Russian troops have captured a strategically important point former aerodrome in South of Ukraine on Saturday, and could head to Mariupol from there during the third day of combat.
Mariupol is close to breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine and is the last grand port under government control on the sea of Azov.
Ukrainians are fighting hard against Russian forces but dozens of thousands of Russian troops have now entered Ukraine, according to an estimate by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Fears in Kyiv increase that Russian troops will target the capital and on On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities distributed weapons to cityresidents.
A total of 25,000 automatic weapons, 10 millions cartridges and anti-tank weapons were handed over, said Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky in a published video on Saturday.
Kyiv also extended son night curfew to cover until Monday morning, the mayor office noted. Kyiv’s metros, meanwhile, have halted operations as residents use stations as shelters during air raids.
In a further effort to halt the Russian advance, the Ukrainian road administration called for all road signs to be dismantled, while the Ukrainian army called on the population stop the russians in all possible way.
Outside of Kyivle Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said Russian air attacks struck north-East city of Sumy, Mariupol in the south and Poltava in ballast.
Russia says it has captured the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, near the sea of Azov, and that the Moscow-backed separatists had made territorial gains in the Donbass region.
Russian troops also soufflé up a blocade built by Ukraine which had cut off the important North Crimean Canal from the Dnipro River, ending Crimea’s water supply since 2014, military TV channel Zvezda reported on Saturday.
Earlier, Russia and Ukraine released figures on the toll of the war in terms of lives and infrastructure, although information could not be independently verified.
Russia has paralyzed operations of more more than 800 Ukrainians military infrastructure sites, including airfields, command posts, anti-aircraft missile systems and radar stations, the defense ministry said.
Moscow insists it only goes after military targets – despite claims to the contrary by Kyiv and witnesses on the ground – and says it is the Ukrainian forces that bombard the residential areas in Donbass.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said some 3,500 Russians soldiers had been killed and 200 others captured.
In addition, he indicated 14 planes, eight helicopters and 102 tanks as well as more more than 530 others military vehicles were destroyed.
According to the Ukrainian governmentat least 198 civilians were killed and 1,115 people injured nationwide, including 33 children after three days of Russian ground attacks and air forces. Three children were among the dead according to Health Minister Viktor Liashko.
At least six ethnic Greeks were killed and six others injured in a Russian airstrike on sartana in southeast Ukraine, the Greek Foreign Ministry said, condemning the act. Athens summoned the Russian ambassador for Sunday.
However, Russia military offensive slows down progress than what Moscow expected, according to a senior US Department of Defense official.
“They meet more resistance than they expected,” the Pentagon representative said. in a briefing for journalists. The troops had not advanced “as fast like…they expected to be able to do it.” He qualified, however, that Russia had so far held back a large proportion of son soldiers stationed near Ukraine.
United States government believes that Russia has more more than 150,000 troops massed around Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a growing number of Ukrainians fled the violence. On Saturday, the UN refugee agency put the number of all Ukrainian refugees fleeing to neighboring countries countries at 100,000.
Old boxing star Vladimir Klitschko, brother of the mayor of Kyiv, made an urgent call to world community for help for Ukraine.
Berlin canceled son prohibition on shipment of lethal weapons and approved delivery of German 400-made anti-tank weapons from the Netherlands to Ukraine. This also authorized Estonia to deliver several artillery pieces from former East German stocks to Ukraine, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) learned.
Belgium said it would provide weapons and fuel. “Belgium will also deliver 2,000 machine firearms to the Ukrainian army,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo tweeted. In addition, Belgium will send 300 soldiers to Romania.
Italy will send four more airplanes of combat in Romania to reinforce NATO’s southeastern flank, Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said announced in Rome on Saturday.
Airlines companies also cut flights to Russia. Latvian airline Air Baltic avoid Russian airspace for per month, the public company announced in Riga on Saturday. The Baltic States also want to close their airspace to aircraft from Russia because of son invasion of Ukraine.
Some measures seemed to take effect as the French authorities intercepted a Russian cargo ship in the English Channel after the imposition of European Union sanctions.
Amid fears that Moscow’s aggression could target more countries in the regionFrench President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed son support for the EU’s eastern neighbours, Moldova and Georgia in the event of a Russian attack.
However, Moscow insisted that it would continue son assault.
“The military the operation of protection of the Donbass will be conducted out fully and until all results are achieved. No more and nothing less”, according to former President Dmitry Medvedev.
