The price of blood in the war in Ukraine continues to rise, with more and more of the casualties in the fighting taking place in the country being civilians.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians live in cities and neighborhoods that are indiscriminately bombed by the Russian military, and many others are under siege, such as residents of Mariupol and Kharkiv.
One of the major focal points of the military attack on civilians is the city of Irpin, located southwest of the capital Kyiv.
Tens of thousands fled from the bombed-out city, while the Russian army held 30 percent of its territory.
A family of four was killed by a shell during her escape from the city, and horrific images of the incident caused a stir in the media and social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky referred to the incident and the deliberate attacks by the Russian army on residential neighborhoods: "We will not forget or forgive the Russian soldiers who deliberately murdered our people. They will have no quiet place in this world except their grave."
Crowded at the train station in Kiev, Photo: AP
There is nowhere to run
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olah Stefanishnia said the Russians had launched a special operation aimed at harming civilians in order to break the spirit of Ukrainian military resistance.
The words of the Ukrainian official echo the tremendous damage to human life and residential buildings throughout Ukraine.
Videos and photos circulated from the southeastern city of Mariupol reveal a barbaric extent of damage to residential buildings.
Diana Berg, a city resident who fled the weekend, wrote: "This is not a war. It is a deliberate murder of the Ukrainian people. Mariupol is completely besieged for a week. There is no light, no heating, no cellular network and no internet. There is no way out, the humanitarian corridor was false "The Russians do not allow any humanitarian aid to enter. There is a shortage of food and medicine."
"Every moment I get more calls from frightened people whose loved ones are in the city. They ask if I saw or heard from them. I was heartbroken to say I have no idea, that no one has. There is no communication from the city," the resident says in the message. "A ban on flying over Ukraine and the intervention of a third party will put an end to this terrorism."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky: "We will not forget or forgive the Russian soldiers who deliberately murdered our people", Photo: Reuters
The illusion of evacuation
Reports from the Ukrainian side show that Russia does not allow citizens of Irpin to get out of the danger zone.
Dima, a fighter in a special unit, says from the field that the Russians shelled a convoy of buses intended for evacuating civilians.
The images of civilians trying to escape across a bridge blown up by the Ukrainians, in an attempt to detain the Russian army, have become famous around the world, but the military siege on the city is only getting tighter.
In the nearby town of Hostomel, the mayor was shot dead by Russian soldiers as he went out to distribute humanitarian aid to residents.
Thousands gathered at the train station in the city of Kharkiv and tried to board trains departing south, fearing that train traffic would soon be cut off.
The city suffered from relentless shelling of residential neighborhoods, including hospitals, universities, kindergartens and schools.
The Russian proposal to provide "humanitarian corridors" to the citizens to escape through them has become a kind of sad joke, after already Tuesday of evacuation attempts ends in shootings and fighting that interrupt the evacuation.
In addition, out of the four evacuation corridors proposed by Moscow, three are leading to the territories of Russia or Belarus, and few, if any, Ukrainian refugees are interested in moving there.
In addition, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that Russian military forces had laid mines in an area designated for humanitarian evacuation.
Landmines in areas where civilians are passing are defined as a war crime, and Red Cross allegations have sparked outrage from senior Kiev officials, who have accused the Russians of attempting to massacre the fleeing civilians.
A shuffling war
Despite the heavy humanitarian catastrophe, the past day has not provided great reasons for optimism in Moscow.
The Russian attack on the city of Mikloev was caught in a series of attacks against Ukrainians.
Videos posted on social media show Ukrainian forces alongside a Russian artillery battery, which was completely destroyed in the shelling.
Also, forces of the Ukrainian army managed to reconquer a town near the airport and interrupt the attempted Russian siege.
It is not clear whether the Ukrainians will be able to hold on to these achievements over time, but this is a significant delay for the Russian forces.
Look children in the eye.
Farewell in Odessa, Photo: Reuters
If Moscow had hoped that the occupation of the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine would allow a quick and easy break into the Black Sea coast, the situation there now seems to be more complex.
Ukrainian reports show that large forces are concentrated near Odessa and are preparing to defend the city, the third largest in the country, from a Russian attack.
In addition, a Russian cruise ship was hit by Ukrainian fire near the city's shores during the night.
The ship, "Vasily Bikov", which has a crew of 33 sailors, was apparently hit by a barrage of Grad missiles fired from a Ukrainian coastal embankment.
It is not clear if the ship sank, but according to documentation released by the Ukrainians, it was severely damaged in the attack.
In the north, near the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian army forces ambushed a Russian fuel convoy and managed to hit tankers and set them on fire, not far from the city of Chernivtsi, which has been heavily shelled by the Russian army in recent days.
On the economic front, another drop was recorded yesterday at the ruble rate.
Product shortages were felt in the capital Moscow, and supermarket chains began to restrict consumption of certain products, mainly hygiene products and dry food, to prevent storage by residents.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us
