Some may have been taken to Russia as “hostages” in order to force Kyiv to surrender.
Lyudmyla denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson said that 402,000 people, 84,000 of them children, were taken to Russia.
Although the numbers of those who were relocated were almost identical, the Kremlin stated that they want to travel to Russia. The rebel-controlled areas of Ukraine’s eastern regions speak a majority Russian, and many have maintained close ties with Moscow.
One month after the invasion, the sides were still fighting in what has turned into a war of attrition. According to the navy of Ukraine, it destroyed a large Russian land ship that was used for transporting armored vehicles. Russia claimed that it had seized the eastern city of Izyum following fierce fighting.
The Ukraine President Volodymyr Zeleskyy made pleas to the Western allies via video, asking for planes, tanks and rockets. He said that his country was “defending our common values.”
The U.S. President Joe Biden was in Europe to attend the summit and other high level meetings. Despite promising more aid, it seemed unlikely that the West would give Zelenskyy all he wants, out of fear of triggering an even wider war.
The battle for Kyiv has been a near-stalemate between the Ukrainian defenders and Moscow’s ground troops. This raises fears that Vladimir Putin, a frustrated Russian President, will resort to chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
Other developments:
Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, stated that Russia and Ukraine exchanged 50 civilian and military prisoners. This was the largest reported swap.
Alexander Lukashenko (pro-Moscow leader in Belarus) warned that Poland’s proposal of deploying a Western peacekeeping force to Ukraine “will lead to World War III.”
Olexander Lomako from Chernihiv said that a “humanitarian disaster” is occurring as Russian forces attack food storage areas. According to Lomako, there are approximately 130,000 people left in the city under siege. This is about half of its prewar population.
Russia said Friday that it would offer safe passage to vessels from 15 countries, starting Friday, who are currently stranded in Ukrainian ports due to the danger of mines and shelling.
In the meantime, Moscow and Kyiv gave contradicting accounts about people being relocated to Russia. They also differed on whether they were willing to go — as Russia claimed — or being coerced into or lied too.
Russian Col. General Mikhail Mizintsev stated that the approximately 400,000 people who were evacuated to Russia after the military action began were from eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk-Luhansk region. There, pro-Moscow separatists fought for control for almost eight years.
Russian authorities claimed they provide accommodation and payments for evacuees.
However, the Donetsk Region Governor. Pavlo Kyrylenko stated that “people are being forcibly removed into the territory of an aggressor state.” Denisova claimed that among those who were removed by Russian troops was a 92 year-old woman from Mariupol, who was forced to travel to Taganrog in south Russia.
Ukrainian officials said that the Russians are taking people’s passports and moving them to “filtration camps” in Ukraine’s separatist-controlled east before sending them to various distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine charged 6,000 people from Mariupol, a devastated port city in the country’s east. According to the ministry, Moscow’s troops have taken identity documents from 15,000 more people in an area of Mariupol that is under Russian control.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, some could be sent to the Pacific island Sakhalin. They are being offered jobs if they stay for at least two years. According to the ministry, Russians plan to use them as hostages in order to exert more political pressure on Ukraine.
Kyrylenko stated that Mariupol’s residents were long denied information and that Russia fed them false claims about Ukraine’s defeats in order to persuade their decision to move to Russia.
He said that Russian lies could influence those who were under siege.
Concerning the naval attack at Berdyansk: Ukraine damaged two more ships and destroyed a 3,000-ton fuel container when Orsk, a Russian ship, was sink. This caused a fire which spread to ammunition supplies.
Zelenskyy rallied the nation to maintain its military defense in hope of bringing about peace.
“With each day that passes in defense, we get closer to the peace we so desperately need. We are closer to victory. “… We cannot stop even for one minute. Every minute determines our fate, and our future, whether or not we will live,” he stated late Thursday night in his nightly video address.
Zelenskyy stated that thousands of people including 128 children have been killed in the first month after the war began. In the country, 230 schools were destroyed and 155 kindergartens were destroyed. He said that cities and villages are “in ashes”.
Russia opened its stock market, but limited trading was allowed to ensure that it does not fall prey to Western sanctions. Short selling was prohibited and foreigners were forbidden from selling.
Millions of Ukrainians have fled the country. Some tried to stay, while others tried to escape.
A teenage girl was standing at the entrance to a waiting train with her white pet rabbit, who was shivering in her arms, at the Lviv central station. She was on her journey to meet her mother, then continue on to Germany or Poland. She was traveling by herself, leaving behind other relatives in Dnipro.
She said, “At the start I didn’t want leave.” “Now, I am scared for my life.”
