The mayor of the capital Vitali Klitschko reported in the morning of several explosions, in the districts of Darnytsky and Dnipropetrovsky, injuring one.
An AFP journalist heard warning sirens around 2 a.m. (Saturday 2300 GMT) in the capital, where the situation had been rather calm in recent weeks.
“The aggressor continues to launch missiles and conduct airstrikes on military and civilian infrastructure of our country, especially in Kyiv,” the Ukrainian army general staff wrote on its Facebook page.
In eastern Ukraine, street fighting is taking place in the city of Severodonetsk, at the heart of the Russian offensive in the Donbass mining basin.
This eastern region has been under the partial control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014 and Moscow hopes to conquer it in full.
“The situation in Severodonetsk, where street fighting continues, remains extremely difficult,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video broadcast overnight from Saturday to Sunday, deploring “air raids, artillery and missile fire constants”.
Russia said on Saturday that Ukrainian soldiers were withdrawing from the city. “Units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during the fighting for Severodonetsk (up to 90% in several units), are falling back to Lyssytchansk”, a nearby locality, assured the Russian Ministry of Defense.
But kyiv claims to be fighting to regain the city. The Russian troops “succeeded in entering the city and seizing a good part of it, dividing it in two. But our soldiers managed to redeploy, to build a line of defence. Currently, we are doing what is necessary to restore full control” of Severodonetsk, declared Olexandre Striouk, mayor of the city, referring to “street fights”.
Earlier, the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaïdaï also assured that “initial information indicates that they (the Russians) have managed to take control of most of the city. But our forces are now repelling them. “.
– “Local counter-attacks” –
The Russians “are blowing up the bridges so that we cannot send reinforcements to our guys, who are in Severodonetsk”, added the governor.
For its part, Moscow claims to have destroyed two Ukrainian command centers and six ammunition depots in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
For the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the dynamic has changed and now Ukrainian forces are “successfully slowing (…) the Russian assaults on Severodonetsk through careful and effective local counterattacks”. .
Fighting continues on other fronts as well. According to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, “Russia continues to make efforts to occupy our entire state”. The Kremlin dreams, assured Oleksiï Reznikov, of “gathering the lands” which he considers “his”, including “Poland, the Baltic countries, Slovakia and others”.
Crimea, Donbass, southern Ukraine: in total, Russia has tripled since the start of the invasion, the area of Ukrainian territory under its control reaching 125,000 km², or 20% of the country, according to Mr. Zelensky.
On the southern front, in the Kherson region, Moscow “continues to bombard the occupied territories and the positions of the Ukrainian army”, announced the Ukrainian presidency, which fears a humanitarian crisis in the areas in Russian hands.
The Russian army claims to have destroyed “a point of deployment of foreign mercenaries” near Dachnoe, in the Odessa region and to have hit with missiles a training center for Ukrainian gunners near Stetskovka, in the Sumy region ( north), where “foreign instructors trained Ukrainian soldiers in the use of the M777 howitzer”.
The port of Mykolaiv was also hit by a missile, as well as an agricultural enterprise in the large port of Odessa, where “warehouses were damaged” and two people died, according to kyiv.
– “Question of survival” –
The war continues to weigh on cereal exports, on which African countries in particular depend. After his meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Senegalese head of state and current chairman of the African Union, Macky Sall, announced on Saturday his intention to visit Ukraine and “contribute to the return of peace “.
For his part, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs replied on Saturday to French President Emmanuel Macron who, the day before, repeated that it was not necessary “to humiliate Russia” to preserve diplomatic exit doors.
“We would all do better to focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives,” retorted Dmytro Kouleba, saying that Mr. Macron’s position can only “humiliate France “.
At the same time, the USS Kearsarge was taking up residence in Stockholm. It is the largest American warship ever to anchor in the port of the Swedish capital.
“It is important for us, the United States, as well as for the other NATO countries, to show our solidarity with Finland and Sweden,” said General Mark Milley, the American Chief of Staff. , ahead of NATO’s annual naval maneuvers in the Baltic Sea.
Sunday evening, on the lawn of Cardiff, the Ukrainians will try to win another victory, the one that would qualify the national team for the World Cup.
“We all understood that the game against Wales will not be about fitness or tactics, but about survival. Everyone will fight for it and give their all,” said defender Oleksandre Zinchenko, as if to better unite with the Ukrainian soldiers, failing to be able to fight alongside them.
