صراط عشق صراط عشق
Russian attacks have destroyed an oil refinery in the central Poltava region and struck “critical infrastructure”, most likely oil facilities, near the port city of Odesa, local officials said on Sunday.
Russian forces have attacked Odesa, the main base for Ukraine’s navy, alongside other Ukrainian Black Sea ports such as Mariupol and Mykolaiv. If taken, it would give Russia a land corridor from Crimea to Transniestria, a Russian-speaking breakaway province of Moldova that hosts Russian troops.
Oil facilities have been a focus of attacks.
Kremenchuk, 250 km (150 miles) southeast of Kiev along the Dnipro river, had Ukraine’s only fully functioning oil refinery.
Dmytro Lunin, governor of the Poltava region, said on television that the refinery had been destroyed in a rocket attack on Saturday.
“The fire at the refinery has been extinguished but the facility has been completely destroyed and can no longer function,” he said.
The plant processed 3.2 million tonnes of oil last year and its loss could prove a blow to Ukraine’s defense effort.
Several rockets also hit Mykolaiv, an interior ministry aide said.
Earlier, Russia’s defense ministry said its missiles had destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storage facilities near Odesa. It said they had been used by Ukraine to supply its troops near Mykolaiv.
Vladyslav Nazarov, an officer of Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command, said on Telegram that there had been a missile attack on “critical infrastructure”. Two columns of thick, black smoke could be seen rising into a grey sky before spreading out over the city.
“All relevant systems and structures are working … No casualties reported,” Nazarov added. Reuters could not confirm details of the attack.
Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said on television the situation was “under control”, adding: “Homes, civilian infrastructure, roofs have suffered damage.”
Russia denies attacking civilians.
Signs of fierce fighting were everywhere in the wake of Russian troops retreating north to back to Belarus: destroyed armored vehicles from both armies lay in streets and fields along with scattered military gear. The Ukrainian military said its troops continued to comb areas outside of the capital for mines, the dead and for any lingering Russian fighters.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, also called for tougher sanctions on Russia, including a complete energy embargo, over the discoveries north of Kyiv.
As Russia retreated from the capital, other parts of the country were under siege. Russia has said it is directing troops to eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.
Mariupol, a southeastern port located on the Sea of Azov, remained cut off from the rest of the country as Russian ground forces fought to occupy the city. About
Missiles Destroy Ukrainian Oil Refinery
100,000 civilians – less than a quarter of the prewar population of 430,000 – are believed to be trapped there with little or no food, water, fuel and medicine.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it hoped a team of nine staffers and three vehicles it sent Saturday to help evacuate residents would reach Mariupol on Sunday but cautioned, “The situation on the ground is volatile and subject to rapid changes.”
Ukrainian authorities said Russia agreed days ago to allow safe passage from the city, which has been the site of some of the worst attacks and greatest suffering, but similar agreements have broken down repeatedly under continued shelling.
While the geography of the battlefield morphed, little changed for many Ukrainians on the 39th day of a war that has sent more than 4 million people fleeing the country as refugees and displaced millions more from their homes.
The mayor of Chernihiv, which also has been under attack for weeks, said Sunday that relentless Russian shelling has destroyed 70% of the northern city. Like in Mariupol, Chernihiv has been cut off from shipments of food and other supplies.
“People think how they can live until tomorrow,” Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko said.
The regional governor in Kharkiv, said Sunday that Russian artillery and tanks performed over 20 strikes on Ukraine’s second-largest city and its outskirts in the country’s northeast over the past day.
The head of Ukraine’s delegation in talks with Russia said Moscow’s negotiators informally agreed to most of a draft proposal discussed during face-to-face talks in Istanbul this week, but no written confirmation has been provided.
The Ukrainian negotiator, Davyd Arakhamia said on Ukrainian TV that he hoped the proposal was developed enough so President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet to discuss it. But the top Russian negotiator in talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinksy, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was too early to talk about a meeting between the two leaders.
As his country’s troops retook territory north of the capital from the departing Russian troops, Zelensky called on all Ukrainians to do whatever they could “to foil the enemy’s tactics and weaken its capabilities.”
“Peace will not be the result of any decisions the enemy makes somewhere in Moscow. There is no need to entertain empty hopes that they will simply leave our land. We can only have peace by fighting,” Zelensky said late Saturday.
