Hospital damaged, apartment building destroyed in Trostyanets
A regional official said Monday that a hospital was severely damaged, and a railway station, bus stations and a five-story apartment building were “completely destroyed” in the town of Trostyanets, about 200 miles east of Kyiv.
Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of the Sumy Regional State Administration, said Trostyanets has received Starlink internet and generators since Ukrainian forces recaptured the area. Beforehand, Zhyvytskyi said, people in the region were “cut off from the world, cut off from information.”
A senior U.S. Defense Department official confirmed Monday that Ukraine had successfully recaptured Trostyanets from Russia.
Ambulances have taken the seriously wounded to the nearest hospitals, he said, adding that people who lost their homes are being resettled in Sumy and provided with food, medicine and clothing.
Russia adding more troops around Kyiv, Ukraine defense ministry says
In an afternoon update, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense warned that Russia is increasing the number of troops around the besieged capital of Kiev despite “heavy losses.”
The ministry also said Russia is still pushing toward the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have been partially controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, and that Russia is recruiting citizen-volunteers, including “people with a criminal record,” to keep “order” in those territories.
The ministry claimed Russia is operating its “defense-industrial complex” around the clock to produce missiles, indicating Russia is experiencing “a significant reduction in the arsenal of missile weapons.” It praised international sanctions for hindering the trade of high-tech products needed to manufacture missiles.
Another major Ukrainian internet provider says it was hacked
Ukraine’s internet connectivity dipped significantly Monday, as one of its major internet providers said it suffered a cyberattack.
One of Ukraine’s largest phone and internet service providers, Ukrtelecom, saw internet activity drop to less than 20 percent of its usual rate, according to NetBlocks and Ioda, organizations that monitor such traffic.
In a comment on its Facebook page, Urktelecom wrote that that outage was due to a cyberattack.
Internet providers appear to have been the biggest civilian targets for cyberattacks in Ukraine since Russia began its invasion in late February. Another service provider, Triolan, also went down after a cyberattack, and a major satellite internet service company, Viasat, saw its European and Ukrainian services severed after hackers targeted it around the start of the invasion.
Latin American students in Russia speak out
Vanesa Rincón said she has barely slept since Feb. 24, when the thunderous sound from the bombs tore her from sleep. She said she experiences terror daily in Belgorod, a Russian city bordering Ukraine, where she studies international law.
“One wants to get away from the war and the bombs,” the Colombian student said. “We’re so anguished that I never want to hear that noise again. I want to return to Bogotá as soon as I can.”
Rincón said that during the first week of the conflict, she was on night duty with her fellow students in case something happened. Belgorod is about 25 miles from the war zone, so Rincón is counting the days to be able to leave.
“It’s not normal, it’s not pretty, and you’re scared all the time. It doesn’t matter who’s good or bad; all you want is to run away,” she said.
‘You cannot think about anything,’ says Ukrainian refugee, mom of 3
Iryna Timoshenko managed to flee Ukraine with her three children last month but had to leave her husband, mother and pets behind.
She said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart that it’s been difficult to watch what’s happening to her country from the safety of Miami.
“We all now have the fear but we’re trying to not…