Ukraine-Russia war: Kyiv outskirts on fire, humanitarian corridors may reopen

Reports of multiple fires from the outskirts of Kyiv poured in on Saturday as Russia troops expanded their onslaught and closed in on the Ukraine capital.

According to inputs from The Kyiv Independent, several fires were seen in Kyiv Oblast, a province in north-central Ukraine, surrounding the capital, following overnight attacks from Russian forces. Also, an oil depot was on fire in Vasylkiv, 36km south of Kyiv, while another was hit in the village of Kryachky.

In the village of Kvitneve, a warehouse for frozen food products was on fire after Russian shelling. Air raid sirens were heard across most Ukraine, news agency Reuters.

The reports of fire came amid talks of reopening humanitarian corridors for thousands of residents in the war-torn country, including the one from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, later in the day. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said she hoped Russia would honour its promises for a ceasefire.

The Russia’s military campiagn in Ukraine was in its third week, having caused thousands of deaths and injuries, battering cities and triggering one of Europe’s one refugee crisis.

Meanwhile, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted.

According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions could disrupt the operation of Russian vessels servicing the ISS. As a result, the Russian segment of the station — which helps correct its orbit — could be affected, causing the 500-tonne structure to “fall down into the sea or onto land”.

Efforts to isolate Russia economically have been stepped up, with the United States imposing new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs and the European Union set to strip Russia of its privileged trade status.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has rallied his people with a series of addresses from the capital Kyiv, said the country had “already reached a strategic turning point”. “It is impossible to say how many days we still have (ahead of us) to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it,” he said. “We are already moving towards our goal, our victory.”