War in Ukraine: follow the evolution of the Russian military invasion

Nicolas Tonev, with Europe 1 and AFP 6:31 a.m., March 2, 2022

THE ESSENTIAL

Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv overnight, the Ukrainian military said Wednesday, citing ongoing fighting in Ukraine's second-largest city in the east.

"Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv (...) and attacked a local" hospital, the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement on Telegram.

"A fight is ongoing between the invaders and the Ukrainians," the statement said.

The main information:

- Russian troops in Kharkiv

- recorded Russian air strikes

- a dreaded Belarusian army attack

Kharkiv targeted by several bombardments

According to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, a fire broke out on Wednesday in the barracks of a flight school in Kharkiv after an airstrike.

"Practically there is no such area left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not hit yet," he said, quoted in a statement on Telegram.

This announcement comes on the seventh day of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, launched on February 24 and which intensified on Tuesday.

Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people near the border with Russia, was targeted by several bombardments on Tuesday, which left at least ten dead and more than 20 injured according to local authorities.

In Mariupol, a port on the Sea of ​​Azov, more than a hundred people were injured on Tuesday in Russian fire, according to the mayor of the city, Vadim Boïtchenko, quoted by Ukrainian media.

In Kherson, whose entrances were already controlled by Russian forces, the latter took control of the railway station and the port overnight, according to the mayor of the city Igor Kolykhayev, quoted by local media.

In Borodianka, 50 km from Kiev, Russian airstrikes destroyed two residential buildings on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Djaparova, who shared a video of the gray buildings partially in ruins, with apartments in flames.

Belarusian troops soon to be mobilized?

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also indicated overnight that it feared an attack from Belarus.

"Belarusian troops have been put on high alert and are in the concentration areas closest to the border with Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement on Facebook.

During the day on Tuesday, Ukrainian intelligence noted "significant activity" of aircraft in the border area, and convoys of vehicles carrying food and ammunition were observed there, the statement said.

In view of these movements, Belarus "could probably support the Russian invaders in the Russian-Ukrainian war in the future", warned the ministry.

"Missile attacks against military and civilian targets" in Ukraine have been "systematically" launched from Belarusian territory since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, he added.