Status: 03/26/2022 5:30 p.m
Lviv in western Ukraine has so far been largely spared from Russian attacks. Now the authorities are reporting rocket fire, black smoke is hanging over the city. Russian troops have occupied a small town near Chernobyl.
According to the mayor, the western Ukrainian metropolis of Lviv has been attacked from the air. According to a city council member, three heavy explosions could be heard. Archyde.com eyewitnesses saw black smoke billow over the city.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyj called on the population to calm down on Telegram. People should stay in shelters. The city, around 80 kilometers from the border with NATO country Poland, has so far only experienced a few attacks. At least 200,000 refugees from other parts of Ukraine have made their way to Lviv.
City near Chernobyl in Russian hands
Fighting is also reported from other parts of the country: According to Ukrainian information, Russian troops have occupied the town of Slavutych near the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The soldiers entered the city and occupied the hospital, the head of the military administration, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, wrote on Telegram. This information cannot be independently verified. The staff who used to operate the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and now oversee the decommissioned plants live in Slavutych.
Residents reportedly protested the Russian occupation and unfurled a large Ukrainian flag. According to this information, Russian soldiers shot in the air to disperse the people. The exclusion zone around Chernobyl has been occupied by Russian troops since the beginning of the war.
Demonstrators in Slavutych.
Image: via REUTERS
conflicting parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body.
Situation in Mariupol “absolutely tragic”
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the situation in the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine remains “absolutely tragic”. In a video message that night, he accused Russia of blocking aid to civilians in Mariupol. So far it has been possible to get a little more than 26,000 civilians out of the heavily contested city.
Civilians wishing to leave Mariupol are currently required to do so in private vehicles, according to the Ukrainian government, as Russian forces would not allow buses through their checkpoints around the port city.
Shaded in white: advance of the Russian army. Shaded in green: Russian-backed separatist areas. Crimea: annexed by Russia.
Bild: ISW / 25.03.2022
France wants to help in Mariupol
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on national television that more than 100,000 people still need to be evacuated from Mariupol. French President Emmanuel Macron wants to help. Together with Turkey and Greece, France wants to get civilians out of the city. When planning the international rescue operation, there are already concrete talks with the mayor and coordination with President Selenskyj, said Macron. An agreement is now also necessary with Russia, whose troops have been besieging the city for weeks.
Heavy struggle for the city of Cherson
According to a US Department of Defense official, Ukrainian forces are fighting to retake the important southern city of Kherson from the Russians. The Russian military no longer has such tight control over the city as before, which is why Cherson is now classified as a “contested area” again.
Kherson is a strategically important port city, the official said. It lies at the beginning of the Dnipro estuary delta. Should the Ukrainians manage to recapture the city, it would complicate the Russian attack on the nearby embattled city of Mykolaiv. It would also make a possible ground offensive in the direction of the port city of Odessa significantly more difficult.