KYIV, April 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia fired two missiles into Kyiv on Thursday during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow pressed an assault in the east that drew new US pledges of military and humanitarian aid.
The rockets shook the central Shevchenko district in Ukraine’s capital and one of them struck the lower floors of a 25-storey residential building, injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia withdrew its invading forces from near Kyiv in early April after failing to capture the city, which has since hosted visits by top officials from the United States and its European allies.
But Thursday’s blasts, heard soon after Guterres completed talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, highlighted concerns that Kyiv still remains vulnerable to Russian heavy weaponry.
“There was an attack on Kyiv … it shocked me, not because I’m here but because Kyiv is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike,” Guterres told Portuguese broadcaster RTP when asked about the blasts.
Zelenskyy said the blasts “prove that we must not drop our vigilance. We must not think that the war is over”.
Guterres’ discussions with Zelenskyy focused in part on evacuating Ukrainian fighters and civilians holed up in a steel plant in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol, Russia’s main target in the eastern Donbas region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to UN and Red Cross involvement in evacuating the plant during separate talks in Moscow with Guterres on Tuesday. Ukrainian officials worry Russia wants to capture those trapped inside, an allegation Moscow denies.
The West believes battles for Mariupol and other eastern and southern areas may determine the war’s outcome. Russian forces are now entrenched in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have held some territory since 2014, and also hold a swathe of the south they seized in March.
Ukraine’s general staff said Russia was stepping up its military assault in the Donbas.
“The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions,” it said.
Heeding repeated Ukrainian pleas for heavier weaponry, US President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday for US$33 billion to support Kyiv, a massive jump in funding that includes over US$20 billion for weapons, ammunition and other military aid.
The package, intended to cover needs through September, builds on efforts by the United States and its allies to punish Russia for its Feb 24 invasion.
“We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom,” Biden said on Thursday. “The cost of this fight – it’s not cheap – but caving to aggression is going to be more costly.”
Washington, which together with its allies has placed sweeping sanctions on Moscow, hopes Ukrainian forces can not only repel Russia’s assault on the east but also weaken its military so that it can no longer menace neighbours.
Russia says that amounts to NATO waging a “proxy war” against it, and has made a number of threats this week of unspecified retaliation. It cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay in roubles, marking Moscow’s toughest response yet to Western economic sanctions. — NNN-AGENCIES
