War in Ukraine: Russian troops now close to Kyiv - several cities under fire in the night

Created: 03/10/2022Updated: 03/10/2022 05:26

By: Cindy Boden, Andreas Schmid

The fighting in the Ukraine war continues.

Russia announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors".

Residents wait in basements for days.

Several cities are under fire during the night.

News ticker.

• Ukraine war*: Russia announces new evacuation corridors.

• Russia defends its attack on Mariupol Children's Hospital (

  see update of March 9, 10:53 p.m.

  )

• Several cities came under fire on Thursday night (

  see update from March 10, 4:30 a.m.

  )

• The Russian army is getting closer and closer to the capital Kiev (

  see update from March 9th, 21:05

  )

• This 

  news ticker on the Ukraine war

   is continuously updated.

  More on the background of the Ukraine crisis* here.

Update from March 10, 4:30 a.m .:

According to Ukrainian local authorities, several cities are said to have come under fire on Thursday night.

However, according to the Ukrainian army, its own armed forces are currently fending off the offensives of the Russian troops and are holding them back.

This was announced by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army on Thursday night on Facebook.

In some areas of operation, the Russian units had lost their combat effectiveness and introduced reserves.

Russian troops are continuing to encircle Kyiv and are also strengthening their units around the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, sources said.

There were also attacks in the Kharkiv region in the east of the country on the city of Izyum and the nearby villages of Petrivke and Hruschuvahka, in the Sumy region in the north-east on the city of Sumy and Oktyrka.

The information cannot be independently verified.

War in Ukraine: Three evacuation corridors planned from Sumy region of Ukraine

According to a Ukrainian official, three escape corridors are planned for Thursday to evacuate people from the Sumy region in the north-east of the country.

These led from the cities of Trostjanets, Krasnopillja and Sumy in the direction of the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, said the head of the Sumy regional administration, Dmytro Schywytskyi, on Thursday night on the Telegram news channel.

The start of the ceasefire for the routes concerned is scheduled for 8 a.m.

According to Schywytskyi, other places in the region have been submitted for escape corridors, but these have not yet been confirmed.

Escape corridors are routes that civilians can use to escape to safety.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday evening that six escape corridors were planned for Thursday.

It was initially unclear whether the three in the Sumy region would join these six or whether they were already included.

So far, the record for the humanitarian corridors has been mixed.

Above all, the evacuation of the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol has been a struggle for days.

Several attempts since Sunday had failed, and agreed ceasefires had not lasted.

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The news ticker.

Ukraine negotiations: Russia with a sudden change of course - Zelenskyj "ready to take certain steps"

Ukraine War: Several cities under fire at night

Update from March 10, 3:50 a.m .:

Ukrainian local officials reported shelling from several cities on Thursday night.

Russian planes bombed the area around the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, the head of the Sumy regional administration, Dmytro Shyvytskyi, wrote on Telegram.

Residential areas were again shelled in the town of Ochtyrka south of Sumy.

There is also information that a gas line had also been hit there.

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv also reported fire from multiple rocket launchers coming from the north.

"Either they are testing the robustness of our checkpoints, or they are preparing for an offensive," Mayor Olexandr Senkevich said in a live video on Facebook.

He called on people to sleep in the basement.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine war: Russia defends attack on children's hospital

Update from March 9, 10:53 p.m.:

Russia has defended its bomb attack on the children's hospital in the port city of Mariupol.

According to a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the Ukrainian army cleared the hospital and set up combat positions in the empty building.

These statements could not be conclusively verified independently.

Videos and images on social networks had shown a few hours ago that both staff and patients - including heavily pregnant women - were taken out of the building shortly after the bombing

.

quoted

the Mariupol City Council as saying about the attack.

The medical facilities were "completely destroyed".

Update from March 9, 9:55 p.m .:

As reported by the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, around 3,000 Ukrainians managed to escape from the embattled Kiev suburbs of Irpin and Vorzel.

"Around one hundred buses and ambulances were involved in the evacuation," the ministry said.

As early as noon, reports had accumulated that the Russian military had prevented many people from escaping, for example through blockades in Bucha and Gostomel (

).

"People who made it out of the blockade all share the same impressions of this occupation: looting, executions and attempts at intimidation," Andrey Nebitov, chief of the Kiev metropolitan police, is quoted as saying on

.

The parties to the conflict had actually agreed on humanitarian corridors to enable civilians to flee the suburbs.

War in Ukraine: Russian army continues to advance towards Kyiv

Update from March 9, 9:05 p.m .:

According to AFP reports, the Russian army is continuing its advance on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

So the fighters approached the big city of Brovary, near Kyiv.

Within a few days, the front line around the Ukrainian capital has shifted significantly: Five days ago, the Russian army was around 100 kilometers north-east of Kyiv, but on Wednesday it was only around 15 kilometers.

Residents in the capital region told AFP the fighting was intensifying.

Meanwhile,

, citing a senior Ukrainian official, reports that miles of cars have formed as people try to escape fighting in northern districts.

According to unconfirmed information, the traffic jam is said to be 15 kilometers long.

The report goes on to say that an attempt is being made to let the civilians through the checkpoints as quickly as possible.

However, IDs must be checked to prevent Russian saboteurs from using the evacuation to get behind the lines.

Despite the curfew, which actually starts at 8 p.m., the people in the cars are still being worked off, it is said.

War in Ukraine: death toll in Mariupol increases

Update from March 9, 8:30 p.m .:

The number of victims continues to rise in the contested Mariupol.

"1,300 residents of Mariupol died during the blockade genocide of the Russian Federation," is published

Petr Andryushchenko, an employee of the port city's mayor, was quoted as saying by Ukraine's UNIAN agency.

"Actually, we can't exactly determine how many deaths we have recorded - maybe even three or four times as much.

We can't even say exactly how many people died from bombs and artillery shelling on the streets," Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told

a few hours ago .

War in Ukraine: US defends rejected fighter jet shipment

Update from March 9, 8:20 p.m .:

The USA has again defended itself against the decision to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine with the help of Poland.

As the White House announced through a spokeswoman, there are "clear logistical obstacles" on site that are not easy to bridge.

Press secretary Jen Psaki compared the process to a "tight bottleneck".

War in Ukraine: US accuses Putin of using free-fall bombs

Update from March 9:

The US government accuses Russia of using so-called free-fall bombs in Ukraine.

There are indications that the Russians are dropping "stupid bombs," a US defense official said on Wednesday.

This means bombs that do not have a guidance system.

"In other words, they are not targeted," the official said.

However, it is not entirely clear whether this is intentional or whether the Russians' ability for precision guidance has been impaired.

One cannot prove whether a bomb was intended for a specific target or not.

The Pentagon also sees advances by the Russian army around the city of Kharkiv in the north-east of the country.

Russia's soldiers have recently moved closer to the city, the official said.

"We don't think they've taken the city yet.

But they approached her.” The Russians had also made progress around the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv.

“They are now approaching within 15 kilometers of the north of Mykolaiv.

They weren't there yesterday," the officer said.

276246136.jpg © Konstantin Mihalchevskiy

Russia confirms use of recruits in Ukraine war

Update from March 9, 7:22 p.m .:

Russia has admitted the use of conscripts in the war against Ukraine.

However, the Defense Ministry in Moscow emphasized on Wednesday that this had not been approved by the leadership.

According to the Tass agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, the military prosecutor's office would investigate these cases and punish those responsible.

Putin has repeatedly denied that conscripts are fighting in Ukraine.

"Almost all of these soldiers have already been withdrawn to Russia," the Defense Ministry said.

However, some conscripts were taken prisoner by the Ukrainians.

The dispatch of further recruits will be prevented by all means.

Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported further successes in the advance in Ukraine.

"81 Ukrainian radar stations of the Ukrainian air defense were destroyed." This means that the Ukrainian air defense is no longer able to resist the Russian air force.

In addition, Russian forces have so far destroyed 137 Buk M-1, S-300 and S-125 air defense systems.

"That's more than 90 percent of the long- and medium-range air defense systems in use."

Update from March 9, 5:35 p.m .:

From the suburbs of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, reports are piling up that attempts to evacuate the civilian population have largely failed.

This particularly affects the towns of Bucha and Gostomel.

As reported by the Bucha city council, the Russian military and 50 buses with civilians prevented them from exiting a humanitarian corridor.

“The evacuation was prevented.

It is impossible for us to bring the residents of Bucha and Hostomel to safety today," the city councilor was quoted as saying by

.

War in Ukraine: No power supply for Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Update from March 9, 5:04 p.m .:

The former Ukrainian nuclear power plant Chernobyl is cut off from the power supply about two weeks after it was taken by Russian units.

Power lines were damaged by the gunfire.

This was announced by the Ukrainian network operator Ukrenerho on Wednesday.

The electricity supply to the facility and its security systems was completely cut off as a result of “the military activities of the Russian occupier”.

Because of the ongoing Russian attacks, there is "no way" to restore the power supply.

Kuleba tweeted that "the backup diesel generators can power the power plant for 48 hours," but added that "after that, the cooling systems of the spent fuel storage facility will fail."

Currently, 20,000 fuel assemblies are stored in the facility's storage pool.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the radioactive material can continue to be safely stored despite the power outage.

However, given the time that has elapsed since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, "the thermal load on the pool and the volume of the cooling water are sufficient to ensure effective heat removal without electricity," it said on Twitter.

War in Ukraine: Maternity ward in Mariupol bombed

Update from March 9, 4:49 p.m

.: In Mariupol, in southern Ukraine, there was apparently an attack on a maternity ward.

The city of Mariupol released video footage and accused Russian troops of dropping several bombs on the hospital from the air.

The

reports that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that people, including children, are still under the rubble.

This information could not initially be verified independently.

Update from March 9, 4:08 p.m

.: The evacuations in the Ukraine war still do not work everywhere.

According to the separatists in the Donetsk region, there are also problems in the port city of Mariupol.

"People are leaving Mariupol as soon as possible on their own," spokesman for the pro-Russian forces Eduard Bassurin told Russian state television.

According to him, only 42 people were able to leave the city on the Azov Sea on Tuesday.

Ukraine, for its part, blamed the attackers.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter: "Russia continues to hold more than 400,000 people hostage in Mariupol, blocked humanitarian aid and evacuation." The indiscriminate shelling continues.

Evacuations started in other regions

.

In the Kyiv region, evacuations are planned in five districts: Vorzel, Borodyanka, Hostomel, Bucha and Irpin.

So far, those regions have been particularly hard hit by the Ukraine conflict.  

Update from March 9, 2:59 p.m

.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war immediately.

"My appeal to the Russian President is: stop the bloodshed, withdraw the Russian troops," Scholz said in Berlin on Wednesday.

"It is a terrible catastrophe for the Ukrainian people, but the Russian people are also suffering from this war."

Ukraine war news: “Group Wagner” is apparently planning an storm on Kyiv

Update from March 9, 1:30 p.m .:

Apparently the so-called “Group Wagner”, a mercenary group fighting for Russia, is supposed to organize the attack on Kiev.

According to

, this should emerge from a document from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The mercenaries should therefore reach the region around the Ukrainian capital on March 9 - disguised as Russian soldiers.

Together with the Chechen elite unit "Kadyrovits", "Group Wagner" is apparently supposed to strengthen the Russian ground troops in the Ukraine war and the storming of Kyiv.

Update from March 9, 12:23 p.m

.: The former Ukrainian nuclear power plant Chernobyl is cut off from the power supply about two weeks after it was taken by Russian units.

The Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenerho announced on Wednesday that power lines had been damaged by shelling.

Combat operations north of Kyiv currently prevented all repair work*.

Ukraine war news: Russia is probably losing airspace control - report sees "considerable successes" by Zelenskyy

Update from March 9th, 11.40 a.m

.: In the Ukraine war there are signs of a turning point in the fight for Ukrainian airspace.

At least that's what the British Ministry of Defense reports in its daily situation report.

It says:

• Fighting north-west of Kyiv continues without the Russian forces being able to make any significant breakthroughs.

• The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain surrounded by Russian forces and are under heavy fire

• Ukraine's air defenses appear to have scored significant successes against the Russian Armed Forces' modern fighter jets.

  Russia is thus unlikely to be able to control the airspace in any way.

Update from March 9, 11:07 a.m.:

According to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia is not aiming to overthrow the Ukrainian government.

In addition, "some progress has been made" in negotiations with government officials in Kyiv to settle the conflict.

Ukraine War News: Nuclear Workers "Tortured" by Russians?

Update from March 9, 10:22 a.m

.: The Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia is currently under Russian control.

Russia "tortured" nuclear plant personnel, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko claimed on Facebook.

The employees have been "held hostage for four days."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about these current developments in Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Ukraine informed the IAEA on Sunday that the nuclear power plant will continue to be operated by regular personnel, but that the plant management is now under the command of a commander of the Russian armed forces, whose approval is also required for all measures related to the technical operation of the six reactor blocks may be.

Russia exerts pressure.

Update from March 9, 9:36 a.m

.: The evacuation of civilians from the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.

The escape corridor in the direction of the central Ukrainian city of Poltava is open until 9 p.m. local time (8 p.m. CET), the head of the regional administration, Dmytro Shyvytskyi, wrote in the Telegram news channel in the morning.

The negotiating team worked on it all night.

The evacuations should start at 8 a.m. CET.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced a ceasefire from 8 a.m. (CET) in the morning to ensure the safe escape of civilians from Sumy and other cities.

According to this information, there should be corridors from Kyiv via Belarus to Russia.

An escape route is planned from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv to the Russian city of Belgorod, and from the port city of Mariupol to Rostov-on-Don.

Update from March 9th, 8.35 a.m .:

The consequences of the Ukraine war are increasingly reaching Germany.

You can read more about the reactions, such as the traffic light government or opposition parties, in our news ticker.

Update from March 9, 7:13 a.m .: According to

, there was an air alarm in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev

on Wednesday morning.

The residents should go to shelters as soon as possible, said the head of the regional administration, Oleksiy Kuleba.

There would be a risk of missile attacks.

Ukraine War News: New Russian military column is probably advancing on Kyiv - central hospital completely destroyed

First report from March 9th:

Kiev - It will probably be another attempt: Russia has also announced the opening of several "humanitarian corridors" in Ukraine for Wednesday (March 9th).

Local ceasefires should apply from 8 a.m. CET, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday evening, citing a department of the Ministry of Defense responsible for humanitarian issues.

Earlier, the first civilians had been taken via an official evacuation corridor from the embattled city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the fighting continued.

"The first convoy of 22 buses has already arrived in Poltava," a Kiev government official said on Tuesday evening.

Poltava is around 175 kilometers south of Sumy.

The people there are “safe,” the official said.

In Sumy, the Russian armed forces announced in the morning that they would set up an official escape corridor.

The shelling had stopped.

According to information from Kyiv, a second group of 39 buses was on its way to Poltava in the evening.

Ukraine war: resident hides in the basement for days

It is the first successful official evacuation operation in the Ukraine war in cooperation with the Russian attackers.

Several attempts to create safe escape routes for civilians from a number of besieged cities had previously failed.

Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for this.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is ready for talks with Russia.

In the northwestern Kiev suburb of Irpin, an AFP reporter observed hundreds of people continuing to cross the river of the same name on makeshift walkways made of boards and pieces of metal.

One resident reported that there was "no water, gas or electricity" and that she had to hide in the basement for days.

Desperate people also tried to leave the northern suburb of Bucha.

The US Department of Defense, meanwhile, reported a new Russian military column advancing on Kyiv from the northeast.

The main column from the north had come to a standstill several days ago.

An AFP reporter, meanwhile, reported miles of cars queuing from the town of Mykolaiv near Odessa in the south of the country.

People there fled ongoing fighting in the region.

Shots could be heard.

News about the Ukraine war: Central hospital completely destroyed

Eventually, the Ukrainian General Staff reported renewed fighting in Izyum to the east.

The central hospital there was completely destroyed, the city administration announced.

According to the Ukrainian government, 300,000 civilians are still stuck in the embattled, strategically important port city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea.

Evacuation attempts via humanitarian corridors had previously failed there.

You can read more about the Ukraine-Russia negotiations in our news ticker.

A destroyed house in the Donetsk People's Republic-controlled village of Sopyne on March 8.

© Sergei Bobylev/ITAR-TASS/Imago

Ukraine War News: USA warn of Russian conquest of research facilities

US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, meanwhile, warned that Russian troops could take control of "biological research facilities" in Ukraine*.

The US government "is working with the Ukrainians on how to prevent these research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach," she told a US Senate hearing on Tuesday.