Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv was yesterday hit by more deadly shelling, while Ukrainian forces made some gains in the surrounding region and Washington slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “depravity.”
Although Ukraine has retained control of Kharkiv, the city has been repeatedly battered by Moscow’s forces and still faces daily attacks.
One person was killed and five were injured in artillery and mortar strikes, Kharkiv’s regional military administration said on Telegram.
Photo: AP
“The situation in the Kharkiv region is tough, but our military, our intelligence, have important tactical success,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address.
Ukrainian forces said they had recaptured the village of Ruska Lozova near Kharkiv, which had been occupied by Russian troops for two months, and evacuated hundreds of civilians.
“It was two months of terrible fear. Nothing else, a terrible and relentless fear,” Natalia, a 28-year-old evacuee from Ruska Lozova, said.
Photo: Reuters
“We were in the basements without food for two months, we were eating what we had,” said Svyatoslav, 40, who did not want to give his full name, his eyes red with fatigue.
Oleksandr Skachko, a resident of nearby Slatyne, which was also recaptured by Ukrainian troops, said 15 people from the village had been killed.
Addressing Russians, the 47-year-old said: “Your army has invaded our land and is killing our children. No matter what anyone says, no matter what Putin says, our people are dying here.”
Thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Friday briefly choked with emotion as he described the destruction in Ukraine and slammed Putin’s “depravity.”
Ukrainian prosecutors say they have pinpointed more than 8,000 war crimes carried out by Russian troops and are investigating 10 Russian soldiers for suspected atrocities in Bucha near Kyiv.
Russia is now intensifying operations in the eastern Donbas region, making some territorial advances, and tightening its stranglehold on the devastated southern port city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian authorities said they planned to evacuate civilians on Friday from the besieged Azovstal steel plant, the last holdout in Mariupol where hundreds are sheltering with Ukrainian troops.
However, Denis Pushilin, leader of the breakaway eastern region of Donetsk, accused Ukrainian forces of “acting like outright terrorists” and holding civilians hostage in the steel plant.
From Mariupol’s badly damaged port zone, Agence France-Presse on Friday heard heavy shelling coming from Azovstal during a media trip organized by the Russian army, with explosions only a few seconds apart.
Kyiv has said that Russian forces have captured a string of villages in the Donbas region.
However, a senior NATO official said Russia had made only “minor” and “uneven” advances.
The Pentagon also said the Kremlin’s eastern offensive was “behind schedule.”
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