The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that its statistics indicate that 3,328,692 Ukrainian refugees crossed to neighboring countries, while it indicated that 847 civilians were killed in Ukraine as a result of the war launched by Russia.
The United Nations announced that 847 civilians were killed in Ukraine as a result of the war launched by Russia, and the number of refugees in neighboring countries increased to 3.3 million.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement on Saturday that its statistics indicate that 3,328,692 Ukrainian refugees have crossed to neighboring countries.
According to the Commission's statement, the mentioned number includes the period between last February 24 (the date of the start of the Russian offensive) and March 18.
The statement indicated that at least 847 civilians were killed and 1,399 others were injured in Ukraine as a result of the war during the mentioned period.
He stated that the real number of dead and injured may be much higher than what has been documented.
The UNHCR has previously warned that about 4 million civilians could flee from Ukraine if the situation deteriorates.
In another context, eyewitnesses in front of a military barracks that were bombed thirty hours ago in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, heard voices from under the rubble indicating that there might be survivors under it after dozens died. The two piercing blue ones.
Death and devastation in Mykolaiv
Eyewitnesses, including rescuers and soldiers, told AFP that six rockets landed on the barracks, which was originally an officers' school, at around 6 a.m. Friday morning. Nikolai, a resident of the neighborhood, says that what happened was a "massive explosion" that damaged a number of buildings.
According to Maxim, a 22-year-old soldier, “At least 200 soldiers were sleeping in the barracks. Maxim, coming from another nearby barracks, looks at the destroyed site in a daze.
"At least 50 bodies were exhumed, but we do not know how many remain under the rubble."
As for Yevgeny, another soldier who came to the place, he believes that the bombing may have killed about a hundred people.
In the absence of an official tally or details about the attack so far, the information is not clear at a time when the official discourse seeks to make Mykolaiv, the “shield” of the strategic city of Odessa, located more than 130 km to the west, resist and distance the attacks of Russian forces from it.
The authorities have confirmed for several days that Russian forces were pushed back towards Kherson, a city besieged by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
But the deadly strikes against civilians and military sites two weeks ago did not stop.
"We have no right to say anything, because the rescue operations have not ended, and not all the families have been notified yet," army spokeswoman Olga Malarchuk says with emotion.
"We are not yet in a position to announce a toll, and I cannot tell you how many soldiers were present" at the bombing site, she continues, speaking in Ukrainian and then in Russian.
And the Ukrainian presidency does not answer questions about this bombing.
For his part, the governor of the Mykolaiv region Vitaly Kim said in a video on Facebook, "Yesterday, the bad guys cowardly carried out missile strikes against sleeping soldiers." He pointed out that he is still waiting for official information from the armed forces.
Rescue and firefighting teams have been working since Friday, nonstop, to lift piles of stones and twisted iron bars. Rescue personnel place human remains on a blanket.
Three bodies, one covered with a white sheet, were removed from the rubble. Bags and bulletproof vests of the victims were gathered in one corner.
A few meters from the destroyed barracks, another, less damaged building, houses a dormitory and some offices. All his windows were shattered and the soldiers' boots were scattered on the floor.
A small religious icon and some portraits of soldiers survived, which remain on the wall.
In this scene of ruin, a gray stone panel representing a sailor leaning on a rifle stood firm with ships behind him. This painting may have greeted the entrants to the bombed-out barracks.
On it was written a poem, the first words of which are "Fight! You shall win."
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, which was followed by angry international reactions and the imposition of "tough" economic and financial sanctions on Moscow.
To end the operation, Russia requires Ukraine to abandon any plans to join military entities, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "NATO" and to adhere to complete neutrality, which Kyiv considers an "interference in its sovereignty."
Ukrainian flag looks like a Russian cosmonaut's uniform on the International Station sparks controversy
A costume worn by Russian astronauts who arrived at the International Space Station on Friday sparked controversy, as Western reports indicated that crew members chose to wear yellow suits with a blue stripe in support of Ukraine, while Moscow ridiculed this news.
Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station on Friday wearing yellow flight clothes with blue markings, the colors matching the Ukrainian flag.
They were the first new entrants to the space station since the outbreak of the Russian war in Ukraine last month.
The usual Russian uniform is blue, and was worn by at least one of the astronauts before takeoff.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov of the Russian Aerospace Corporation (Roscosmos), successfully launched from Russia's chartered Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan on their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft at 8:55 pm on Friday.
The crew docked smoothly at the station three hours away, joined by two Russian, four Americans and a German.
Moscow mocks
For its part, the Russian Space Agency on Saturday denied Western media reports that the Russian cosmonauts who joined the International Space Station chose to wear yellow suits with a blue stripe in support of Ukraine.
"Sometimes it's yellow only yellow," the press service of the Russian Federal Space Agency said on its Telegram channel.
"The flight uniform of the new crew is made in the colors of the emblem of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, where all three pioneers graduated. It's crazy to imagine the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything," she added.
The Director General of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Dmitry Rogozin, was even more blunt, saying on his personal Telegram channel that Russian cosmonauts had no sympathy for Ukrainian nationalists.
At a press conference broadcast live from the International Space Station on Friday, astronaut Oleg Artemyev, the mission commander, was asked about the uniform. "Every crew chooses a color that looks different. It was our turn to choose the color... In fact we had a lot of yellow fabric so we needed to use it," he said. This is why we had to wear the yellow flight uniform."
The International Space Station is a joint project between Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and several European countries.
The project has been under the joint Russian-American leadership for two decades, despite the fluctuation of relations and tension between the two superpowers.
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