Explosions in Lviv, fierce battles around Mariupol

Russia also continued its attacks on the Ukrainian capital region. In the villages of Velika Demirka and Bogdankova in the greater Kyiv region, 12 people were killed by artillery fire, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday. Meanwhile, cleaning work continued in Bucha. During a field visit, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denis Monastirsky said there were still “dozens of corpses” in apartments and forests.

The British Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that most of the remaining residents of Mariupol are forced to do without light, communications, medical care, heating or water. Russian forces would have prevented humanitarian access, likely increasing pressure on the defenders to surrender.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday evening in Moscow that the “regime” in Kyiv constantly ignores requests to stop the fighting. The troops were to lay down their arms and withdraw from the city through the agreed corridors. However, Kyiv does not care about protecting the lives of its soldiers or the people in the city.

“Maripol is being liberated from the nationalists by units of the Russian Armed Forces and the Donetsk People’s Republic,” said Major-General Konashenkov. His colleague Mikhail Mizintsev said that the humanitarian corridors hardly work. The Russian and Ukrainian sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Russian forces said they shot down two Ukrainian attack helicopters in the city. However, this information cannot be verified.