Russia bombards cities as eastern offensive begins

News Desk :
Russia has claimed it has hit more than 1,200 Ukrainian targets with missiles, airstrikes and artillery and street battles have broken out as Vladimir Putin’s troops launched their new offensive in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Russian troops managed to take control of the eastern city of Kreminna after hours of relentless bombing, as gunfights between Putin’s men and battling Ukrainian forces continue, reports Mail Online.
‘Control over the city of Kreminna is lost, street fights are taking place,’ Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had begun ‘the battle for the Donbas’.
Downing Street has been warned that the battle could take ‘months’, with Boris Johnson telling a Cabinet meeting today that Ukraine’s situation is ‘perilous’ with Putin intent on victory ‘regardless of the human cost.’
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday ‘high-precision air-based missiles’ had struck 13 Ukrainian positions in parts of the Donbas region, including the city of Slavyansk, whilst airstrikes had hit 60 military targets.
Overall, Russia claimed it had struck 1,260 Ukrainian military assets in the overnight bombardment and a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet had been shot down near Malinovka, Donetsk Region.
Russia on Tuesday issued a new ultimatum for Ukrainian troops and foreign fighters holed up in the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol to lay down their arms within two hours if they wanted to live. The Russian defence ministry called on the troops to withdraw from the steel plant between 1400 and 1600 Moscow time (1100 and 1300 GMT) ‘without exception, without any weapons and without ammunition’.
‘All who lay down their arms are guaranteed to remain alive,’ the defence ministry added.
Ukrainian troops who have defended the city for seven weeks have ignored such previous offers and Kyiv today said Russia’s new offensive in eastern Ukraine will fail because Moscow’s forces lack the strength to break through Ukrainian defences.
The Azovstal plant, which covers the territory of about 11 square kilometers (over 4 square miles) is the last major Ukrainian pocket of resistance in Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov.
Ukrainian authorities said on Monday that no fewer than 1,000 civilians were hiding in underground shelters beneath the vast Azovstal plant, adding that Russia was dropping heavy bombs onto the Ukrainian-held factory in the besieged city.
Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks, has seen the fiercest fighting and most comprehensive destruction since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
BBC Online adds: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia has launched an assault to seize the eastern Donbas region.
Moscow bombarded cities with rocket and artillery fire on Monday and in a video address Mr Zelensky said that the battle “for the Donbas has begun”.
Ukraine’s top security official, Oleksiy Danilov, said that Russia tried to break through Ukrainian front lines in the region.
The offensive has been long-expected after Russia failed to seize Kyiv.
Russia initially appeared to want to capture major Ukrainian cities and topple the government.
But after facing stiff resistance, Russian defence officials said that its main objectives in the “first stage of the operation” had been “generally accomplished” and its forces were moved from areas around the capital.
They announced plans to redirect the focus of the invasion towards the “liberation” of the Russian speaking Donbas region.
Russia’s President Vladmir Putin has portrayed the invasion as an attempt to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine, something Ukraine and its allies dismiss as a ruse for an unprovoked attack.
Throughout Monday, Russia unleashed a barrage of rocket and artillery fire on a number of eastern areas, with eight civilians killed in the city of Kreminna in Luhansk and in the Donetsk area.