According to President Zelenskyy, the Kyiv region is again under full control of Ukraine. Russia is now concentrating mainly on the East and the South. Several people were killed there in Russian attacks.
Several people were killed and injured in Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, according to Ukrainian sources. The governor of the region, Vitaly Kim, wrote on Telegram that eleven people were killed and 62 injured. The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Zyenkevich, previously wrote on Telegram that ten people were killed and 46 injured.
According to Senkevich, houses, hospitals, kindergartens, schools and an orphanage were shot at. 120 people left the city yesterday with evacuation buses. The information could not be independently verified.
According to the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, two people died yesterday in Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, as the “Ukrayinska Pravda” writes. Nine people were injured there and in Georgievka, Novoselovka and Vosdvyschenka.
Kyiv region fully under Ukrainian control
According to their own statements, the Ukrainian authorities were able to restore control over the entire Kyiv region and other districts. In his evening video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that in the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions further north and east, the occupiers did things that locals did not even see during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago.
Ukraine understands that Russian forces have withdrawn from areas in northern Ukraine, particularly around Kyiv, to concentrate on the east and south of the country. The US also shares this view.
A US Department of Defense official said that two-thirds of the Russian forces that have occupied the area around Kyiv since the invasion began have withdrawn to Belarus. As a result, it was likely a reorganization prior to a new attack elsewhere in Ukraine. The US government also expects further air and missile attacks on Kyiv and Lviv in the west.
“Massive attack” expected in Luhansk
According to Ukrainian information, the Russian armed forces are preparing a “massive attack” on the troops in the eastern Luhansk region. Equipment and fuel will be brought and troops will be reinforced, said the region’s governor, Serhiy Gaidaj. “We believe they are preparing for a massive attack.”
“The bombardments are getting denser,” said Gaidaj in a video message. He urged residents to leave the region as soon as possible. “Don’t wait for your houses to be bombed,” he called on the people. “Two volunteers” were killed in a mine explosion on Sunday, he said. Two priests were injured in the attack on a church.
Numerous people fled west yesterday. Hundreds of them waited for trains at the train station in Kramatorsk, a major city in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine expects further attacks on Kharkiv
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also expects further Russian attacks on the besieged city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Russian troops are preparing to take the city, Defense Ministry spokesman Olexander Motusianyk said, according to Ukrayinska Pravda. Russian troops also received reinforcements in other areas in eastern Ukraine.
Russia, meanwhile, once again called on Ukrainian forces in the embattled port city of Mariupol to lay down their arms. The battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the foreign mercenaries should be able to safely leave the city towards Kyiv-controlled areas via a corridor this morning, said Major General Mikhail Mizintsev of the Russian Defense Ministry.
“All those who lay down their arms are guaranteed their lives,” he said. Misintsev said that another attempt should be made today to bring civilians and foreign citizens from the city on the Azov Sea to safety. In the past few days, the Ukrainian side has repeatedly prevented people from being taken out of Mariupol. The information could not be verified independently.
