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Fighting is raging northwest of Kyiv, with the bulk of Russian ground forces 25km (16 miles) from the centre of the Ukrainian capital. Russia said its troops could target supplies of Western weapons in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, French and Germany had alleged that Russian President, Vladimir Putin did not show a willingness to end the war during a call with the French and German leaders, a French presidency official said. The humanitarian situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol continues to deteriorate with the UN citing reports of “looting and violent confrontations” among civilians over the few resources available. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s invasion started.
In a related development, Croatian officials had criticized NATO for what they said was its slow reaction to a military drone that apparently flew from the Ukrainian war zone through the airspace of three NATO member states, before crashing in the Croatian capital.
The Russian-made unmanned aircraft crossed Romania and Hungary before entering Croatia and slamming late Thursday into a field near a student dormitory. Some 40 parked cars were damaged but no one was injured after a loud blast.
“We cannot tolerate this situation, nor should it have ever happened,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said while visiting the crash site. “This was a pure and clear threat and both NATO and the EU should have reacted,” he said. “We will work to raise the readiness not only of us but of others as well,” he added.
However, Satellite images show extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private US company confirmed.
Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged.
