ONGOING ARMED CONFLICT Russia Declares Open War on Ukraine And Launches Missles on Major Cities

[Meatpie]

Children buried in rubble after Russian airstrikes hits Mariupol maternity hospital​

A children’s hospital and maternity ward in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been destroyed by a Russian air strike this afternoon.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said children are buried under rubble and the regional governor said 17 people have been wounded.

 

[Meatpie]

More hospital bombing aftermath photos.

 

[Meatpie]

Girl and her grandmother killed in airstrike in Donetsk and buried under the rubble.

 

[Meatpie]

Mega Fit Ukrainian actor Pasha Lee killed at 33 in Russian Air Strikes on Irpin​

Pasha Lee was a rising star on Ukrainian TV but was already well known on the big screen as well

Talented and mega fit Ukrainian actor and TV presenter Pasha Lee has been killed in battle as Russian forces bombarded the town of Irpin outside the capital Kyiv.
Lee, 33, had signed up for Ukraine's territorial defence force in the first days of the war.
A resident of Irpin, he appeared in several films and his voice featured in the Ukrainian versions of The Lion King and The Hobbit.

Ukrainian actor Pasha Lee killed in Russian bombardment

Pasha Lee, 33, had signed up to defend his country at the start of the war.

www.bbc.com

 

[Frazeeme]

Ukraine claims 3 Russian officers dead.

 

[Meatpie]

Good afternoon. The battle of Kiev is about to begin in the next couple of hours. It is almost 4pm in Ukraine.

Here are other developments:

Clashes outside Kyiv: Intense fighting is raging on the outskirts of the capital as Moscow attempts to seize its key target. British intelligence says the bulk of Russian forces are within 25km of the centre. Ukrainian officials fear the Russians may be preparing to launch a large-scale assault.

Key cities encircled: Sirens and explosions have been heard in many other cities across Ukraine, as Russian troops try to encircle key targets. The besieged cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol, Mykolaiv and Sumy have been enduring relentless shelling as well as freezing temperatures, with no power and little food or water. In Mariupol, a mosque, where more than 80 adults and children were sheltering, was shelled by Russian forces, Ukrainian officials say.

Fury at mayor's abduction: Hundreds of residents have taken to the streets of the south-eastern city of Melitopol to protest against the abduction of its mayor by Russian forces. Ukraine's President Zelensky demanded his immediate release and accused the Russians of "moving to a new stage of terror".

Fresh talks: The leaders of France and Germany have been holding another round of phone talks with Russia's President Putin. They were previously in contact on Thursday, when Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz demanded an immediate ceasefire from Russia. Moscow has rejected such calls.

Exodus mounts: The conflict has now sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries. Poland says more than 1.6 million people have fled there, while Moldova says it has reached a "breaking point" in its ability to cope with refugees.

 

[Meatpie]

Good afternoon. If you are just checking this thread here's what's been happening on day 19 of the invasion:​

• Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have begun a fourth round of talks aimed at stopping the conflict. Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak says these talks will focus on establishing a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops, and security guarantees for Ukraine
• But Russia's assault has continued with its forces bombarding a block of flats and an aircraft manufacturing plant in the capital, Kyiv
• Ukraine will try to evacuate trapped civilians through 10 "humanitarian corridors", including from towns near Kyiv and in the eastern region of Luhansk, its deputy PM said
• China has described claims by US officials that Russia asked Beijing for military assistance in Ukraine as "disinformation". The US had warned Beijing it would face harsh "consequences" should it support Moscow
• Meanwhile, Reuters reports that India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices, amid heavy Western sanctions against Moscow

A cruise missile was shot down by the UAF air defense over Kyiv this morning. Debris fell on one of the districts of the city. One person was killed six others injured.

 

[Meatpie]

Russian Tanks Pound Apartment Buildings in Ukrainian City of Mariupol​

 

[Meatpie]

Chechen rebels pose in the centre of Kyiv today ready to join the fight against Putin's crumbling empire. They have been waging a war of their own against Russia anyway for many years particularly in Dagestan.

 

[Meatpie]

Good evening.

Horrific article was poted on BBC News website today about a family from Irpin. Even reading it gives you the chills and makes you grasp the scale of the tragedy currently unfolding across Ukraine.

Ukraine war: One shell that destroyed a family

A woman recounts the moment her husband and son were killed by a Russian shell in the town of Irpin.

www.bbc.com

 

[Meatpie]

US defense secretary tells US and NATO troops in Bulgaria they are creating "trust" by training together​

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with US troops in Bulgaria today, March 18.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with US and NATO troops in Bulgaria on Friday, where he told the troops that they are creating “trust” by training alongside one another.

“You can’t surge trust at the eleventh hour; trust is something you have to work on every day. And from what I’ve heard, it’s exactly what you’re doing. You’re building trust with, amongst, with our allies, and you’re learning more about each other, and I think that’s just fantastic,” Austin said.

The US troops that are in Bulgaria are part of the US troop deployment to reinforce the United States' commitment to the NATO alliance and to reinforce the Eastern flank.

Reporters traveling with Austin conducted a brief interview with an Army major who is on deployment in Bulgaria from his home base in Rosenberg, Germany.

“Our mission here with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment is to reinforce our NATO allies in the southeastern flank of NATO and also to train with them in order to assure our allies of US commitment to NATO,” Maj. Ryan Mannina said.

The focus of the US troop deployment there is to partner with Bulgarian land forces, Mannina said. The US troops are there to be a part of “NATO’s effort to stand up a multinational battle group here in Bulgaria,” he added.

Mannina said the soldiers there are “anxious” but “understand the strategic relevance of our mission.”

“We're very, we're very aware and attuned to the fact that there's a war going on only a few hundred miles from us and, and we, but I think the soldiers are also excited to be a part of something really important here and to understand the strategic relevance of our mission and assuring our allies and building combat credible forces on behalf of NATO,” Mannina said.

 

[Meatpie]

An elderly woman stands in front of a destroyed house after bombardments in the village of Krasylivka, east of Kyiv, on March 20.

 

[Meatpie]

Amazing news tonight as almost all of Irpin is now back in Ukrainian hands​

Good evening to those of you who are just joining our updates. Some amazing and positive developments today.

Almost all of the town of Irpin, which has seen fierce fighting in recent weeks, is in Ukrainian hands, the mayor of Kyiv has said.

Earlier in March, thousands of residents fled Irpin, which is just 20km (12 miles) north-west of Kyiv, across the remnants of a blown-up bridge as Russian artillery and air strikes pummelled the area.

Vitali Klitschko told journalists Ukrainian forces had pushed back troops there and also in the town of Makariv, west of Kyiv.

He said Ukrainian forces had "destroyed the plan to make a circle around Kyiv".

The former boxer also said there were attacks taking place to the north and east of the city. When asked by the BBC's Lyse Doucet about explosions that appeared to be coming nearer to the city centre, he said: "They will never come to Kyiv."

He dismissed as "propaganda" Russian claims that a shopping centre bombed on Monday earlier this week was being used as a weapons store.

Ukrainian troops have been counter-attacking Russian forces all day in some areas of the country, including the small southern town of Voznesensk, where Russian forces were pushed back and an armoured convoy destroyed, and in Kherson, close to the Crimean peninsula.

 

[Meatpie]

Ukrainian troops retake control of the entire territory of Kyiv region​

▲ Ukrainian servicemen climb on a military vehicle outside Kyiv on Saturday.

Ukrainian forces have retaken control of the entire territory of the Kyiv region, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar posted on Facebook tonight.

“Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel and the whole Kyiv region - is liberated from the invader,” she wrote.

 

[Meatpie]

The Ukrainian Defense ministry said on Sunday that the award-winning filmmaker, Mantas Kvedaravicius, had been killed in an attack by Russia while trying to leave Mariupol.

The documentarian Mantas Kvedaravicius is reported killed in Mariupol.

Mr. Kvedaravicius, 45, had spent years covering the conflict in Ukraine. His work included “Mariupolis,” a searing portrait of the southern port city where he died.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Meatpie]

Two Russian soldiers died and 28 were hospitalised after local people in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine gave them pies laced with poison - according to the Ukraine Ministry of Defence.

In an intelligence update, it described Ukrainians as "resisting the occupiers by all available means" and claimed the affected troops were from Russia's 3rd Motorised Rifle Division.

The ministry also said a further 500 Russian troops were hospitalised with "severe alcohol poisoning of unknown origin".

 

[Meatpie]

Ukrainian city of Chernihiv mostly destroyed, mayor says​

▲ A man rides his bicycle near damaged residential buildings in Chernihiv, Ukraine on March 4.

The northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv is about 70% destroyed following an assault by Russian troops, Vladyslav Atroshenko, the city’s mayor, said Sunday.

The “consequences” of the attack by Russia in Chernihiv are “severe,” similar to the aftermath in other badly damaged cities and towns like Bucha, where bodies of civilians were found in the streets, as well as in Kharkiv and Mariupol, he said.

The most urgent issues facing residents is a “concentration of Russian troops on the Belarusian border,” and concerns the city will be hit with more missiles and air bombs, Atroshenko added.

“Russians move around Ukraine like at home. And the fact that they left does not mean that they will not come back tomorrow. It takes about an hour and a half for them to get to us ... Today we can say it is quiet, there is cleaning, there is demining," he said.

 

[Meatpie]

The Ukrainian mother who had to bury her own son

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen met a bereaved mother on the outskirts of Kyiv, who had to bury her own son after he was killed by Russian soldiers.

 

[Meatpie]

As the Third World War escalates The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg spoke today at a news conference ahead of meetings with foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday, where they will discuss the delivery of more lhigh-tech advanced lethal weapons to Ukraine. Not sure what is meant by that but sounds like there will be massive battles in the summer.

NATO is currently at war with Russia there is not too much talk about that as not to scare the citizens but it a fact.

Also there are hints this may be just the first of several direct NATO-Russia conflicts.

 

[Meatpie]

Good evening. President Biden made a promise for more US weapons for Ukraine after a phone call with President Zelensky today April 14.

Senior US defence officials say the total military aid provided by the US now stands at more than $3bn which is insane amount.