Ukrainian servicemen loading a fragment of a rocket onto a truck outside a building in Kyiv on Thursday after it was destroyed by Russian shelling — AFP KYIV, Mar 24 (BBC/Reuters/AFP/AP): Ukrainian officials said that a Russian landing ship has been destroyed and two other boats damaged in the occupied Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk.
Video posted by the navy and on social media showed explosions and a big ship on fire at the port, about 70km (44 miles) west of Mariupol, at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Thursday.
The Ukrainian military said its forces had struck a Russian vessel called the Orsk.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar later told Ukrainian TV that the military had hit a "huge target", capable of carrying 20 tanks, 45 armoured vehicles and 400 troops.
The BBC cannot independently verify the claim.
Russian army TV hailed the arrival of the Orsk in Berdyansk last week as an "epic event" as it was the first Russian warship to dock in Berdyansk.
Ukraine leader urges
global protests
Ukraine's leader called for global solidarity on Thursday to mark a month since Russia's invasion began, urging people around the world to take to the streets and calling on leaders meeting in summits in Europe to bolster action against Moscow.
US President Joe Biden has arrived in Brussels for meetings of the NATO alliance, G7 and European Union over the invasion that began on Feb 24 and has led to more than 3.6 million people fleeing from the country.
After four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major city and with its ground advances seemingly stalled, it has engaged in aerial bombardment, shelling and rocketing of cities, bringing devastation in many places and forcing a quarter of Ukraine's population of 44 million from their homes.
Over half of Ukrainian children
displaced by war: UN
More than half of all children in Ukraine have been displaced from their homes since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, the United Nations said Thursday.
"One month of war in Ukraine has led to the displacement of 4.3 million children - more than half of the country's estimated 7.5 million child population," the UN children's agency Unicef said in a statement, adding that 1.8 million children had fled the country as refugees and 2.5 million were now displaced inside Ukraine.
Prominent theater director
taken by Russian troops
Russian troops who occupy the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson seized one of the country's most prominent theater directors "in a fascist manner" and took him to an unknown location, Ukraine's Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said.
Witnesses said nine Russian military vehicles pulled up to the home of Oleksandr Kniga early Wednesday and led him out. The Russians warned neighbors that if they came out of their homes, they would be killed, the witnesses said.
"The whole world should know about this!" Tkachenko said on Facebook.
Kniga, 62, is one of the most important and respected theater directors in Ukraine. He founded the international theater festival Melpomene of Tavria.
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
