Residents tried to flee in their own vehicles as Russian forces opened fire on cars, Ukraine military official says
It’s 3 p.m. in Kyiv. Here’s what you need to know
Russian forces are bombarding cities across Ukraine, including the western city of Lviv, while heavy fighting hits the country’s east.
Here are the latest developments on the war in Ukraine:
- Missile strikes hit Lviv: Seven people were killed and 11 injured after Russia launched at least four missile strikes on Lviv, regional military governor Maksym Kozytskyy said. At least one strike hit a tire repair shop, forcing civilians to flee their homes. The toll could rise further as rescue efforts continue, Kozytskyy said. The mayor of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi, said previously that the city had been hit by “five aimed missile hits.” Strikes were also reported in Dnipro, injuring two people and destroying railway infrastructure.
- Russia attacks in the east: Both Ukrainian officials and the Russian Ministry of Defense have reported widespread military action and a ratcheting up in fighting in the east over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian officials say forces have used fired mortars, artillery, and multiple rocket launchers, while Russia said its forces had used precision air-launched missiles.
- Heavy fighting in Mariupol: Ukrainian forces are continuing to resist Russian attacks in the besieged southeastern city after rejecting a deadline to surrender. Russian forces have been bombarding the Azovstal steel plant, a bastion of the Ukrainian defense, said Petro Andriushchenko, a mayoral adviser.
- Mariupol sealed?: Andriushchenko previously said that Mariupol would be closed for entry and exit starting on Monday, with Russian forces issuing passes for movement. He also said Ukrainian men would be subject to “filtration” — relocated for screening by Russian forces. CNN cannot independently verify the claims. He added that evacuations corridors were not marked with red flags and accused Russia of using them to trap those still defending the city.
- Ground troops on the offensive: Control over the city of Kreminna has been “lost,” said Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, as Russian forces try to break Ukrainian resistance in the country’s east. Earlier Monday, Russian forces entered the town with “a huge amount of equipment,” said Haidai.
- Russia accused of further atrocities: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Russia wants to “literally finish off and destroy Donbas” in eastern Ukraine and accused Russian forces of committing humanitarian violations — including use of “torture chambers,” “blackmail” and “starvation” — in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.
- Zelensky won’t give up the east: The Ukrainian President told CNN the country is not willing to give up territory in the eastern part of the country to end the war with Russia, and Ukraine’s military is prepared to fight Moscow’s military in the Donbas region in a battle he says could influence the course of the entire war.
Multiple parts of eastern Ukraine hit by heavier fighting, according to Ukrainian and Russian reports
From Tim Lister, Nathan Hodge and Yulia Kesaieva
Both Ukrainian officials and the Russian Ministry of Defense have reported widespread military action in the east of Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said Russian missile strikes against the town of Kramatorsk had destroyed at least eight residential buildings and educational and infrastructural facilities.
“Artillery shelling along the entire front line did not stop all night. The enemy fired most intensely in the Mariinka, Avdiivka, and Ocheretyne directions,” Kyrylenko said.
All three towns have suffered extensive bombardment in recent weeks but remain under Ukrainian control.
“No civilian casualties have been reported so far, but many houses have been damaged and electricity and gas supplies have been disrupted,” Kyrylenko said.
In neighboring Luhansk, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that on Sunday, Russian forces “fired mortars, artillery, and multiple rocket launchers at Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna, Lysychansk, Popasna, Hirske, and Zolote.”
“The enemy is deliberately targeting multi-storey and private households,” it added.
“Due to the shelling, 29 settlements remain without electricity, 38 settlements are without gas supply … There is no water supply in Rubizhne, Popasna.”
These cities and towns form a cluster of urban settlements that have been the Ukrainian front line for several weeks and have suffered extensive damage. Ukrainian officials estimate that 70% of Severodonetsk has been destroyed.
Despite the fighting, some evacuations have continued.
Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said 67 residents were rescued from Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Popasna, Lysychansk and Hirske.
“The security situation changes every hour. Where it was still safe in the morning, Russian shells are now exploding,” Haidai said.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Monday that Russian forces had launched precision air-launched missiles around Ukraine, claiming to have destroyed 16 Ukrainian military installations overnight.
The statement claimed Russian missiles hit five Ukrainian command posts, a fuel storage facility, three ammunition depots, and personnel and military equipment. Most of the targets were in or around Donbas.
CNN could not immediately verify those claims.
The authorities in the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, which borders Donetsk, says territorial defense brigades “have been fighting in the whole length of the front line.”
The spokesperson of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, Col. Ivan Arefyev, said there had been Russian shelling of several villages just inside the Donetsk region, including Staromayorske and Makarivka. Several settlements inside Zaporizhzhia region had also been hit, he said.
“Russian troops are using tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry. In addition, they bombard the region’s settlements with aviation, GRAD multiple rocket launchers, small arms artillery, 120-mm mortars and large-caliber machine guns,” Arefyev said, adding that “counter-offensive operations with the support of aviation, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, mortars, armored personnel carriers” were underway.
According to a CNN analysis of the battlefields, most of the villages reportedly hit inside Zaporizhzhia had not previously been targeted.
Death toll in Lviv missile strikes rises to seven
From CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva and Jo Shelley in Lviv
Seven people are dead and 11 injured after Russia launched four missile strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, regional military governor Maksym Kozytskyy said.
The toll could rise further as rescue efforts continue, he added.
“The rubble is still being dismantled, so the numbers [are] not final yet,” said Kozytskyy. “Three are heavily injured, a child is mildly injured.”
Three missiles hit warehouses and a fourth hit a tire repair shop, said Kozytskyy.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said the strikes shattered windows in eight residential buildings as well as a school.
Maria Holovchak, who lives across the road from the tire repair shop, said her neighbor’s windows were shattered. The 67-year-old told CNN she was in bed when she heard the explosions and saw her neighbors running out of the building.
“I prayed that God would protect us,” she said.
“No parts of Ukraine should be on the negotiating table,” Ukrainian lawmaker tells CNN
Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko has said that “no parts of Ukraine should be on the negotiating table” as the country continues its resistance, despite Russia’s bombardment of cities across the country Monday.
Vasylenko, a Member of Parliament for the Holos Party who was elected in 2019, was speaking to CNN after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was not willing to give up territory in eastern Ukraine to end the war with Russia.
“Ukraine is writing its own, new history and it’s also writing the new history of the world as it goes,” Vasylenko told CNN New Day from Prague, Czech Republic.
“If under any circumstances Ukraine is made to give up territories, it’s going to be a risk not just to Ukrainians living in Ukraine, but to the whole world,” she added.
“Because then a message will be sent to aggressors loud and clear that it’s okay to go in for land grabs, it’s okay to start aggressive wars and to terrorize civilian population, because nobody is actually going to be doing anything about it.”
She also said that Russia has committed “multiple war crimes” during the course of the war in Ukraine, a claim made by several Ukrainian officials that the Kremlin has denied.
Following Russia’s invasion nearly two months ago, Vasylenko told CNN that she had undertaken shooting practice and armed herself with an AK-47 and pistol.
“Are we not clear still that Russia is the one in the wrong here? That Russia has committed a crime of aggression?” she said.
She also said that Russia has committed “multiple war crimes” during the course of the war in Ukraine, a claim made by several Ukrainian officials that the Kremlin has denied.
“A trap for our defenders”: Mariupol adviser accuses Russia of offering false evacuation corridors
From CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva and Nathan Hodge in Lviv
Russian forces have been bombarding the Azovstal steel plant, a bastion of the Ukrainian defense, in the southeastern port city of Mariupol, said Petro Andriushchenko, a mayoral adviser, who accused Russia of trying to trap those defending the city.
Ukrainian forces are continuing to resist Russian attacks in the city after rejecting a deadline to surrender.
“The fighting in the Left Bank (Livoberezhnyi) district has been ongoing all day long,” Andriushchenko said in a statement on Telegram. “The occupiers continue to fire on and bomb Azovstal with all weapons.”
“Realizing that the defenders are not going to give up, the occupiers’ plans are clear,” Andriushchenko said.
“According to their message, the corridor for safe exit should have been marked with red flags, but no marks were made,” he said. “That once again confirms that they are only preparing a trap for our defenders.”
CNN cannot independently verify those claims.
Andriushchenko previously said that Mariupol would be closed for entry and exit starting on Monday, with Russian forces issuing passes for movement.
Andriushchenko also said Ukrainian men would be subject to “filtration” — relocated for screening by Russian forces. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.
Andriushchenko is not in Mariupol but works to gather information collected from people in the city, which has been under a weekslong siege.
Analysis: Biden and US allies face Ukraine aid dilemma
Analysis by CNN’s Maeve Reston
Ukraine’s military took a defiant stand this weekend — refusing to give in to Russia’s demand for Kyiv’s troops in the port city of Mariupol to surrender — at the same time that US President Joe Biden and his allies face a new precipice in deciding how far the US can go in arming the embattled country.
This comes as Russia signals that it may take more aggressive action to stop the flow of weapons from the US and NATO.
There are new worries about how quickly Ukraine could run out of ammunition as heavier fighting intensifies in Donbas, where Russia is trying to encircle and cut off Ukrainian forces in their quest to control that region.
As he tries to keep the pressure on allies to lend greater support in this next phase, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is arguing that the West must view that fight as a critical pivot point in curbing the unbridled ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and demonstrating the West’s commitment to defending democracy against a voracious autocratic power.
Zelensky warned that the battle ahead in Donbas “can influence the course of the whole war” and said his country has no intention of giving up territory in the eastern part of Ukraine to end the war during an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
If Russia is able to capture the Donbas region, Zelensky warned, it is entirely possible that Putin could renew his attempt to take control of Kyiv. When pressed by Tapper on whether he was satisfied with the US announcement last week of another $800 million in military aid to bolster Ukraine’s forces in the Donbas, Zelensky replied, “of course we need more.”
“There will never be enough. Enough isn’t possible,” Zelensky said, as he explained the challenges that lie ahead in the eastern region of his country.
“There is a full-scale war ongoing today, so we still need a lot more than what we have today … We do not have technical advantages over our enemy. We’re just not on the same level there.”
But even as that latest aid has begun arriving in the region, CNN’s Barbara Starr reported this weekend that there is rising concern about how quickly Ukraine could deplete its stores of ammunition in this next battle.
Though the US announced that it was sending 18 155mm Howitzer cannons and 40,000 artillery rounds as part of its latest package, Starr reported that a US official warned that the aid could be used up within a matter of days as heavy fighting intensifies in Donbas.
Read more here:
Control over city of Kreminna “lost” amid heavy fighting
From CNN’s Nathan Hodge and Tim Lister
Control over the city of Kreminna has been “lost,” according to Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, as Russian forces try to break Ukrainian resistance in the country’s east.
“At the moment, control over the city of Kreminna is lost” and heavy fighting continues, Haidai said on Telegram.
As residents tried to flee in their own vehicles, Russian forces opened fire on a car carrying civilians, said Haidai.
“Four people died. One seriously injured person is still at the scene,” he said.
“Doctors cannot reach her due to endless shelling.”
Russian forces have been trying to advance toward the borders of both Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region. Russia’s focus has shifted to the east since its failure to gain territory around the capital Kyiv, and other parts of the center and north of the country.
Earlier Monday, Russian forces entered the town with “a huge amount of equipment,” said Haidai, claiming that “the offensive has begun.”
More people are entering Ukraine from Poland than those going the other way
From CNN’s Lauren Kent in Przemysl, Poland
More people entered Ukraine from Poland on Friday and Saturday than the number of people who crossed the border the other way, according to the Polish Border Guard, in a first since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.
The Polish border agency recorded 22,000 people crossing into Ukraine from Poland on Saturday, with 19,200 people traveling the other way.
On Friday the agency recorded 25,100 people entering Ukraine, and 24,400 people traveling into Poland.
Some of those entering and exiting Ukraine are aid workers who cross the border frequently.
“We are Ukraine’s neighbors not only literally, but also in the sense of the common history and understanding of the situation,” Polish President Andrej Duda said Wednesday.
Some context: Over 2.7 million refugees have fled to Poland from Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the most of any country.
As the focus of Russia’s war has shifted to eastern Ukraine, some of those who fled to Poland and other neighboring countries have returned to areas regained by Ukrainian forces.
“Street fights” as Russians enter Kreminna in eastern Luhansk, Ukrainian official says
From CNN’s Nathan Hodge in Lviv and Tim Lister
Russian forces have entered Kreminna, a town in the eastern Luhansk region that has been bombarded for weeks as Russian forces push westwards in Donbas, a senior Ukrainian official said.
“The Russians entered Kreminna. Street fights began,” said Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, in a brief Facebook post early Monday.
The Russians had entered the town with “a huge amount of equipment,” he said.
The offensive has begun,” he said.
The Russians have been trying to break Ukrainian resistance in Kreminna and a string of towns and cities in Luhansk as they try to advance towards the borders of both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — the declared goal of President Vladimir Putin’s “special military mission.”
Evacuation was now impossible, Haidai said.
“We planned the evacuation, literally along forest paths, so that the people would not come under fire. But overnight the situation changed. While fighting [has broken out] in the city, it is unrealistic to count the civilians who remain there,” Haidai said.
Haidai said the Olympus sports facility in Kreminna was “burning down” and that fire was now covering an area of 2,400 square meters.
“Rescuers are working hard as there is a forest near the center,” he said.
Haidai said that elsewhere in the region two people had been killed and four injured in Zolote, while seven people had been recovered from the rubble of a building destroyed in Rubizhne.
On Sunday evening, Russian forces fired at a police building in Lysychansk, Haidai said, injuring six policemen.
The shelling continues, he said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-new-04-18-22/h_a02d205726b71283ce1399d9aacb3f53
