Russia claims use of hypersonic missile in Ukraine for first time as Zelenskyy urges peace talks
ITV News Correspondent Geraint Vincent reports on the ongoing bombardment of Ukraine by Russian forces as the war continues to take a devastating toll on civilians
Russia has claimed it has used its latest hypersonic missile for the first time in combat during its offensive in Ukraine.
Major General Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles, known as Kinzhal, destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Konashenkov also said that the Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa. Russia first used the weapon during its military campaign in Syria in 2016.
According to Russian officials, the Kinzhal, carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, has a range of up to 2,000 kilometres (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound.
A Ukrainian military official confirmed to a local news outlet that Russian forces carried out a missile strike Friday on a missile and ammunition warehouse in the Delyatyn settlement of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine.
However Ukraine’s Air Forces spokesman Yurii Ihnat told the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper on Saturday that it is yet to be confirmed whether the missile the Russians used was indeed the county’s latest hypersonic missile, or some other kind.
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Which Ukrainian areas have been targeted by Russian forces?
Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces have fired at eight cities and villages in the eastern Donetsk region, using aviation, rocket and heavy artillery.
Ukraine’s National Police said in a statement on Telegram Saturday that at least 37 residential buildings and infrastructure facilities were damaged; dozens of civilians were killed and injured as a result of the attacks.
The Russian military were firing at Mariupol, Avdiivka, Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk, Novoselydivka, Verkhnotoretske, Krymka, and Stepne.
The statement said that “among the civilian objects that Russia destroyed are multistory and private houses, a school, a kindergarten, a museum, a shopping centre and administrative buildings.”
Kyiv northwestern suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, Irpin and Moshchun have also been under fire on Saturday.
Police of the Kyiv region have confirmed that seven people were killed and five more injured in a Friday mortar attack on Makariv, a town some 31 miles west of the capital.
The UN Human Rights office said that at least 847 civilians had been killed and 1,399 injured in Ukraine as of Friday, with the actual total likely to be much higher.
The strategic port city of Mariupol remains the focal point, as Ukrainian forces battle Russian troops for control of the one of the largest steel plants in Europe.
Ukrainian and Russian forces have been battling over the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Saturday.
“One of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is actually being destroyed,” Denysenko said.
The southern city of Mykolaiv has been another subject of intense bombardment - some 50 Ukrainian soldiers have been reported to have died when their barracks were targeted by Russian air strikes on Friday.
Are Ukrainian civilians being granted safe passage to flee to safety?
But, despite incoming attacks, Ukrainian civilians were being evacuated on Saturday via humanitarian corridors - Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed to establish 10 corridors for bringing aid in and residents out.
Ukrainian presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko released video on Saturday showing people being evacuated from Zaporizhzhia and Severodonetsk.
A senior official said that 6,623 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Saturday.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office, confirmed that some 4,128 people had been able to leave Mariupol.
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Deputy Ukrainian Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday that Ukraine has evacuated 190,000 civilians from frontline zones via humanitarian corridors since the invasion started over three weeks ago.
The UN migration agency fighting has displaced nearly 6.5 million people inside Ukraine, on top of the 3.2 million refugees who have already fled the country.
But Mariupol city council has claimed Russian soldiers have forced several thousand city residents to be relocated to Russia. “The occupiers are forcing people to leave Ukraine for Russian territory," the council’s statement said.
"The occupiers illegally took people out of the Levoberezhny district and a shelter in the building of a sports club, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from constant bombing.”
Are talks between Zelenskyy and Putin looking more likely?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said now is the time for Moscow to begin peace talks in earnest to avoid incurring higher losses in its invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday he called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow.
"I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk," he said in a video address.
"The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover."
Mr Zelenskyy also called on the Swiss government to freeze the bank accounts of all Russian oligarchs.
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How much damage has the Ukrainian resistance inflicted on Russian forces?
The Russian military has suffered heavy losses during its offensive, US intelligence says that 7,000 are dead and 20,000 injured - which represents one in 10 of the invasion force.
There are reports that a fifth Russian general has been killed in Kherson - the highest general to be killed - in the first city that the Russians says they gained.
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