Residents amid the destruction in Mariupol in southeast Ukraine, April 18, 2022 (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

EA on ABC’s The World: Russia’s “Plan B” Bogs Down in the Donbas

Wednesday’s Coverage: Russia’s Offensive Faltering in East

UPDATE 1644 GMT:

The Guardian and Bellingcat assess that Russian troops have used cluster munitions, cluster bombs, and unguided bombs in attacks on Kyiv-region areas such as Bucha, Hostomel, and Borodyanka.

UPDATE 1640 GMT:

Three buses filled with 79 Mariupol civilians have finally reached Zaporizhzhia, 132 miles to the northwest, after leaving the besieged port city on Thursday.

Officials had hoped for an evacuation with 90 buses, but this was prevented by ongoing Russian shelling.

UPDATE 1630 GMT:

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko says Russia is burying bodies of slain civilians in a new mass grave to hide evidence of “barbaric” war crimes.

Boychenko says Russian trucks collected corpses from the streets and took them to the nearby village of Manhush, secretly throwing into 30-meter-wide trenches in a field next to the old cemetery.

Boychenko estimates that at least 21,000 Mariupol residents have been killed during the Russian invasion and siege, with some of the bodies burnt in mobile crematoriums.

UPDATE 1439 GMT:

In an address from the White House, US President Joe Biden has confirmed an additional $800m in military aid for Ukraine (see 0747 GMT).

The new package, taking the total of US assistance to more than $3bn, include heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and tactical drones.

Biden spoke of the “historic victory” for Ukrainians — a “victory for freedom won by the Ukrainian people with unprecedented assistance” by other countries — in preventing the subjection of Kyiv to Russian forces.

He continued, “Now we have to accelerate that assistance package to help prepare Ukraine for Russia’s offensive that is going to be more limited in terms of geography, but not in terms of brutality.”

UPDATE 1335 GMT:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.

At a joint press conference, Frederiksen announced another $90m in military aid, bringing the total to $146m, to Ukraine and support for further sanctions against Russia.

The Prime Ministers visited Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, where officials are investigating the mass killing of civilians by Russian forces.

Sanchez wrote that he was “shocked to witness the horror and atrocities of Putin’s war on the streets of Borodyanka” and pledged, “We will not leave the Ukrainian people alone.”

UPDATE 1325 GMT:

The bodies of 1,020 civilians are in morgues in and around Kyiv, says Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna.

Among the latest discovered victims are nine civilians in the town of Borodyanka, 34 miles northwest of the capital, whose corpses were in communal graves and showed signs of torture.

Kyiv regional governor Oleksandr Pavliuk said, “Forensic experts are now examining the bodies, but what we saw was hands tied behind the back, their legs tied and shot through the limbs, and in the back of the head.”

UPDATE 1315 GMT:

The Estonian and Latvian Parliaments have each officially declared Russia’s actions in Ukraine are “genocide”.

The Estonian Parliament said “systematic and massive war crimes” have been committed against the Ukrainian nation and “acts of genocide” against civilians by Russian forces:

These crimes are ideologically incited by Russia’s political and military leadership and its national propaganda authorities….

These have consisted of murders, enforced disappearances, deportations, imprisonment, torture, rape and desecration of corpses.

In early April, following revelation of the mass killing of civilians in the town of Bucha by Russian forces, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke of “these alleged cases of [crimes against] humanity, war crimes and — why not say it too? — genocide”.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote:

UPDATE 1307 GMT:

The sanctioned multi-billionaire oligarch Vagit Alekperov, an ally of Vladimir Putin, has quit as the president of Russia’s Lukoil.

The Moscow-based oil company is among 27 firms whose shares were suspended by the London Stock Exchange in early March. Alekperov has an 8.5% equity stake worth almost $4bn before the suspension.

Lukoil contributed more than £5bn to the Kremlin in 2020. Alekperov’s personal wealth was estimated at $26bn.

The UK announced sanctions on another 26 Russians on Thursday, focusing on those “commanding the front line” to commit “heinous” acts in Ukraine.

The additions include Col. Gen. Nikolay Bogdanovsky, the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff; Lt. Col. Azatbek Omurbekov, the commanding officer of the unit that occupied the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where hundreds of civilians were murdered; Col. Gen. Andrey Serdyukov, the commander of airborne forces; and Maj. Gen. Valery Flyustikov, commander of special operations forces.

UPDATE 1003 GMT:

Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov says 15 Russian attacks, with shelling by multiple systems, of Kharkiv city have injured five civilians today.

UPDATE 0918 GMT:

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu declared on Wednesday that some NATO member countries want to prolong war in Ukraine to weaken Russia.

Çavuşoğlu did not name the countries or offer any evidence that it is they, rather than Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who are trying to extend the war.

Instead, he told broadcaster CNN Türk that, after UKraine-Russia talks in Istanbul at the end of March, “We did not think that the war would take this long.” He continued:

Following the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting [on April 6-7], it was the impression that…there are those within the NATO member states that want the war to continue, let the war continue and Russia gets weaker. They don’t care much about the situation in Ukraine.

Turkey has tried to balance between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s political relationship with Putin, after a reconciliation in August 2016; its supply of military equipment, including drones, to Ukraine; and its NATO membership.

Its hosting of the Ukraine-Russia talks in late March was quickly overtaken by Russia’s rejection of a draft 15-page proposal from Kyiv and Moscow’s shift from northern Ukraine to an offensive in the east.

UPDATE 0804 GMT:

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday that Germany will phase out Russian oil imports “by the end of the year” and coal imports by the end of the summer.

Speaking alongside Baltic foreign ministers in Latvia, Baerbock said gas imports will be phased out over a longer period “in a joint European roadmap”.

Baerbock said there is “no taboo” on providing tanks to Ukraine, “even if it may sound like that in the German debate”.

However, she said the German army no longer has military hardware which can be delivered quickly without undermining Berlin’s security commitments. So Germany is agreeing a swap system where it will fill gaps of NATO and G7 states who can assist Kyiv more expeditiously.

UPDATE 0754 GMT:

Russia appears to have stepped back from an attempt to storm the Azovstal iron and steel works in besieged Mariupol.

At a staged meeting at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin said a plan to overrun the complex is “impractical”.

I order it to be cancelled.

This is the case when we have to think, that is, we always have to think, and in this case even more so, about preserving the lives and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities.

He said, “Block the industrial zone so that a fly can’t get through,” he said. “Propose again that all who have not yet put down their arms do so. The Russian side guarantees them their lives and dignified treatment.”.

Speaking before Putin, Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu tried to cover the change in plan with an assertion that Mariupol had been “liberated” despite the ongoing fighting. He said it would take several more days to defeat the defenders in the iron and steel works.

Meanwhile, Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urgently appealed on Telegram:

We demand from the Russians an urgent humanitarian corridor from the Mariupol plant Azovstal. There are now about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers. They all need to be removed from Azovstal today.

I call on world leaders and the international community to focus their efforts on Azovstal now. Now this is a key point and a key moment for the humanitarian effort.

UPDATE 0747 GMT:

US President Joe Biden will announce more military aid to Ukraine on Thursday.

A US official said Biden’s address at the White House will detail a package similar to $800m announced last week, taking the total of American assistance beyond $3bn.

The additional deliveries will include heavy artillery and ammunition.

However, the Pentagon walked back its statement that aircraft have been supplied to Kyiv, saying only parts had been delivered.

UPDATE 0725 GMT:

G7 finance ministers have announced additional support to Ukraine, totalling $24bn for 2022 and beyond, and said they are prepared to do more as needed.

At a G20 meeting in Washington DC, the UK, US and Canada staged a coordinated walkout to protest the Russian invasion.

Representatives from the three countries left as Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov began speakig by video link. Officials said the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen were among those who exited.

Some finance ministers and central bank governors, also participating virtually, turned off their cameras during Siluanov’s address.

UPDATE 0710 GMT:

The “Five Eyes” intelligence members — the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — are warning of powerful Russian cyberattacks against supporters of Ukraine.

The quintet said in an official alert on Wednesday:

Evolving intelligence indicates that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could expose organisations both within and beyond the region to increased malicious cyber activity. This activity may occur as a response to the unprecedented economic costs imposed on Russia as well as materiel support provided by the United States and US allies and partners.

Russia was expected to cripple Ukraine with cyber-attacks accompanying the February 24 invasion, but the effort has been blunted by Ukrainian cyber-defenses developed in cooperation with other countries.

UPDATE 0700 GMT:

UK military intelligence said that despite immediate problems with their offensive in eastern Ukraine, Russian units are pressing ahead, hoping to give Vladimir Putin a trophy for Russia’s Victory Day on May 9.

The UK report assessed, “Russian forces are now advancing from staging areas in the Donbas towards Kramatorsk, which continues to suffer from persistent rocket attacks. High levels of Russian air activity endure as Russia seeks to provide close air support to its offensive in eastern Ukraine, to suppress and destroy Ukrainian air defence capabilities.”

The head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Gaidai, said “80% of our territories are now controlled” by the Russians: “The fights are going on.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Defenders of besieged and destroyed Mariupol in southeast Ukraine are still refusing to surrender despite “maybe facing our last days, if not hours”.

About 120,000 civilians are still trapped in the city on the Sea of Azov, with Russian forces continuing to block aid and restrict evacuations. Among the latest confirmed fatalities is a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor, Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova.

Serhiy Volyna, commander of the 36th Marine Brigade, said “the enemy is outnumbering us 10 to one” and appealed for international help with “extraction…to the territory of a third-party state”. However, the fighters in the Azovstal iron and steel works defied yet another Russian “surrender or die” ultimatum on Wednesday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the visiting European Council President Charles Michel in Kyiv, “They are keeping 120,000 people in besieged Mariupol. Crimes that are happening there are far more scary and large scale than in Borodyanka,” a town northwest of the capital where mass killings are suspected.

Seeking Talks for Safety of Civilians

Ukrainian officials hoped to evacuate 6,000 civilians in 90 buses on Wednesday, but most were blocked amid Russian shelling.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said four buses made it to Berdyansk and are en route to Zaporizhia, 132 miles northwest of Mariupol.

Zelenskiy’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak and local officials said they are ready for unconditional discussions to ensure the remaining civilians — including about 1,000 in an underground shelter in the Azovstal iron and steel works — can reach safety.

Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia confirmed, “Today, in a conversation with the city defenders, a proposal was put forward to hold direct negotiations, on site, on the evacuation of our military garrison. For our part, we are ready to arrive for such negotiations at any time as soon as we receive confirmation from the Russian side.”

In his talks with the visiting Michel, Zelenskiy said Kyiv is ready to resolve the issues in Mariupol but Russia has “not yet shown readiness to take such a step”.

Death of a Holocaust Survivor

Any discussions will be too late for Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova, 91, who survived mass killings by Nazi German forces in Mariupol in 1941 but perished in another freezing basement on April 4, 1922.

Vanda’s daughter Larissa, who has reached a safe location with her family, said Vanda — whose own mother was slain in the 1941 Nazi invasion — died on April 4 “pleading for water”.

Larissa said Vanda’s last thought in the basement was “Why is this happening?” She added, “Mama didn’t deserve such a death.”

Larissa and her husband, risking non-stop shelling, buried Vanda in a public park less than a kilometer from the Sea of Azov.

Boris Romantschenko, another Ukrainian Holocaust survivor, was killed in March by Russian bombardment of the city of Kharkiv. The 96-year-old had survived internment in Nazi concentration camps including Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen.

Russian officials offered no statement about the fate of the civilians on Wednesday. Instead, Vladimir Putin’s subordinate Ramzan Kadyrov, installed as leader of Chechnya after Moscow’s destruction of the region 20 years ago, boasted that Russian forces will be in complete control of the Azovstal iron and steel works “before lunchtime, or after lunch” on Thursday.