Russian military dropped two “super-powerful bombs” on Mariupol on Tuesday, as local officials made a fresh attempt to rescue civilians from Ukraine’s port city, which has been under constant fire since the invasion of Moscow nearly a month ago. Is.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said there was “nothing left” in the strategic city amid calls from Moscow to Kyiv to allow the evacuation of at least 100,000 people.
“There is nothing left. Only ruins,” Zelensky said in a video address to the Italian parliament of Mariupol, which has a population of 400,000.
While he was speaking, the city council said Russian forces had dropped two large bombs on Mariupol, but gave no details of casualties or damage.
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In a video address, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said, “We know there will not be enough space for everyone, but we will try to make an evacuation until we take out all the residents of Mariupol.”
“It is clear that the occupiers are not interested in the city of Mariupol, they want to throw it to the ground, turn it into ashes,” the officials said.
Fighting for Ukraine’s cities continued in its suburbs during the day, with Ukrainian forces pushing Russian troops out of the strategically important Kyiv neighbourhood, while Russian forces took partial control of three northwestern suburbs where fighting had been for weeks. are.
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Here are some other top updates on the war, which was in its fourth week, which left hundreds dead, thousands injured and one of the worst refugee crises Europe has ever seen since World War II.
The United Nations said that more than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, while millions have been displaced within the country.
– Zelensky turned to Pope Francis for help, urging the pontiff to mediate the conflict and help end “human suffering”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres described the war as “unbeatable” for Russia. “For more than two weeks, Mariupol has been besieged by Russian forces and has continued to bombardment, shelling and attacking. For what?” he tells reporters in New York.
Earlier, Zelensky said that if Russia’s Vladimir Putin agreed to direct talks to end the war, all issues would be on the table, including the eastern regions of the Donbass and the Crimean peninsula. But he warned that his country would be “destroyed” before he could surrender.
– The Kremlin said it would like to see talks with Kyiv “more active and substantial”.
– A Ukrainian photojournalist has gone missing in a war zone near the capital, raising fears that he may be injured, killed or taken prisoner by the Russian military. UNIAN news agency said Maxim Levin has been unaccounted for since March 13, when he contacted his friend from Vishorod, near Kyiv.
– A senior United States defense official said there was no concrete sign yet of an imminent Russian chemical or biological weapons attack in Ukraine, but is closely monitoring intelligence streams for them. His statement came in response to US President Joe Biden’s false accusations by Russia that Kyiv possesses biological and chemical weapons, indicating that Putin himself is considering using them in the war against Ukraine.
– A Ukrainian soldier was killed in a drone attack on a scientific institute in northwestern Kyiv, AFP reporters at the scene said. The attack on the Institute for Superhard Materials came a day after at least eight people were killed in a shopping center bombing. There is a curfew in the capital till Wednesday morning.
(with agency input)
