The Russians chose 8.45 a.m. to fire a missile at the Mykolaiv Regional Administration on 29 March, gutting the middle of the huge building. It was pure chance that Mykolaiv Governor Vitaly Kim overslept, since his office was right where the missile hit, leaving a gaping hole where several storeys of the building had stood The Russians undoubtedly knew that they would be killing civilians. Whether they hoped to kill the Head of remains unclear. The strike did, however, come a day after Kim reported remembrance events in Mykolaiv marking the 78th anniversary of the city’s liberation from Nazi invaders and pointed out that they were now busy trying to liberate the oblast from the Russian invaders.
Kim reported that 50-100 people had managed to find their way out of the building. The emergency services later reported that 12 people had been killed, with 33 people injured.
This attack on Mykolaiv came just days after Russia claimed that its ‘first phase’ was over and that it would be now shifting its focus to, what it called, ‘liberating’ the Donbas, in the east of Ukraine. There was much discussion in the international media about the implications of this alleged change, just nothing to indicate that the words should be believed. Russia continued bombing and shelling Kharkiv in particular, but also Kyiv and Chernihiv. Nor does the ongoing destruction of Mariupol and other cities in the Donbas region bear any resemblance to the actions of a ‘liberator’.
On 29 March, for example, Russia bombed another residential building in Severodonetsk (Luhansk oblast), killing an 86-year-old woman. It also shelled a Severodonetsk hospital, killing two people and injuring ten others.
Over the last 24 hours, the Russians shelled parts of Kharkiv and the oblast 46 times. Two missiles were fired at Liubotin, killing one person and injuring others.
As of 29 March, Russia has now claimed that it will radically “reduce its military activities in the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas”.
It made no mention of stopping its blockade and savage destruction of Mariupol, nor the endless bombing and shelling of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv oblast. It is, on the contrary, likely that this so-called 'reduction' would be in response to its failure to seize Kyiv, and would lead to more troops and hardware being directed at its aggression against Kharkiv and the Donbas.
