UKRAINE: More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers killed in strike on military base

More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the head of the region wrote on Telegram.

Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching rubble.

In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday.

Russian forces encircled Kyiv on Monday in an effort to move on the most important city in Ukraine.

But experts insist it will be difficult for President Vladimir Putin to occupy Ukraine.

The he declared the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, Putin said Russia is not occupying Ukraine, but only ‘denazifying’ it.