“Your comments that we canceled negotiations are just part of your tactics,” Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolak said in a statement. According to the Ukrainian authorities, 198 civilians have been killed in the attacks by the Russian army. Three children were among the fatalities, Health Minister Viktor Ljaschko said on Facebook on Saturday. In addition, 1,115 people were injured, including 33 children. This information can hardly be verified by an independent party. According to ex-President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia does not want to end the invasion of Ukraine despite Western sanctions.
Video: What are the Russians’ goals? Major General Günter Hofbauer analyzes the combat operations
- Read the latest developments in the live blog.
“We will defend our state”
The situation in the Ukrainian capital is still under control, Ukraine said. However, the Russian attackers tried to bring the largest possible number of military technology and armed forces into the city, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolak on Saturday, according to the Unian agency. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj emphasized his perseverance. “We will not lay down our arms, we will defend our state,” he said in a new video message, apparently in front of his official residence in Kiev. He himself will stay in Kiev. He also wished “everybody a good morning.” He wants to refute circulating fake news that he has left the country. “I’m here.” The country must be defended. “Glory to Ukraine!” Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously called on the Ukrainian army to lay down their arms. That wasn’t apparent.
Video: The two ORF correspondents Christian Wehrschütz and Paul Krisai from Kiev and Moscow on the current situation in the Ukraine war.
Tens of thousands are fleeing
Meanwhile, 100,000 Ukrainians have crossed the border into Poland, as Polish Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker announced on Saturday. People entered Poland from places “along the entire border”.
According to the authorities, more than 30,000 refugees from Ukraine had also arrived in Romania by Saturday morning. Especially at the northern Romanian border crossing points Siret and Sighetu Marmatiei, but also at the eastern border point Isaccea, the train swells every hour with children, women and seniors fleeing the war and the Russian invaders. Hundreds of volunteers from all over the country are present at all northern and eastern Romanian border crossings to provide the arriving Ukrainians with water and food, sweets and stuffed animals for the children. There is great outrage in Romania at the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and sympathy for the suffering citizens of the neighboring country.
Video: Ernst Gelegs (ORF) is on the border between Ukraine and Poland and reports on the refugee movements:
High-rise hit by bullet
In Kiev, meanwhile, a high-rise building was hit by a Russian projectile during fighting. Pictures clearly showed an impact on upper floors. At least four floors on one side of the house were destroyed. Smoke rose. It was initially unclear what exactly had happened and whether there were victims. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a photo of the skyscraper hit. “Kiev, our beautiful, peaceful city, has survived another night of shelling from Russian ground forces and missiles,” he wrote. “I urge the world: isolate Russia completely, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, destroy the Russian economy,” Kuleba wrote. “Stop Russian War Criminals!”
The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, also emphasized that the capital is still in the hands of the government. “The night was difficult, but there are no Russian troops in the city,” Klitschko said in a clip distributed on Saturday on the Telegram news app. At the same time, he emphasized: “The enemy is trying to penetrate the city.” As of 5:00 a.m. CET there were 35 injured, including two children. Klitschko called on the population to get to safety. “Stay in the bomb shelters because the enemy is attacking from the air.” The infrastructure works, the subway runs. Klitschko called for suspected target markings to be removed from houses. “We have set up checkpoints, so movement in the city is restricted and made more difficult.” Klitschko said: “It will be difficult, but we have an obligation to persevere because the army is with us, the territorial defense is with us, justice is with us.”
According to a media report, Russian troops have captured the Kiev hydroelectric power station in the north of the Ukrainian capital region. The Interfax news agency reported this, citing the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.
Heavy fighting in the night
In the center of the night, explosions and the noise of battle could be heard, which apparently came from fighting on the outskirts. The secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said in the morning that the situation in Kiev was “under the control of the army”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had previously spoken of a crucial night.
Photo gallery: Current photos from the Ukraine
View picture gallery
Heavy losses in the Russian troops
According to their own statements, the Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted heavy casualties on Russian troops since the beginning of the invasion. 3,500 Russian soldiers were killed and 200 others captured, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday. In addition, 14 aircraft, eight helicopters and 102 tanks and more than 530 other military vehicles were destroyed. However, the information cannot be independently verified.
Heavy fighting is going on in different parts of the country, the statement said. Russian fighter jets attacked Sumy in the north-east, Mariupol in the south and Poltava in the east. Civilian targets were also targeted in the capital Kiev.
Melitopol possibly taken
According to Russia, it has captured the city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine. The Russian army has “taken complete control” of the city, which is not far from the annexed Crimean Peninsula, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Russian television on Saturday. Moscow also fired cruise missiles at Ukrainian military installations during the night, Konashenkov said. According to the spokesman, the Ukrainian military installations were attacked “with air and sea-launched cruise missiles”. These are long-range precision weapons.
According to Konashenkov, Russian forces have now destroyed more than 820 military installations in Ukraine, including 14 airfields, 48 radar stations and 24 anti-aircraft missile systems. The Russian military also shot down seven fighter jets, seven helicopters and nine drones and destroyed 87 tanks and armored vehicles. Konashenkov did not comment on the Russian losses.
Konashenkov also said that separatist fighters from the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk have now advanced about 30 kilometers into an area previously controlled by Ukrainian government troops. With Russian support, Donetsk fighters could have gained more terrain over six kilometers. On Friday evening it was said that the insurgents had advanced 25 kilometers further into Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Also region around Odessa under fire
According to Ukrainian sources, Russian soldiers fired rockets at the region around the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea coast. Infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region is also affected. Several observation posts were damaged. It is feared that Russian troops could advance to Odessa – a strategically important city. According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops had crossed the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine. This would give them access to the strategically important city of Kherson, which in turn plays an important role in protecting Odessa.
The latest developments in the live blog
Source: Nachrichten
