KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press journalists around Ukraine and beyond are documenting military activity during Russia’s invasion. With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult. Here’s a look at what could be confirmed Monday as Russia’s military assault on Ukraine was in its fifth day.
DIRECTLY WITNESSED
— Explosions and gunfire appeared to subside overnight around Kyiv, the capital, before Ukrainian and Russian delegations met Monday on Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
— As the talks wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in Kyiv.
— Russian forces shelled Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Video showed residential areas being shelled, with apartment buildings shaken by repeated, powerful blasts. Flashes of fire and gray plumes of smoke could be seen.
— Pro-Russian separatists were taking control of the town of Nikolayevka in the eastern Donetsk region. The AP witnessed burnt trucks and the corpse of a man in camouflage fatigues.
— In the seaside resort town of Berdyansk, dozens of protesters chanted angrily in the main square against Russian occupiers, yelling at them to go home and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. They described the soldiers as exhausted young conscripts.
SATELLITE IMAGERY
— Russian troops advanced slowly on Kyiv from the north. A vast convoy of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 17 miles (25 kilometers) from the center of the city and stretched for 40 miles, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.
— The latest Maxar photos also showed deployments of ground forces and ground attack helicopter units in southern Belarus.
ANNOUNCED BY RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES
— The Russian military has offered to allow residents to leave Kyiv via a safe corridor, raising fears a further onslaught is coming.
— For the second day in a row, the Kremlin raised the specter of nuclear war, announcing that its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and long-range bombers had all been put on high alert, following President Vladimir Putin’s orders over the weekend.
ANNOUNCED BY UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES
— More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the head of the region wrote on Telegram. Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching the rubble. He said they were still recovering some bodies. In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting.
— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least 16 children have been killed and 45 wounded, among hundreds of casualties. The U.N. human rights chief said 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded — warning that figure was likely a vast undercount.
— Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry released a video showing damaged buildings and destruction in the northern city of Chernihiv. The ministry claims shelling hit a residential building, a building at the central market and a kindergarten.
— Zelenskyy said Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, is “hanging on.”
ANNOUNCED BY OFFICIALS ELSEWHERE
— The U.N. refugee agency said more than 520,000 refugees had fled Ukraine and that the number “has been rising exponentially, hour after hour.” The U.N. expects the total to reach 4 million in the coming weeks.
