Among the 30,000 civilians who are said to have fled Mariupol so far.
Kyiv:
Bloody new attacks on civilians Thursday fueled allegations that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, as the United States warned that China will pay for any support for Moscow’s attack.
Three weeks after the devastating invasion of Russia, attacks on civilian targets escalated to a school and cultural center in the town of Merefa, which was shelled overnight by artillery fire that killed 21 people, authorities said.
Despite the mounting massacre, the punishment of international sanctions and unexpectedly strong resistance from the Ukrainians, top US diplomat Antony Blinken said on Thursday he saw no sign that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “willing to stop”.
“Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. After all the destruction in recent weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise,” he said, following warnings from the G7 that those behind such crimes “will be held responsible.” .”
Blinken doubles down on the harsh language of President Joe Biden, who the day before labeled Putin a “war criminal” and called him both a “thug” and a “murderous dictator” on Thursday.
He spoke as authorities were still trying to tally the death toll at the theater targeted by a bomb in southern Mariupol the day before — which Ukrainian leader Volodymr Zelensky held up as proof that “Russia is a terrorist state.” become”.
In the latest of a series of resonating speeches to Western lawmakers, Zelensky told the German parliament that Moscow was building a new Cold War wall through Europe, “between freedom and slavery.”
Russia’s relentless attack on Mariupol has caused particular horror.
Local officials say more than 2,000 people have been killed in indiscriminate Chechnya-style shelling on the strategic port so far, and 80 percent of homes have been destroyed.
Under fresh Russian shelling, rescuers combed through the smoking rubble of the Drama Theater, where Ukrainian officials say more than 1,000 civilians were sheltering in a basement bomb shelter when it was bombed. Human Rights Watch thinks there were at least 500.
Of the 30,000 civilians believed to have fled Mariupol so far, evacuees said they were forced to melt snow for drinking water and cook leftover food on open fires while water and power were cut.
“The bodies of many dead civilians lie in the streets,” Tamara Kavunenko, 58, told AFP after reaching the central city of Zaporizhzhya.
“It’s not Mariupol anymore,” she said. “It’s hell.”
– US notifies China –
Biden and NATO have refused to get directly involved in the conflict, fearing an escalation with nuclear-armed Russia leading to World War III.
Instead, Biden has successfully formed a close-knit Western alliance against Moscow, sanctions against Putin’s regime and military support for Ukrainian forces.
But a potentially dangerous outlier looms: China.
Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow, and Washington fears the Chinese could switch to full financial and even military support for Russia, turning an already explosive transatlantic standoff into a global dispute.
A phone call between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is scheduled for Friday, and Blinken said his boss would press Beijing to help end the war, rather than support his fellow authoritarian ally.
Biden “will make it clear that China will bear responsibility for all actions it takes to support Russian aggression and we will not hesitate to impose charges,” Blinken said.
The wider economic fallout from the war could reduce global growth by “more than one percentage point” over the next 12 months, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
But Russia’s finance ministry said Thursday it had made interest payments worth $117.2 million on two foreign bonds, avoiding default for the time being.
– ‘Demolish this wall’ –
With peace talks underway, officials in Kiev said Russia had approved nine humanitarian corridors for fleeing refugees on Thursday, including one from Mariupol.
But Blinken said Moscow was not being sincere, saying, “I have not seen any meaningful attempt by Russia to end this war it is fighting through diplomacy.”
As the death toll mounts and Russian forces pressurize Kiev, Zelensky continued his increasingly desperate pleas for more aid, especially for military equipment and a no-fly zone.
He has delivered a series of impassioned speeches to lawmakers in Western countries, each tailored by citing the most touching moments from their recent history.
This time, before the German parliament, he drew on a 1987 speech by US President Ronald Reagan in Berlin: “Dear Mr. Scholz, tear down this wall,” he begged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“It’s not a Berlin wall — it’s a wall in Central Europe between freedom and slavery and this wall gets bigger with every bomb.”
In a nightly video message, Zelensky immediately urged the Russians to lay down their weapons.
“If your war, the war against the Ukrainian people, continues, Russian mothers will lose more children than in the Afghan and Chechen wars combined,” he said.
– ‘It’s hell’ –
The Ukrainian leader spoke virtually from Kiev, which Russian forces are still trying to encircle in a slow-moving offensive.
New fighting erupted on the outskirts of the city as Ukrainian and Russian troops exchanged grenade and rocket fire in the northwest, AFP journalists witnessed.
Citizens took cover as shelling set fire to a building near a warehouse, across the street from a mall with a multiplex cinema.
In the warehouse parking lot, a Ukrainian soldier crouched around with a rifle as the gunshots crackled.
A man carried a lying child in his arms to a nearby block of flats and at least five ambulances rushed to the crime scene.
In Odessa, on the Black Sea, civilians braced for the attack, with tanks lined up at intersections and monuments covered in sandbags.
“Our beautiful Odessa,” said Lyudmila, an elegant older woman with bright lipstick, looking apologetically at the empty, barricaded streets of her city.
“But thank God we’re holding on! Everyone’s holding on!”
Elsewhere, civilians in bomb shelters did what they could to forget the war raging outside—if only for a moment.
From her hideout in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, Vera Lytovchenko has become a social media sensation with her violin performances and used the spotlight to launch a fundraiser.
“I want to help my friends and music teachers who have lost their homes, their jobs and their instruments,” said the soloist.
“I don’t want to feel helpless,” she said.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
