Drowned by the loss of its flagship in the Black Sea and outraged by the alleged Ukrainian aggression on Russian soil, the Russian military administration had warned a day earlier of new rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Officials in Moscow said they were targeting military bases. But the tax of war goes much deeper. Every day brings new discoveries of civilian victims of a war that has shaken European security and plunged East-West relations to new lows. In the Kiev region alone, Ukrainian authorities said they had found the bodies of more than 900 civilians, most of whom had been shot dead since Russian troops withdrew two weeks ago. Russia’s preparations for the impending eastern offensive are producing more casualties. A mother wept over the body of her 15-year-old son in the partially besieged city of Kharkiv, where bombings escalated this week. Nine civilians were killed and more than 50 were injured Friday, the president’s office said. A rocket-propelled grenade struck near an open-air market in Kharkov, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Saturday, according to firefighters and AP reporters at the scene. One person was killed and at least 18 were injured, according to rescue workers. In the capital, smoke rose early Saturday from eastern Kyiv as Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a strike in the Darnitsky district of the city. One person was killed and several others were injured, he said. The mayor advised residents who fled the city earlier in the war not to return for safety. “The air defense forces are doing everything they can to protect us, but the enemy is insidious and ruthless,” Klitschko said. It was not immediately clear from the ground what hit the attack. Darnytskyi is a large district at the southeastern tip of the capital, containing a mix of Soviet-style apartment buildings, newer shopping malls and department stores, industrial areas, and railroad facilities. Earlier this week, the Russian military said it would strike in Kyiv, and Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday that the target was an armored vehicle factory in the Ukrainian capital. He did not specify where the plant is located, but there is one in the Darnytskyi area. He said he was among several Ukrainian military bases hit by “high-precision long-range air weapons”. As the US and Europe send new weapons to Ukraine, the strategy could be aimed at thwarting Ukraine’s defense before what is expected to be a full-scale Russian offensive in the east. It was the second strike in the Kiev region in two days. Another bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police recruiting center at Kisak, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens more. Kyiv was not the only target away from the eastern front on Saturday. The governor of the Lviv region in western Ukraine – a region long considered a safe haven – reported airstrikes in the region by Russian Su-35 fighter jets taking off from neighboring Belarus. Governor Maksym Kozytskyy did not provide details about possible casualties or damage. Fighting continued in the devastated southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian forces maintained a blockade from the first days of the invasion, and a small number of Ukrainian defenders resisted the siege. The capture of Mariupol will allow Russian forces in the south, which came through the annexed Crimean peninsula, to fully connect with troops in the Donbas region, the eastern industrial heart of Ukraine. The battle for control of the city had costly consequences for trapped and starving civilians. Locals said they saw Russian troops digging up corpses from residential yards and banning new burials. “Why the exhumation is taking place and where the bodies will be transported is unknown,” the city council said Friday in a Telegram message application. The mayor said this week that the death toll in the city could exceed 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials said they expected to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities such as those discovered in Bukha and other cities outside Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian troops occupying parts of the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of terrorizing civilians and chasing anyone serving in the Ukrainian army or government. “The conquerors believe that this will make it easier for them to control this land. But they are very wrong. “They are making fun of themselves,” Zelensky said in a video overnight. “Russia’s problem is that it is not accepted – and will never be accepted – by the entire Ukrainian people. “Russia has lost Ukraine forever.” He also warned in an interview with CNN that “all the countries of the world” should be prepared for the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly using nuclear weapons in the war, an underlying fear since Putin launched it on February 24. Zelensky estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war and that about 10,000 had been wounded. The Russians were holding about 700 Ukrainian soldiers and more than 1,000 civilians captive, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a televised address on Saturday. Vereshchuk said Ukraine was holding about the same number of Russian troops as prisoners and intended to negotiate an exchange with Moscow, but demanded the “unconditional release” of civilians. Russia’s warning of escalating attacks in the capital came after Russian authorities on Thursday accused Ukraine of injuring seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings in air strikes in Bryansk, an area bordering Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed targets in Russia and the reports could not be verified by an independent. However, Ukrainian officials struck a key Russian warship with missiles earlier this week, in a major victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia. The Moskva, named after the Russian capital, sank while being towed to the port on Thursday after severe damage. Moscow did not recognize any attack, saying only that a fire had exploded on the ship. The sinking reduces Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea and seemed to symbolize Moscow’s fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following Russia’s withdrawal from the Kiev region and much of northern Ukraine. After the retreat, the corpses were abandoned on the streets of cities around Kyiv or temporarily buried. Andriy Nebytov, who heads the district police force, cited 95% of the deaths as a result of the shooting. “So we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were just executed on the streets,” Nebitov said. More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bhutan, more than 350. under Russian control. The Russian troops, he added, “locate” people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views. It is uncertain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign. The diplomatic rift between Russia and the West deepened on Saturday as Moscow barred British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a dozen other senior British officials from entering the country in response to British sanctions.
Chernov reported from Kharkov. Yesica Fisch in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Robert Burns in Washington, D.C., and Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.
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