Last night, a powerful explosion was reported in the city of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine. Iuliia Mendel, former spokeswoman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, is among those reporting the explosion.
The BBC, which has linked to an unverified video that allegedly shows the explosion, writes that Russia on Sunday announced attacks on the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country and on Mykolaiv.
Aircraft alarms
Aircraft alarms are reported in all regions of Ukraine on Monday morning. Among other things, in the city of Lviv, in the west of the country, there is a plane alarm for the first time since Friday.
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The next week will be very important for the outcome of the war, President Zelensky said last night. Ukraine and Western intelligence believe the Russians are preparing for an offensive to try to take over the Donbas region, in the east of the country, where they have supported pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
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However, Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov claims that there will be a new offensive against Kyiv. Last night, he said that Russian forces would eventually launch an offensive to conquer the Ukrainian capital. Kadyrov is a loyal Putin ally.
Several died after railway attacks
The number of people killed in the rocket attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk on Friday has been raised to 57, the authorities in the Donetsk region say.
In addition to the dead, 109 are injured, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, who heads the military administration in the region, on Sunday night.
Both Ukrainian authorities and several Western countries state that the attack was carried out by Russian forces. The Russian authorities deny this and claim they had nothing to do with the attack.
4.5 million on the run
At least 4.5 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia on February 24, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR.
– The escalation of the conflict in Ukraine has led to civilian losses and destruction of civilian infrastructure. This has forced people to flee their homes in search of safety, protection and help, says a UNHCR statement from CNN.
Collapsed economy
Gross domestic product in Ukraine will collapse by 45.1 percent as a result of the invasion, and Russia’s economy will shrink by 11.2 percent, predicts the World Bank, which on Sunday night published updated forecasts for the current year.
They show a far worse outlook than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted in March, namely a fall of 10 to 35 percent in Ukraine’s economy. The entire region suffers economic consequences from Russia’s invasion of neighboring countries, the World Bank points out.
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