Ukraine war: Russia's bombs fall on Kyiv again - that happened at night

Created: 03/03/2022, 11:09 am

By: Franziska Schwarz

Ukrainian cities are also under fire, according to US information, Russian troops are increasingly targeting civilians.

The developments of the night.

Kyiv – The Russian army is increasingly targeting civilians in the Ukraine conflict* – this is how the government under US President Joe Biden* describes it.

"Hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians have already been killed or injured," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The consequences for the population are "staggering".

The Russian military is attacking buildings and cities that “are not military targets,” he emphasized: “The humanitarian impact will increase in the coming days.”

Experts condemn the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine

Meanwhile, experts denounce the use of cluster munitions against the Ukrainian population.

This is reported by the German Press Agency (dpa) and quotes Simone Wisotzki from the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research: "We have to prepare for terrible suffering."

According to Wisotzki, cluster munitions are not precision weapons.

Pictures and videos, mainly from Kharkiv, the second largest Ukrainian city, showed explosions and ammunition remains that can be assigned to this type of ammunition.

Several people, including children, have already died.

Cluster munitions are rockets or bombs that burst while still in the air over the target, releasing a large number of small explosive devices.

These mini-bombs then fall to the ground in a scattered manner, killing anyone nearby.

Cluster bombs are outlawed in most countries around the world.

Destruction in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city © SERGEY BOBOK/AFP

Ukraine conflict: New video message from Zelenskyj

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj* has declared a tough fight against his country's opponents.

"You will not have peace here, you will not have food here, you will not have a quiet minute here," said the 44-year-old in a video message on Facebook on the night of March 3.

Occupiers would only get one thing from the Ukrainians: "So fierce resistance that they will forever remember that we will not give up what is ours."

Ukraine war: air raid and explosions in the capital Kyiv

According to the Unian agency, an air alarm was triggered in Kyiv.

Videos circulated online showing massive detonations in the Ukrainian capital.

At first it was unclear whether it was an air raid and what the goals could have been.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in Telegram: "The enemy is trying to break through to the capital."

A bullet south of Kiev's main train station had previously injured at least one person.

A man was taken to hospital with a shrapnel wound to his leg, according to local authorities.

Ukrainian media also reported on fighting in the suburbs of the metropolis.

A Russian plane is said to have been shot down.

Scene from Kyiv on March 2nd: Two police officers transport the body of a passerby who was killed in an air raid.

© ARIS MESSINIS/AFP

Ukraine conflict: Russian troops take the city of Cherson

The Ukrainian authorities confirmed in the night that the Russian army has taken the port city of Kherson.

Regional head of administration Gennady Lakhuta wrote in Telegram that Russian "occupiers" were in all parts of the city and "very dangerous".

Cherson is a big city in the south of the country with more than 290,000 inhabitants.

Cherson's mayor Igor Kolychayev reported of "enormous difficulties in recovering and burying the dead" and in providing food and medicine.

He wrote on Facebook that he had "made no promises" to the Russians and "urged them not to shoot people."

Kolychayev declared a curfew and imposed restrictions on vehicle traffic.

“So far everything is going well.

The flag waving above us is the Ukrainian one.

And to keep it that way, these demands must be respected,” he wrote.

Ukraine War: Battle for strategically important port city of Mariupol

The port city of Berdyansk has already been conquered by Russian troops, and an attack on the port city of Mariupol (about 440,000 inhabitants) is under way.

Mariupol is near the so-called line of contact between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk region.

The city is strategically important.

"Today was the most difficult and cruel day of the seven days of war," Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko said in Telegram.

Residential buildings would also be fired upon by the Russian army.

Important infrastructure was damaged: "We are again without light, without water, without heating," he said.

According to the authorities, more than 130 people have been injured in air raids in Mariupol.

Ukraine blames President Vladimir Putin*'s troops for this.

The information could not be independently verified.

Conflict with Russia: International Criminal Court investigates war crimes in Ukraine

The sanctions against Russia are being expanded: on the night of March 3, US airspace was closed to Russian aircraft.

Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland and the European Union had previously taken this step because of the Ukraine war.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched investigations into possible war crimes in Ukraine.