Watch: Ukrainian man breaks down beside his mother’s dead body killed by Russia

Watch: Ukrainian man breaks down beside his mother’s dead body killed by Russia

Synopsis

A man huddles over a bloodstained sheet, crying, in parking littered with shattered glass. His mother's body is beneath it, slain in the bombing by Russia. Three individuals behind him assist an elderly lady onto the sidewalk. They don't bother to look around.

Watch: Ukrainian man breaks down beside his mother’s dead body killed by Russia

Watch: Ukrainian man breaks down beside his mother’s dead body killed by Russia

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A man huddles over a bloodstained sheet, crying, in parking littered with shattered glass. His mother’s body is beneath it, slain in the bombing by Russia. Three individuals behind him assist an elderly lady onto the sidewalk. They don’t bother to look around.

On the 21st day of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, this is Kyiv.

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With the Russian army pinned down on all fronts, Moscow’s generals are depending on indiscriminate shelling of major cities to create a strong image while executing innocent civilians.

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Ukrainian air defences knocked down a missile fired towards the capital early Thursday. This most certainly averted more carnage. However, he was unable to prevent fragments of the rocket from crashing into an apartment building, killing the man’s mother and injuring dozens of others.

It happened as the city, which had been under siege for days, was about to be released from a 36-hour curfew. As Russian troops try and fail to advance inwards, fighting continues on the outskirts to the east and northwest.

Such attacks prompted President Joe Biden to call Putin a “war criminal” yesterday night, words that the Kremlin described as “unacceptable and unforgivable.”

Estimates of civilian deaths are difficult to come by. By Tuesday this week, the UN has recorded the deaths of 726 individuals, 52 of whom were children – however, it cautioned that the exact toll is likely much higher.

Ukraine claims thousands have died, but does not update this figure on a regular basis. Officials in the badly-affected Mariupol, where a maternity facility was destroyed last week, estimate that 2,400 people have died in the city alone.

Moscow maintains that no civilians have been killed. ‘Russian armed forces do not bomb towns and cities,’ said Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

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When asked about the maternity unit blast, which killed at least one extremely pregnant woman and her unborn child, she said it was a “lie.”

Another civilian target in Mariupol was struck only yesterday – a theatre that was being utilised to hide up to 1,200 civilians from the bombing.

The front and back of the structure had big letters engraved into the ground that stated ‘kids’ in Russia. It was entirely destroyed by a Russian attack.

Officials said a bomb shelter housed there had survived the blast, however, it was unclear how many people were inside, with some ‘trapped.’ Evacuations were ongoing at the location this morning.

Some people managed to escape alive from the destroyed building, according to Ukrainian MP Sergiy Taruta, a former governor of the Donetsk region, where Mariupol is located.

Air attacks by Russia also hit a municipal swimming pool complex, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional government, where Mariupol is located.

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He said that civilians, including women and children, had taken refuge inside.

‘Now there are pregnant women and women with children under the rubble there,’ he added, though the number of casualties was not immediately known.

In a video speech to German legislators on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for additional assistance for his country, claiming that hundreds of people have been murdered in the nearly month-long conflict, including 108 children.

He also mentioned Mariupol’s poor state.

‘Everything is a target for them,’ he said, including ‘a theatre where hundreds of people found a shelter that was flattened yesterday’.

Russia carried out further airstrikes on Mariupol early Thursday morning, as well as artillery and airstrikes across the country overnight, notably in the Kalynivka and Brovary areas of Kyiv, according to Mr Zelensky’s office.

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According to emergency services in Kyiv, where residents have been huddling in houses and shelters, a fire broke out early Thursday in an apartment building damaged by the remains of a fallen Russian rocket, killing one person and injuring at least three others.

30 people were evacuated from the upper floors of the 16-story building, and the fire was put out within an hour.

According to Merefa mayor Veniamin Sitov, Russian artillery demolished a school and a community centre in Merefa, a city near the north-east city of Kharkiv, on Thursday.

There were no civilians killed or injured.

As halted Russian forces try to advance in the area, the Kharkiv region has been bombarded heavily.

Six countries have requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine on Thursday afternoon, ahead of a vote on a resolution demanding protection for Ukrainian people “in vulnerable situations” on Friday.

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‘Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians,’ Britain’s UN Mission said in a tweet announcing the meeting, which was also attended by the US, France, and others.

‘Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine is a threat to us all.’

Despite the attacks on civilians, peace discussions between the two sides have been ongoing, with both sides claiming that ‘progress’ has been achieved.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, claimed the two parties were ‘seriously discussed’ a neutral military position for Ukraine, while Mr Zelensky said Russia’s demands for a cease-fire were becoming ‘more realistic.’

The videotaped talks on Wednesday appeared to delve deeper into details.

Ukraine demanded a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian soldiers, and security guarantees from many countries, according to Mr Zelensky’s aide Mikhailo Podolyak.

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‘This is possible only through direct dialogue’ between Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin, he tweeted.

The major topic of conversation, according to a source in Mr Zelensky’s office, was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist districts in eastern Ukraine after the battle and where the borders would be.

According to the official, Ukraine is demanding that one or more Western nuclear countries be included in the talks, as well as a legally binding treaty with security guarantees for Ukraine.

Ukraine was willing to consider a neutral position in exchange, according to the diplomat.

Russia has urged that NATO never admit Ukraine to the alliance or post troops in the country.

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