Latest news about Russia and the war in Ukraine

Explosions were heard in the early hours of Saturday morning in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the western city of Lviv, according to local officials.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko He said in the messaging app Telegram Kyiv was “under fire” this morning, with explosions heard in the Darnitsky district on the outskirts of the city.

He said that rescuers and paramedics are currently working on the site, and there was no information on the number of victims of the blasts.

Explosions were also heard in Lviv, western Ukraine this morning. employment cableGovernor Maxim Kozytsky said an air strike took place between 5:46 and 07:02 local time.

– Holly Eliat

The British Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence update that Ukrainian roads and other infrastructure have been badly damaged by Russian forces, and this is now a major challenge in delivering humanitarian aid to some areas.

“Road infrastructure in conflict-affected areas of Ukraine has been significantly damaged. Russian forces have exacerbated this by destroying bridges, using landmines and abandoning vehicles along major roads as they withdraw from northern Ukraine,” the ministry said in its update posted on Twitter. .

The update said river crossings in and around the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv had been destroyed, leaving only one pedestrian bridge left in the city.

“The damage to Ukraine’s transport infrastructure now represents a major challenge in delivering humanitarian aid to areas formerly besieged by Russia,” the ministry wrote in a tweet.

– Weezin Tan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky He says he was hearing various predictions about how long the war with Russia would last.

said in His nightly address to the nation.

But Zelensky says the “effectiveness of the tools of influence” over Russia that Ukraine uses as well as its entire anti-war alliance against Russia must be taken into account, when predicting how long the war will last.

“The success of our army on the battlefield is really important. Historically important. But it is not enough to clean our land of occupiers yet. We will defeat them more,” he said.

“Sanctions against Russia are very important. Economically painful. But they are still not enough to leave the Russian military machine without means of livelihood. We encourage stronger and more destructive sanctions,” Zelensky said.

Those two regions, he says, will determine how long this war will last. The amount of support for Ukraine “literally determines how many Ukrainians the occupiers will succeed in killing.”

And he said, “If someone says: A year or years, answer: You can make the war much shorter. The sooner we get all the weapons we asked for, and the sooner we come, the stronger our position will be and peace will come sooner.” . “The sooner the democratic world realizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.”

– Weezin Tan