Ukraine war in the ticker: Missiles in kyiv during Zelenskyj’s meeting with UN chief

US mercenary killed fighting Russians

4h55: An American mercenary has been killed fighting Russian troops in Ukraine. US broadcaster CNN reported on Friday evening, citing the 22-year-old’s mother. The former US Marine who worked for a private company that hired mercenaries died on Monday. Immediately after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, the 22-year-old reported to the joint-stock company as a contract fighter and has been supporting Ukrainian troops since mid-March with his mercenary unit , composed of men from different countries.

The British Foreign Office officially confirmed the death of a British citizen in Ukraine the day before. Another Briton is missing, it was also said. Just last week, Russian state television showed two Britons who fought for Ukraine and were captured by Russian troops.

Targeted attack: Russians bomb Mariupol steel plant hospital

03.03: During a Russian attack against the last defenders of Mariupol entrenched in the Azovstal steelworks on Thursday evening, the field hospital which was installed there came under heavy fire. According to an article in Ukrajinska Pravda, at least one soldier was killed and around 100 patients were injured. According to the defenders, the hospital, where there were about 500 wounded and doctors, was specifically attacked. The information could not be independently verified.

Fighters from the Azov Battalion uploaded a video claiming to show the aftermath of the attack. They write: “Attention. The military hospital, located at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, was attacked by Russia with heavy bombs capable of penetrating any layer of concrete.

The last defenders of the port city of Mariupol and many civilians entrenched themselves in the Azovstal factory. Despite repeated requests from the Russian side, they refuse to surrender. More recently, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in Moscow and Kyiv, pleaded for the opening of a humanitarian corridor for civilians.

Zelenskyj adviser criticizes rocket attack during Guterres visit: ‘spit in the back’

Friday, April 29, 12:01 a.m.: Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych called the Russian missile strikes on kyiv during the visit of UN Secretary General António Guterres “the dumbest thing ever”. “How should the head of the UN or the United Nations react to this,” the president’s adviser Volodymyr Zelenskyj said Thursday evening. “They (the Russians) just spat in his back, so juicy, with blood.”

Russia shot Guterres in the back with the attack, Arestovych said, according to the Unian news agency. “For a cruise missile, the distance from the point of impact to Guterres’ position is about the same as two millimeters for a gun. So the shot missed his temple.” Nonetheless, Russia will certainly remain a member of the UN Security Council.

“I was shocked to hear that two rockets exploded in the town where I am staying,” Guterres later told British broadcaster BBC. According to the first information from the emergency services, ten people were injured or killed when two rockets hit kyiv on Thursday evening. No other details were given on this subject. In total, the Russian army fired five rockets at kyiv.

The Russian military leadership this week threatened to attack the Ukrainian capital, even if foreign politicians visited it.

Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian port city of Odessa

10:35 p.m.: The port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine came under rocket fire on Thursday night. Air defense shot down three Russian missiles, local military representative Maxim Marchenko said. “We have the sky under control.” A Russian reconnaissance drone had previously been destroyed. However, several explosions could be heard in the city in the evening, according to Ukrajinska Pravda, among others.

Ukraine: rockets fell a kilometer from Zelensky and the UN chief

9:44 p.m.: Mayor Vitali Klitschko commented on the Russian attack on Kyiv: “In the evening the enemy shelled Kyiv: two explosions in the Shevchenko district,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to the Ukrainian Civil Protection Service, a residential building was hit. There were several injuries, spokeswoman Switlana Wodolaga told the Hromadske TV channel. According to initial information, six people were injured.

After the bombing, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podoliak called for Russia to be stripped of its seat on the UN Security Council. The day before yesterday, Guterres was still sitting in the Kremlin and “today there are explosions a kilometer away from him. Is this a greeting from Moscow? And why is Russia on the UN Security Council again,” Podoliak commented on the attack. Guterres told the BBC after the blasts that he was shocked.

As Guterres and Zelensky Talk: Two Rocket Attacks on Kyiv

7:36 p.m.: In the Ukrainian capital kyiv, there were two loud explosions in the evening – as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were in the city and held a press conference. The transmission of the Pk broke down several times – possibly because the rockets hit the town. The rockets hit the center of kyiv. Black smoke was visible over the city.

Guterres and Zelenskyj previously discussed forming a refugee corridor for the port city of Mariupol, which had been badly damaged after weeks of fighting. “Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis, thousands of civilians are in need of life-saving assistance,” Guterres said Thursday at the press conference after the meeting in Kyiv. You would need an escape route to escape the “apocalypse”.

The UN chief told Zelenskyy that during his talks with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, he received a commitment in principle that the United Nations would be involved in the construction of such a corridor. evacuation with the Red Cross. There are now intensive consultations on how the proposal can be implemented in reality.

Russian military reports new heavy airstrikes Ukraine

7:25 p.m.: According to the Russian military, it again launched heavy airstrikes against Ukraine. “Russian armed forces tactical aircraft bombed 76 military objects,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Thursday. Two ammunition depots and a number of troop concentrations and military convoys were hit. Konashenkov estimated enemy losses at over 320 troops.

Another 38 military objects were attacked by rockets. Among other things, six ammunition depots were destroyed, but several Ukrainian Totschka-U missiles were also shot down. These reports could not be independently verified.

Several cities in southern Ukraine report Russian bombings

7 p.m.: Officials say the cities of Odessa and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine were shelled by Russian troops. “Mykolaiv was again hit by fire from the Smerch multiple rocket launchers,” the military command of the Southern Ukraine Military District said on its Facebook page on Thursday. Dozens of private homes, cars and businesses were damaged by the shelling.

Explosions were also reported in the city of Odessa on Thursday evening. However, the head of the local military administration Serhiy Brachuk assured that the air defense had the situation under control. Nothing was initially known about the damage.

Kyiv reports new prisoner swap with Russia

6:52 p.m.: According to reports from kyiv, 45 Ukrainians were released during a prisoner exchange with Russia. 13 officers, 20 soldiers and 12 civilians have been released from Russian captivity, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram internet service on Thursday. Five of the soldiers were injured.

Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, the two sides have exchanged prisoners several times.

Mariupol steel plant suffers ‘heaviest attack’ from siege

4:25 p.m.: The Mariupol steelworks reportedly suffered the heaviest bombardment since the Russian siege last night. The facility is considered the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in the city. As Mariupol police chief Mykhailo Vershynin told US television channel CNN, there were “more than 50 airstrikes” last night.

The Russian side used seven Tupolev-22M3 supersonic bombers for the attacks, it is said. According to the police chief, the shelling would have concentrated mainly on the area of ​​the camp for sick people. Information cannot be independently verified.

The location of the infirmary could have been identified by photos of the Russians circulating on the internet, the official suspects. “It’s a violation of all the rules of war. It’s a violation of the Geneva Convention,” Vershynin said. In addition to many fighters, there are believed to be around 1,000 civilians in the factory bunkers. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had ordered the site cordoned off.

Ukraine investigates ten Russian soldiers for war crimes in Bucha

3:41 p.m.: Ten Russian soldiers are under investigation in Ukraine for war crimes in Bucha, a suburb of kyiv. This was reported by the French news agency “AFP”. According to this, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office indicted ten Russian soldiers. Members of the 64th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Russian army are accused, among other things, of “cruel treatment of civilians”, the prosecution said Thursday on the online service Telegram.

The ten defendants are notably accused of having taken civilians hostage during the occupation of Butscha, of not having given them food or drink and of having tortured them in certain cases, indicated the public prosecutor. Investigators also accuse the soldiers of looting. Russia has so far denied all allegations of war crimes.

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