Russian Defense Ministry says 1,026 Ukrainian troops have surrendered
\nKYIV\/MOSCOW
\nThe presidents of four countries on Russia\u2019s doorstep visited Ukraine on Wednesday in a show of support for the embattled country, after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue his bloody offensive until its \u201cfull completion.\u201d
\nThe presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia \u2014 all NATO countries that worry they may face Russian attack in the future if Ukraine falls \u2014 were traveling by train to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
\nIn one of the most crucial battles of the war, Russia said more than 1,000 Ukrainian troops had surrendered in the besieged port of Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces have been holding out in pockets of the city. The information could not be verified.
\nRussia invaded on Feb. 24 with the goal, according to Western officials, of taking Kyiv, toppling the government and installing a Moscow-friendly one. In the seven weeks since, the ground advance stalled, Russia has lost potentially thousands of fighters \u2014 and the war has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee, rattled the world economy, threated global food supplies and shattered Europe\u2019s post-Cold War balance.
\nU.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called Russia\u2019s actions in Ukraine \u201ca genocide\u201d for the first time, saying \u201cPutin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.\u201d
\nZelenskyy applauded Biden\u2019s use of the word, saying \u201ccalling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities,\u201d he added in his tweet.
\nThe European leaders visiting Ukraine planned to deliver \u201ca strong message of political support and military assistance.\u201d Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said.
\nNauseda, Estonian President Alar Karis, Poland\u2019s Andrzej Duda and Egils Levits of Latvia also planned to discuss investigations into alleged Russian war crimes, including the massacre of civilians.
\nPutin has denied his troops committed atrocities, and on Tuesday insisted Russia \u201chad no other choice\u201d but to invade, saying the offensive aimed to protect people in parts of eastern Ukraine and to \u201censure Russia\u2019s own security.\u201d He vowed it would \u201ccontinue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set.\u201d
\nHe insisted Russia\u2019s campaign was going as planned despite a major withdrawal after its forces failed to take the capital and suffered significant losses.
\nFollowing those setbacks, Russian troops are now gearing up for a major offensive in the eastern Donbas region, where Russian-allied separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting since 2014, and where Russia has recognized the separatists\u2019 claims of independence. Military strategists say Moscow believes local support, logistics and the terrain in the region favor its larger, better-armed military, potentially allowing Russia to finally turn the tide in its favor.
\nBritain\u2019s defense ministry said Wednesday that \u201can inability to cohere and coordinate military activity has hampered Russia\u2019s invasion to date.\u201d Western officials say Russia recently appointed a new top general for the war, Alexander Dvornikov, to try to get a grip on its campaign.
\nA key piece to that campaign is Mariupol, which lies in the Donbas and which the Russians have besieged and pummeled since nearly the start of the war. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak tweeted that the city\u2019s defenders were short of supplies but were \u201cfighting under the bombs for each meter of the city.\u201d
\nRussian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said 1,026 troops from the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade had surrendered in the city. It was unclear when this occurred or how many forces were still defending Mariupol.
\nAccording to the BBC, Aiden Aslin, a British man fighting in the Ukrainian military in Mariupol, called his mother and a friend to say he and his comrades were out of food, ammunition and other supplies and would surrender.
\nAnother Zelenskyy adviser Oleksiy Arestovych did not comment on the surrender claim, but said in a post on Twitter that elements of the same brigade managed to link up with other Ukrainian forces in the city as a result of a \u201crisky maneuver.\u201d
\nUkraine is investigating a claim that a drone dropped a poisonous substance on the city. The assertion by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military, could not be independently verified. The regiment indicated there were no serious injuries.
\nUkrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said it was possible phosphorus munitions \u2014 which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons \u2014 had been used in Mariupol, which has been pummeled by weeks of Russian assaults.
\nDeliberately firing phosphorus munitions into an enclosed space to expose people to fumes could breach the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Marc-Michael Blum, a former laboratory head at the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
\nWestern officials warned that any use of chemical weapons by Russia would be a serious escalation of the already devastating war. Zelenskyy said that while experts try to determine what the substance might be, \u201cThe world must react now.\u201d
\nIn Washington, a senior U.S. defense official said the Biden administration was preparing another package of military aid for Ukraine to be announced in the coming days, possibly totaling $750 million. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans not yet publicly announced.
\nBiden used the word \u201cgenocide\u201d about Russia\u2019s actions during a visit to Iowa. He said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia\u2019s conduct met the international standard for genocide, but said \u201cit sure seems that way to me.\u201d
\nNeither he nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following the assessment.
\nAn investigation into war crimes is already underway in Ukraine, including into atrocities revealed after Moscow\u2019s retreat from cities and towns around Kyiv.
\nZelenskyy said evidence of \u201cinhuman cruelty\u201d toward women and children in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv continued to surface, including alleged rapes.
\nMore than 720 people were killed in Kyiv suburbs that had been occupied by Russian troops and over 200 were considered missing, the Interior Ministry said early Wednesday.
\nIn Bucha alone, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said 403 bodies had been found and the toll could rise as minesweepers comb the area.
\nResidents in Yahidne, a village near the northern city of Chernihiv, said Russian troops forced them to stay for almost a month in the basement of a school, only allowing them outside to go to the toilet, cook on open fires \u2014 and bury those who died in a mass grave.
\nIn one of the rooms, the residents wrote the names of those who perished during the ordeal. The list counted 18 people.
\n\u201cAn old man died near me and then his wife died next,\u201d said resident Valentyna Saroyan. \u201cThen a man died who was lying there, then a woman sitting next to me. … She died as well. Another old man looked so healthy, he was doing exercises, but then he was sitting and fell. That was it.\u201d
\nUkraine\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said humanitarian corridors used to get people out of cities under Russian attack will not operate on Wednesday because of poor security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian Defense Ministry says 1,026 Ukrainian troops have surrendered KYIV\/MOSCOW The presidents of four countries on Russia\u2019s doorstep visited Ukraine on Wednesday in a show of support for the embattled country, after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to continue his bloody offensive until its \u201cfull completion.\u201d The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n