In Kyiv and in its surroundings, several strikes were reported this weekend. An arms factory was destroyed at the end of last week according to the Kremlin, sheltering “Polish mercenaries”. Despite the withdrawal of Russian troops since the end of March, the war is not over in the capital. Russia announced on Friday that it would step up its strikes on kyiv, citing Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. The French Ministry of Defense already reported last Thursday the “resumption of bombardments in western Ukraine, in particular north of kyiv”.
In Mariupol, it is likely that the Russians have taken possession of the port since April 16, judges the Institute for the Study of War, despite the denials of the Ukrainian general staff. The Russian forces released images confirming their presence in several key places in the southwest of the city, including the port itself, inique the American institute at the forefront in the analysis of the situation on the ground. It is possible that isolated Ukrainian resistance groups will remain active, “but they will probably be eliminated by Russian forces in the days to come”. A bastion would have been formed at the level of the Azovstal metallurgical plant, to the west of the city. For the ISW, the Russian forces will probably seek to force the last defenders of the plant to capitulate by “overwhelming firepower in order to avoid costly clearing operations”. But the last Ukrainian soldiers on the spot seem determined to organize a final resistance. “Our soldiers are still there. They will fight until the end,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal, according to AFP.
In the Donbass, the Russian offensive, dreaded in recent days, began on the night of Monday 18 to Tuesday 19 April. Massive bombardments are reported and fighting is already underway in the towns of Rubizhne, Popasna and Kreminna, which is said to have come under Russian control. This city of 18,000 inhabitants is located about fifty kilometers northeast of Kramatorsk, capital of the Donbass coalfield, the Kremlin’s next objective. “We can now say that Russian troops have started the battle for Donbass, which they have been preparing for for a long time. A very large part of the entire Russian army is now devoted to this offensive,” the president said. Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech broadcast on Telegram and reported by AFP. “It’s hell. The offensive has begun, the one we’ve been talking about for weeks,” the Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region announced on Facebook.