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Ukraine's capital was reeling Friday from Russian missile strikes that hit a residential high-rise in the city and killed at least one person, according to local officials.
The attack, which came just after the head of the United Nations met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday, delivered a deadly jolt of war after weeks of peace since Moscow's forces withdrew from the area to refocus on the country's east.
In the eastern Donbas region, Russia's assault made some limited progress in an offensive that has drawn the West deeper into the conflict as it tries to aid Ukraine's defense with more weapons and leave Russian President Vladimir Putin mired in a damaging war.
To help Ukrainians fend off Russian forces, the United States will begin training the country's armed forces to use radar systems and armored vehicles that were included in a recent military assistance package, the Pentagon said. The training will occur at U.S. bases in Germany.
Russia still having coordination problems in attack on Ukraine, U.K. says
Despite attempts to try and learn from past failures, Russia’s military attacking Ukraine continue to suffer from poor coordination and low morale, the United Kingdom’s defense ministry said.
“Shortcomings in Russian tactical co-ordination remain. A lack of unit-level skills and inconsistent air support have left Russia unable to fully leverage its combat mass, despite localised improvements,” the U.K. said in a daily update Saturday.
Russian forces have been concentrating on an attack in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, after suffering setbacks in the invasion Moscow launched against Ukraine on Feb. 24, officials have said.
A senior U.S. Defense Department official said Friday that “Ukrainians continue to resist effectively in the Donbas,” and that Russian forces are behind schedule in part because of that.
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of trying to destroy Donbas
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.
“The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life,” he said late Friday in his nightly video address to the nation.
He said the cities and towns of the Donbas will survive only if Ukraine remains standing. “If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones. As they did with Mariupol.”
Zelenskyy said Mariupol, once one of the most developed cities in the region, was now a “Russian concentration camp among the ruins.”
Russian foreign minister claims West will fight until 'the last Ukrainian'
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Friday that the West intends to fight until “the last Ukrainian” and that NATO countries are trying to prevent a political deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.
In an interview with the Chinese state media agency Xinhua, Lavrov also said the West is jeopardizing the world’s food and energy security for the sake of its own geopolitical ambitions.
Lavrov said the country’s war on Ukraine — which he called a “special military operation” — “contributes to the process of freeing the world from the neo-colonial oppression of the West.”
In a separate interview with Al Arabiya, a television news station based in Dubai, Lavrov said Russia does not consider itself to be at war with NATO, but NATO considers itself to be at war with Russia. He also said that weapons shipments to Ukraine were “fair game” for Russian forces.
When Lavrov was asked in the Al-Arabiya interview about U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, Lavrov cut the interviewer off.
“There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem … humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals,” he said.
“We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful,” he added. “(We have) explained … what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.”
20 percent of Kharkiv's residential buildings damaged beyond restoration, mayor says
Nearly a quarter of the residential buildings in Kharkiv, a major city to the north, have been damaged beyond repair, the city's mayor said.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 20 percent of the city’s residential buildings have been so badly damaged that it will be impossible to restore them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that the situation in Kharkiv was “brutal” but Ukrainian troops and intelligence agents “have had important tactical successes,” he said without elaborating.
Ukraine cracks down on ‘traitors’ helping Russian troops
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Nearly 400 people in the Kharkiv region alone have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted by Ukraine’s parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for collaborating with Russian forces, making public denials about Russian aggression or supporting Moscow. Anyone whose actions result in deaths could face life in prison.
“Accountability for collaboration is inevitable, and whether it will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is another question,” Zelenskyy said. “The most important thing is that justice will be served inevitably.”
Although the Zelenskyy government has broad support, even among many Russian speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of the Donbas, an industrial region in the east. An eight-year conflict there between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces had killed over 14,000 people even before this year’s invasion.
U.S. to train Ukrainians in Germany on weapons
WASHINGTON — Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby announced Friday that the U.S. would begin training with Ukrainians in Germany on artillery, radar, and armored vehicles.
Kirby became emotional when he was asked if Putin was a rational actor, saying it was difficult to look at images of the war and imagine a “well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that.”
“I can’t talk to his psychology, but I think we can all speak to his depravity,” Kirby said.
U.N. works to broker civilian evacuation from Mariupol
KYIV, Ukraine — The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv while the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.
The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port city’s last stronghold is dire, and citizens are “begging to get saved.” Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: “There, it’s not a matter of days. It’s a matter of hours.”
Ukraine’s forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country’s industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities.
In Ukraine, a how-to on throwing Molotov cocktails
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Builder Ivan Kiriluck, 32, said he couldn’t just carry on building homes as normal when war broke out with Russia.
Instead, he set up a range in his garden where people can learn to throw Molotov cocktails.
“When they are training at our technical place, they get out of here with big smile and big hope that they will win,” he said.
“It’s more a psychological thing. It’s more than weapons … They can do this at home, in the kitchen, you can make this and protect your family.”
