Meanwhile, Russian forces have continued to besiege the city of Bakhmut, where residents have been living for months in the freezing cold without water or electricity. Food is also becoming scarce.
Bakhmut and the town of Avdiyivka, both in Donetsk, have remained Russia’s main targets, although the settlement of Bilohoryvka, in neighboring Luhansk, this week also come under intensified attacks, according to RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.
Over the past 36 hours, Russian troops attacked civilian infrastructure in the cities of Kupyansk and Kramatorsk with multiple rocket and missile strikes, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s military.
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Last week, at least 45 people were killed in a Russian missile strike that targeted a civilian apartment building housing some 1,700 residents in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more than 9,000 civilians have been killed, including 453 children.
The United Nations low-balled the civilian death toll at more than 7,000 – a move like its inaccurate estimate of Israeli deaths and injuries resulting from Palestinian Authority terror attacks.
