Straight Talk

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba blames Russia in tweet showing explosion in Kharkiv's Freedom Square

by Charlie Smith on March 1st, 2022 at 3:36 AM
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      Russian bombardment of Ukraine appears to be intensifying following the failure of negotiations to achieve an end to the war.

      Ukraine's foreign minister has tweeted video of an explosion in Freedom Square in Kharkiv, which is his country's second-largest city.

      Dmytro Kuleba blamed it on a Russian missile strike in the centre of the city. He also said that Russia has been bombing Karkiv's residential districts.

      Kharkiv is in northeastern Ukraine and is home to about 1.4 million people, as well as many museums, theatres, and libraries.

      "Putin is unable to break Ukraine down," Kuleba declared over social media. "He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians," Kuleba declared.

      "The world can and must do more," he added. "INCREASE PRESSURE, ISOLATE RUSSIA FULLY!"

      The city's opera house and government offices were also hit. 

      President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russians knew where they were shooting.

      Freedom Square was once home to a huge statue of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, which was toppled by protesters in 2014 after the country's pro-Russian president was forced into exile. In the past, it was named after the notorious former head of the Bolshevik Soviet Union government's secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky.

      In 2008, it was the site of a Queen and Paul Rodgers concert, which led to the Live in Ukraine double album. Rodgers, a Canadian citizen, has lived in White Rock, B.C. and B.C.'s Okanagan region for many years.

      Rodgers is also among the many of millions of people around the world who've shown their support for Ukraine on social media.

      On February 24, Queen guitarist Brian May posted an image of the concert in Freedom Square on his Instagram account, along with a message of support for Ukraine.

      https://www.instagram.com/p/CaYaAusqYbr/?utm_medium=twitter

      Kuleba also released his February 26 letter to the International Court of Justice "instituting proceedings against the Russian Federation".

      In the letter, Kuleba asks for the court's president "to call upon the Russian Federation to immediately halt all military actions in Ukraine, to enable any order the Court may make on the request for provisional measures to have its appropriate effects".

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