RUSSIANS ON THE RUN
Three of Putin’s commanders killed as Ukrainian city recaptured and Z-marked tanks abandoned in stalled Russian invasion
THREE Russian commanders have been killed in recent fighting in Ukraine, with Z-marked tanks left abandoned during a stalled siege.
It comes as Ukrainian forces have recaptured Chuhuiv with defence officials claiming they have inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army.
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Lieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala said his troops had seized Chuhuiv from Russian control, killing large numbers of Putin's men.
Two high-ranking Russian commanders were reportedly killed in the battle.
"In the course of hostilities, the city of Chuhuiv was liberated," the General Staff said on Facebook.
"The occupiers suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment.
"Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, Commander of the 61st Seperate Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov, Deputy Commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, were killed."
Footage from the scene shows a "Z" marked military vehicle with the Ukrainian flag while chanting can be heard.
In another clip, believed to have been filmed Chaplynka, Kakhovka Raion two men can be seen urinating on a Russian "Z" marked tank.
Commander Konstantin Zizevsky has also died during recent fighting in Ukraine, according to reports.
Chuhuiv, a small city of 30,000 people 22 miles southeast of Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, was one of the first taken by the Russians.
A week ago, a young boy was killed in the city after heavy shelling struck an apartment block.
The image of a woman with a heavily-bandaged and bleeding face following the shelling in Chuhuiv became one of the defining images of the conflict so far.
Despite losing a key city, Russia has issued a list of three key demands on Ukraine to end the war.
A Kremlin spokesman called for Ukraine to cease military action, change its constitution to become a neutral country, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory and recognise the separatist republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
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Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia had told Ukraine it was ready to halt its military action "in a moment" if Kyiv met its conditions.
And he insisted Russia wasn't seeking any further territorial claims in Ukraine.
"We really are finishing the demilitarisation of Ukraine," he said. "We will finish it. But the main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action.
"They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot. They should make amendments to their constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc.
"We have also spoken about how they should recognise that Crimea is Russian territory and that they need to recognise that Donetsk and Lugansk are independent states. And that's it. It will stop in a moment."
Last month, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Russia's territorial claims in an address to his people ahead of the invasion on February 24.
"Both Donbas and Crimea will return to Ukraine," he said. "Exclusively through diplomacy. We do not encroach on what's not ours, but we will not give up our land."
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A total of 406 Ukrainian civilians including 27 children have died since the conflict began, the UN Human Rights Agency has said.
It added that 801 injuries have been reported as well, although the true figure could be far higher.
And yesterday, 13 people have been killed in a strike on a bakery in the Ukrainian town of Makariv near Kyiv.
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Kyiv and Kharkiv came under fresh bombardment overnight as murderous Vladimir Putin hammered residential homes ahead of a feared second-wave offensive.
Missiles rained down after a day of true horror, which saw Russian troops fire on a nuclear reactor site and a mum and her two children killed as they desperately tried to flee during a ceasefire.
Air raid sirens rang out in the capital Kyiv in the early hours, while social media videos showed a number of explosions in the second city Kharkiv.
One terrifying video, believed to have been filmed in Kharkiv, shows the moment a high-rise block of flats was blasted in a huge orange flash.
Another clip records the constant rumble of bombing in the distance.
And a third was claimed to show a Russian attack jet going down in flames.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said other areas under bombardment overnight included the outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv in the north, and Mykolaiv in the south
The new raids came hours after National Security Secretary Alexei Danilov warned to the nation expect a fresh onslaught.
"We have withstood the first, heaviest wave of attacks by Russian orcs.
"But the enemy is still dangerous as ready and united as possible."
It comes as:
- Russia demands Ukraine give up 3 key regions to end war as peace talks resume
- Boris Johnson accused Vladimir Putin of "doubling down" on the murderous attacks against Ukraine
- US officials gave Poland the green light to supply jets to Ukraine - much to the fury of Russia
- Footage showed a Russian fighter jet blown out of the sky as Ukraine claims Putin has now lost 88 planes & 285 tanks
- Horrors photos showed a mum, son and daughter, 8, who were killed by Russian shelling as they attempted to flee
- A captured Russian commander begged for mercy as he confessed that soldiers are "embarrassed" by Putin's invasion
- Putin's secret gymnast lover & their four kids is apparently hiding out a chalet in Switzerland
- Boxing legend and Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko headed to the frontline and gave a newlywed bride a good luck kiss
Thousands of people are trapped in besieged Kharkiv, which has seen some of the heaviest bombings of the invasion so far.
Throughout the city, snowy streets are paved with glass blown from windows and debris torn from smashed buildings by missiles.
Earlier yesterday, Russian forces were accused of firing at a facility with a nuclear reactor, sparking fears of a major radiation leak.
Mad Vlad's army are said to have fired unguided rockets at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology.
Early this morning Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed without evidence that Ukraine's spy agency had mined the institute with explosives.
It added Ukraine was planning a dangerous "provocation" and hoped to blame Russia for an explosion causing "an ecological catastrophe".
The alarming statement raised fears Vladimir Putin was himself planning such horror in order to justify his slaughter of innocents.
Meanwhile, officials in Kyiv warned Russia had now amassed a big enough force to try to seize the capital.
And around 30 Tochka-U tactical missile systems have been brought to Belarus from Russia ready for a feared all-out assault.
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Russia has fired 600 missiles and deployed 95 per cent of the servicemen who had gathered on the border ahead of the conflict, CNN reports.
Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the interior minister, said: "Russian occupiers gathered sufficient troops near Kyiv and will try to seize the capital in the next few days."
🔵 Read our Russia - Ukraine live blog for the very latest updates
Tens of thousands remain trapped in the besieged port city of Mariupol after a "ceasefire" to allow a humanitarian escape route was breached for the second day running.
Desperate residents were struggling for a fifth day with no water or power after an evacuation was halted by Russian shelling.
Vadym Boychenko, mayor of the Black Sea port, said: "They’re destroying us.”
The UK's Ministry of Defence confirmed that Putin's forces had promised to let people escape - but once again Russian shelling resumed before refugees could leave.
In Irpin, near Kyiv, at least eight people were killed as merciless troops fired on families fleeing the frontline.
A mother and her two children - one of whom was an eight-year-old girl - died as they attempted to cross the river. Only the father and the family dog survived.
And the train station in Kyiv was packed with people desperate to escape as explosions rocked the city.
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The station in Lviv, in the west, was also crammed as people queued through the night in a bid to make it to Poland.
Elsewhere, Putin's men have been accused of dropping 500kg bombs on civilians in Chernihiv.
Video also showed rocket launchers firing in Peremoha some 40 miles from the capital. They appear to be aiming towards Kyiv.
Thousands continue to flee their homes in Europe’s biggest refugee exodus since World War Two.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said more than 1.5 million people had been driven out since the start of the war — with the number likely to hit four million by July.
He branded it a “senseless war” and added: “Unless there is an immediate end to the conflict, millions more are likely to be forced to flee Ukraine."
DAY OF HORROR
As the slaughter continues Ukraine claims that Russia has lost 11,000 troops and more than 2,000 army vehicles - although US intelligence says the number of the dead is around 4,500.
Regardless of the true figure, Putin is believed to have been deeply shocked by the ferocity of the heroic Ukrainians.
In just a single day on Saturday, he reportedly lost nine aircraft.
Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff said yesterday the Kremlin had "got itself into a mess" over the invasion.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme that morale in the Russian forces was low and that the Kremlin had lost more troops in a week than the UK did in 20 years in Afghanistan.
"We do know that some of the lead elements of Russian forces have been decimated by the Ukrainian response," he said.
But he warned aggression will ramp up as Putin struggles with his objectives.
Russia is being strangled by Western sanctions, which Putin raged were almost a "declaration of war" against them.
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And he also warned that anyone who attempts to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine will be considered to have entered the conflict.
Russia has issued a direct threat to Britain saying it "will not forget" support for Ukraine and warning of "tough retaliation".
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