Russia has continued its advance on Ukraine, with “ruthless attacks” overnight in the key cities of Mariupol and Chernihiv as terrified citizens try to flee their burning homes.
Fighting has continued overnight in northern Ukraine while residential districts and civilian infrastructure is struck indiscriminately by Russian shells as the invasion enters its tenth day.
Shelling in Kyiv and Mariupol
Footage verified by Sky News shows the continued shelling of the country’s key cities including Kyiv and Mariupol, while a massive blast was caught on a TV camera in Irpin.
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Following days of intense shelling, the port city of Mariupol nearly lost most of its phone services and raised the prospect of food and water shortages, with mayor Vadym Boichenko saying the city “came under enemy fire” by Russian forces in continuing “ruthless attacks”.
In Kyiv, a vast Russian armoured column threatening the Ukrainian capital remains stalled on the outskirts.
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But Russia’s military has launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites across the country.
Key developments:
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said battles involving airstrikes and artillery continued northwest of Kyiv, and the northeastern cities of Kharkiv and Okhtyrka came under heavy fire.
In the south of Kyiv, a Russian airstrike on a residential area in Markhalivka killed seven people, including two children.
Homes burn down in Chernihiv
As homes in Chernihiv burned following Russian shelling, one resident accused Europe of being a bystander as the violence rages on.
“We wanted to join NATO and the EU and this is the price we are paying, and NATO cannot protect us,” she said.
Another frightened Chernihiv woman was devastated after her house was set on fire.
“I was asleep and they (Russians) started to shoot, and the fire broke out. Now we are burning down,” she said.
“My house was hit twice. A first time and then a second. What have you done to my house and to the country you fascist?”, she said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He is an imbecile. How the whole world cannot stop him?”
Ukraine says that more than 840 children have been wounded in the invasion, and 28 have been killed.
At least 331 civilians have been confirmed killed but the true number is probably much higher, the UN human rights office said.
Kyiv’s central train station remained crowded with people desperate to join the more than 1.2 million who have fled the country. “People just want to live,” one woman told reporters.
What is happening in other cities?
In Kherson, brave citizens came out to protest against the Russian occupation and tell Putin’s soldiers to go back to Russia.
Protest in occupied Kherson pic.twitter.com/FmU0Qz0QjM
The occupiers tried to disperse the rally by firing shots in the air.
