Ukraine war: Rocket attack in Donetsk kills 20 - and allegations on both sides
Created: 03/15/2022 05:18
By: Marcus Giebel, Bettina Menzel
The Ukraine war is heading into its fourth week.
Apparently there was an explosion near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
The news ticker.
Ukraine conflict*: Russian troops have been fighting for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine since February 24.
Now the Ukrainians are reporting an explosion very close to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (
see first report
) and an attack on an aircraft factory near Kiev
(see update from March 14, 6:48 p.m.)
.
In Donetsk, 20 people died after a rocket attack.
Russia and Ukraine blamed each other.
(
see update from March 14, 8:43 p.m.
).
This
news ticker on the Ukraine war
is updated regularly.
Here you will find the background to the Ukraine war*.
Ukraine War: Battles for strategically important cities continue
Update from March 15, 5:18 a.m .:
The bombing and blockades of important cities in Ukraine continue.
Authorities in the eastern city of Kharkiv reported Monday night that a Russian airstrike killed two and wounded another.
In Chushuyev, southeast of the city, a 15-year-old was also killed in an attack on a youth facility.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia is planning increased "regroupings" of its troops in the direction of Kharkiv.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had previously announced that it reserved the right to conquer the large cities that had already been surrounded.
In such a case, however, there would be humanitarian corridors to protect the civilian population, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
President Vladimir Putin has so far refrained from an "immediate attack" on the capital Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities "to avoid major civilian casualties".
The Ukrainian army, meanwhile, denied a rocket attack on the pro-Russian separatist-held city of Donetsk, which Russians say has killed more than 20 people.
(see update from March 14, 8:43 p.m.)
Ukraine War: Further shelling of Kharkiv
Update from March 14, 11:31 p.m
.: Apparently there was another shelling on Kharkiv.
Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Facebook that Kharkiv was hit by short-range Iskander ballistic missiles based in Russia.
This information could not be independently verified.
Russia initially did not comment on the alleged incident.
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War in Ukraine: Interactive map shows how close Russian attacks are to NATO border
The Russian war in Ukraine spreads west.
Because the attacks are moving dangerously close to Polish airspace, the situation could escalate.
War in Ukraine: Interactive map shows how close Russian attacks are to NATO border
Update from March 14, 10:39 p.m
.: According to Kiev, almost 150,000 civilians have been brought to safety from regions besieged by Russian troops since the beginning of the war.
"We have established 26 humanitarian corridors," said Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Administration Kyrylo Tymoshenko, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
"Thanks to them, a very large number of people could be evacuated by bus."
According to Tymoshenko, the refugee corridors were set up in the regions of Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv in the north-east of the country and Zaporizhia in the east.
In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists, civilians were also brought to safety before the fighting, Tymoshenko said.
Ukraine War News: Rocket attack in Donetsk kills 20 - and allegations on both sides
Update from March 14, 8:43 p.m .:
According to information from Moscow and the pro-Russian separatists, at least 20 people were killed in a Ukrainian rocket attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that 28 other civilians had been seriously injured.
Children are among the victims.
The separatists said the Tochka-U (NATO code: SS-21 Scarab) rocket had been intercepted over Donetsk, but parts had nevertheless fallen in the city center.
Kyiv rejected the allegations in the evening.
It was "clearly a Russian missile or some other type of ammunition," said Leonid Matyukhin, a representative of Ukraine's defense ministry, according to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
The information provided by both sides could not be independently verified.
The consequences of a Russian attack: At least 20 people are said to have died in Donetsk.
© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS
Pentagon: Russian military making slow advance on Kyiv
According to the US government, the Russian military is making only slow progress in advancing on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
In places, the soldiers are about 15 kilometers away from the city center, a senior US defense official said on Monday.
A kilometer-long Russian military convoy that had come to a standstill hadn't really made any progress either.
The northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv is essentially isolated.
But according to the Pentagon, the Russian military has made little progress there either, because the resistance of the Ukrainians is very strong.
According to the Pentagon, the most recent Russian attack on the Yavoriv military training ground around 15 kilometers from the Polish border has had no impact on supplies from the West to the Ukrainian army.
It would be wrong to assume that the Russians hit some sort of security support hub there, the official said.
Since the beginning of the war, the Russian military has shot down more than 900 missiles.
The official also stressed that Ukrainian airspace remains contested.
Despite their equipment, the Russians do not have control of the airspace.
Nine people killed in Russian attack on TV tower
Update from March 14, 6:48 p.m .:
According to local authorities, nine people were killed in an attack by Russian troops on a television tower near the Ukrainian city of Rivne.
Nine others were injured in the shelling of the tower in the western Ukrainian town of Antopil, said the head of the regional administration, Vitaly Koval, on Monday in the online service Telegram.
Two rockets would have hit the television tower and an administration building right next to it.
Attack on aircraft manufacturing companies in north-west Kiev
In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv there was an attack on a well-known aircraft manufacturer on Monday.
"The occupiers shelled the Antonov plant," the city administration announced on the Telegram news channel.
Rescue workers are on site.
At first it was unclear whether there were injuries or deaths.
The "strana.news" portal published photos and videos that are said to show a huge cloud of smoke over the factory.
Details were not initially available.
Moscow confirmed in the evening that Russia's military had destroyed "a large ammunition depot for multiple rocket systems" at the Antonov plant.
According to the company, it builds both cargo and passenger aircraft.
The plant is located in the north-west of Kiev.
The city administration once again called on residents to go to a safe place in the event of an air raid.
Martial law still applies.
Wherever possible, public transport is on the road between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. (local time, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CET).
According to Russian figures, 250,000 people have fled Ukraine to Russia since the beginning of the war
Update from March 14, 4:50 p.m .:
According to Russian information, almost 250,000 people have fled the country to Russia since the beginning of the Ukraine war.
Major General Mikhail Mizintsev from the Russian Ministry of Defense told the TASS agency
that
55,000 children were among them.
In the past two days alone, 8,575 civilians, including 1,292 children, entered Russia from Ukraine and from the separatist areas recognized by Moscow as independent.
More than 2.6 million people asked for evacuation help, Misintsev said.
Moscow also sent more than 2,100 tons of relief supplies to the neighboring country.
However, as always in war, the numbers cannot be independently verified.
First report:
Munich - In the Ukraine war*, the Russian invaders are only making very slow progress.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest and most powerful of its kind in Europe, has already been taken by Vladimir Putin*'s troops.
Now, according to Ukrainian information, they are said to have blown up parts of an ammunition depot not far from the facility.
As the Ukrainian nuclear power operator Enerhoatom announced via Telegram, the explosion occurred near the ruins of a military training center.
The information could not be independently verified.
There was initially no comment from the Russian side.
Enerhoatom also said that the staff at the power plant had temporarily stopped work because of the explosion.
It was initially not known whether the radiation exposure had changed as a result of the incident.
Ukraine War: Who Controls Europe's Largest Nuclear Power Plant?
Recently, there has been a lack of clarity as to who is responsible for operation and security at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is occupied by Russian troops.
Enerhoatom reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the nuclear power plant was "under the control of the commander of the Russian armed forces".
The Russian state-owned company Rosatom, on the other hand, denied having taken over operational control in an exchange with the IAEA.
On February 24, Putin gave the order to invade, whereupon the troops* who had been stationed on the border with Ukraine for months started the invasion.
The Kremlin chief officially believes he is on a special operation to denazify Ukraine.
The resistance of the local armed forces may have surprised even him.
As the attack struggles to make headway, thousands have lost their lives and millions have fled.
(mg with dpa) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA