while the press was not allowed to circulate in the city due to the curfew, the second since the start of the war . Heavy fighting is still taking place on the northwestern outskirts, in and around the towns of Irpin, Hostomel or Boutcha.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an interview with ” World “ :
The city is ready to defend itself. People are ready. There is anger, rage, and there will be no panic […] When we see what’s going on elsewhere, as in Mariupol, the scenario of a Russian desire for the total destruction of kyiv is not excluded.
An official from the United States Department of Defense, quoted by the Associated Press, said that Russian troops were firing heavy artillery on the city center because they were unable to advance. They would have been regarding fifteen kilometers from the city center for several days.
Nearly 20,000 civilians were able to flee Mariupol. The large southern city is still surrounded by Russian troops, who are fighting the Ukrainian army throughout the region north of the agglomeration. Nearly 20,000 people were able to leave in 4,000 cars on Tuesday, according to the Ukrainian presidency, but humanitarian convoys with food and water are still prevented from entering. Another attempt will take place on Wednesday, when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu is in Moscow to try to facilitate the evacuation of civilians
Between 200,000 and 400,000 people are still in the metropolis, where there is no more electricity, water, gas and soon no food. The town hall has been talking for several days regarding a death toll of nearly 2,400. As recognized by Pyotr Andryushchenko, a city hall official interviewed by the New York Times, the true figure might be much higher, around 20,000 dead.
Artillery fire and shelling on Odessa. According to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Interior Ministry, Russian ships fired “a huge amount” missiles south of the major Ukrainian port, with no casualties. It would be, according to him, to test the Ukrainian defense systems. Strategic place of Ukraine through its terminals from where Ukrainian cereals are exported, the big city on the Black Sea, so far spared by the fighting, has been expecting the worst for several days, as told, the March 5, our special correspondent.
The human toll of this war. Nearly 700 civilians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the UN, which stresses that this toll would be lower than the reality. Nearly 3 million people fled the fighting and shelling, including 1.6 million children, and around 2 million people were displaced. Nearly 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, according to the Ukrainian president, while Russia released only one report on March 2: 498 soldiers killed.
