Russia is continuing its offensive across Ukraine, pounding populated areas with artillery and air strikes and deploying siege tactics on the 18th day of the attack.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Air strike launched on Ukraine military base
An air strike has been launched on a Ukrainian military base in Yavoriv in the west of the country near the Polish border, the Lviv regional military administration said.
Russia “launched an air strike on the International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security”, head of the Lviv regional administration, Maxim Kozitsky, said on his verified Facebook page, adding that eight missiles were fired.
The centre, less than 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Polish border, did not say whether it had been hit. It said it would release details later.
Ukraine readies for ‘relentless defence’ of Kiev
Ukraine has prepared for a “relentless defence” of Kiev as the capital faced possible encirclement by advancing Russian forces who have also kept up a bombardment of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.
Only the roads to the south remain open in Kiev and the city was preparing to mount a “relentless defence”, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital, described by a senior Ukrainian official as a “city under siege”, was reinforcing defences and stockpiling food and medicine.
Russia claims Ukraine is not letting people flee fighting
Russian National Defence Command Centre head Mikhail Mizintsev has blamed Ukraine for the failure of humanitarian corridors for civilians trying to leave the country.
According to Mizintsev, “the Russian Federation for the eighth time provided humanitarian corridors in the Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol directions, one humanitarian corridor to the Russian Federation, and another one – through the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities towards the western borders of Ukraine.”
“There are already 2,638,989 of them (people wishing to evacuate to Russia) with specific names and addresses from almost two thousand settlements in Ukraine,” but this data is being used by the Security Service of Ukraine units “to detect all calls, conduct mass total checks, detentions and arrests, searches, and interrogations,” he said.
The UN Security council gathered on Friday at Russia’s request. During the meeting, UN officials rejected Moscow’s claims that the US is developing a biological weapons programme with Ukraine pic.twitter.com/sjQ9eeR6V5
— TRT World (@trtworld) March 12, 2022
Russia’s operation in Ukraine could lead to World War III: Trump
Former US President Donald Trump has said that the situation in Ukraine will get worse, claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin would not stop.
“This could lead to World War III,” Trump said during a rally in the state of South Carolina. “I see what’s happening. Because if you think Putin is going to stop, it’s going to get worse and worse. He’s not going to accept it and we don’t have anybody to talk to him.”
“You had somebody to talk to him with me,” he then told the crowd. “Nobody was ever tougher on Russia than me,” he added.
UN to hold more meetings this week on Ukraine
The United Nations is set to have multiple meetings this week about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, though it is unclear if they will lead to the adoption of an official text, diplomats said.
On Monday, the Security Council will discuss the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Although this is an annual meeting, it will place special focus on the operation in Ukraine and will likely see fresh calls for peace.
In addition, the Security Council may finally meet on human rights violations, according to diplomats.
Humanitarian ‘catastrophe’ widens as Russia advances its assault
Russian forces upped the pressure on Kiev and pummelled civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities, amid fresh efforts to deliver aid to the devastated port city of Mariupol.
Both Ukrainian and Russian officials described the quickly worsening humanitarian situation as “catastrophic.”
In Moscow, the defence ministry described an unrelenting push on the ground, reporting that Russian forces had advanced 12 kilometers (7 miles) over “a broad front” during the day, without specifying exactly where.
Zelenskyy warns against ‘pseudo-republics’
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a message said, “the occupiers in the Kherson region are trying to repeat the sad experience of the formation of pseudo-republics.”
“Ukraine will withstand this challenge.”
Ukraine’s gas reserves at 9.5 bcm – PM
Ukraine’s gas reserves amount to 9.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) with production continuing at all facilities except at plants in areas where fighting is taking place, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said.
Before Russia’s assault, Ukraine consumed around 30 bcm of gas per year, producing 20 bcm and importing the remaining volumes from Europe (Hungary, Slovakia, Poland).
Ukraine used to import Russian gas but switched to European energy in November 2015 after Russia’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and the outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine fixes statement: Ten civilians killed outside of agreed area
The seven women and children who Ukraine says died when Russian forces attacked a convoy escaping a village in the Kiev region were not as previously stated in an agreed evacuation corridor, the defence ministry said.
Ukraine’s intelligence service initially said those who died outside Peremoha on Friday had been in a “green corridor” agreed with Russia.
A defence ministry statement later said people had in fact tried to escape by themselves, “so they began evacuating without the ‘green corridor’ agreed by the parties.”
Satellite images show fire in residential areas of Mariupol
Satellite images taken on Saturday morning showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private US company said.
Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged. TRT World could not independently verify the images.
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Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Live blog: Russia strikes Ukrainian military base near Polish border
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