A promised cease-fire in Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror.
The Kremlin’s rhetoric was growing more fervent and the reprieve from fighting diminishing, Russian troops continued to bombard encircled cities. This resulted in 1.4 million Ukrainians being forced from their country. According to Ukrainian officials, Russian forces had increased their bombardment of Mariupol at nighttime and dropped powerful bombs on Chernihiv (a northern city of Kyiv).
Mothers who lost their children were grieved, wounded soldiers received tourniquets and doctors operated by the light from their phones as desperation and bleakness pervade. In the capital, men lined up to join the Ukrainian army.
The government ordered men aged between 18 and 60 years to remain in the country and be available for fighting. Some, like Volodymyr Onysko, have volunteered.
“We know why are we here. Onysko stated that we know why our country is being protected to Britain’s Sky News. “We know what’s happening, and that’s why it will win,” Onysko said to Sky News in Britain.
Putin continued to place the blame on the Ukrainian leadership, and attacked their resistance to the invasion.
He said, “If they keep doing what they are doing they are calling into doubt the future of Ukrainian Statehood.” “And if they do this, it will be on their conscience.”
He also criticized Western sanctions, which have crippled Russia’s economy and sent its currency down the tubes.
During a meeting with Russian airline Aeroflot flight attendants, he stated that “these sanctions that are being applied are akin to declaring War.” “But, thank God! We haven’t reached there yet.”
Russia’s financial system was hit yet again by Mastercard, Visa and their announcements of suspending operations.
Ten days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, the struggle to impose a temporary cease-fire in Mariupol was a sign of the fragility of attempts to end the fighting.
Officials from Ukraine claimed that residents were prevented from leaving the area by Russian airstrikes and artillery fire. Putin accused Ukraine de sabotaging this effort.
According to Davyd Arakhamia (a member of the Ukrainian delegation), Monday will be the third round of talks between Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. He did not provide any additional information, such as where the talks would take place.
Meetings held in Belarus led to an unsuccessful cease-fire to establish humanitarian corridors to evacuate children, women, and older persons from besieged cities. There are hundreds of thousands without food or water, pharmacies are empty, and the wounded have succumbed to their injuries.
Vadym Boychenko, Mariupol Mayor, said that thousands of people had gathered to seek safe passage from the city of 430,000. The evacuation was stopped after the shelling started. He said that the attack had intensified later in the day.
Boychenko stated to Ukrainian TV that the city was under siege. “Relentless bombardment of residential blocks continues, and airplanes have been dropping missiles on residential areas. Russian occupants use heavy artillery including multiple rocket launchers and Grad multiple rocket launchers.
Russia has made important advances in the South, attempting to block Ukraine’s access the sea. Russia could establish a land corridor from Crimea by capturing Mariupol, which it annexed back in 2014.
The head of Chernihiv said that Russia had dropped bombs on residential areas in the same city, with a population of 299,000. Vyacheslav Chaus uploaded a picture online of what he claimed was an undetonated FAB500 bomb, which he described as a 1,100-pound (575-kilogram) weapon.
Chaus stated that this weapon is usually used against fortified structures and military-industrial facilities.
In a speech to Ukrainians President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned “the 500-kilogram bombs” that were dropped on Ukrainian homes. Borodyanka is a place to see. The schools that were destroyed and the kindergartens that were destroyed are all there. The damaged Kharkiv Assumption Cathedral. See what Russia has done.”
The West has generally backed Ukraine, providing weapons and aid, and also imposing severe sanctions on Russia. The fight has been left to the Ukrainians who displayed a mix of courage and despair.
Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, said that Ukraine is in crisis and “but Ukraine hasn’t fallen.”
Russian troops advanced on a third nuke power plant after claiming control of one of the four in the country. The closed Chernobyl plant was also under Russian control, Zelenskyy informed U.S. lawmakers.
Zelenskyy begged the legislators for more help, particularly fighter planes to secure the skies above Ukraine, even though he maintained that Russia was being defeated.
Zelenskyy stated that “we’re inflicting losses upon the occupants they couldn’t see in their worst nightmare,”
This week, Russian troops took control over Kherson, a southern port city. Zelenskyy stated that although they have captured Kharkiv and Mykolaiv as well as Chernihiv, Sumy and Chernihiv, the Ukrainian forces managed to retain control over key cities in central- and southeastern Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden called Zelenskyy on Sunday morning, Kyiv, to discuss Russia sanctions, and to speed up U.S. aid to Ukraine. Although the White House stated that they had discussed talks between Russia, Ukraine and other topics, it did not provide details.
The U.S. Secretary Of State Antony Blinken, who was visiting Poland to meet the prime minister and foreign secretary, arrived in Poland the day after attending a NATO meeting held in Brussels, in which the alliance promised to increase support for members of the eastern flank.
Blinken also spoke on the phone with Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister, to express concern that Beijing would oppose any move that “adds fuel to the flames” in Ukraine, according the Chinese Foreign Ministry. According to the State Department, Blinken stated that the world is monitoring which countries stand for freedom and sovereignty.
Naftali Bennett, the Israeli Prime Minister, met Putin at Moscow’s Kremlin. Israel has good relations with both Russia, and Ukraine. Bennett offered to be an intermediary in the conflict but details have not been released immediately. Bennett’s office stated that he spoke with Zelenskyy twice afterward.
Aeroflot, Russia’s state-owned flagship airline, has announced that it will stop all international flights to Belarus, except for those bound by Western sanctions.
It was hard to determine the death toll from the conflict. According to the U.N. Human Rights Office, at most 351 civilians were killed in the conflict since February 24, but it is likely that the actual number is much higher.
Russia is far outmatched in military strength by Ukraine, but the country’s professional and volunteer forces are resilient. Even in fallen cities, there was resistance.
According to the Ukrainian government’s video, Chernihiv residents cheered as a Russian military aircraft fell from the sky. In Kherson, hundreds waved the blue and yellow Ukrainian flags, shouting, “Go home!”
Outside Kyiv, a huge Russian armored column that threatened Ukraine’s capital was still in limbo. Oleksiy Arestovich, the Ukrainian presidential advisor, stated that the military situation was calmer overall and that Russian forces hadn’t taken active action since the morning.
The U.S. Congress has been considering a request to fund $10 billion for emergency humanitarian aid and security. The U.N. stated that it will increase humanitarian operations inside and outside Ukraine. A meeting of the Security Council was scheduled for Monday to discuss the worsening situation.
U.N. World Food Program warned that Ukraine is facing a hunger crisis and said millions would need food assistance “immediately.”
People fleeing from Kyiv remained desperate at the central train station. Ksenia, a woman from Kyiv, stated that people just want to live.