Putin’s paratroopers land in Kharkiv
Putin’s paratroopers land in Kharkiv: Fighting breaks out in Ukrainian’s second city as Russian airborne troops parachute in to attack military targets… after days of shelling left at least 21 dead and 112 wounded
‘Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv… and attacked a local hospital’, the Ukrainian army saidRussia killed eight hitting residential building in city on Tuesday, drawing comparisons Sarajevo massacresPresident Zelensky decried escalation of attacks on crowded urban areas as a blatant campaign of terror
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Fighting has broken out in Ukrainian’s second city, Kharkiv, after Russian airborne troops parachuted in to attack military targets.
At least 21 people were killed and 112 wounded in shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city in the last 24 hours, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said this morning.
The authorities have said Russian missile attacks hit the centre of Kharkiv, including residential areas and the regional administration building.
Ukraine’s leader, President Zelensky, decried Russia‘s escalation of attacks on crowded urban areas as a blatant campaign of terror.
Since Russian troops rolled into Ukraine last week to achieve Vladimir Putin’s mission of overthrowing Zelensky’s pro-Western government, hundreds of civilians have been reported killed.
Russian forces have carried out a massive bombing campaign and encircled urban centres, but Ukraine insists no major city has yet been overtaken.
‘Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv… and attacked a local hospital,’ the Ukrainian army said in a statement on messaging app Telegram. ‘There is an ongoing fight between the invaders and the Ukrainians.’
Russia hit a residential building in the city on Tuesday killing eight people, drawing comparisons to the massacres of civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s and condemnation for what Zelensky called a ‘war crime’.
A fire broke out on Wednesday in the barracks of a flight school in Kharkiv following an airstrike, according to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister.
‘Practically there are no areas left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not yet hit,’ he was quoted as saying in a statement on Telegram.
Kharkiv, a largely Russian-speaking city near the Russian border, has a population of around 1.4 million.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a ‘dictator’, warning the sanction campaign to cripple Russia’s economy would escalate and its oligarchs were being targeted.
In Biden’s first State of the Union address, he hailed the resolve of the Western alliance and voiced solidarity with Ukraine as lawmakers in the US Congress gave a standing ovation to the Ukrainian people.
‘A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world,’ Biden told lawmakers in his annual State of the Union address, promising ‘robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at Russia’s economy.’
Biden, who had earlier spoken with Zelensky on the phone, announced new measures against Russia and its wealthy elite with a new task force to go after the ‘crimes’ of Russian oligarchs.
‘We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,’ he said, prompting the rare sight of members of both parties standing to applaud.
‘And tonight I am announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American air space to all Russian flights – further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy.’
The US leader said Putin’s aggression was ‘premeditated and totally unprovoked’ – but hailed the resolve of the Western alliance in responding with brutal sanctions.
‘(Putin) thought he could divide us here at home,’ Biden said. ‘But Putin was wrong. We are ready.’
He repeated his commitment that no American troops would be sent to Ukraine to confront the invading forces.
A lack of will to send foreign troops into battle has given Russia space to press on with its assault on Ukrainian cities.
An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine
Ukrainian emergency service personnel carry a body of a victim out of the damaged City Hall building following shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine
This photograph taken on February 26, 2022 shows a Russian Armoured personnel carrier (APC) burning during fight with the Ukrainian armed forces in Kharkiv
A monitor showing a projectile striking the regional state administration building on Tuesday
The subsequent explosion as Kharkiv, Ukraine’s former capital, faced a sixth day of bombardment from Russia
A view of the square outside the damaged local city hall of Kharkiv after the central square of Ukraine’s second city was shelled by advancing Russian forces
People help a wounded woman in the aftermath of a Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday morning after Ukrainian President Zelensky declared Russia a ‘terrorist state’ over the attack
This image, posted by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, shows the square outside the administrative building covered in rubble following the rocket attack
A view shows the regional administration building following the Russian rocket attack in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022
Rescue workers and medics are pictured close to the regional administration building in central Kharkiv, picking their way through the debris following the explosion
The bombardment of Kharkiv continued Tuesday morning with a rocket landing just in front of the civilian public administration building, destroying the road outside and blowing the windows out of the building itself. Footage from inside shows the building was heavily damaged, with ceilings collapsing and rubble strewn around
Kharkiv and Ukraine flags are pictured hanging from a blown out window of the administrative building after the Russian rocket attack in a symbol of defiance
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of war crimes on Monday after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched what were believed to be cluster and vacuum bomb attacks on the fifth day of their invasion. Above: Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, coming under heavy attack on Monday
A strike on the main TV tower in Kyiv killed five people Tuesday and knocked out some state broadcasting, Ukrainian officials said, but left the structure intact.
Fresh explosions were heard late Tuesday in Kyiv and Bila Tserkva, 50 miles (80 kilometres) to the south, according to local media.
News outlets also reported Russian missiles damaging residential buildings and a hospital in Zhytomyr, citing the major transport hub’s mayor Sergei Sukhomline.
The International Criminal Court has opened a war crimes investigation against Russia. Ukraine says more than 350 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed in the conflict.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence also said overnight that it feared an attack from Belarus over its northern border.
‘Belarusian troops have been put on high alert and are concentrated in areas closest to the border with Ukraine,’ the ministry said Tuesday in a statement on Facebook.
Ukrainian intelligence noted ‘significant activity’ of aircraft in the border area, it said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday he had ordered more troops to the south of the country, the Belta news agency reported.
But forces of Belarus, a close ally of Russia, would not be taking part in the attack on Ukraine, he added.
In southern Ukraine, the city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea was left without electricity after Russian bombardment, while Kherson on the Black Sea reported Russian checkpoints encircling the city.
In a key victory for Moscow, Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had linked up with pro-Moscow rebel forces from eastern Ukraine along the Azov Sea coast.
Russia has defied international bans, boycotts and sanctions to press ahead with an offensive it says is aimed at defending Ukraine’s Russian speakers and toppling the leadership.
In response, more Western companies have withdrawn from projects in Russia, deepening the economic toll on Moscow that saw the ruble collapse this week.
Apple, ExxonMobil and Boeing announced Tuesday in rapid succession steps to withdraw or freeze business in Russia.
The moves followed earlier announcements by Disney, Ford and Mastercard among others.
The invasion has sent global markets into a spiral, with crude surging past $110 a barrel Wednesday and equities sinking.
On top of sanctions, Germany has promised arms for Ukraine, while the EU said, in a first, that it will buy and supply arms to the country.
Zelensky has reiterated an urgent appeal for Ukraine to be admitted to the European Union.
More than 660,000 people have fled abroad, the UN refugee agency said, and as battles rage for control of major cities many more are expected to follow.
Residents of capital Kyiv are crammed into makeshift bomb shelters awaiting their own fight, with a massive Russian military convoy stationed just north of the city.
Teacher Irina Butyak, 38, has spent two days in the basement of her apartment block sheltering with some 20 people.
‘We have train tickets for western Ukraine for tomorrow,’ she told AFP as air raid sirens blared directly overhead.
‘I don’t think we will make the train.’
