Russians strike western Ukraine as Kyiv struggles, Mariupol under siege

Russian forces bombed a Ukrainian military facility less than 25km from the Polish border on Sunday, said officials. On the other side of the country, in Kyiv, air raid sirens woke residents in the capital.

Satellite image of Marioupol, Ukraine, 12 March 2022. © REUTERS/MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES

UPDATE: Ukraine officials say the strike killed nine people at the military facility.

“The occupiers launched an air strike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security” in Yavoriv, according to a statement by the Lviv regional military administration, adding that preliminary data shows that they fired eight missiles.

While initial reports by the Ukrainian Armed Forces are clarifying information about the injured and wounded, in a report cited by Interfax Ukraine news agency.

The 360sqkm facility is one of Ukraine’s largest, and where the country holds most of its drills with NATO countries.

The mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, another city in western Ukraine, said that the Russians continued to hit the airport, but there were no initial reports of casualties.

Fight to the death in Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly warned Russian forces encircling Kyiv that they will face a fight to the death as Ukrainian military and armed civilians continue to protect the capital.

“If they decide to carpet bomb and simply erase the history of this region … and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves,” Zelensky said late Saturday in his second video address of the day.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would not surrender or accept any ultimatums.

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Ukraine accused Russia of killing seven people, including a child, trying to flee fighting in Peremoha village near Kyiv. The report has not been verified.

While Moscow claims it has not targeted civilians since it began invading Ukraine on 24 February, Ukraine and Western allies reject their statements. Russia says it blames Ukraine for not evacuating civilians from encircled cities, but news reports and eyewitnesses have refuted that claim.

⚡️SBU: Intercepted phone calls shows that Russian troops near Kharkiv were ordered to shoot at civilians, including children.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 12, 2022

“We still need to hold on. We still have to fight,” Zelensky said late Saturday, adding that about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

According to Britain’s defence ministry, Russian ground forces massed 25 km from the centre of Kyiv, while Russia continued to shell Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol, which were each encircled by Russian troops.

International military aid

The Ukrainian president urged the West to get more involved in peace negotiations. He discussed the war with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Macron urged Putin to order an immediate ceasefire.

“We did not detect a willingness on Putin’s part to end the war,” a French presidency official said.

The Kremlin justifies its invasion, calling it a “special operation” to unseat “neo-Nazi” Ukrainian leaders and disarm the country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Western arms shipments to Ukraine had complicated matters, accusing the US of escalating tensions.

The Ukraine armed forces said Russia had slowed its offensive or had been stopped, but did not give any details on this.

Mariupol under siege

Some 13,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities on Saturday, according to Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Bringing aid into besieged Mariupol was complicated by the constant shelling, according to the Donetsk region governor’s office.

Satellite footage from US company Maxar showed that fires were burning in the western areas of Mariupol and dozens of apartment buildings were heavily damaged.

“There are reports of looting and violent confrontations among civilians over what little basic supplies remain in the city,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

In Mariupol, people were boiling ground water for drinking, using wood to cook food and burying their dead near where they lay, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres staff.