Ukraine President Zelensky has stated that “This night they will launch an assault. The enemy will use all of their power on all fronts to break our defense. This night we have to stand ground. The fate of Ukraine is being decided now.” He added “This night will be harder than the day. Many cities of our state are under attack: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, our boys and girls in the Donbas, the cities of the south, special attention to Kyiv. We can’t lose the capital.”
Conflict map by ISW. Past day has seen sporadic explosions throughout the capital of Kyiv, with spurts of gunfire in its northern districts speculated to be from sabotage groups that have penetrated defense lines. Just outside the city, Russian forces have advanced to Bucha but have been stopped at Irpin to the north west.
In the South, Russian forces punched through defensive lines at Kherson, allowing forces to push north from Crimea and move to attack Mariupol from the west as forces and Luhansk have been attacking from the East. Heavy clashes continue in Sumy in the North East. Clashes remain outside of Kharkiv city to its north. Journalist Maxim Tucker, citing a source in Hostomel, says the airport there has been rendered useless due to fighting and that “around 50 Russian tanks and 50 grad launchers gathered and moved toward Kyiv at 1800 – there has been heavy exchange of fire in that direction since.”
