An air alert was sounded on Wednesday in and around Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and residents were urged to reach shelters on an urgent basis.
Taking to social media platform Telegram, regional administration head Oleksiy Kuleba said there was a threat of a missile attack. “Kyiv region – air alert. Threat of a missile attack. Everyone immediately to shelters,” he wrote.
The development came amid reports of Russia breaching agreements for safe evacuation of citizens for the third time.
The city of Mariupol, which sits on the Azov Sea, has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days and a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the encircled city of 4,30,000.
Meanwhile, a humanitarian corridor out of the besieged city of Sumy would continue for the day, said regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said. He separately said the city’s residential area had been bombed overnight, with at least one bomb killing 22 civilians.
About 5,000 people rode buses out of the northeastern city on Tuesday after Moscow and Kyiv agreed on the corridor, he said, and about 1,000 cars were also able to leave, moving towards the city of Poltava.
Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbour entered the second week on Wednesday. Its troops are said to have advanced deep along Ukraine’s coastline, having battered cities along the way.
Attempts to create safe corridors for evacuation are stumbling amid continuing fighting. The two sides have held at least three rounds of talks with little result.
Across the east European nation, thousands – both civilians and soldiers – are likely dead. Thousands are flee the war-torn nation prompting Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Unprecedented sanctions have been imposed against Moscow by the West over the past few days in response to Russia’s military operation. A day ago, US announced a ban on import of all Russian oil and gas.
Russian forces have seen their advances stopped in certain areas, including around Kyiv, by fiercer resistance than expected from the Ukrainians.