Russian aircraft bombarded many cities in Ukraine, including Kiev and Lviv, and forces concentrated on Kharkov.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on April 16 announced that its military aircraft used long-range weapons with high precision to attack an armor repair factory in the capital. Kiev of Ukraine. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the factory under attack was located in the Darnyrsky district.
The explosion left at least one person dead and several injured. Mr. Klitschko suggested that those who had been evacuated from Kiev do not rush back, because the Ukrainian capital has once again become the target of ambushes by the Russian army.
The Ukrainian military on the same day said that a Russian plane that took off from Belarus launched a missile towards Lviv, near the Polish border. Ukraine’s air defense announced it shot down four Russian cruise missiles.
Ukrainian servicemen examine the wreckage of a Russian tank in Rusaniv, Kiev province on April 16. Image: AFP.
Another missile strike in the Kharkov province in eastern Ukraine left at least one person dead and 18 injured, according to a statement today from the governor. The Russian military bombarded a Ukrainian military vehicle factory in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, updated the special military operation in Ukraine from February 24 to April 16 that destroyed 133 Ukrainian warplanes, 458 drones, 2,246 tanks and armor, 252 roket launchers, 981 artillery and mortars, and 2,146 specialized military vehicles.
He added that Russian air defense shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet 15 kilometers south of the city of Izyum.
Russian rockets and artillery bombarded an additional 811 military targets in Ukraine, of which 43 were in command roles, 8 were fuel logistics targets and 760 were concentrated enemy personnel targets.
General Konashenkov said that 16 targets of Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including facilities with a lot of combat equipment and arsenals, were destroyed by the Russian military with high-precision missiles.
In MariupolRussian forces took control of the Ilyich steel plant. The Ukrainian side confirmed that some forces were still entrenched in the city, concentrated at the Azovstal steel plant.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said fighting continues in the area around the factory and the Russian military is mobilizing reinforcements to take full control of the city.
The prospect of ending all resistance efforts in Mariupol will be considered the most important “victory” in the Russian military campaign after nearly two months, experts say. This is the main port city of the Donbass region, where two separatist polities including the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic have been unilaterally recognized by Russia and declared to be protected.
Black smoke rises from the Lysychansk oil refinery, about 120 kilometers north of the city of Donetsk in the province of the same name, on April 16 after being shelled. Image: AFP.
Ukrainian officials and generals have warned that the Russian military is increasing its activity in the east and south, especially after the incident. flagship Moscow sunk in the Black Sea on April 15. Russia is increasing its military activity, specializing in shelling in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new offensive.
The provincial Kharkiv has been subjected to many shelling in recent times. Ukraine’s General Staff warns Russian troops and eastern separatists are gathering near Slobozhansky, aiming to blockade the southern corridor of the city of Kharkov. About 22 groups of tactical battalions of the Russian army are gathered near Izyum In the same area, each tactical unit consisted of about 1,000 soldiers.
LIVE Donetsk, Russia showed signs of heading towards the two towns of Popasna and Rubizhne once the operation at Mariupol was completed. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian army, Russian forces are increasing the intensity of shelling of defensive positions near Popasna, “improving tactical conditions before entering the area further”.
Provincial Government Lugansk continued to urge people to evacuate before the fighting escalated seriously. More than 70,000 civilians in Lugansk have not yet moved to safe areas, according to the head of the provincial administrative committee Serhii Haidai. In the past 52 days, the provincial government has evacuated about 32,000 people, while 200,000 people left the war zone by themselves.
Haidai also accused Russia of shelling and damaging gas pipelines in the towns of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, killing one person and injuring three.
The appearance of the Ukrainian battlefield after 8 weeks of fighting. Graphics: Al Jazeera. Click on the map to see details.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the national armed forces had lost 2,500-3,000 people after 52 days of hostilities. He confirmed that the Russian side lost about 20,000 troops, while the last announced number of soldiers killed by the Russian side was 1,351 people on March 25.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) updated the number of Ukrainian citizens who fled the country for refuge, increasing by about 40,200 cases after a day, to about 4.83 million. If the evacuated foreigners are included, a total of more than 5 million people have left Ukraine.
Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR representative in Ukraine, said that the war in the Eastern European country is one of the fastest evolving humanitarian crises in many years.
Trung Nhan (According to Reuters, CNN, AFP, TASS)
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