Russian troops redoubled their bombing of the besieged port city of Mariupol on Sunday, and Ukrainian authorities said an attack had destroyed an art school used as a refuge for hundreds of civilians.
Mariupol has been one of the places most affected by the war. Ukrainian President Valadymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday morning accused Russia of war crimes in the siege and described the attack on the city by 430,000 people as “an act of terror that will be remembered for centuries.”
In his evening message to the nation, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is interested in peace and that talks with Russia “are not simple or pleasant, but they are necessary.” He has unsuccessfully asked to meet directly with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Here are some key details about the conflict.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MARIUPOL?
Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov, is surrounded by Russian forces who have cut off energy, food and water supplies and are attacking it endlessly.
It has been isolated from the rest of the country since the first days of Putin's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Since then, civilian life has been limited to bomb shelters, and humanitarian groups are warning of a humanitarian crisis. Russian forces have cut off access to the Sea of Azov.
An adviser to the president of Ukraine said that there would be no immediate military aid for Mariupol, as the forces closest to assist were already having trouble coping with Russian troops at least 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. The fierce fighting continued around the Azovstal spear, one of the largest in Europe.
“Children and old people are dying. The city is destroyed and has been wiped off the face of the Earth,” lamented Michail Vershnin, a Mariupol policeman, from a street covered with rubble in a video aimed at Western leaders that was authenticated by The Associated Press.
The Mariupol City Council said hours later that Russian soldiers had forcibly relocated several thousand residents of the city, mostly women and children, to Russia. He did not say where in Russia, and the PA was unable to confirm the statement for the time being.
WHAT ABOUT ART SCHOOL?
There were few details at first, but Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday that the Russian army had bombed an art school in Mariupol where about 400 people had taken refuge.
The building was destroyed and there could be people under the rubble, authorities said Sunday. There was no information about victims at first.
The attack follows a pattern of attacks on civilian shelters, after Russian forces bombed a theater in Mariupol where civilians were sheltered. Authorities said 130 people had been rescued, but many more could remain under the rubble.
WHAT HAPPENS IN OTHER CITIES OF UKRAINE?
At least five civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, were killed in new Russian attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, local authorities said Sunday.
Kharkiv has been besieged by Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion and has suffered constant attacks.
In Mykolaiv rescuers searched Saturday through the rubble of military barracks destroyed the day before in an apparent missile attack. It was not clear how many marines were on site at the time of the attack.
Around Kiev, the northwestern suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, Irpin and Moshchun were attacked on Saturday, according to the Kiev regional government. Slavutich, 165 kilometers (103 miles) north of the capital, was “completely isolated,” according to regional authorities.
More than 6,000 people were able to evacuate on Saturday through eight out of 10 humanitarian corridors, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. This figure included 4,128 persons departing from Mariupol, who were transferred to the southeastern city of Zaporiyia.
In Zaporiyia, a 38-hour curfew was activated until 6 a.m. on Monday, after two missile strikes in the city's suburbs killed nine people. Local authorities said they would continue to evacuate people from areas occupied by Russian troops.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that Russia would not recover the bodies of its fallen soldiers and that the bodies “just pile up our line of defense.”
Russian commanders send new units to maintain the offensive, he said. The president mentioned a battle in Chornobayivka, in the south, where Ukrainian troops repelled Russian troops six times but the Russians continued to “send their people to the slaughterhouse.”
ARE THERE ANY MILITARY NEWS?
The Russian army said it had made a new round of attacks on Ukrainian military installations with long-range cruise and hypersonic missiles, the day after announcing the first use of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile in combat.
The Kinzhal hypersonic missile hit a Ukrainian fuel depot in Kostiantynivka, near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, according to Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry. It was the second day in a row that Russia used Kinzhal, a weapon capable of hitting targets 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) away at a speed 10 times that of sound.
The British Ministry of Defence said that Ukrainian airspace remained effectively defended and Russia had failed to control it, something that was one of the key objectives of the Kremlin.
ARE RUSSIA AND UKRAINE NEGOTIATING?
The two countries have held several rounds of talks but remain divided on several issues. Moscow presses for its neighbor to be demilitarized, while Kiev demands security guarantees.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truzz accused Putin of using the talks as a “smokescreen” while his forces regroup. “We don't see any major withdrawal of Russian troops or any serious proposals on the table,” he told the London Times newspaper.
WHAT IS THE SITUATION OF UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
Thousands of refugees from Ukraine stood in long lines in Poland's capital, Warsaw, to receive local identity cards that would allow them to move on with their lives.
Refugees began training in front of the Warsaw National Stadium during the night to process the personal identification number PESEL, which allows them to live, work, go to school and receive medical care or social benefits for the next 18 months. Even so, by mid-morning many were told that they would have to return another day. The demand was too much despite the fact that the Polish authorities had simplified the process.
Poland has received more than two million refugees from Ukraine, most of the nearly 3.3 million people who according to the United Nations have fled since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled to Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania.
A bipartisan delegation of US legislators visiting Poland attended reception centers on Saturday. The seven-member group, led by Massachusetts Democrat Stephen Lynch, praised Poles' willingness to accept refugees. Some Poles have taken refugees in their homes.
HOW MANY CIVILIANS HAVE DIED IN UKRAINE?
It is difficult to say, since the casualty figures are difficult to confirm during the fighting. The UN human rights office says it has recorded a total of 816 civilian deaths and 1,333 civilians injured since the war began, although it believes that the real figure is much higher. Ukrainian authorities say thousands of civilians have been killed.
The Ukrainian Attorney General's Office reported on Saturday that 112 children had died since the start of the fighting. More than 140 children have been injured.
Dozens of civilians were killed and injured in attacks in the last 24 hours in eastern Donetsk alone, Ukrainian police said Saturday. At least 37 residential buildings and infrastructure were damaged in attacks on eight cities and towns.