63rd day of war in Ukraine: Kiev says it will attack Russian forces on the island of Zmiinyi
Ukraine announced it had attacked positions of Russian forces on Zmiinyi island in the Black Sea as hostilities neared their ninth week.
“Our forces have launched attacks on enemy positions on Zmiinyi island. The damage of the Russian side is being clarified,” the Ukrainian military announced on social media late on April 26, saying it had attacked a checkpoint along with an air defense system.
Russia has not yet commented on the Ukrainian statement.
Zmiinyi Island has an area of about 17 hectares, is one of the important features in the establishment of Ukraine’s territorial waters. Before the war, about 100 people lived on the island of Zmiinyi, mostly Ukrainian border guards.
In March, Ukraine said that its unit based on the island would not let go when the cruiser Moskva approached the island, but Russia later released a video showing 82 soldiers on the island of Zmiinyi surrendering and being returned to Crimea. The group of captured soldiers was later returned to Ukraine through a prisoner exchange.
Ukrainian soldiers on a military vehicle near Izyum, Kharkov, on April 23. Image: Reuters.
Ukraine on April 27 said that Russian forces stepped up their ground offensive, advancing deeper in Eastcontrolled the villages of Velyka Komyshuvakha, Zavody in Kharkov Oblast and gained control of the towns of Zarichne, Novotoshkivske in Donetsk Oblast.
Russia on the same day announced that its Kalibr missiles had hit a warehouse containing many weapons shipped to Ukraine by the US and Europe in the province. Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry earlier warned that Russian forces were “continuing their offensive in the direction of Nyzhnye and Orikhiv” in Zaporizhzhia, southeast of the country.
In the southern port city Mariupol, assistant mayor Petro Andryushchenko said that Russia has resumed its attack on the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian defense forces and civilians are hiding. Andryushchenko added that Russia and Ukraine still have not reached an agreement on the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on April 27 that he would find ways to impose penalties contractual finesg with Russia after it stopped supplying gas.
Russia on the same day warned it could stop supplying gas to European customers if they refused to pay in rubles, after cutting supplies with Poland and Bulgaria.
Russia on April 27 announced it would expel 8 Japanese diplomat in a “tit-for-tat” move. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned representatives of the Japanese embassy in Moscow and asked eight diplomats to leave Russia by May 10. Japan earlier expelled eight Russian diplomats to protest the hostilities in Ukraine.
The United Nation secretary general Antonio Guterres announced on the same day that he had arrived in Kiev after a visit to Moscow and would hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We will continue to work to expand humanitarian assistance and ensure the evacuation of civilians from conflict areas. The sooner this war ends, the better for Ukraine, Russia and the world,” he said. Guterres wrote on Twitter.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) noted that more than 5.3 million Ukrainians had left the country after February 24, when Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported 5,939 civilian casualties, of which 2,787 died and 3,152 were injured. The agency warned the actual number could be much higher.
The direction of Russian penetration in eastern Ukraine. Click on the picture to see details.
Ngoc Anh (According to Reuters/AFP)
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