- The blasts hit Kyiv to the north and Lviv to the west
- Zelensky says 2,500-3,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed
- He said about 20,000 Russian soldiers had been killed
- Ukraine says street fighting continues in Mariupol
- Russian Moscow – the largest ship sunk in war in 40 years
Kyiv, April 16 (Reuters) – Explosions were heard in Kyiv and the western city of Lviv early Saturday, and the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said rescuers and medics were working at the site of the blast on the outskirts of the city.
There were no immediate details of casualties or damage.
President Vladimir Zelensky said about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in seven weeks of war with Russia and about 10,000 had been wounded, but there were no civilian casualties.
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He told CNN on Friday that 19,000 to 20,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war. Moscow said last month that 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded.
Reuters could not independently verify the numbers of both sides.
Russia promised on Friday to strike more at Kyiv and said it had used cruise missiles at the Vizar factory near Kyiv, which it said had produced and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles.
The attack followed the sinking of Moscow, the flagship of Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet, on Thursday.
Ukraine said one of its missiles caused Moscow to sink, a powerful symbol of its resistance to a better armed enemy. Moscow said the ship sank while being towed into a stormy sea after a fire caused by an explosion of ammunition, and that more than 500 sailors were evacuated.
The United States believes that “Moscow” was hit by two Ukrainian missiles and that there are Russian victims, although the figures are unclear, said a senior US official.
None of the assessments can be verified independently.
The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that the presence of Russian warships in the Black Sea, armed with naval missiles, suggests that Russia is growing the opportunity to use them to strike at Ukraine’s defense industry and logistics infrastructure.
It also says the Russian navy has been active in the Sea of Azov to blockade the port of Mariupol, where ground fighting has intensified as Ukraine says it is trying to break the siege of Russia.
Home to 400,000 people before the Russian invasion, Mariupol was turned into ruins. Thousands of civilians have died and tens of thousands remain trapped. Read more
“The situation in Mariupol is difficult and difficult. The fighting is ongoing. The Russian army is constantly calling for additional units to storm the city,” Defense Ministry spokesman Alexander Motuzyanik told a briefing. He said the Russians had not completely conquered it.
The graves of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the Joint Forces operation in the country’s eastern regions appear to have been damaged, according to a local Orthodox priest, by a Russian tank shell as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues at a cemetery in Chernihiv, Ukraine. April 2022 REUTERS / Sergey Nuzhnenko
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“SIGNIFICANT” VICTORIES
Zelenski said the military situation in the south and east was “still very difficult”, while praising the work of his armed forces.
“The success of our military on the battlefield is indeed significant, historically significant. But it is still not enough to clear our land of occupiers. We will beat them more,” he said in a late-night video address, urging allies to send heavier weapons and an international embargo on Russian oil.
Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by joining North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the conversation. Read more
A White House spokesman said: “We will continue to consider all options to increase pressure on Putin.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal and senior financial officials will attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington next week, sources told Reuters.
This will be the first chance for key Ukrainian officials to meet in person with financial officials from developed economies since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Read more
HOLDING IN MARIUPOL
If Moscow takes over Mariupol, it will be the first big city to fall.
Russia’s defense ministry says it has taken over the city’s Ilyich steel plant. The report could not be confirmed. Ukrainian defenders are believed to be staying mainly in Azovstal, another huge steel mine. Read more
Both plants are owned by Metinvest, the empire of Ukraine’s richest businessman and the backbone of Ukraine’s industrial east – which told Reuters on Friday it would never allow its businesses to operate under Russian occupation. Read more
Moscow is using its naval power to blockade Ukrainian ports and threaten a potential landing on the coast. Without Moscow, the largest warship sunk by Argentine General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War, its ability to threaten Ukraine from the sea could be crippled.
Russia initially described its goals in Ukraine as a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbor and defeat the nationalists there.
After its invasion forces were driven from the outskirts of Kyiv this month, Moscow said its main goal in the war was to take over Donbass, the eastern region partly held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
Kyiv and its Western allies say these are false excuses for an unprovoked aggressive war that has driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes and killed thousands.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Edited by William Mallard
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