Identical sources reported today, Tuesday, that the Russian army is seeking to reposition in southern and eastern Ukraine, after the Ukrainian army regained control of several areas in the north.
While Russia continued its incursion into the city of Mariupol, a UN report confirmed that the war displaced more than seven million people.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the goal of the Russian forces in withdrawing from Kyiv is to control the entire Donbass region and the Crimea.
Stoltenberg added that the alliance is determined to continue supporting Ukraine with various types of weapons and defenses and with special cybersecurity assistance to protect Ukrainians from any chemical attack.
For its part, the Ukrainian General Staff said that what it described as the enemy is regrouping its forces and focusing its efforts on preparing for an offensive operation in the east of the country.
The authority added that Russia's goal is to impose complete control over the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
She noted that planes and helicopters belonging to the Russian forces were transferred from airports in Belarus to Russia.
British Reports
For its part, British army intelligence said that Ukrainian forces retook the north of the country, noting that the Ukrainians forced the Russians to retreat from areas around Chernihiv (north of Kyiv) and north of Kharkiv.
She added that most of the Russian units withdrawing from the north need to be rearmed before being redeployed to the east.
British army intelligence suggested that fighting would continue in some areas recaptured by the Ukrainians.
Storming Mariupol
To the east, Russian media broadcast pictures it said were of the deployment of Russian marines and forces of pro-Moscow separatists on the streets of the city of Mariupol.
The same sources said that these photos show an incursion of the joint Russian forces into the city of Mariupol, as they put it.
For their part, the separatists in the Donetsk region announced the burning of a Turkish ship bearing the Dominican flag in the port of Mariupol, while Ukrainian sources said that the ship was bombed by Russia.
The separatists also accused the Ukrainian nationalists of destroying the infrastructure of the port of Mariupol and its foreign ships.
In the adjacent Mykolaiv, the city's municipality announced the killing of ten civilians in Russian bombing, including nine who were killed in the targeting of a market.
prisoner exchange
In a related context, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia said that a new exchange of prisoners took place between Moscow and Kiev
The Commissioner indicated that 86 Russian soldiers were exchanged for a similar number of Ukrainian soldiers
The Commissioner expressed her hope for new exchanges between the two parties in the coming days, adding that the Russian Defense Ministry is working on preparing the lists.
Russian operations
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry published pictures that it said were targeting sites in the Ukrainian military infrastructure with precision missiles.
The ministry stated that the sites were targeted by a burst of "Kaliber" missiles launched from one of the Russian ships in the Black Sea at targets deep in Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry has published pictures showing the downing of a Ukrainian "Bayraktar" drone.
It said that the Ukrainian march was targeted using a "Tor" anti-aircraft missile system, without mentioning the place of targeting.
The ministry confirmed that more than 20 air targets were also destroyed, using the Russian Tor missile system, which is an autonomous system designed to intercept air targets and has a missile range of 15 km.
Asylum waves
On the humanitarian level, a report by the International Organization for Migration stated that the war in Ukraine had displaced more than 7.1 million people.
The report added that this represents a ten percent increase in the number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine since last March 16.
In turn, the Prime Minister of Moldova said that more than 390,000 refugees from Ukraine entered the country through its eastern border.
In a speech she delivered during a conference held in Berlin to discuss support for Moldova, the Moldovan Prime Minister said that there are about 100,000 Ukrainian refugees residing in Moldova, about half of whom are children.
In turn, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Verychuk said that there are plans to open seven humanitarian corridors today in the country.
She indicated that these corridors will be in Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Donetsk for the evacuation of civilians.
Vereshok announced that the Red Cross team, which was planning to enter the city of Mariupol, would be allowed to move towards the Zaporozhye region.
For his part, the Polish border guards said that two and a half million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, adding that more than three thousand people have crossed until this morning.