Kyiv, February 26
The Ukrainian Health Minister says that 198 people have been killed and more than 1,000 others have been wounded in the Russian offensive.
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said on Saturday that there were three children among those killed. His statement made it unclear whether the casualties included both military and civilians.
He said another 1,115 people, including 33 children, were wounded in the Russian invasion that began on Thursday with massive air and missile strikes and troops forging into Ukraine from the north, east and south.
Meanwhile, Russian forces pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, with artillery and cruise missiles on Saturday for a third day running and Russia’s Interfax news agency said they had captured the southeastern city of Melitopol.
Ukrainian officials were not immediately available to comment on the fate of Melitopol and Britain’s armed forces minister James Heappey cast doubt on the report, saying the city of some 150,000 people was still in Ukrainian hands.
“All of Russia’s day one objectives … and even Melitopol, which the Russians are claiming to have taken but we can’t see anything to substantiate that, are all still in Ukrainian hands,” he told BBC radio.
Western intelligence sources say Russian forces have encountered far stronger Ukrainian resistance than they had expected and this was significantly slowing their advances since their invasion began on Thursday.
If the Interfax report about Melitopol, which cited Russia’s defence ministry, is confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized.
At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed and 1,115 people wounded so far in Russia’s invasion, Interfax quoted Ukraine’s Health Ministry as saying. It was unclear whether the numbers comprised only civilian casualties.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said 35 people, including two children, were wounded during overnight fighting in the city.
Klitschko said there was currently no major Russian military presence in Kyiv, although he added that saboteur groups were active. The metro system is now working only as a shelter for city residents and trains have stopped running, he said.
There were signs of panic in Kyiv city centre. Reuters reporters saw Ukrainian soldiers with guns and a group of women running along the street. Nearby, Ukrainian soldiers forced a man in civilian clothes to lie down on the pavement.
Earlier, Kyiv authorities said a missile hit a residential building, and a Reuters witness said another hit an area near the airport. There was no immediate word on casualties.
‘WE WILL DEFEND OUR STATE’
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in a video message from outside his Kyiv office, was defiant.
“We will not put down weapons, we will defend our state,” he said.
