Two days after the missile strike that claimed the lives of 52 people, including 5 children, on Friday at Kramatorsk station, the evacuation of civilians continues in fear of an imminent offensive.
Update on the situation on the 46th day of the fighting.
Read also“There were deaths everywhere, here, here, and here”: at Kramatorsk station, the massacre of Ukrainian civilians
Ukraine, "ready for the big battles"
“Ukraine is ready for the big battles.
Ukraine must win them, including in the Donbass”, the eastern region of the country, said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaïlo Podoliak, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine press agency.
“And when that happens, Ukraine will have a stronger position in the negotiations, which will allow it to dictate certain conditions,” he added.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: massive invasion, destruction, total control... what is Russia preparing in the East?
Earlier in the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky had underlined during a press conference with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who visited kyiv: "We are ready to fight, and at the same time to seek diplomatic ways to stop this war.
After withdrawing its troops from the kyiv region and northern Ukraine, Russia has made its priority the total conquest of Donbass, part of which has been controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists.
Evacuations continue...
Two days after the massacre at Kramatorsk station (east), where 52 civilians, including five children, who were preparing to flee were killed in a strike attributed to a Russian missile, the evacuation of the population continued.
Moscow has denied being responsible for the strike, going so far as to denounce a Ukrainian "provocation".
Read also“Enough to last two months”: in Ukraine, the city of Kramatorsk, touched to the heart, is preparing for combat
On Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 4,532 civilians had been evacuated the day before.
The majority left the Zaporizhia region, she added, adding that nearly 200 people were able to leave the besieged port city of Mariupol (south) and more than a thousand fled Melitopol, Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna and Popasna in the Luhansk region.
"The Russian enemy continues to prepare to intensify its offensive operations in eastern Ukraine and take full control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions", in Donbass, the general staff of the Ukrainian army on Saturday in a daily point on Facebook.
.... and bombardments
In addition to continuing fighting to take control of the key towns of Mariupol in the south and Izium further north, "the enemy continues to strike with missiles civilian targets throughout Ukraine", warned the Staff.
Bombings left 5 dead and 5 injured in the Donetsk region, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram in the evening.
In Lysytchansk, a small town in the Lugansk region, Mayor Olexandre Zaïka called on residents to leave as soon as possible.
“The situation in the city is very tense, I ask you to evacuate.
It becomes very difficult, enemy shells are falling everywhere,” he said in a message on Telegram.
And awaiting a major Russian offensive, Ukrainian soldiers and members of the Territorial Defense were busy fortifying their positions and digging new trenches in the rural area of Barvinkove, in the east of the country.
The roadsides were mined, and anti-tank obstacles installed at all crossroads.
Seven missiles fell overnight from Saturday to Sunday in the Mykolayiv region, about 100 kilometers northeast of Odessa, the country's third largest city and major strategic port on the Black Sea, according to the local military command.
The Russian army also carried out new strikes last night on the Dnipropetrovsk region in the central east, according to the regional governor.
Among the targets: infrastructure in Dnipro (where there would be at least one victim), industrial sites in Pavlohrad and an agricultural building, specifies the local leader on Facebook.
Local Ukrainian officials announce that a school as well as several apartment buildings were bombed early this Sunday in Luhansk.
One person was injured and a fire was started, authorities said.
Residents were evacuated in time.
“Two high buildings in the new district of the city, as well as a high school, were targeted by heavy bombardments from the Russian army,” writes the governor of the Luhansk region, on Telegram.
