Washington – Fighting is raging around Mariupols Illich Steel and Iron Works plant as Ukraine tries to holds on in the southern city and break Russ
Washington – Fighting is raging around Mariupol’s Illich Steel and Iron Works plant as Ukraine tries to holds on in the southern city and break Russia’s siege. Meanwhile, Russia is threatening to increase its missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Russia used long-range bombers to attack Mariupol on Friday for the first time since its February 24 invasion, Ukraine Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said. ‚The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now, the Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city, but as of now, the Russians haven’t managed to completely capture it,“ Motuzyanyk said. Elsewhere, Russian forces were concentrating on seizing the cities of Rubizhne and Popasna, in Ukraine’s east. Also in the region, Russian shelling hit a residential area in Kharkiv, killing seven people, including a small child, and injuring 34 others, the regional governor said Friday. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 2,864 people were evacuated from conflict areas Friday, including 363 from Mariupol,370 from the Luhansk region in the east, and 2,131 people from cities in the Zaporizhzhia region. FILE – In this file photo taken on Dec.17,2015, the Russian missile cruiser Moskva patrols in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec.17,2015. Also, a senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. believes that Ukrainian forces struck the Russian warship Moskva with two Neptune missiles, causing it to sink. The confirmation Friday came after Ukrainian forces said they had attacked the cruiser in the Black Sea, while Russian officials claimed the ship had experienced a fire.
