Ukraine War: Reports of survivors in rubble of bombed Mariupol theatre

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 22 of the invasion

 

Death toll rises in Chernihiv, Kyiv and Mariupol. Plus, Ukraine refugee exodus continues

 

Samantha Lock and Tom Ambrose

Thu 17 Mar 2022 08.31 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/17/russia-ukraine-war-what-we-know-on-day-22-of-the-invasion

 

• Losses were increasing in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, with 53 people killed by Russian forces on Wednesday. “We are suffering heavy losses: 53 citizens were killed yesterday,” the regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said.
• One person was killed by a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on Thursday morning, according to reports by Ukraine’s emergency services. The rescue teams said they received a report of a residential building on fire in the Darnytsky district at 5am.
• Ukrainian authorities were struggling to determine the fate of hundreds of civilians who had been sheltering in a theatre smashed by a Russian airstrike in the besieged city of Mariupol, the Associated Press reported.
• An educational institution in Merefa, a city in the Kharkiv region, was also reportedly struck by Russian missiles overnight, Ukraine’s state emergency services said.
• The Kremlin claimed it was putting “colossal” energy into talks on a possible peace deal with its Ukrainian counterparts. “Our delegation is putting in colossal effort and demonstrates more readiness towards them than the other side,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said.
• The UK defence ministry released an intelligence report stating that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had “largely stalled on all fronts”.
• The Ukrainian military also released its morning operational report. It said Russia had been unsuccessful in carrying out its ground operation and continued to launch rocket strikes on Ukrainian cities. Officials said Russian troops were waging cyber-attacks and destroying TV and radio signals to discredit Ukraine’s leadership.
• Large craters caused by airstrikes at an Olympic training facility in Chernihiv.
• Large craters caused by airstrikes at an Olympic training facility in Chernihiv. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/EPA
• Ukraine has asked Japan for high-quality satellite images to help it fend off Russian troops, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday.
• The Ukraine refugee exodus was continuing, with a majority of people seeking refuge in neighbouring Poland. According to UN estimates, more than 3 ​million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February.