Russia launches more deadly air strikes, captures Ukrainian port city, while thousands flee

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Ukraine is preparing for another day of fighting on Wednesday as invading Russian forces say they are taking full control of Kherson and advancing on the capital, Kyiv, as troops continue to step up attacks on urban areas.

An air strike appears to be destroying an administrative building in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. A Ukrainian official posted footage of the devastating explosion on social media.

After a day of fierce fighting in the southern city of Kherson, near the annexed Crimea region, Russia says it is keeping the whole city under control. Russian tanks entered the Black Sea port city earlier this week amid fierce fighting.

Many panicked residents who remained in the Ukrainian capital in the early days of the war made desperate attempts to flee the city as an entire Russian army division approached Kyiv and air strikes shook the suburbs just outside the city.

Staff showed families, children, the elderly and the disabled trying to make their way to the already full trains outside the city on Tuesday, in which many believe it may be their last chance to escape the Russian siege.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on March 1, 2022

NY Post Graphics

Men of military age were ordered to remain in Ukraine to fight the Russian occupiers.

“It’s a great tragedy for me to leave my city,” one woman said as she hugged her dog.

“I don’t really know if I’m going to come back or not, and I don’t want to leave, but it’s completely dangerous to stay here.”

Two-thirds of a million people have fled Ukraine, while countless others have taken refuge underground. Many others did not have clean drinking water due to bomb damage.

Ukraine is holding back another day of fighting as invading Russian forces advance on Kyiv and surround the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol.

AP Photo / Sergey Nuzhnenko

“It’s a nightmare and it overwhelms you inside. This cannot be explained in words, “said Kharkov resident Ekaterina Babenko in a basement where she is sheltering with neighbors for the fifth day in a row.

“We have young children, elderly people and to be honest it’s very scary.”

As President Joe Biden told the Americans that Russia would “pay the price” for the invasion on Tuesday night, a 40-mile convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks advanced to the Ukrainian capital, delayed by logistics and supply problems.

Get the latest updates in the Russia-Ukraine conflict with the direct coverage of the Post.

“No one will forgive. No one will forget, “Biden said in a statement to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he began his first address on the state of the Union to the war, which entered its seventh day.

The number of civilian deaths continued to rise on Tuesday, with at least 136 deaths in Ukraine confirmed by the UN Office for Human Rights. It is believed that the real number of victims is much higher.

A top Western intelligence leader estimated that 5,000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed as fierce resistance continued to grip the invaders unprepared, embarrassing Moscow officials who expected to take over the country quickly.

To the world: what’s the point of saying “never again” for 80 years if the world is silent when a bomb falls in the same place on Babin Yar? At least 5 killed. History repeats itself …

– Vladimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) March 1, 2022

Russia became increasingly isolated on the national stage on Tuesday as economic sanctions crippled its economy. A Kremlin spokesman warned the West that “economic warfare” could become “real.”

China has distanced itself from its longtime partner and offered to help with ceasefire talks, but Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appears to have signaled that Russia’s loyal ally plans to launch an invasion of Ukraine’s former Soviet territory from Ukraine in a statement to its council. for security. The development came when Belarusian troops joined the war on Tuesday, despite the dictator’s promises not to fight.

Military experts worried the red-faced country would step up the artillery and aerial bombardment they had used to destroy Chechnya and Syria as the country shut down media calling the conflict an “invasion” or “war.”

An air strike appears to have destroyed an administrative building in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

AP Photo / Pavel Dorogoy

The British Ministry of Defense has already said it has seen an increase in air and artillery strikes. An attack on a TV tower in Kyiv and the main Holocaust memorial in Ukraine near a residential area killed five people, while Russia warned people living near broadcast facilities to leave their homes.

“To the world: what’s the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years if the world is silent when a bomb falls on the same spot on Babin Yar?” At least 5 killed. History repeats itself … “, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweets.

At least six people were killed when an administrative building on Svoboda Square in Kharkiv was hit by an alleged rocket.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said its consulate was destroyed in an explosion that blew up windows and walls of buildings in the massive square.

“This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said, calling the attack on Ukraine’s largest square “outright, undisguised terror” and a war crime.

“People are under the rubble. We took out bodies, “said Evhen Vasilenko, an ambulance officer.

An air strike in Zhytomyr killed at least two people, burned three houses and damaged a hospital, the mayor said. An air assault brigade in the city may have been the intended target of this attack.

A firefighter extinguished the bodies of passers-by killed after an air strike that hit Kiev’s main TV tower in Kyiv.

Photo by SERGEY SUPINSKI / AFP via Getty Images

The raids came when Human Rights Watch said it had documented the use of a cluster bomb in front of a Ukrainian hospital as residents of Kharkiv and Kiyanka reported brutal devices firing small bombs over a large area. Russia has denied using weapons.

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ended on Monday only with a negotiating agreement.

Zelenski said on Tuesday that his opponent must stop the attacks before returning to the table.

“As for the dialogue, I think so, but first stop bombing people and start negotiating after that,” he told CNN.

With AP wires