As the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 18th day, Russia intesnfied its offensive on the capital city of Kyiv, and the port city of Mariupol, where a Mosque was shelled.
Ukrainians also informed that seven people, including a child, were killed after Russians fired at an evacuation convoy.
Meanwhile, the United States increased its defence of NATO regions and moved 12,000 troops along the borders with Russia, in regions of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania.
The conflict began escalating on February 21, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and deployed troops in a peacekeeping role.
Here are the latest updates:
Refugee barely escapes siege
Refugee says she barely escaped siege, bombing
A widow fleeing the war in Ukraine with her teenage son has described the harrowing scenes they witnessed during their days-long journey from their bombed hometown of Chernihiv in north Ukraine.
The 44-year-old Elena Yurchuk worked as a nurse at a local hospital she says no longer exists. She says, “Our city is under siege and we barely escaped.”
Ms. Yurchuk described Chernihiv as a “ghost town” with no electricity when they left. After reaching Suceava in north Romania, she’s unsure where they will go next. They have earmarked Germany as a final destination, where she hopes to find work caring for the elderly.
She says her house was in the center next to a hotel that was bombed in an airstrike. – AP
Italy bus accident
Bus carrying Ukrainian refugees overturns in Italy, 1 dead
Italian state radio says a bus carrying about 50 refugees from Ukraine has overturned on a major highway in northern Italy, killing a passenger and injuring several others, none of them seriously.
RAI radio said one woman died and the rest of those aboard the bus were safely evacuated after the accident early Sunday near the town of Forli’. It wasn’t immediately clear where the bus was headed.
Some 35,000 Ukrainians refugees who fled the war have entered Italy, most of them through its northeastern border with Slovenia. Forli’ is in the region of Emilia-Romagna, which borders the Adriatic Sea and which so far has taken in some 7,000 refugees.
The accident is under investigation. – AP
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s warning
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy warns against Russian efforts to form ‘pseudo-republics’
Russia is trying to create new “pseudo-republics” in Ukraine to break his country apart, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his address to the nation.
Zelenskyy called on Ukraine’s regions, including Kherson, which was captured by Russian forces, not to repeat the experience of Donetsk and Luhansk. Pro-Russian separatists began fighting Ukrainian forces in those eastern regions in 2014.
City council members in Kherson, a southern city of 290,000, on Saturday rejected plans for a new pseudo-republic, Zelenskyy said.
Russia recognized the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic before invading Ukraine in February. Moscow said it had to protect the separatist regions, and is demanding that Ukraine recognize their independence too. – AP
Attack at Lviv military base
9 dead, 57 injured at Lviv military base after Russian attack
At least nine people were killed and 57 were injured following a Russian airstrike on a military training base in western Ukraine, near the border with Poland.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of the Lviv region, said Russian forces fired more than 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv military range, located 30kms (19 miles) northwest of the city of Lviv and 35kms (22 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Poland.
The attack came after a senior Russian diplomat warned that Moscow considered foreign shipments of military equipment to Ukraine “legitimate targets.” – AP
Ukraine
Air strike launched on Ukraine military base near Polish border – Lviv authorities
An air strike was launched on a Ukrainian military base Yavoriv in the west of the country near the Polish border, the Lviv regional military administration said on Sunday.
“The occupiers launched an air strike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security. According to preliminary data, they fired eight missiles,” the administration said in a statement.
The centre, less than 25 km (15 miles) from the Polish border, did not say whether it had been hit. It said it would release details later.- Reuters
United Nations
UN to hold more meetings this week on Ukraine war
The United Nations will have multiple meetings this week about Russia’s war in Ukraine, though it is unclear if they will lead to the adoption of an official text, diplomats said.
On Monday, the Security Council will discuss the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau is expected to speak during the session, one of the diplomatic sources told AFP Saturday.
Although this is an annual meeting, it will place special focus on the war in Ukraine and will likely see fresh calls for peace.- AFP
United Kingdom
Brits to get 350 pounds a month to open homes to Ukraine refugees
Britain will pay people to open their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion as the government moves to deflect anger over its response to the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two.
The new scheme called “Homes for Ukraine” will let refugees from the war come to Britain even if they do not have family ties, the government said on Sunday.
Britain will pay people 350 pounds ($456) a month if they can offer refugees a spare room or property for a minimum period of six months.- Reuters
Ukraine
Ukraine says seven killed, including a child, after Russia fired at evacuation convoy
Ukraine’s intelligence service accused Russia on Saturday of firing at a convoy that was evacuating women and children from the village of Peremoha in the Kyiv region, killing seven people including one child.
The service – part of the defence ministry – initially said the convoy left the village in a “green corridor” which had previously been agreed with Russia.
But in a statement released late on Saturday, the service said this was not in fact the case and the convoy had left the village independently.
“This is very dangerous, because the occupying forces are ruthlessly destroying the civilian population,” it said. “We urge all citizens who are in danger to follow the official information on evacuation routes and use only safe routes.”- Reuters
Premier League
Premier League disqualifies Roman Abramovich from running Chelsea
In an unprecedented ruling against a club owner, the Premier League ordered Roman Abramovich on Saturday to stop running Chelsea and sell up after he was sanctioned by the British government over Russia’s war on Ukraine and his close links to President Vladimir Putin.
Mariupol, Ukraine
Ukraine says Moscow shelled Mariupol mosque
The Ukrainian government said on Saturday a Mariupol mosque in which about 80 civilians, including Turks, had taken refuge, was shelled by Russia, a claim denied by one of those sheltering at the site.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.
Kyiv, Ukraine
Russians push toward Kyiv, keep up siege of other cities
Russian forces appeared to make progress from northeast Ukraine in their slow fight to reach the capital, Kyiv, while tanks and artillery pounded places already under siege with shelling so heavy it prevented residents of one city from burying the growing number of dead.
Russia
Sanctions could cause space station to crash: Roscosmos
According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS. Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned on Saturday, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted.