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Ukraine war: Mariupol battle rages, US says war may not end in 2022 | Top points
Day 52 of Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died so far in the war with Russia and another 10,000 have been injured.
As Russia and Ukraine enter day 52 of the war, several parts of the war-torn country continue to be bombed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting on Friday with the country’s military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.
“The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address to the nation.
Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, officials claimed Russian troops who occupy areas around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were ‘terrorizing civilians’ and looking for anyone who had served in the army or the government.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on February 24 for what he calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Russia’s aggression has driven a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes and led to the deaths of thousands.
Here are the top 8 developments in the Russia-Ukraine war:
1. Ukraine said on Friday it was trying to break Russia's siege of Mariupol as fighting raged around the city's massive steelworks and port. "The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now. The Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city," Ukrainian defence ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by Reuters.
2. Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine, has seen the worst fighting of the seven-week-long war. Ukraine says Russia has not yet ‘completely captured’ Mariupol. If Moscow captures Mariupol, it would be the only big city to fall to the Russians so far.
3. The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal - most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.” Russia’s defence ministry ‘promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv’ earlier this week in response to Ukraine’s alleged assaults on Russian territory.
4. Russia also pounded a Ukrainian rocket factory after losing an iconic warship in the Black Sea on Friday. The Vizar plant, near the capital's international airport, was seriously damaged in the overnight strikes, AFP journalist reported.
Moscow said that its warship ship in the Black Sea sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an ammunition explosion. Ukraine said one of its missiles had caused it to sink.
5. President Volodymyr Zelensky, renewing calls for the West to deliver more weapons to Ukraine and expand sanctions on Russia, said Ukraine’s allies have it in their hands to avoid a drawn-out war. “It is in your hands to make the war significantly shorter. The more and the faster we will get all the weapons we asked for, the stronger our positions will be and the sooner peace will come,” he said in a late-night video address on Friday.
6. Zelensky also made a direct appeal to US President Joe Biden to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism,” US media outlets reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. The list currently includes four countries: North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria.
7. The United States believes that it is possible that the conflict in Ukraine may last through the end of the year, and is ‘doing its utmost’ to shorten it, State Department spokesman Ned Price told US media outlet CNN.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also told EU allies that the US believes Russia's military operation in Ukraine may last through the end of 2022, US media reported.
8. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and top Ukrainian finance officials will visit Washington next week during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. This will be the first chance for key Ukrainian officials to meet in person with a host of financial officials from advanced economies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine
(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)
