Kyiv stockpiles basic goods as Russian aggression continues

Lviv, Ukraine, Mar 12 (EFE).- Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is stockpiling medicine and basic amenities amid a fresh wave of Russian attacks around the outskirts of the city, which is the seat of president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.

Kyiv’s mayor, the former boxer Vitaliy Klitschko, made an appeal to the city’s population in a Telegram message on Saturday.

“Dear people of Kyiv! The capital, near which the fighting continues, is preparing for defense. We continue to strengthen checkpoints and create reserves of food, medicines and essential goods,” he said.

He said the capital was helping to evacuate civilians from outlying cities such as Hostomel, Bucha, Vorzel and Irpin, all of which have come under heavy Russian bombardment.

Earlier in the day, Russian strikes hit two oil depots in Vasylkiv, located to the south of the capital, local press reported.

Separate strikes were reported in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, both located in western Ukraine, a region that so far has been spared the brunt of the Russian invasion, which is concentrated around cities such as Kharkiv in the east, Mariupol in the southeast and parts of southern Ukraine.

Russian forces in control of Melitopol, in the south, detained the city’s mayor Ivan Fedorov after he failed to comply with the occupying forces, Zelenskyy said as he called for his immediate release.

The president said in a video message that 2,000 people had protested in Melitopol to demand the mayor’s release, adding that he had discussed the situation with German chancellor Olaf Schulz and French president Emmanuel Macron. EFE

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