The U.S. military has spotted a huge Russian military convoy heading south toward Izyum, a strategically important city in northeastern Ukraine that Russia captured earlier this month and could now use as a base to attack major cities in the south. said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. The expectation, Kirby added, is that “the same brutal tactics, the same contempt for civilian life and civilian infrastructure are likely to continue” as Russian military commanders focus on Donbas. The gloomy US assessment came amid renewed concerns about a possible chemical weapons attack, and as Austrian Chancellor Carl Nehamer became the first Western leader to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the inauguration. February. Nehammer’s trip, according to officials in Vienna, was intended to convey to the Russian leader that, morally, Putin had already lost the war. “This is not a friendly visit,” the chancellor said in a statement. “I just came from Ukraine and saw with my own eyes the countless sufferings caused by the Russian offensive war.” Amid global outrage over allegations that Russian troops committed atrocities targeting civilians in the area around the capital, Kyiv, French law enforcement officials prepared to launch an investigation after arriving in Ukraine on Monday. Prosecutors in France have launched multiple investigations into possible war crimes committed against French nationals there. President Biden, meanwhile, has met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him not to increase Russian energy imports as the international community seeks to put more financial pressure on Moscow to end the war. Biden said after the meeting that the United States and India were in “close consultation” to manage the “destabilizing” effects of Russia’s actions. While Russia has withdrawn from the suburbs of Kiev and other parts of northern Ukraine, Putin’s forces continue to attack elsewhere. Russia has continued to fire artillery, rockets and mortars into the northern city of Kharkhiv, Ukrainian military officials say. Russian forces, they said, attempted to invade the city of Sivierodonetsk in the Donbas region on Monday, but failed. In a video speech to South Korean lawmakers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that the Russian build-up in eastern Ukraine included “tens of thousands of troops and a huge amount of equipment.” With its new attack, he said, Russia aims to “break our national resistance.” Zelensky stressed the devastation in Mariupol, a port city in the south that has been bombed for weeks. “There are tens of thousands dead,” the Ukrainian leader said in a statement. “But even so, the Russians are not stopping the attack. “They want to make Mariupol a ostentatiously destroyed city.” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the Associated Press in an interview that 10,000 civilians had been killed there. He estimated that the number of dead could be doubled in the midst of the relentless attack of the Russians, which has made it difficult for rescue teams to reach the dead and wounded. The Pentagon also estimated that the number of people killed in Mariupol could be as high as Zelensky described. “I do not think anyone will really know until the Ukrainian authorities can get in there and look and see,” Kirby said. “But if you just look at the pictures and see how much the Russians have pounded Mariupol from the air, it is inconceivable to imagine that there would be no civilian casualties and that it could be a significant number.” Zelensky said in a separate video that he released late Monday that the government in Kyiv was taking “as seriously as possible” an apparent threat of chemical weapons being fired at Ukrainian units in Mariupol, which were claimed earlier in the day on social media. that such an attack had already taken place there. Kirby acknowledged that US officials were aware of the allegations but could not confirm them, saying the Pentagon would monitor the situation closely. “These reports, if true, are deeply troubling and reflect the concerns we have had about Russia’s ability to use a variety of disruptive agents, including tear gas canisters, in Ukraine.” The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rescuers on Monday removed seven more bodies from the rubble in Borodyanka, an area northwest of Kiev devastated by airstrikes. The dead were found in the rubble of two apartment buildings, the Ukrainian emergency services said in a post on Telegram. Nineteen victims have been evacuated from the rubble, according to the report, and rescue efforts are continuing. A senior European Union official, Josep Borrell, said he “saw the brutal, brutal attack by Russian troops on the civilian population” during an official visit to Kyiv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and that the EU will support the work of prosecutors from Ukraine and the International Criminal Court to gather evidence of possible war crimes committed by Russian forces. Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, predicted more bloodshed as Russia rallied forces in the east and prepared to intensify operations in the coming days. A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity at the Pentagon, said it was unclear when Russia might launch a new offensive, but that there were indications it was preparing to do so. So far, the official said, Russia has stepped up its military presence around the city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russian separatists for several years, adding artillery units to the southwest. The convoy, which is now pushing south from the Russian border, includes an element of command, a support battalion, helicopter support and infantry for security, the US official said, calling “clear evidence” that Russia is already pursuing its goal of occupying Donbas. failed to take Kyiv. Russia has concentrated most of its air strikes in recent days in the Donbas region, the official said. Moscow’s decision to appoint General Alexander Dvornikov as its commander-in-chief in Ukraine is unlikely to change Russia’s tactics, US officials have said. Dvornikov has been dubbed the “Syrian butcher” for the violence perpetrated by his forces during Russia’s military campaign there in recent years. “We are probably turning another page in the same book of Russian barbarism,” Kirby told reporters on Monday. Russia will not suspend military operations in Ukraine before the next round of peace talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday in an interview with state television channel Rossiya 24. He added that while Putin had ordered a temporary ceasefire During an early round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegates, Moscow has since changed its mind. “Once we were convinced that the Ukrainians had no plans to retaliate, it was decided that during the next round of talks, there would be no pause until a final agreement was reached and signed,” Lavrov said. In the interview, Lavrov also appeared to redefine Moscow’s goals, saying its operations in Ukraine were aimed at ending the United States’ path to “world domination.” Russian officials have previously justified the invasion, calling it an attempt to “denationalize” Ukraine. Amid the bloodshed, the UN Development Program has announced a new initiative to support Ukraine over the next two years, as it seeks to address the disaster and rebuild its institutions for a possible post-war future. The program will provide on-site services such as infrastructure repairs, debris removal and new ways of generating income for those who have lost their jobs, UN officials said. They cited previous research that found that the war could end 18 years of socio-economic progress in Ukraine if not resolved decisively and quickly. “The war in Ukraine continues to cause enormous human suffering,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. Preliminary estimates, he said, “predict that almost two decades of socio-economic progress could be lost if the war continues – with 9 out of 10 people at risk of falling into poverty.” Lamothe reported from Washington, Bellware from Chicago and Ilyushina from Riga, Latvia. David L. Stern in Mukachevo, Ukraine, Anabelle Timsit in London and Karoun Demirjian, Reis Thebault, Felicia Sonmez and Paulina Firozi in Washington contributed to this report.
