Kyiv: Russian forces have seized the city of Kreminna in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the city, the regional governor has said. More than 200 civilians have been suspected to have been killed.
Kreminna, a city of more than 18,000 people about 350 miles (560km) south-east of the capital, Kyiv, appears to be the first city captured in a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.
“Kreminna is under the control of the ‘Orcs’ [Russians]. They have entered the city,” Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, told a briefing on Tuesday. “Our defenders had to withdraw. They have entrenched themselves in new positions and continue to fight the Russian army.”
A Ukrainian military commander is claiming on Tuesday that the Russian military has started using bunker-buster bombs on a steel plant in Mariupol that soldiers are defending. Kharkiv region Governor Oleh Synyehubov said that at least 17 other civilians were wounded in the attack launched on Tuesday.
According to the UN, nearly five million Ukrainians have fled the war since Russia’s invasion. The refugee agency sounded alert at the rapid exodus and voiced concern that the situation may worsen. Accurately, 4,980,589 Ukrainians had left since Russia invaded on February 24 — a figure up 46,174 on Monday’s total. Beyond refugees, the IOM estimates that 7.1 million people are displaced within Ukraine.
.