Some may have been taken to Russia as “hostages” in order to force Kyiv to surrender.
Lyudmyla denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson said that 402,000 people, 84,000 of them children, were taken against their will.
Although the numbers of those who were relocated were almost identical, the Kremlin stated that they want to travel to Russia. The rebel-controlled areas of Ukraine’s eastern regions speak a majority Russian, and many have supported close ties with Moscow.
One month after the invasion, the two sides continued to fight in what has turned into a war of attrition. According to the navy of Ukraine, it destroyed a large Russian land ship that was used for transporting armored vehicles. Russia claimed that it had seized the eastern city of Izyum following fierce fighting.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, pleaded for Western allies via video to obtain planes, tanks and rockets at an emergency NATO summit in Brussels. He said that his country was “defending our common values.”
The U.S. President Joe Biden was in Europe to attend the summit and other high level meetings. Despite promising more aid, it seemed unlikely that the West would give Zelenskyy all he wants, out of fear of triggering an even wider war.
The battle for Kyiv has been a near-stalemate between the Ukrainian defenders and Moscow’s ground troops. This raises fears that Vladimir Putin, a frustrated Russian President, will resort to chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
Other developments:
Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, stated that Russia and Ukraine exchanged 50 civilian and military prisoners. This was the largest reported swap.
Alexander Lukashenko (pro-Moscow leader in Belarus) warned that Poland’s proposal of deploying a Western peacekeeping force to Ukraine “will lead to World War III.”
Olexander Lomako from Chernihiv said that a “humanitarian disaster” is occurring as Russian forces attack food storage areas. According to Lomako, there are approximately 130,000 people left in the city under siege. This is about half of its prewar population.
In the meantime, Kyiv, Moscow and Moscow provided conflicting accounts about who was moving people to Russia, and whether they were forced to move or coerced.
Russian Col. General Mikhail Mizintsev said Thursday that approximately 400,000 people were evacuated to Russia from eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk-Luhansk region. These regions are where pro-Moscow separatists fought for control for almost eight years.
Russian authorities claimed they provide accommodation and payments for evacuees.
However, the Donetsk Region Governor. Pavlo Kyrylenko stated that “people are being forcibly removed into the territory of an aggressor state.” Denisova claimed that among those who were removed by Russian troops was a 92 year-old woman from Mariupol, who was forced to travel to Taganrog in south Russia.
Ukrainian officials said that the Russians are taking people’s passports and moving them to “filtration camps” in Ukraine’s separatist-controlled east before sending them to various distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine charged 6,000 people from Mariupol, a devastated port city in the country’s east. According to the ministry, Moscow’s troops have taken identity documents from 15,000 more people in an area of Mariupol that is under Russian control.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, some could be sent as far south as Sakhalin on the Pacific island. They are being offered jobs if they stay for at least two years. According to the ministry, Russians plan to use them as hostages in order to exert more political pressure on Ukraine.
Kyrylenko stated that Mariupol’s residents were long denied information and that Russia fed them false claims about Ukraine’s defeats in order to persuade their decision to move to Russia.
He said that Russian lies could influence those who were under siege.
Concerning the naval attack on Berdyansk in Ukraine, two more vessels were damaged, and a fuel tank weighing 3,000 tons was destroyed by the Orsk sinking. This caused a fire which spread to nearby ammunition stocks.
Russia opened its stock exchange, but limited trading was allowed to avoid mass sell-offs. This sent a message that Western sanctions had not brought Russia to its knees. Foreigners were forbidden from selling and traders were prohibited to short sell, which would cause the betting prices to fall.
Millions of Ukrainians have fled the country. Some tried to stay, while others tried to flee.
A teenage girl was standing at the entrance to a waiting train with her white pet rabbit, who was shivering in her arms, at the Lviv central station. She was on her journey to meet her mother, then continue on to Germany or Poland. She was traveling by herself, leaving behind other relatives in Dnipro.
She said, “At the start I didn’t want leave.” “Now, I am scared for my life.”
