Situation in Cherson
Kherson’s mayor Ihor Kolychayev, in an apparent reference to Russian soldiers, wrote on Facebook that he had had a conversation with “armed guests”. In doing so, he “showed that we are not aggressive, that we are working to secure the city and are trying to deal with the consequences of the invasion.” He “made no promises” to the Russians and “urged them not to shoot at people.”
Kolychayev declared a curfew and imposed restrictions on vehicle traffic. “Everything is going well so far. The flag that flies above us is the Ukrainian one. And to keep it that way, these demands must be respected,” he wrote.
The mayor of the city of 290,000 reported “enormous difficulties in recovering and burying the dead” and in providing food and medicine.
Cherson is not far from the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. The port city of Berdyansk has already been conquered by Russian troops, and an attack on the port city of Mariupol is underway. “Today was the most difficult and cruel day of the seven days of war,” Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko said in a video published on Telegram. “Today they just want to destroy us all”. Residential buildings would also be fired upon by the Russian army. Important infrastructure was damaged: “We are once more without light, without water, without heating,” he said.
USA: Russia brings “extremely deadly weapons”
According to the US government, the Russian army is increasingly targeting civilians in its war of aggression in Ukraine. Russia is bringing “extremely lethal weapons” into the country, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Wednesday. This includes cluster bombs and vacuum bombs (thermobaric warheads), which are internationally banned and have “no place on the battlefield”. According to the 1980 Geneva Convention on the Restriction of Certain Conventional Weapons, the use of any incendiary bomb, like vacuum bombs, once morest the civilian population or civilian objects is prohibited. The use of cluster munitions is prohibited under the Convention Against Cluster Munitions, which came into force in 2010; however, neither Russia nor Ukraine nor the USA have joined this agreement.
“Hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians have been killed or injured in the Russian offensive,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The consequences for the population are “staggering”. The Russian military is attacking buildings and cities that “are not military targets,” he emphasized. “The humanitarian impact will increase in the coming days.”
