The Ministry of Defense (MoD) today published its assessment of the intelligence services, according to which the WP had already been used by Russian forces in Ukraine. White phosphorus is used for lighting at night or to create a smoke screen, but when used as a weapon it causes horrible burns. Live Ukrainian news: EU warns of major attack “next day” Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 4:10 Sean Bell added that experts have warned that the next phase of the war could be “particularly intense and particularly brutal” The assessment said: “The previous use of phosphorus munitions by Russian forces in the Donetsk region increases the likelihood of their future employment in Mariupol, as fighting for the city intensifies.” The Defense Ministry added that Russian forces continued to bombard areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, but that Kiev troops had repulsed “several attacks”. “Russia’s continued dependence on unguided bombs reduces its ability to discriminate when aiming and striking, and significantly increases the risk of further civilian casualties,” the ministry warned. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko also said 10,000 civilians had been killed in the Russian siege of his city and that the death toll could exceed 20,000, with corpses “carpeted in the streets”. Image: Residents move their belongings near buildings that have been destroyed in Mariupol Read more: What weapons do the Ukrainians want to fight the Russian forces? He said: “Mobile crematoria have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burning.” Meanwhile, Austrian Chancellor Carl Nehammer said his meeting with Putin in Moscow did not leave him optimistic. He said: “The attack is obviously being prepared on a massive scale.” It comes as the United Kingdom raises its military support for Ukraine following an unannounced visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv over the weekend. In the village of Buzova outside Kyiv, local officials said they had found corpses showing “execution evidence” after the Russian withdrawal. Buzova is close to Bucha, another city where atrocities were discovered – although Russia has claimed that scenes from the aftermath of its occupation were staged. Follow the Daily Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker Zelensky used his night’s speech to warn Ukrainians to prepare for a Russian attack in the east of the country. He said: “Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. “They can use even more missiles against us, even more aerial bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. “We will respond. We will be even more active in supplying weapons to Ukraine.”
