Russia has warned Ukraine of its plans to launch 'high-precision strikes' on the nation's capital - and instructed residents to depart their properties instantly.
In an announcement revealed this afternoon, the Russian defence ministry instructed residents of Kyiv that it's getting ready to launch missiles at particular targets within the Ukrainian capital.
Russian officers stated their armed forces are set to assault the "technological centres of the Ukrainian Safety Service and the 72nd predominant PsyOps centre in Kyiv", the Mirror stories.
The assertion learn: "We urge Ukrainian residents who're being utilized by nationalists to hold out provocations in opposition to Russia, in addition to Kyiv residents residing close to relay stations to depart their house."
Officers claimed the strikes are being carried out to "stop data assaults in opposition to Russia".
Putin's authorities remains to be denying it has invaded Ukraine and continues to assert it's finishing up a particular operation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that in response to a request by the heads of what he calls "the Donbass republics" he had decided to hold out a particular army operation in Ukraine.
The Russian chief burdened that Moscow had "no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories".
Russian Protection Ministry claims that their troops aren't focusing on Ukrainian cities, however are restricted to surgically placing and incapacitating Ukrainian army infrastructure.
It additionally states that "there are not any threats to the civilian inhabitants".
Regardless of Russia's claims, Ukrainian 10-year-old Polina was killed alongside her mom and father by Russian troops whereas in a automotive in Kyiv on Saturday.
Dad Anton and spouse Svetlana Zapadynskaya died, together with their center daughter.
Their eldest daughter Sofia and youngest son Semyon had been critically wounded and at the moment are combating for his or her lives.
Heartbreaking pictures present Semyon laying in a hospital mattress on a ventilator, unaware his household had been killed when Russian troops opened hearth on a automotive fleeing Ukraine.
Pink-haired, Harry Potter-mad Polina was in her closing yr of main college when she was killed.
An image of the smiling schoolgirl was shared by deputy mayor of Kyiv, Vladimir Bondarenko.
He stated: "Her identify was Polina. She studied within the 4th grade of college in Kyiv. Her and her mother and father had been shot by Russian DRG."
Sixteen kids have died and 45 wounded since final Thursday, with the demise toll anticipated to rise additional.
Seven-year-old Alisa Hlans was killed when her kindergarten was hit on Friday, whereas a six-year-old woman known as Sofia Fedko and her brother Ivan, who was just a few weeks previous, died when 5 members of the identical household got here beneath hearth.
It comes because the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) up to date its estimate on the variety of refugees which have left Ukraine, saying the full stands at greater than 500,000 a determine that continues to rise.
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