Russia’s military intensified its assault on Ukrainian cities, claiming to capture at least one city in the south, pressing further into the strategic port towns of Odesa and Mariupol, and continuing a relentless attack on the second-largest city Kharkiv, where rocket barrages and cruise missiles hit dense urban areas.
While explosions rang out in all these cities, a 64km-long armoured convoy moved slowly towards the capital city of Kyiv and their was a fog over whether a round of talks between the two countries would take place -- and if they do, to what effect -- as scheduled at the border with Belarus. Delegations from both sides were on their way till the time of going to print.
The war in Ukraine entered its seventh day on Wednesday, with experts, Ukrainian leaders and their allies decrying Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent conduct as war crimes, especially after several civilian targets were seen to have been hit in the past two days.
Most of the world, too, lined up against Moscow in the United Nations to demand Moscow withdraw from Ukraine. The UN General Assembly voted 141 to 5, with 35 abstentions to press Russia, in what was the first emergency session of the 193-member assembly convened since 1997.
Assembly resolutions aren’t legally binding, but they do have clout in reflecting international opinion.
{{/usCountry}}Assembly resolutions aren’t legally binding, but they do have clout in reflecting international opinion.
{{/usCountry}}Russia reported its military casualties for the first time since the invasion began last week, saying nearly 500 of its troops had been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. Ukraine insisted Russia’s losses were far higher but did not immediately disclose its own casualties.
Meanwhile, Russia pounded Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with about 1.5 million people, with another round of aerial attacks that shattered buildings and lit up the skyline with balls of fire. At least 21 people were killed and 112 injured over the past day, said Oleg Sinehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration, Reuters reported.
“Kharkiv today is the Stalingrad of the 21st century,” said Oleksiy Arestovich, a top presidential adviser, invoking what is considered one of the most heroic moments in Russian history, the five-month defense of the city from the Nazis during World War II.
Ukraine officials also said Russian paratroopers landed in Kharkiv, where fighting had now reached the streets.
Speaking in a heavily guarded government compound in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia must “first stop bombing people” before peace talks could make any headway.
In the bombings that hit several cities, high-rise buildings, schools, and kindergartens were among buildings destroyed, Interfax Ukraine reported, citing Ukraine’s defense ministry.
The next set of escalation is likely to come from Kyiv. Zelensky said Kyiv remained the main target. Some Kyiv residents have been sheltering in underground metro stations at night, there are long lines for fuel, and some products are running out in shops.
Russia’s defense ministry urged Kyiv residents to flee and said it would strike unspecified areas used by Ukraine’s security services and communications, Reuters reported.
Many Western military analysts fear that Russia will now fall back on tactics which call for crushing bombardment of built-up areas before trying to enter them.
“Looking at the Russian operation so far, they’re having tremendous problems with logistics and communications. The whole effort seems shambolic,” Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at Washington’s Wilson Center, wrote in a tweet.
A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “One reason why things appear to be stalled north of Kyiv is that the Russians themselves are regrouping and rethinking and trying to adjust to the challenges that they’ve had.”
The Russians have been surprised not only by the scale of Ukrainian resistance but also by poor morale among their own forces, some of whom surrendered without a fight, the official said, without providing evidence.
But Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu said the “special military operation” would continue until it had achieved its goals, defined by Putin as disarming Ukraine and capturing the “neo-Nazis” he says are running the country.
In the south, Russia claimed to have completely encircled Ukraine’s Azov Sea coast. If confirmed, that would mean Russian forces invading from Crimea had joined up with separatists in the east and had cut off Ukraine’s main eastern port, Mariupol.
More than 660,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries such as Poland and Romania since the invasion began, the UN refugee agency said. At the Hungarian border crossing Tiszabecs, a mother cradled a baby in her arms after a four-day drive from Kyiv.
“I saw war, I saw rockets,” said her older son Ivan, 15, who looked exhausted after the journey. His father had stayed behind to fight, Reuters reported.