Kharkiv and Zhytomyr - the Main Targets of Russian Strikes in Ukraine in the Past 24 hours

Kharkiv and Zhytomyr were the main targets of Russian bombings last night, Ukrainian media reported.

Belarusian troops have been put on alert and are concentrated in the border area with Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expects an attack on the country from Belarus, it is clear from a post on social media.

In the second-largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, on the eastern border, a military medical center was destroyed. Russian paratroopers have attacked a hospital in the city, the Ukrainian army said. There are at least 21 victims and more than 100 injured in Kharkiv.

In Zhytomyr, about 140 kilometers west of Kyiv, 4 people were killed in airstrikes, and residential buildings were destroyed.

Fighting continues in Kherson, where there were bombings again during the night, and in Mariupol, where the city's mayor, Vadim Boychenko, reported more than 100 wounded civilians.

In Kherson, the Russian military is already controlling the station and the port, Mayor Ihor Kolichaev told local media. Numerous civilian casualties were reported. The building of the Ukrainian security services in the city on the Dnieper River was also shelled.

In Borodyanka, 50 kilometers from Kyiv, residential buildings have been bombed, said Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzhepar.

Negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian sides for an immediate ceasefire are expected to resume today.

“We must stop the aggressor Russia as soon as possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden. The two discussed Washington's leading role on sanctions against Russia and defense aid to Ukraine, Zelensky wrote on Twitter.

President Biden stressed the United States' assistance to Ukraine, including ongoing security, economic and humanitarian supplies.

The hearings in the investigation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will begin next week, said Karim Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The investigation is into crimes against humanity.

Major oil companies such as ExxonMobil and OMV have announced they are withdrawing their business from Russia.

The European Union will exclude 7 Russian banks from the international communication system SWIFT, including VTB, but not the largest Sberbank. However, as a result of the sanctions imposed so far, the European subsidiary of Sberbank, headquartered in Vienna and with offices in Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, has been banned from any business and is facing bankruptcy. This morning, Sberbank announced that it was leaving the European market. And Russia's central bank said this morning that the Moscow Stock Exchange had not reopened.

Bulgaria will Stop the Broadcasting of Russian Television

The 27 EU members have agreed to suspend the broadcasting of Russian propaganda media Russia Today and Sputnik in the EU.

Three billion dollars of financial assistance to Ukraine is being prepared by the World Bank. $350 million will probably be provided this week to stabilize the state budget, said World Bank chief David Malpass.

And the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is considering providing a $2.2 billion credit line to Kyiv, according to a statement from Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

The leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund warned in a joint statement that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would have consequences for the recovery of the world economy.

Due to escalating tensions in Ukraine, oil and gas prices on world markets have risen, and members of the International Energy Agency have agreed to unblock 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves.

/BNR

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