Kyiv / LVIV, Ukraine, April 15 (Reuters) – Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday and fighting erupted in the east after Ukraine claimed responsibility for the sinking of the Russian navy’s flagship in the Black Sea, one of the most -the heavy blows of war.
The blasts appeared among the most significant in the capital region of Ukraine after Russian troops withdrew from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles south and east.
Ukraine says it has hit the Moscow missile cruiser with the Neptune anti-ship missile. The Soviet-era ship sank Thursday as it was towed to port after fires and explosions, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Read more
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More than 500 crew members were evacuated, the ministry said, without acknowledging the attack.
The loss of the ship comes as the Russian navy continues to bomb Ukrainian cities in the Black Sea nearly 50 days after invading the country to eradicate what it calls far-right nationalists.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky paid tribute to all “those who stopped the progress of the endless convoys of Russian military equipment … Those who showed that Russian ships can go down … to the bottom.”
There were no immediate reports of damage following the blasts in Kyiv, Kherson in the south, the eastern city of Kharkiv and the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Ukraine’s armed forces say Russian attacks on the towns of Popasna and Rubezhne, both north of the port city of Mariupol, have been repulsed and a number of tanks and other armored vehicles destroyed. Reuters was unable to verify the reports.
MOSCOW
Whatever the reason for Moscow’s loss, it is a failure for Russia and a major boost for Ukraine’s defenders. Read more
The Russian navy has fired cruise missiles at Ukraine, and its activities in the Black Sea are crucial to supporting ground operations in the south and east, where they are struggling to gain full control of Mariupol.
The United States has said it does not have enough information to determine whether Moscow was hit by a missile.
“But (certainly) the way this has developed is a big blow to Russia,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Russia launched what it calls its “special military operation” to invade Ukraine on February 24th, in part to dissuade Kyiv and other former Eastern bloc countries from joining NATO.
But in more setbacks for Moscow, Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, and nearby Sweden are now considering joining the US-led military alliance. Read more
Moscow warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland joined, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in a Russian enclave in the heart of Europe. Read more
CIA Director William Burns said the threat from Russia to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine could not be taken lightly, but the agency did not see much evidence to heighten that concern. Read more
BATTLE FOR MARIUPOL
Kyiv and its allies say Russia has started an unprovoked war that has seen more than 4.6 million people flee abroad and kill or injure thousands.
Russia said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian Marines from one of the units still holding in Mariupol had surrendered. Ukrainian authorities did not comment.
If taken, Mariupol will be the first major city to fall from Russian forces since the invasion, allowing Moscow to strengthen the land corridor between separatist-controlled areas of eastern Donbass and the Crimean region that it captured and annexed in 2014. .
Ukraine says tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol, where efforts are being made to evacuate civilians.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said late Thursday that 815 people had been evacuated from the city in the past 24 hours. Ukraine said the figure was 289.
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Additional reports from Reuters offices; Writing by Rami Ayub and Stephen Coates; Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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