Nearly 60 killed on first day of Ukraine invasion as heavy shelling goes into night

A total of 57 people have been killed and 169 wounded on the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian health minister has said.

Most of the casualties are believed to be soldiers, although at least 10 civilians including one child are believed to be among the dead.

The Russian military claims there is ‘no threat to civilian population’ as it is not targeting cities and using precision missiles.

But several towns and cities in eastern Ukraine have all been struck by shelling, including Chuhiv, where an apartment block several miles from a military base was destroyed by a missile.

Emergency services said a young boy was killed in the explosion, while many more residents were pictured with serious injuries in the aftermath.

Ukrainian forces suffered casualties as they faced a three-pronged land, sea, and air assault by Russian forces moving in from three angles.

Russian forces have captured the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant, just 60 miles north of the capital of Kyiv, where explosions were heard in the morning.

Russian paratroopers also overran the Hostomel airport in the north-west suburbs of Kyiv, thought to be key to Russia’s ability to attack the capital.

But it was recaptured by Ukrainian troops on Thursday night, an adviser to the president told the Reuters news agency

The defence ministry said heavy Russian shelling was still underway in the eastern Donetsk region as terrified civilians bunkered down for the night.

Ukraine has requested an urgent debate at the UN Human Rights Council on ‘gross violations’ of human rights ‘stemming from Russian aggression’.

Yevheniia Filipenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said: ‘This is (a) response to the extremely grave deterioration in the human rights situation in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s hostilities on Ukrainian territory.’

The move has been backed by the UK and EU, bringing it closer to a majority of UN members required to table the debate.

A tally from official Ukrainian sources previously compiled by the AFP news agency put the death toll at 68.

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