The Russian military has been ordered to attack the Ukrainian territory “from all directions” after authorities in the former Soviet state refused negotiations with Moscow over a ceasefire agreement, with official reports saying Russian troops had entered Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said late on Saturday that the attacks in and around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv came after a brief respite in anticipation of ceasefire talks between the two warring sides in Belarus.
“After the refusal of the Ukrainian side to negotiate, all units were ordered today to develop an offensive from all directions according to the plan of the operation,” Konashenkov said in a video released by the ministry.
The senior official said pro-Russia forces in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, with fire support of the Russian military, advanced to a depth of up to 46 kilometers on the outskirts of Kyiv, having captured the settlements of Shchastia, Muratovo, Starognatovka, Oktyabrskaya, and Pavlopol.
Konashenkov accused Ukrainian authorities of deploying rocket and artillery units in residential areas in cities across the country and appealed to the Ukrainian citizens to demand the immediate removal of all heavy weaponry from their homes.
“The nationalistic regime in Kiev massively and uncontrollably distributes automatic small arms, grenade launchers and ammunition to residents of Ukrainian settlements,” Konashenkov said.
“Our intelligence data continues to track the deployment of rocket and artillery units by Ukrainian nationalists in residential areas not only in Kiev but also in other Ukrainian cities. The leadership of Ukraine has repeatedly stated that it does not hide behind the civilian population and does not put heavy firepower in cities. Such an outright lie can lead to serious consequences,” he added.
Zelensky: Troops ‘successfully’ repelling Russian attacks
Local media also reported occasional blasts and gunfire in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday night, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky saying in a video message from the streets of Kiev posted on his social media, “We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. The fighting goes on.”
Following the Russian military advance from all directions, residents from other cities of Ukraine were seen gathering at a train station in the western city of Lviv to seek shelter as thousands of people, many foreigners, tried to leave the country.
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Lviv is considered to be safer than the second largest city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine as no Russian tanks have appeared there, with the military conflict between Moscow and Kyiv entering 4th day.
In a televised speech early on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in eastern Ukraine, collectively known as Donbas.
The regions broke away from Ukraine in 2014 after refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.
Announcing the operation, Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime.”
The United Nations Refugee Agency says more than 120,000 Ukrainians have left the country since Russia started the military campaign against Ukraine on February 24.
Nearly 200 people have been killed so far, including civilians, three of whom were children, according to the Ukrainian health ministry.
Russian troops enter Ukraine’s Kharkiv
In the wee hours of Sunday, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said in a post on his Telegram account that Russian troop vehicles were seen on the streets of Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Videos published by Herashchenko and Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection showed several light military vehicles moving along a street and, separately, a burning tank.
Local media reports confirmed that the armed clashes erupted in Kharkiv earlier in the day and fighting was taking place in several locations.
Regional administration chief Oleg Sinegubov wrote on Facebook that “the Russian enemy’s light vehicles broke into the city,” and urged residents not to leave shelters. “The Ukrainian armed forces are eliminating the enemy,” he wrote.
While fighting raged in Kharkiv, the administration in Kyiv said the capital remained under the control of Ukrainian forces despite clashes with “sabotage groups.”
The Russian defense ministry claimed on Sunday that its troops had besieged the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and the city of Berdyansk in the southeast. The defense ministry added that Russian troops had also taken control of Genichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov, and an airfield near Kherson.
Town near Kyiv hit by missiles, oil terminal on fire
In another development on Sunday morning, Russian troops attacked oil and gas facilities in the Ukrainian town of Vasylkiv, southwest of Kyiv, sparking huge explosions and setting an oil terminal ablaze.
Photographs and videos posted online showed large flames rising into the sky, with the authorities warning residents to be on alert for toxic fumes.
Also on Sunday morning, pro-Russia separatists in Luhansk said an oil terminal was blown up by a Ukrainian missile in the town of Rovenky.
The attacks on the Ukrainian oil facilities come as Western governments prepared new sanctions against Moscow, including banishing key Russian banks from SWIFT, the high-security network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world.
The Western governments did not name the banks that would be denied access to SWIFT but an EU diplomat said some 70% of the Russian banking market would be affected.
The United States, European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Canada have voiced their support for the expulsion of certain Russian banks from the global payment system.
France’s Macron fears long war; vows further arms delivery
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that the world must brace for a long war between Russia and Ukraine, warning that the conflict will have “lasting consequences.”
Macron’s presidential office also said in a statement that France would send more military equipment, as well as fuel, to Ukraine to help fight off the Russian offensive and slap more economic sanctions on Moscow.
The statement said the new sanctions would encompass “national measures to freeze the financial assets of Russian figures” as well as “new measures” to be taken “with European partners concerning the SWIFT” interbank system.
EU Council President Charles Michel also said on Twitter that the European Union would facilitate the delivery of military aid to Ukraine.
