Kiev - (AFP) - On Friday, Russia continued its offensive in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, the day after Russian missiles were fired at the capital, Kiev, during a visit by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The bombing of Kiev, the first since mid-April, coincided with the visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Thursday to Bucha and other suburbs of Kiev, which witnessed violations attributed by the Ukrainians to Russian forces, and from which he called on Moscow to "cooperate" with the International Criminal Court's investigation into possible war crimes. .

The mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, said, "The enemy bombed Kiev in the evening. Two strikes on the Shevchenkovsky district, on the lower floors of a residential building."
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, "five missiles" fell on the city of Kiev. "This says a lot about Russia's actual position towards international institutions, about the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the United Nations and everything that the organization stands for," Zelensky said in a video clip.

AFP correspondents saw fire consuming a floor in one of the capital's buildings and shattered windows, while large numbers of security and ambulance personnel were deployed in the place. According to the emergency services, ten people were wounded by the missile strike.

For his part, UN spokesman Saviano Abreu told AFP that Guterres and his team members were "shocked" by how close the bombing was to their whereabouts, stressing that they were all "fine."

He added, "It is a war zone, but the occurrence (of the bombing) near us is shocking," without specifying how close they were to the building that was targeted by the bombing.
In turn, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced, in a tweet on Twitter, "a barbaric and disgraceful act," pointing out that the capital was targeted by long-range missiles, and the head of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, saw Russia denying its right to use the veto in the UN Security Council.

A few hours ago, the US President confirmed that his country could not stand idly by regarding the conflict in Ukraine, in order to justify his request from Congress to allocate an additional $33 billion to provide more military assistance to Kiev. However, he stressed that the United States "does not attack" Russia, but rather "helps Ukraine to defend itself" in light of Russia's "atrocities and aggression".

On Thursday, Guterres met with the Ukrainian President, expressing his regret over the failure of the UN Security Council to prevent the war launched by Russia on Ukraine on February 24.

On Thursday, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Irina Venediktova, confirmed Thursday in an interview with the German "Deutsche Welle" network that Ukrainian investigators had identified "more than eight thousand cases" of possible war crimes since the start of the Russian invasion two months ago.

Her office added that "ten soldiers of the 64th Brigade of the Russian army are under investigation" for alleged war crimes in Bucha.
On April 2, AFP journalists discovered a street strewn with the bodies of men in civilian clothes in Bucha. The United Nations confirmed that it documented "the killing of 50 civilians, including those killed by summary executions" after carrying out a mission in this city on April 9th. Russia denied responsibility for it in early April and spoke of "fabricated" scenes.

With regard to Mariupol, the United Nations coordinator in Ukraine announced Thursday that she will head to the south of the country to prepare for an attempt to evacuate the city, which is almost completely controlled by Russian forces.
Guterres stressed that the international organization is doing "whatever it can" to evacuate the civilians trapped in the city of Mariupol, which was destroyed by the battles with the Russian forces. "Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis. Thousands of civilians (in it) need vital help. Many of them are elderly, they need medical attention," he said.
On the ground, the Azov Battalion explained via Telegram that a military hospital located in the Azovstal industrial complex, where Ukrainian fighters are holed up, was bombed on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, noting that the operating room collapsed, killing the soldiers who were receiving treatment there and wounding others.
In turn, Lyudmila Denisova, in charge of human rights in the Ukrainian Parliament, wrote, "I call on international human rights organizations to respond to Russia's continued attempt to eliminate even the defenders of Mariupol who can no longer bear arms."
Coinciding with Guterres' visit to Kiev, the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, where Russian attacks are concentrated, were heavily bombed.
The Ukrainian General Staff said, "The enemy is stepping up its attack. The occupiers are carrying out strikes practically in all directions, with intense activity, especially in the regions of Kharkiv and Donbass." And she stressed that the Russian army is trying to prevent the transfer of Ukrainian forces from the north to the east.
According to Kharkiv Governor Oleg Senigubov, five people were killed Thursday in shelling targeting the city and the surrounding area. He confirmed via Telegram that the Russian forces, which were trying to advance from Izyum towards "Prazkivka, Dovinki, and Velika Komeshovakha," had suffered "heavy losses and were forced to retreat."
For his part, the head of the Kramatorsk administrative region, Andrei Pankov, told AFP that "the situation is very difficult in Liman in the Donbass region, and the whole city is besieged." He pointed out that half of the territory of the region is occupied by Russian tanks coming from Izium in the north.
"We don't know what the situation will be like tomorrow morning," said Oleksiy Megreni, head of emergency services in the region.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that it had destroyed, on Wednesday night, two weapons and ammunition depots in the Kharkiv region with "high-precision missiles", and carried out air strikes on 67 Ukrainian military sites.
In Kherson, the only major city that the Russians have completely controlled since the beginning of their invasion, the Russian local administration said Thursday that it wants to use the ruble instead of the Ukrainian hryvnia from May 1. Lyudmila Denisova denounced "a serious violation by Russia" of the United Nations Charter.
In southern Ukraine, since the start of the invasion, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been unable to reach the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia plant, and its director, Rafael Grossi, returning from Ukraine, has expressed "concern".
And one of the Ukrainian presidential advisers hinted that Kiev might attack military targets in Russia. "Russia is attacking Ukraine, killing civilians. Ukraine will defend itself by all means, including strikes on warehouses and bases of Russian killers. The world recognizes this right," Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.