Mayor of Kiev: Russia used internationally prohibited weapons

As the Russian cordon continues around the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitschko, announced today, Saturday, that Russian forces have bombed 20 sites in the city, mostly on the outskirts.

It also accused Moscow of using internationally banned weapons to bomb the Ukrainian heart, according to the Al-Arabiya / Al-Hadath correspondent.

He explained that the Russian bombing deliberately targets residential areas to drive civilians out of them.

In addition, he pledged not to let Russian forces into central Kiev, stressing the continuation of the fighting.

For its part, the Ukrainian Defense announced that it had stopped the advance of Russian forces towards the capital.

Plumes of smoke . and the fighting continues

This occurred when plumes of smoke rose in central Kiev after the bombing, as fighting continued in its surroundings. Al-Arabiya’s correspondent confirmed that Kiev authorities expected an attack on the Sumy region soon.

Today the Ukrainian capital appeared, according to the journalist, in a cautious calm, as the queues that have lengthened in the last period in front of grocery stores, bakeries and pharmacies have disappeared.

While the destruction was evident in many areas of the capital, according to what the reporter confirmed, adding that some buildings had been completely razed to the ground.

And local city authorities announced yesterday that 222 people have been killed in the Ukrainian capital since the start of the Russian operation, including 60 civilians and four children. He also added that another 889 were injured, including 241 civilians.

Interestingly, Kiev has been almost encircled from all sides except the south, as clashes continue on the northern, northeastern and western fronts, while Russian forces are also advancing towards the southern side.

new images

And new satellite images today showed that the Russian military had built land barriers around its military vehicles northwest of the capital in order to hide and protect them.

The photos taken by the “Maxar” company also showed additional Russian military equipment in the villages of Zdvizhivka and Peristanka, located in the far northwest of Kiev.

Interestingly, Russian forces and their mechanisms have been stationed in the vicinity of the capital for more than two weeks, but have not been in able to advance towards the heart of the city, while Western observers and intelligence reports (American and British) have seen that the Russians have faced several logistical obstacles that have prevented them from advancing and that the Ukrainian resistance has formed a barrier, so far impervious to them.

However, the West, despite its strong support for Ukraine with weapons, equipment and humanitarian aid since the launch of the Russian operation on February 24, had previously feared the possibility of the city’s fall and speculated that this would happen.