No deaths or injuries were reported, although a local official said the fate of “several hundred” people remains unknown.
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The strikes in Mariupol and other cities have served as stark reminders that the international community is concerned about whether Russia will stick to any negotiated truce and the huge losses that will be incurred every day without a deal. The Pentagon said Wednesday that, opposing the idea of an imminent end to the war, Russia is considering beefing up its troops and supplies as navies shelled cities outside of Odessa, a key port city on the Black Sea. A defense ministry spokesman said the Russians may be weakening their defenses ahead of a ground invasion.
Ukraine did not announce humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from its most vulnerable cities on Wednesday because it was unsafe, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said at her daily briefing, a departure from a precedent set in recent days.
Vereshchuk accused Russian forces of “shooting on humanitarian convoys of buses” and “assembly points where civilians were planned to be evacuated, and taking hostages of accompanying persons.” According to the latest figures from the UN casualty-tracking office, 726 civilians have been killed and 1,174 wounded since fighting began last month, though actual casualties are likely much higher.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Russian TV channel that there was “hope for a compromise” in the talks, echoing Ukrainian officials’ comments that the parties were gradually moving closer to a breakthrough. However, both sides stressed that the negotiations were difficult, disagreements persisted over Ukraine’s security guarantees and other sensitive issues.
US and Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, were skeptical about the Ukrainian delegation’s optimistic statements about the talks. Some officials have said they suspect Zelenskiy is trying to keep the momentum going even as the talks are going badly. Others say the Ukrainian leader may not be sharing a full account of the closed-door discussions. Many diplomats fear that Moscow is only using the talks to buy time and replenish its forces.
On Wednesday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, stressing that if the Kremlin is serious about diplomacy, it must “stop attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns,” the White House said in a statement. This discussion appears to be the highest showdown between Moscow and Washington since the start of the Russian invasion.
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The Kremlin promptly responded to Biden’s words. “We consider unacceptable and unforgivable such rhetoric from the head of the country, whose bombs have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Biden He is due to travel to Europe next week to join a NATO summit on the Russian invasion. As part of the preparations, NATO defense ministers gathered on Wednesday to discuss an ambitious new plan for expanding the alliance’s forces in Europe as part of a special meeting in Brussels on how to respond to the threat posed by Russian attacks without being drawn into a wider conflict. .
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ministers discussed the long-term deployment of additional troops, warships and aircraft on the alliance’s eastern flank, to be funded by significant increases in defense spending by NATO member governments. The defense ministers of non-NATO Finland, Sweden, Georgia and Ukraine, in particular attended the meeting, emphasizing how concerned those in close proximity to Russia are about the Kremlin’s aggression.
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The ministers focused on arming and financing Ukraine, which will put pressure on Russia to make concessions at the negotiating table, Stoltenberg said. But he reiterated that NATO should not deploy forces on Ukrainian soil or airspace to prevent a wider war.
“NATO has a responsibility to ensure that this escalation does not go beyond Ukraine,” he said.
Over the past two days, Ukrainian officials have announced a series of devastating attacks, including a rocket attack near a botanical garden in southeastern Ukraine and an alleged rocket attack on a Kiev apartment building that has led to frantic efforts to rescue people on the upper floors. . No fatalities were reported from the rocket attack; local officials say at least four people died during an apartment strike in Kyiv, where a 36-hour curfew is in effect on Thursday.
In Kharkiv, home to 1.4 million people, shelling destroyed residences, art museums, libraries and government buildings in a city renowned for its architecture. UN agencies and humanitarian groups say even incomplete casualty counts are still worrying Ukraine’s youngest population: Dozens of children are among the dead, and minors make up half of the 3 million Ukrainians who have fled the country.
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Pope Francis led Italian students Wednesday in prayer for children in Ukraine, asking them to think of ‘little ones’ fleeing the bombs and their homes, Catholic News Service informed.
The strike in Mariupol was especially horrendous.
The Mariupol City Council said in a Telegram message that a Russian plane “dropped a bomb” on the Drama Theatre. Videos verified by The Washington Post show extensive damage, as well as flames and smoke rising from a large recess in the center of the building.
“The scale of this horrifying and inhumane act cannot yet be assessed,” the city council said, adding that at least the central part of the theater and the entrance were destroyed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that Russia should have known civilians were using the theater as a safe haven, calling the incident “another horrific war crime.”
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Pavel Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, where Mariupol is located, said on Facebook that the fate of “several hundred” residents is “unknown” as the entrance to the building is littered with rubble. Kirilenko posted the images on Facebook, saying the destruction was caused by a Russian airstrike on civilians.
The Russian Defense Ministry denies any involvement. “Russian aviation did not carry out any tasks related to strikes against ground targets in the city of Mariupol,” the ministry said in a statement. Instead, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed – without any evidence – that “reliable data” showed that fighters from the Azov Battalion, a far-right nationalist Ukrainian paramilitary group, “performed a new bloody provocation by blowing up the theater building.”
Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, said Russian troops were also in Mariupol took over an intensive care hospital on Tuesday and took “400 civilians” hostage, including medical personnel, and carried out attacks from the hospital. Across the city, conditions are deteriorating due to the Russian blockade, food and water are running out, and bodies are being sent to mass graves.
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Western officials insist that Russian forces and equipment remain at a standstill in many areas. According to the Pentagon, about 10 percent of the forces brought by Russia into Ukraine did not see combat, including those killed, wounded, captured or missing. While Russia is considering beefing up its troops and supplies, the Pentagon has seen no evidence that such reinforcements are heading towards Ukraine, according to a senior U.S. Department of Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ground rules set by the Biden administration.
“Every day they suffer losses of equipment, aircraft, people,” the official said.
Ukrainian air defense forces also continue to prevent Russia’s advanced combat aircraft from achieving air superiority, a senior NATO intelligence official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the ground rules set by NATO.
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“Russian forces are struggling to overcome problems related to the terrain of Ukraine,” the official said, adding that their advance was slowed by the reluctance to maneuver off-road and the destruction of bridges by Ukrainian troops.
However, according to the official, “Putin is unlikely to be kept, and he could escalate instead.”
“He probably remains confident that Russia can defeat Ukraine militarily,” the official said, adding that it was not clear whether Putin would pursue a “maximalist plan” to take over all or most of the country.
Allam and Villegas reported from Washington. Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. Emily Rauhala in Brussels; Liz Sly in London; Paul Sonne in Riga, Latvia; and Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima of Washington contributed to this report.