The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has banned celebrations of independence from Soviet rule, citing a growing threat of attack from Russia.
Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Kyiv on Monday, said the Ukrainian capital “is banning any kind of mass gatherings, while the city’s military management is ordering security forces to be ready respond to any kind of incident, such as missile attacks and bombings”.
The ban comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow could try “something particularly ugly” in the run-up to Wednesday’s 31st independence celebrations, which also mark half a year. since the Russian invasion.
Reuters news agency, citing an official document, said the ban on public events related to the celebration would last from Monday to Thursday.
Kyiv is far from the front lines and has rarely been hit by Russian missiles since Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian ground attack to capture the capital in March.
Other jurisdictions also restrict public gatherings. In Kharkiv, a northeastern city regularly hit by artillery and deadly long-range rockets, Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced the extension of an overnight curfew from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m., effective from Monday. Tuesday to Thursday.
At the port of Mykolaiv, near the Russian-administered territory to the south, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said authorities had planned a precaution against people working from home on Tuesday and Wednesday and urged people not to gather in large groups.
Meanwhile, the US says it has intelligence that Russia is planning to launch new attacks soon on Ukrainian government and civilian facilities. “We have information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch attacks against Ukrainian civilian and government facilities in the coming days,” a US official quoted by Reuters told Reuters. ” The official said the statement was based on downgraded intelligence.
In an evening speech, Zelenskyy called for new sanctions against Russia from Europe, which is bracing for energy shortages after Moscow announced a three-day halt to some lines of energy. gas to the continent in apparent retaliation to European Union sanctions.
Russia denies this, blaming the sanctions reduction itself and various technical problems.
“It’s only a question of how many lives Russia will be able to take before the backlash from the international community becomes really visible to those responsible,” Zelenskyy said.
Concerns about intensified attacks also increased after the Russian Federal Security Service on Monday alleged Ukrainian agents killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a radical Russian nationalist, in a car bomb attack near Moscow that President Vladimir Putin called a “crime”.
Ukraine denies involvement.
‘Sitting on the powder bucket’
Near the front lines in the south of the country, Ukraine says Russia has fired rockets into several towns to the north and west of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia facility, which was captured by Russian forces shortly after they invaded Ukraine in February.
The governor of the region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Russian forces fired rockets overnight at the nearby towns of Nikopol, Krivyi Rih and Synelnykovskyi. Explosions of artillery and rockets near the Zaporizhzhia complex have raised fears of a nuclear disaster, with Ukrainians living near the plant expressing concern the shells could hit one of the house’s six reactors machine, causing dire consequences.
“Of course, we are worried. … It’s like sitting on a barrel of flour,” said Alexander Lifirenko, a resident of the nearby town of Enerhodar, which is now under the control of pro-Moscow forces.
Both sides have blamed the frequent shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, where Kyiv accuses Moscow of having army bases and stockpiling military hardware. Russia denies this and accuses Ukraine of targeting Zaporizhzhia with drones.
Russia’s state news agency RIA reported that Moscow had requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state news agency RIA reported, citing Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy.
To the south, explosions and recurrent fighting were reported in Russian-occupied Kherson and in the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. In Kherson, the only bridge across the strategic Dnieper River was was hit by high-precision HIMARS missiles supplied to Ukraine by the United States, injuring 15 people, a source in the occupied Kherson emergency services told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Explosions were also reported in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. The city’s Russian-appointed governor said an air defense system had been activated nearby.
Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, citing its monitoring mission in Ukraine, on Monday said 5,587 civilians have been killed and 7,890 wounded since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. mainly due to artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
UNICEF says at least 972 children have been killed or injured during the six months of war.
“The use of explosive weapons has caused most of the casualties among children. These weapons do not discriminate between civilian and combat, especially when used in densely populated areas as is the case in Ukraine,” said UN Children’s Office Executive Director, Catherine Russell. know in a statement.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi alone – Kyiv’s army chief – provided what appeared to be the first public death toll of the Ukrainian army, saying almost 9,000 soldiers died in action.
Russia did not say how many of its soldiers were killed. The Ukrainian General Staff estimates the Russian military deaths at 45,400.
