Russia launched its most massive attack on a European country since World War II on Sunday with a push into the country’s second-largest city and explosions rocking oil and gas sites.
A witness reported seeing and hearing Russian troops and armored vehicles all across the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. In a government video, a blazing tank can be seen.
Troops from Russia blew up an underground natural gas pipeline in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv just before dawn this morning, according to Ukraine’s state-run news agency.
Kharkiv, including the city’s center, has been breached by the Russian enemy’s light vehicles, regional governor Oleh Sinegubov declared. In the face of the aggressor, Ukraine’s military is winning.” “We ask citizens not to go out.”
penalties to exclude key Russian banks from the primary global payment system and other steps designed at restricting Moscow’s use of the $630 million war fund of central bank reserves late on Saturday ratcheted up Ukraine’s Western allies reaction to Russia’s land, naval and air assault.
In the wake of Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” Thursday, more than 368,000 migrants, primarily women and children, have flooded into neighboring nations, jamming railroads, highways and borders.
“Neo-Nazis” dominate Ukraine, Putin claims, ignoring weeks of frantic diplomacy and sanctions threats from Western countries attempting to prevent conflict. This assertion, which Kiev and Western governments believe is unfounded propaganda, has been used by Putin to justify the invasion.
Kremlin diplomats offered to meet with Belarus, but Ukraine refused them, claiming they were involved in the invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskiy said Ukraine was more than willing to have discussions overseas.
An oil station in Vasylkiv, southwest of Kyiv, was set fire by a Russian missile attack last night, according to the town’s mayor. Online postings showed massive flames and billowing black smoke in the night sky.
As the mayor, Natalia Balasinovich, put it, “The adversary wants to destroy everything.
Gas pipeline operator in Ukraine said that Russia’s crucial supply of energy to Europe was being transported through Ukraine as usual. Also, Russian-controlled energy giant Gazprom confirmed gas deliveries across Ukraine were proceeding as planned.
An oil station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Rovenky was destroyed by a Ukrainian missile, Russian-backed rebels in Luhansk region said.
Throughout the night, witnesses in Kyiv who spoke to Reuters described hearing explosions and shooting, and then three explosions soon before 9 a.m., when the city’s air raid sirens went off. (At 06:00 UTC)
“We have resisted the enemy’s onslaught and are continuing to do so,” he said. In a video message from the streets of Kyiv, Zelenskiy stated, “The combat continues.”
Russian soldiers are encountering “viable” resistance, according to a senior US defense official on Saturday.
In reaction to the attack, which threatens to upend Europe’s post-Cold War order, the United States and its allies have allowed further military deliveries to assist Ukraine resist and placed a series of sanctions on Russia.
Russian banks’ connection to SWIFT, an international payment system that facilitates international commerce, was blocked on Saturday, making it more difficult for Russian enterprises to do business.
Russia’s central bank would also face constraints, they claimed, limiting its capacity to sustain the rouble and fund Putin’s military effort. They also stated this.
We will hold Russia accountable and guarantee that this conflict is a strategic failure for Putin,” leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany and Italy as well as the United States said in a joint statement issued by the six countries.
The banks that would be banned from doing business in the United States were not specified. According to an EU ambassador, over 70% of Russia’s banking industry would be impacted.
It is commonly believed that Russia’s $630 billion in overseas reserves protect the country from some economic hardship if sanctions are imposed on its central bank.
RT and other state-owned Russian media outlets have been banned by Google from earning money for adverts on their websites, apps, and YouTube videos.
A black belt in Judo On Sunday, the International Judo Federation (IJF) voted to suspend Vladimir Putin as honorary president in reaction to the conflict in Ukraine.
Putin congratulated Russia’s special forces, praising soldiers who are “heroically completing their military duty” in Ukraine, as the Kremlin claimed its troops were moving again “in all directions.”
About 3,500 Russian troops have been killed or injured, according to a Ukrainian presidential advisor. Russia has suffered more casualties than predicted, according to Western authorities.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the death toll or the exact situation on the ground since Russia hasn’t disclosed any numbers.
At least 64 people were murdered among 240 civilian fatalities, according to a United Nations assistance organization.
Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine gained its independence from Moscow and has since fought for membership in NATO and the EU, aims that Russia opposes.
A genocide against Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine is an accusation that Kiev and its Western supporters reject outright as a falsehood, but Putin insists that he must eradicate this “severe danger” from his smaller neighbor.
