The air raid sirens has sounded practically throughout the country this Monday, a reflection of a warlike conflict that does not go out for a moment, where the Stop the fire is still a chimera, and civilians have literally become cannon fodder in a fratricidal war that is about to complete a month since it began on last february 24. In this hopeless scenario, at dawn on the twenty-fifth day of war, at least eight people have died in a attack on retroville mall, located less than ten kilometers from the center of kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The site, which according to Russian sources was recently used as a depot by Ukrainian forces, remained closed to the public already for several days.
Thus, another day, the snapshot, already with the morning light, has been transformed into an image as gloomy and surreal as usual these days in Ukraine: that of bodies lying on the ground, covered by black plastics and bloodstained canvases, in front of an H&M store and within walking distance of a McDonalds. Where the firefighters of the Ukrainian capital, now converted into involuntary and daily heroes of this war, had had to control again -for more than eight hours, according to witnesses- the large fire that developed after the attack.
In these circumstances, for the third time since the beginning of hostilities, the kyiv city council has once again imposed, for the entire population, a curfew continued until Wednesday morning. During this period of time, citizens will not be allowed to go outside, except to reach the anti-aircraft shelters. All this with the same motivation that the Ukrainian authorities have been repeating since the beginning of the Russian invasion: to combat alleged Russian infiltrators who would act in the city.
Mariupol’s delicate situation
On another front, in the south of the country, in the besieged Mariupol, a city completely destroyed by bombing and where survivors recount Dantesque scenes, the ultimatum made by Moscow on Sunday for the Ukrainian Army to hand over the city has expired without the response being positive. The Ukrainian government has refused to surrender and leave the strategic city port to Russia, as the Kremlin had requested. However, the situation in Mariupol remains dire, with thousands of civilians still trapped inside the city and unable to escape to safer places due to the lack of reliable humanitarian corridors.
Whereas in Odessain southwestern Ukraine, has experienced the first attack from the start of the conflict. The bombardment, which has affected a residential area, has only caused material damage with no recorded fatalities, according to information released by Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the military administration of the Odessa region. While in Sumy, in the north, the local authorities have warned of a ammonia leak “highly toxic” from a chemical plant as a result of an attack, which the Ukrainian Emergency Services have later clarified that the substance has not implicated risk some for the population.
Much concern has also been caused by the Zhitomir region, in whose regional capital a nursery school and the city’s military airport were attacked in recent days. Here the war has claimed the lives of at least four people, three soldiers and one civilian, as reported by the Ukrainian authorities, in what is feared to be a preliminary maneuver for a later ground approach of Russian troops to the area.
Kharkiv under constant bombardment
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In addition to these towns, the situation in Kharkov also continues to be alarming, whose mayor, Igor Terekhov, has said that a large part of the buildings have been destroyed and the bombings continue to be constant. “Last night there was artillery fire”, Terekhov reported, speaking to Reuters. Meanwhile, in Kherson, a city taken by Russia, a demonstration by pro-Ukrainian activists has ended with shots fired by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian authorities. “Russian security forces they came running, they started throwing stun grenades into the crowd and shooting,” the press service of the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement.
And also in the west, closer to the border with Poland, several people have been injured by an attack on infrastructures in the Rivne region, as reported by the Russian Defense Ministry and confirmed by the local mayor, Alexandr Tretiak. “According to the first information, there are several injured,” the mayor detailed. Although he is also concerned about the fate of the displaced that, according to Ukraine, Russia is transferring to its territory, including hundreds of children who have been transferred from the Donbas region. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, only during Saturday, a total of 2,389 minors would have been separated from their families.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.