Ukraine says it has RE-TAKEN Chuhuiv city and killed two high-ranking Russian commanders during the battle
- Ukraine’s General Staff said forces have seized Chuhuiv from Russian troops
- Heavy losses were inflicted on Putin’s men including two commanders
- The strategic city is located only 23 miles from Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine
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Ukrainian forces have recaptured the eastern city of Chuhuiv, defence officials have announced.
The General Staff said the defending forces had seized the city from the Russians and inflicted heavy losses on Putin’s men in both personnel and equipment.
Two high-ranking Russian commanders were killed in the battle.
The strategic city of 31,000 people is located 23 miles from Kharkiv, the second biggest city in Ukraine which has been subjected to intense bombardment.
The General Staff said on Facebook: ‘In the course of hostilities, the city of Chuhuiv was liberated.
Ukrainian forces have recaptured the eastern city of Chuhuiv, according to defence officials
‘The occupiers suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment.
‘Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, Commander of the 61st Separate Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov, Deputy Commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, were killed.’
The city had suffered intense shelling since the start of the war, and was the site of an airstrike which severely wounded a woman, 52, who has since become one of the defining images of the war.
Despite the heavy bombardment, Ukraine have now been able to hold off Russia and even launch counter attacks to regain the city.
It comes as cities were hit by fresh bombardments this morning with Vladimir Putin’s invasion entering its twelfth day.
The city had suffered intense shelling since the start of the war, and was the site of an airstrike which severely wounded a woman, 52, who has since become one of the defining images of the war
Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that ‘God will not forgive’ and Ukraine ‘will not forget’ the slaughter of civilians by Russian, saying a ‘day of judgement’ is coming for them.
Zelensky, in a late-night address to his countrymen on the Orthodox Christian holiday of ‘Forgiveness Sunday’, recalled how a family of four were among eight civilians killed by Russian mortars while trying to flee the city of Irpin – near Kyiv – earlier in the day.
‘We will not forgive. We will not forget,’ he told listeners.
‘We cannot forgive the hundreds upon hundreds of victims. Nor the thousands upon thousands who have suffered,’ he added. ‘God will not forgive. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never.’
He spoke as Russia claimed it is opening new ‘humanitarian corridors’ out of surrounded cities including Mariupol, Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv starting at 7am UK time today in order to allow civilians to evacuate – though few expect Putin’s men to observe the temporary truce after two similar corridors failed at the weekend.
Ukrainian soldiers carry a wounded woman out of the city of Irpin, to the west of Kyiv, amid heavy Russian attacks
The exact number of civilian casualties is unclear, though is estimated by Ukraine to be in the thousands as residential areas of major cities are indiscriminately bombed using thermobaric and cluster munitions amid evidence of ‘hit squads’ targeting civilian vehicles. The UN estimates that 1.5million people have fled the fighting.
Even as Russia announced a ceasefire starting Monday morning and the opening of humanitarian corridors in several areas, its armed forces continued to pummel Ukrainian cities, with multiple rocket launchers hitting residential buildings.
The limited ceasefire announcement came a day after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety were forced to shelter from Russian shelling of cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south. Officials from both sides planned a third round of talks Monday.
Russian forces continued their offensive, opening fire on the city of Mykolaiv, 480 kilometers south of the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine’s General Staff said Monday morning. Rescuers said they were putting out fires in residential areas caused by rocket attacks.
A woman weeps as the sound of shelling intensifies in the city of Irpin, to the west of Kyiv, with Russians trying to surround the capital ahead of an expected bombardment
Shelling also continued in the suburbs of Kyiv, including Irpin, which has been cut off from electricity, water and heating for three days.
‘Russia continues to carry out rocket, bomb and artillery strikes on the cities and settlements of Ukraine,’ the General Staff said. ‘The invaders continue to use the airfield network of Belarus to carry out air strikes on Ukraine.’
The Russians have also been targeting humanitarian corridors, taking women and children hostage and placing weapons in residential areas of cities, according to the General Staff.
A Russian task force said a ceasefire would start Monday morning, the 12th day of the war, for civilians from Kyiv, the southern port city of Mariupol, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and Sumy. It wasn’t immediately clear if fighting would stop beyond the areas mentioned in the task force’s statement, or when the ceasefire would end.
Ukrainian servicemen help an elderly woman in the town of Irpin, which was heavily shelled by Russia at the weekend
The announcement follows two failed attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, from which the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated 200,000 people were trying to flee.
Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the failure. The Russian task force said Monday’s ceasefire and the opening of the corridors was announced at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
Evacuation routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, citing the Defense Ministry, show that civilians will be able to leave to Russia and Belarus. Russian forces will be observing the ceasefire with drones, the task force said.
Putin said Moscow’s attacks could be halted ‘only if Kyiv ceases hostilities.’ As he has often done, Putin blamed Ukraine for the war, telling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that Kyiv needed to stop all hostilities and fulfill ‘the well-known demands of Russia.’
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