As the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues, new satellite pictures show the degree of infrastructure destruction in the city of Izyum and Ukrainian soldiers destroying a Russian landing ship.
KIEV, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 20: Anti-government protesters, continue to their clash with police in Independence square, despite a truce agreed between the Ukrainian president and opposition leaders on February 20, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union.
Ukrainian Forces Destroy Russian Landing Ship After Trying to Bring Military Supplies to Mariupol
An amphibious Russian landing ship burned and flooded in the port of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine, according to new satellite photographs that Maxar Technologies shared.
Business Insider added that Ukrainian forces attacked the Russian ship, an Alligator-class landing ship, on March 24.
According to the Pentagon, the ship was offloading supplies for Russian troops besieging the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
"The destroyed ship in Berdyansk could carry up to 20 tanks, 45 armored personnel carriers, and 400 paratroopers," Anna Malyar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, said on Thursday, according to The New York Times. "This is a huge target that was hit by our military."
The first photo shows the ship, which is partially submerged, with fire and smoke rising from it.
The larger viewpoint in the second photo also reveals a burning storage tank in the port with white smoke flowing out of it.
Last week, there were also satellite photos from Maxar showing the word "Children" (Дети) inscribed in Russian on the ground in front of and behind the Mariupol theater. According to reports, the residents placed the sign in hope that the Russian soldiers would not fire on them because hundreds of civilians, including children, were taking shelter there when the Russian forces attacked Mariupol.
"The (theatre) building withstood the impact of a high-powered air bomb and protected the lives of people hiding in the bomb shelter," Ukraine's Ombudswoman Ludmyla Denisova said on the Telegram chat service (via Sky News).
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Russia Destroys Eastern Ukraine City
As Russia strives to link advances made in northern Ukraine's Kharkiv area with its stronghold in eastern Ukraine's Izyum, the city has been caught in the crossfire.
Even as fierce battles for ground control raged inside Izyum, council deputy Max Strelnyk told CNN on Thursday that Russian bombers and artillery had "completely decimated" the city.
A big boiler facility and every neighboring residential structure appear to be razed in satellite pictures north of the school. There don't appear to be any military objectives in this part of central Izyum.
Around 3 miles (5 kilometers) northwest of Izyum, a convoy of Russian self-propelled artillery can be seen approaching. Russian military presently controls the city sectors on the northern side of the Seversky Donets River, which divides Izyum in two, according to Strelnyk.
The city regions along the river's southern bank are governed by Ukraine. The turrets of Russian self-propelled artillery pointed at center Izyum on a field three miles northeast of the city.
The first phase of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been proclaimed "complete," according to a Russian army chief, although the operation's goals may be cut back. According to Mirror, Kremlin soldiers are shifting their focus to completely "liberating" eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.
On Friday, the country's military ministry stated that 93 percent of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic's territory and 54 percent of the Donetsk region, the two territories that make up the Donbass, have been "liberated."
Sergey Rudskoy, the chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff's major operations department, said he would not exclude out assaulting Ukrainian towns that had been blockaded.
He also claimed that if NATO sought to restrict the airspace above Ukraine, as Kyiv has demanded, Russia would retaliate immediately. On Friday, the Russian military ministry indicated that the operation would continue until Russian soldiers completed their tasks but did not provide further details.
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