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Tanks of pro-Russian troops near the southern port city of Mariupol (April 17)
Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS
In Ukraine, according to information from Kyiv, Russian troops have started the expected large-scale attack in the east.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army reported on Monday evening "signs of the start of the offensive", especially in the areas around the cities of Kharkiv and Donetsk.
After more than seven weeks of war, an offensive in the east had been expected for days.
According to Moscow, the Russian troops had withdrawn from the greater Kyiv area.
From the Russian side there was initially no confirmation of the start of the offensive.
However, the Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, reported that control of the small town of Kreminna had already been lost.
There are street fights, an evacuation is no longer possible.
"The situation is getting worse every hour." Of the 18,000 inhabitants of Kreminna before the war, around 4,000 are said to be still holding out.
The head of Ukraine's presidential office wrote on Telegram: "The second phase of the war has begun."
Several dead in Lviv, western Ukraine
New attacks were also reported in western Ukraine on Sunday: according to the authorities, there were first fatalities from Russian rockets in Lviv – at least six.
The rocket attack on the city of 720,000 also injured numerous people, including a child, according to the mayor.
Four or five strikes were reported.
Moscow confirmed the attacks in the evening.
A logistics center was also destroyed with weapons from the West.
Fighting also continued in Mariupol, a city that once had a population of more than 400,000.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported rocket and bomb attacks.
Supersonic bombers would also be used.
The Ukrainians did not follow the call to surrender.
Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal announced a fight "to the end" on US broadcaster ABC.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of wanting to raze Mariupol to the ground.
There, several thousand Ukrainian fighters are said to have holed up in a steelworks – and there are also numerous civilians.
tfb/dpa
