A firefighter stands before a 10-story shopping center destroyed, with eight people killed, by Russian shelling of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2022 (AP)

EA on Pakistan’s PTV World: Information v. Disinformation Over Russia’s Killing of Civilians

Monday’s Coverage: Russia’s “Final Solution” For Mariupol; 56 Elderly Reportedly Killed by Shelling

UPDATE 1650 GMT:

At least one person has been killed by a Russian drone attack on the Institute for Superhard Materials, part of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, in northwestern Kyiv.

The Russian forces used Orlan drones, one of which dropped a bomb to set the building on fire. Two other drones were downed.

A Russian defence ministry intelligence official said three people were killed,.

UPDATE 1635 GMT:

Residents of Russian-occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine — the first city seized by Russia in its invasion — are running out of food and medical supplies, according to Ukraine Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko.

On Tuesday, for the second consecutive day, Russian troops reportedly used stun grenades and gunfire to disperse an anti-occupation rally. Video showed protesters in Freedom Square fleeing as projectiles landed around them.

A letter, purportedly written by an official in Russia’s intelligence service FSB, warns that the Kremlin is no longer willing to “play nicely” and will unleash a “great terror” on Kherson by kidnapping residents and taking them across the Russian border:

Even if we have to deport as many as half the city — we are ready for that….

If it were possible to identify protest leaders, they would have been liquidated already. Protesters are saved only by the fact that it is unclear who exactly needs to be captured.

Russian officials feared a crackdown might provoke a riot and large-scale fighting, but an order has been given “from the very top”.

UPDATE 1455 GMT:

A Russian court has given anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny an additional nine-year sentence.

Navalny was charged with fraud and contempt of court. He was also fined 1.2m roubles (£8,700).

Having failed to assassinate Navalny with novichok nerve agent, Russian authorities had already condemned him to 2 1/2 years in prison camp east of Moscow.

UPDATE 1450 GMT:

At least five civilians were killed and 10 injured late Monday by Russian air and ground fire on Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Parliamentary ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova.

Avdiivka is north of the Russian proxy area of Donetsk city.

Denisova also said a Russian tank in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine targeted a civilian-marked car, killing three adults and a child.

UPDATE 1415 GMT:

A train with 780 survivors from besieged Mariupol has arrived in Lviv in western Ukraine.

It is unclear how the group made it past the Russian blockade of the port city in southern Ukraine, although about 2,160 private vehicles were allowed to leave last Monday and Tuesday.

The survivors are arriving from Zaporizhzhia, 125 miles northwest of Mariupol. Three buses will then take them to the Polish border — from there they will be settled in Poland or Germany.

Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to bombard Mariupol, hitting factories.

UPDATE 1355 GMT:

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry says 2,389 Ukrainian children have been “illegally removed” to Russia from the Russian-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk in the east of the country.

Ukraine Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said “an investigation is ongoing on the forcible transfer”.

Local officials in besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine said last week that 4,000 to 4,500 people, including entire families, have been deported by Russian forces across the border to Taganrog in Russia.

Ukraine War, Day 25: “Several Thousand Mariupol Residents Deported to Russia”

UPDATE 1349 GMT:

Ukraine Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, says Russian invaders have destroyed 10 hospitals.

He added that other hospitals cannot be restocked with medicines and supplies because of nearby fighting.

The World Health Organisation says it has confirmed 62 attacks on healthcare facilities, with 15 people killed and at least 37 injured.

Russia’s attacks follow its tactics in Syria, where it damaged or destroyed most of the health care facilities in anti-Assad areas in the northwest and near Damascus.

See also Amnesty — The Russia-Regime “War Crimes” v. Schools and Hospitals

UPDATE 1048 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has addressed the Italian Parliament by video link.

“For Russian troops, Ukraine is the gates of Europe, where they want to break in, but barbarism must not be allowed to pass,” he warned.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said after Zelenskiy’s address, “The arrogance of the Russian government has collided with the dignity of the Ukrainian people, who have managed to curb Moscow’s expansionist aims and impose a huge cost on the invading army.”

Draghi said he supports Ukraine’s membership of the European Union, and promised continued military aid and support for Ukrainian refugees.

UPDATE 1045 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken with Pope Francis.

UPDATE 0910 GMT:

Ukraine MP Dmytro Gurin, a native of besieged Mariupol, has also highlighted Russia’s “war crime”:

The shelling never stops, the shooting never stops. Now there’s 300,000 people in Mariupol without food. It’s not war anymore. We clearly see that Russia wants to start hunger just to force its diplomatic position.

UPDATE 0905 GMT:

The UN High Commission for Refugees says the number of Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion is 3,528,346.

More than 10 million Ukrainians — almost 1/4 of the country’s population — have left the country or are internally displaced.

UPDATE 0700 GMT:

Ukraine’s military claims “the Russian occupation forces operating in Ukraine have stockpiles of ammunition and food for no more than three days”.

It said the offensive also has shortages of fuel, amid Russia’s failure to establish an adequate supply line.

The operational report declared that 300 Russian troops refused to carry out orders in the Okhtyrka district in northeast Ukraine. In Russian-occupied areas of the Luhansk region in the east, the Russian forces is trying to “mobilize citizens” but “a large part of the population does not support the policy of the occupiers, does not want to take up arms, and hides from the representatives of the occupying power”.

The report claimed that 300 Russian troops were killed on Monday, adding to the overall toll of about 15,000.

The military also said it has recaptured the town of Makariv, 50 km (31 miles) west of Kyiv.

Owing to counterattack…the enemy is compelled to retreat to unfavourable borders. So, during the day, thanks to the heroic actions of our defenders, the state flag of Ukraine was raised over the city of Makariv, the enemy was rejected.

On Saturday, local police reported the killing of seven people by a Russian mortar attack on the town.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US officials accuse Russia of “war crimes” in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, amid Moscow’s latest attacks on civilian sites and the siege of more than 300,000 residents of Mariupol in the south of the country.

Meanwhile, a prominent pro-Kremlin site briefly published a Defense Ministry document reporting almost 10,000 slain Russian troops in the invasion, later deleting the post and claiming that it had been hacked.

The deaths of at least eight people were confirmed in a Russian attack destroying a 10-story shopping center in northwest Kyiv.

Russian forces again prevented any aid reaching Mariupol, besieged for almost four weeks. The Greek Consul General, the last European Union diplomat to leave the port city, summarized, “Mariupol will become part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war; I don*t need to name them- they are Guernica, Coventry, Aleppo, Grozny, Leningrad.”

While repeating that Russia had committed war crimes with the targeting of civilians, Zelenskiy again said direct talks with Vladimir Putin were necessary: “Without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war.”

The President reiterated that Ukrainians will never surrender to Russia ultimata or accept Russian occupation.

A Russian deadline of Monday morning for Mariupol to capitulate passed without any attempt to enter the city, cut off from heat, electricity, or water and short of food. Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian proxy “Donetsk People’s Republic”, said it would take more than a week to establish an occupation: “I am not so optimistic that two or three days or even a week will close the issue. Unfortunately, no, the city is big.”

The US Pentagon also spoke of the Russian “war crimes”, bolstering President Biden’s blunt statement last Wednesday that Putin is a “war criminal”.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said:

We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that.

But there’s investigative processes that are going to go on, and we’re going to let that happen. We’re going to contribute to that investigative process. As for what would come out of that, that’s not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already backed up Biden’s assessment of Putin as a “murderous dictator” and a “pure thug”: “Personally, I agree with him…Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise.”

Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court have launched an investigation of whether the Russians have committed war crimes in their assaults.

Noting Russia’s disinformation campaign about US “biological warfare labs”, Biden said on Monday:

[Putin’s] back is against the wall and now he’s talking about new false flags he’s setting up including, asserting that we in America have biological as well as chemical weapons in Europe, simply not true.

They are also suggesting that Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. That’s a clear sign he’s considering using both of those.

The President warned the US business community of intelligence about threatened Russian cyber-attacks, calling on companies to “immediately” prepare defenses.

Summoning US Ambassador John Sullivan, the Russian Foreign Ministry complained about Bdien’s labelling of Putin as a “war criminal”: “It was emphasised that remarks such as these by the American president, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach.”

From Moscow: 9,861 Russian Troops Killed?

The pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda quickly drew international attention on Monday when it published a Russian Defense Ministry document recording almost 10,000 troop fatalities in only 26 days.

With social media circulating the document, it was soon removed from the newspaper’s site. Analysts debated whether the tabloid had been hacked, whether a Russian official had leaked a genuine document, or both.

The Ukraine military claims almost 15,000 Russian troops have been killed, including six generals and an admiral. “Conservative” estimates from US agenices last week put the number at more than 7,000.