Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukraine edged closer to central Kyiv yesterday as a series of strikes hit a residential neighborhood, while the leaders of three EU nations planned a bold visit to Ukraine’s capital and the number of people the war has driven from the nation passed 3 million.
Large explosions thundered across Kyiv before dawn from what Ukrainian authorities said were artillery strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said barrages hit four multistory buildings in the city and caused dozens of deaths.
Photo: AFP
The strikes targeted a western district of Kyiv, disrupting a relative calm that returned after an initial advance by Russian forces was stopped in the early days of the war.
Yesterday’s shelling ignited a fire in a 15-story apartment building and spurred a frantic rescue effort.
As Russia stepped up its assault on Kyiv, the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia announced that they would travel to Ukraine’s embattled capital to show support for the nation.
“The aim of the visit is to express the European Union’s unequivocal support for Ukraine and its freedom and independence,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wrote on Twitter.
He would be joined by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is Poland’s deputy prime minister for security and the leader of the conservative ruling party.
Leaders of the 27-nation EU were “informed” of the trip, but did not sanction it, officials said.
An EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the trip, said that European Council President Charles Michel had “pointed at the security risks.”
The International Organization for Migration said the number of people who have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 passed 3 million yesterday.
The UN has described the flood of people crossing into Poland and other neighboring nations as Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators also planned to hold a second day of talks as Russia’s invasion reached its 20th day.
The Red Cross and the UN refugee agency said millions of people face food and medicine shortages, along with the immediate threats of shelling and airstrikes.
The Ukrainian government said new aid and evacuation efforts would take place along nine corridors around the nation, including the Kyiv region, but past evacuation attempts have repeatedly failed amid continued fighting.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said an evacuation involving 30 buses was planned from the Sumy region in northeast Ukraine.
The organization said that it still had not gotten aid to Mariupol, an encircled port city of 430,000 where local officials estimate a lethal siege has killed more than 2,300 people, and left residents desperate for food, water, heat and medicine.
The early morning artillery strikes hit the Svyatoshynskyi District of western Kyiv.
Flames shot out of a 15-story apartment building and smoke choked the air as firefighters climbed ladders to rescue people. The assault blackened several floors of the building, ripped a hole in the ground outside and blew out windows in neighboring apartment blocks.
Rescue workers said one person died and several were rescued, but others remained inside.
“Yesterday we extinguished one fire, today another, it is very difficult,” said one young firefighter as he took a brief break outside the building, tears falling from his eyes.
“People are dying, and the worst thing is that children are dying. They haven’t lived their lives and they have already seen this, this is the worst,” said the rescuer, who gave only his first name, Andriy.
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