Kyiv, Ukraine – Russian attacks have hit Kyiv, Odessa and other locations across Ukraine as Moscow appears to be Change her combat plan To force Ukraine to give up its claims to its southern and eastern lands.
On Monday, the Ukrainian government rejected Russia’s request to extradite the detainees Mariupol portWhere fierce fighting continued.
as her Military attack against Ukraine It has faltered, and Russia is increasingly bombing civilian areas in what is developing into a war of attrition With the aim of putting pressure on the government in Kyiv to grant concessions and respond to Moscow’s demands.
The apparent tactical shift comes as President Biden heads to Europe this week for meetings with allies and partners in NATO, the Group of Seven and European countries, including Poland. They are expected to discuss deterrence efforts, humanitarian relief and a campaign Sanctions against Russia.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that relations between Moscow and Washington were “on the verge of collapse.” Moscow summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan on Monday to hand him a protest note Mr Biden’s comment that his Russian counterpart,
Russian President Vladimir PutinHe is a “war criminal”.
The Ukrainian government rejected Russia’s ultimatum to lay down arms in Mariupol; The attack on a shopping center in Kyiv was captured by a surveillance camera; The United Nations said the war had forced 10 million people from their homes. Photo: Serhiy Nozhenko/Reuters
State Department spokesman Ned Price said that despite the tensions, the Biden administration was committed to maintaining lines of communication with Moscow, adding: “It is outrageously rich to hear a country speak of ‘inappropriate comments’ when that same country is involved in a mass massacre” of civilians. .
Mr. Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and British Prime Minister
Discuss their concerns about Russia’s tactics in Ukraine White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a phone call on Monday.
The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia for its attack on Ukraine, helping it Russian economy cut off of the global financial system. The United States also provided Ukraine with a range of military aid to fight Russian forces, including anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles that Ukrainian forces used to inflict heavy losses on the invading army.
Near Kyiv, where the fighting has reached a stalemate, Russian troops He appeared to degrade Ukrainian positions with artillery strikes and long-range missiles. On Monday, the rumble of artillery shelling was almost constant.
During the night, Russia destroyed a shopping center that Moscow claimed was being used as an arms depot. The raid destroyed a 10-story building in the mall and smashed windows hundreds of meters away. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video of the attack and evidence it said showed Ukraine was using the facility to store weapons and used the parking lot to fire missiles at Russian forces on the front lines near Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials said at least eight people were killed in the attack.
The army cordoned off the mall, where troops were seen on Monday morning carrying the bodies in pick-up trucks. A Ukrainian website said an image of the mall spread on social media before the strike showed several Ukrainian military trucks parked there. The government is urging Ukrainians to refrain from posting pictures of the country’s military on social media that might betray their positions to Moscow.
Russian attacks around military zones have raised concerns that the country has agents operating inside Ukraine and monitoring Moscow targets.
The city’s mayor said he will impose another curfew on the Ukrainian capital, lasting 35 hours from 8 p.m. local time on Monday.
The attacks unfolded when Russia demanded Ukraine hand over Mariupol.
Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Defense Ministry’s National Defense Monitoring Center, said Sunday that Kyiv should respond to the Russian offer by 5 a.m. Moscow time, according to Interfax.
Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday
The direction of the invasion forces
Under the control of or allied with Russia
Main refugee transit sites
Chernobyl
Not in operation
The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent
controlled by
separatists
Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday
The direction of the invasion forces
Under the control of or allied with Russia
The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent
Main refugee transit sites
Chernobyl
Not in operation
controlled by
separatists
Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday
The direction of the invasion forces
Under the control of or allied with Russia
Main refugee transit sites
The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent
Chernobyl
Not in operation
controlled by
separatists
Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday
The direction of the invasion forces
Under the control of or allied with Russia
Main refugee transit sites
The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent
Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday
The direction of the invasion forces
Under the control of or allied with Russia
Main refugee transit sites
The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent
The Ukrainian government early Monday rejected the Russian request on Twitter. It quoted the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk as saying that handing over the city was not an option and Russia demanded that it give civilians safe passage out.
It was imposed by Russia’s bombing strategy Especially heavy losses In Mariupol, where the fighting reached the streets. Ukrainian officials said Russia bombed an art school where about 400 people were sheltering, trapping people under rubble. Their condition cannot be determined. A few days ago, a Theater in the city Where large numbers of people were bombed.
Mariupol is a strategic target for Moscow as it tries to open a land corridor to Crimea, annexed by Russia And changing the momentum in its three-week-old invasion. Russia has so far failed to control any large Ukrainian cities since the start of its invasion.
People dug a grave in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Sunday.
Photo:
Alexander Ermoshenko/Reuters
Ukrainians who fled Mariupol and Zaporizhzhya arrived in Lviv, western Ukraine, on Sunday.
Photo:
Bernat Armango/The Associated Press
In the territories captured by Moscow, she is trying to quell the unrest. On Monday, Russian forces wounded a demonstrator and dispersed others with grenades and tear gas in the southern city of Kherson.
The Russian military operation continued on three fronts: north from Crimea, south of Belarus towards Kyiv, and west from the occupied territories of southern Ukraine towards Mykolaiv, and eventually the port city of Odessa.
Military analysts said that Russia may increasingly be looking for an operational pause to regroup its forces and prepare for another offensive, leading to a temporary break in the fighting without a full ceasefire, which would require a breakthrough in the hitherto fruitless negotiations between Kyiv and Russia. Moscow, or more urban bombing.
“We will likely see more destruction, and less land trade,” said Michael Kaufman, an expert on Russian military affairs at CNA Corp., adding that Russia is likely to continue targeting cities. “If Ukrainian forces use urban areas for defense, and the urban environment greatly favors cannons, what is your strategy?”
Russia’s latest ultimatum came as senior US officials expressed doubts that the Kremlin is adopting a new strategy after nearly a month of fighting, halting progress while inflicting heavy humanitarian losses on the country. They believe the new approach focuses on securing the so-called land bridge between western Russia and Crimea, and expanding Russian control over the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin also appears to be trying to force the Ukrainian government to accept neutrality between Russia and the West.
Ukrainian officials said at least eight people were killed in the attack on a Kyiv shopping center.
Photo:
Rodrigo Abd/The Associated Press
Russia’s attack on Ukraine Forced more than 10 million people On leaving their homes, the United Nations said, with the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe showing no signs of abating as Moscow presses its offensive with missile strikes and artillery fire. The United Nations estimates that about 3.5 million people have left Ukraine since the Russian offensive began on February 24.
The World Health Organization has said the fighting is doing more damage to Ukraine’s health care system. On Monday, the UN agency said it had recorded 14 deaths and 36 injuries in attacks on the health care system linked to the attack. The World Health Organization said the nature of the attacks ranged from kidnappings to heavy weapons and obstruction of medical professionals.
Russia claimed on Monday it had captured a Ukrainian military headquarters and took 61 Ukrainian prisoners of war, and reported a cruise missile attack on an alleged training center for foreign and Ukrainian fighters in the western Ukraine’s Rivne region, which it says killed more than 80 Ukrainian and foreign fighters.
Ukraine confirmed the missile attack on the training ground in the Rivne region, while saying that the intensity of Russian combat air operations had subsided. She also said that Russia bombed Odessa.
Ukrainian soldiers searched the destroyed shopping center in Kyiv on Monday.
Photo:
Felipe Dana/The Associated Press
The two sides exchanged accusations over the damage to a chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Monday morning, when an ammonia gas leak was detected.
Ms Vereshuk said the Ukrainian and Russian sides had agreed on eight humanitarian corridors for Monday, including some of the Mariupol corridors.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of blocking the corridors. Ukraine has said in the past that Russia attacked these transit lines.
write to Matthew Luxmoore at [email protected] and Alan Collison at [email protected]
Copyright © 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. all rights are save. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
“Subtly charming student. Pop culture junkie. Creator. Amateur music specialist. Beer fanatic.”