Russia takes small Ukrainian town with naval base and a population of 100000 people as tanks move in

Russian forces are said to have taken a small Ukrainian town in the south of the country on Sunday night.

Berdyansk, is a port city with a naval base on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, in the south-east Ukraine is home to 100,000 people.      

It is located close to the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and from which it launched one of several invasion forces. 

The acting mayor of the town, Oleksandr Svidlo, confirmed on Facebook that Russian forces came into the town and took control. 

‘A few hours ago, you and I witnessed how heavy military equipment and armed soldiers entered the city and began advancing throughout our hometown. As soon as I learned about that, I tried to inform all the residents of the city so that you have the opportunity to hide in shelters.

‘Some time ago, armed soldiers entered the executive committee building and introduced themselves as soldiers of the Russian army, they informed us that all administrative buildings were under their control and that they were taking control of the executive committee building,’ Svidlo wrote in a posting online.

He explained how officials had been asked to continue working but had decided to leave the the town hall offices. 

‘Under the control of armed men, I consider this proposal unacceptable, so we, as all members of the operational headquarters, left the building of the executive committee,’ Svidlo explained. 

‘Today Berdyansk was on the line of fire. I don’t know what tomorrow will be like, but I think tonight will be very, very hard,’ he added.

Earlier on Sunday, a Russian state-owned news agency said Russian troops had also ‘completely blocked’ the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and taken over the towns of Henichesk and an airport near Kherson. 

Elsewhere in the country, Russian are said to be troops closing in around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a city of almost 3 million. The mayor expressed doubt that civilians could be evacuated.

Ukrainian defenders have been putting up stiff resistance that appeared to slow Russia’s advance.

Kyiv was eerily quiet on Sunday morning after explosions lit up the morning sky and authorities reported blasts at one airport. A main boulevard was practically deserted as a strict curfew kept people off the streets. Authorities warned that anyone venturing out without a pass would be considered a Russian saboteur.

Terrified residents hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale Russian assault. Food and medicine were running low, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Authorities have been handing out weapons to anyone willing to defend the city. Ukraine is also releasing prisoners with military experience who want to fight, and training people to make firebombs.

“Right now, the most important question is to defend our country,” Klitschko said.

In the southern port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainians were trying to fend off attack, a medical team at a city hospital desperately tried to revive a 6-year-old girl in unicorn pajamas who was mortally wounded in Russian shelling.

Nearly 560 miles away, Faina Bystritska was under threat in the city of Chernihiv.

‘I wish I had never lived to see this,’ said Bystritska, an 87-year-old Jewish survivor of World War II. She said sirens blare almost constantly in the city, about 90 miles from Kyiv.

Chernihiv residents have been told not to switch on any lights ‘so we don´t draw their attention,’ said Bystritska, who has been living in a hallway, away from any windows, so she could better protect herself.

‘The window glass constantly shakes, and there is this constant thundering noise,’ she said.

Meanwhile, the top official in the European Union outlined plans by the 27-nation bloc to close its airspace to Russian airlines and buy weapons for Ukraine.

‘For the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack,’ said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The EU will also ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets, she said.