The death toll in the war in Ukraine continues to rise with casualties increasingly being seen among the civilian population. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians live in cities and neighborhoods that are being indiscriminately bombed by the Russian military, and many others, like the residents of Mariupol and Kharkiv, are under blockade.
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One of the cities where civilians have been hit the hardest is Irpin, located southwest of Kyiv. Tens of thousands of people have fled the city, 30% of which is controlled by Russian forces. A family of four was killed while trying to escape the city, and terrifying images of the situation have caused an uproar in the media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy related to the incident and the Russian military's intentional bombing of residential neighborhoods, saying, "We won't forget and we won't forgive the Russian soldiers who intentionally killed our people. They will find no safe haven in this world outside of their graves."
Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said the Russians had launched a special operation targeting civilians to break the Ukrainian military's spirit of resistance.
Images and videos taken in the southeastern city of Mariupol revealed massive damage to residential buildings. Diana Berg, a Mariupol resident who fled the city over the weekend, wrote in a message, "This is not war. This is the intentional murder of the Ukrainian people. Mariupol was completely under siege for a week. There is no light, no heating, no cellular network, and no internet. There is no way out. The humanitarian corridor is a lie, and the Russians don't let any humanitarian assistance in. There is a shortage of food and medicine.
"Every minute, I get more calls from frightened people whose loved ones are in the city. They ask if I have seen or heard from them. My heart is broken from saying I have no idea, no one does. There are no media from the city," they said. "Russia is lying. Russia is killing civilians. Only a no-fly zone over Ukraine and the intervention of a third side will put an end to this terror."
While Russia's Defense Ministry announced on Monday it had opened humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians to be evacuated from the cities of Kyiv, Cherhihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol, Ukrainian reports Sunday indicated civilians had been unable to flee Irpin.
Dima, a fighter with a special Ukrainian unit, said the Russians had bombed a convoy of buses sent to evacuate civilians. Images of civilians attempting to flee across a bridge bombed by the Ukrainians in an attempt to stall Russian soldiers have gone viral around the world, yet the military blockade on the city has only tightened since. Russian soldiers shot and killed the mayor of the nearby town of Hostomel while he was out distributing humanitarian aid to residents.
Thousands of people crowded together in the subway beneath the city of Kharkiv and tried to board trains heading south out of concern they would soon stop running. Residential neighborhoods, including hospitals, universities, kindergartens, and schools, in the city, suffered from unprecedented shelling.
The Russian proposal to create "humanitarian corridors" to allow civilians to flee had become something of a joke after three days of attempts to flee ended in shootings and fighting that prevented evacuation. In addition, three of the four humanitarian corridors proposed by Russia lead into Russian or Belarusian territory. As a result, very few Ukrainian refugees have shown any interest in taking advantage of Russia's offer.
The International Red Cross has confirmed Russian forces laid landmines in the area to be designated a humanitarian corridor. The laying of landmines in areas where civilians pass through is considered a war crime, and the Red Cross' claims have triggered furious reactions in Kyiv, which accused the Russians of attempting to butcher fleeing civilians.
In the meantime, there has not been much reason for optimism in Moscow. A Russian offensive on the city of Mykolaiv was met with a series of counterattacks.
Videos shared on social media show Ukrainian force alongside a Russian artillery battery that was completely destroyed in the shelling. Likewise, Ukrainian military forces succeeded in regaining control of a town adjacent to the airport and preventing Russian attempts to blockade it. Whether the Ukrainians succeed in maintaining their achievements in the long-term remains to be seen, but this is nevertheless a significant delay for Russian forces.
If Moscow had hoped the conquest of Kherson in the south of Ukraine would allow them to quickly and easily break through to the Black Sea, the situation there now seems far more complicated. Ukrainian reports indicate large forces are concentrated near Odesa and are prepared to defend Ukraine's third-largest city from attack. Moreover, a Russian reconnaissance ship was hit with Ukrainian fire near the city's shores overnight. The "Vassily Bykov," which has 33 crewmembers, was apparently hit with a barrage of Grad rockets fired by a Ukrainian coastal battery. It remains unclear whether the ship sank, but according to Ukrainian reports, it sustained serious damage in the attack.
In the north of the country, near the capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian forces ambushed a Russian fuel convoy and succeeded in setting the fuel tanker on fire near the city of Chernihiv, which the Russians had heavily shelled in the days prior to the incident.
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