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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Ukrainian forces dug in and Russia\u2019s military lined up more firepower Sunday ahead of an expected showdown in eastern Ukraine that could become a decisive period in a war that has flattened cities, killed untold thousands and isolated Moscow economically and politically.<\/p>\n
Experts say a full-scale offensive in the east could start within days, though questions remained about the ability of Russia\u2019s depleted and demoralized forces to conquer much ground after Ukraine\u2019s inspired defenders repelled their push to capture the capital, Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s Defense Ministry reported Sunday that Russia\u2019s armed forces were trying to compensate for mounting casualties by boosting troop numbers with personnel who had been discharged from service since 2012. Ukraine has the bulk of its military forces in the east: estimates vary, but they are believed to number in the tens of thousands.<\/p>\n
Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and control parts of the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking, industrial region. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, its troops have bombarded government-held territory. The anticipated offensive in the east and south could end up excising a vast swath of land from Ukraine.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second-largest city, in the northeast and sent reinforcements toward Izyum to the southeast in attempts to break Ukraine\u2019s defenses, the Ukrainian military command said. The Russians also kept up their siege of Mariupol, a key southern port that has been under attack and surrounded for nearly 1 \u00bd months.<\/p>\n
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Russia\u2019s military used air-launched missiles to hit Ukraine\u2019s S-300 air defense missile systems in the southern Mykolaiv region and at an air base in Chuhuiv, a city not far from Kharkiv.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s sea-launched cruise missiles also destroyed the headquarters of a Ukrainian military unit stationed farther west in the Dnipro region, Konashenkov said. Neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian military claims could be independently verified.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for stronger military and political support from the West, including NATO members that have funneled weapons and military equipment to Ukraine since Russia invaded but denied some requests for fear of getting drawn into the war.<\/p>\n
In a late night video message, Zelenskyy argued that more than Ukraine\u2019s future was at stake: Russia\u2019s aggression \u201cwas not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone\u201d and the \u201centire European project is a target,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine\u2019s desire for peace,\u201d Zelenskyy said. \u201dThis is, in fact, a strategy of defense for every civilized state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy thanked the president of the European Union\u2019s executive commission and Canada\u2019s prime minister for a global fundraising event Saturday that brought in more than 10 billion euros ($11 billion) to help Ukrainians who have fled the war.<\/p>\n
The U.N. refugee agency reported Sunday that more than 4.5 million people have left the country since the invasion started Europe\u2019s worst ground conflict since World World II. As of Friday night, the U.N.\u2019s human rights commissioner had confirmed 1,766 civilian deaths from more than six weeks of fighting – – 630 of them in the Donbas – while acknowledging the toll was likely a vast undercount.<\/p>\n
After British Prime Minister Boris Johnson went to Kyiv on a Saturday trip that the U.K. government did not announce in advance, Zelenskyy said they had decided \u201cwhat help the United Kingdom will provide to the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine\u201d and that it includes a \u201cpatronage\u201d to rebuild the Kyiv region.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces of committing war crimes against thousands of civilians during the invasion. The alleged crimes took place during airstrikes on hospitals, a missile attack that killed 52 people at a train station in eastern Ukraine on Friday and as Russian soldiers withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said that when he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone Sunday, \u201cwe emphasized that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukraine has blamed Russia for alleged atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other towns outside the capital where hundreds of bodies, many with their hands bound and signs of torture, were found after the Russian troops retreated. Russia has denied engaging in war crimes and falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were staged.<\/p>\n
After the Russian forces pulled out from the north this week to regroup for the push in the east, firefighters combed through the rubble of buildings to search for victims or survivors. Maria Vaselenko, 77, a resident of Borodyanka, said her daughter and son-in-law were killed, leaving her grandchildren orphaned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Russians were shooting. And some people wanted to come and help, but they were shooting them. They were putting explosives under dead people,\u201d Vaselenko said. \u201cThat\u2019s why my children have been under the rubble for 36 days. It was not allowed\u201d to remove bodies.<\/p>\n
In Mariupol, Russia was deploying Chechen fighters, reputed to be particularly fierce. Capturing the city on the sea of Azov would give Russia a land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukriane eight years ago.<\/p>\n
Residents have lacked food, water and electricity since Russian forces surrounded the city, making evacuations hard and supplying emergency relief even harder.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy has said he expects more evidence of atrocities to be found once Mariupol no longer is blockaded; Ukrainian authorities think an airstrike on a theater where civilians were sheltering killed hundreds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am in shock. I don\u2019t understand what is happening. I have a hole in my garage billowing smoke,\u201d Mariupol resident Sergey Petrov told The Associated Press, describing a brush with death. \u201cA shell flew in and broke up into two parts, but it did not explode. \u2026 My mother told me that I was born again on that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said more civilians were expected to leave Mariupol in their personal vehicles Sunday, while more evacuations were planned for a number of towns in the south and east.<\/p>\n
The Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, predicted Russian forces would focus their assault on the northern edge of a sickle-shaped arc of eastern Ukraine where the pro-Russia separatists and Russian forces have seized territory.<\/p>\n
Russian forces will \u201crenew offensive operations in the coming days\u201d from Izyum, a town southeast of Kharkiv, to try to reach Slovyansk, even further southeast, the institute\u2019s analysts said. But in their view, \u201cThe outcome of forthcoming Russian operations in eastern Ukraine remains very much in question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukrainian officials have pleaded with Western powers almost daily to send more arms and further punish Moscow with sanctions, including the exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Associated Press inside his heavily guarded presidential office complex on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he was committed to negotiating a diplomatic end to the war even though Russia has \u201ctortured\u201d Ukraine.<\/p>\n
He also acknowledged that peace likely will not come quickly. Talks so far have not included Putin or other top Russian officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to fight, but fight for life. You can\u2019t fight for dust when there is nothing and no people. That\u2019s why it is important to stop this war,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n
In the interview with AP, Zelenskyy noted the increased support but expressed frustration when asked if weapons and equipment Ukraine has received from the West is sufficient to shift the war\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet,\u201d he said, switching to English for emphasis. \u201cOf course it\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Ukrainian forces dug in and Russia\u2019s military lined up more firepower Sunday ahead of an expected showdown in eastern Ukraine that could become a decisive period in a war that has flattened cities, killed untold thousands and isolated Moscow economically and politically. Experts say a full-scale offensive in the east could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-188528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}