Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine sparked the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. US President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and led the West to arm Ukraine and impose devastating sanctions on Russia. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “The idea of punishing a country that has one of the largest nuclear capabilities is absurd. And potentially a threat to the existence of humanity,” Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Telegram on Wednesday. Russia and the United States control about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads, with about 4,000 warheads each in their military stockpiles, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Medvedev called the United States an empire that had spilled blood around the world, citing the killing of Native Americans, US nuclear attacks on Japan and a series of wars ranging from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Attempts to use courts or tribunals to investigate Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Medvedev said, would be futile and risk global catastrophe. Ukraine and its Western allies say Russian forces have engaged in war crimes. Putin launched his invasion, calling it a “special military operation,” to demilitarize Ukraine, root out dangerous nationalists and protect Russian-speakers in that country. Ukraine and its allies say Russia has launched an imperial-style land grab, sparking Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. After failing to take the capital Kyiv early, Russia is now waging a war of attrition over Ukraine’s Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian separatist proxies. On Sunday, Putin won his biggest victory when Ukrainian forces withdrew from Luhansk province. Russian forces then launched an offensive to seize the neighboring province of Donetsk. Donetsk and Luhansk make up Donbas. Russia says it wants to wrest control of the eastern and heavily industrialized region from Moscow-backed separatists in two self-styled people’s republics.
HEAVY SHOT
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it had so far prevented any major Russian advance north of Donetsk, but pressure is intensifying with heavy shelling of the city of Sloviansk and nearby residential areas. He said Russian forces were shelling several Ukrainian cities with heavy weapons to allow ground forces to advance south into the region and approach Sloviansk. “The enemy is trying to improve its tactical position…() advanced… before being repulsed by our soldiers and retreating with losses,” the Ukrainian military said in its evening note. Other Russian forces, he said, were aiming to capture two towns en route to the city of Kramatorsk, south of Sloviansk, and were also trying to take control of the main highway linking Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. “We are holding back the enemy at the (Luhansk/Donetsk) border,” Luhansk governor Serhii Gaidai told Ukrainian television. Later, he said that Luhansk was not yet fully occupied by Russian forces and that Russia had suffered “colossal losses”. “They will continue to try to advance to Sloviansk and Bakhmut. There is no doubt about that,” he said. Sloviansk Mayor Vadim Liak said in a news video that the city had been bombed for the past two weeks. “The situation is tense,” he said, adding that 17 residents have been killed there since February 24. Russia’s defense ministry says it does not target civilians and on Wednesday said it uses high-precision weapons to counter military threats. Ukraine has repeatedly pleaded with the West to send more weapons to repel the invasion that has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened cities. “Finally, the Western artillery began to work in full force, the weapons we get from our partners. And their accuracy is exactly what is needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video message.
“NO SAFE COUNTRIES”
In the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk, which Russian forces are expected to try to capture in the coming weeks, Ukrainian soldiers and a few civilians went about their business in green-painted cars and trucks on Wednesday. Much of the population has left. “It’s almost deserted. It’s scary,” said Oleksandr, a 64-year-old retired metal worker. He is unlikely to follow official advice to evacuate, he said, despite the increase in rocket attacks. “I’m not looking for death, but if I meet it I’d better be at home,” he said. Outside Donbass, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, was under “continuous” long-range Russian shelling, mayor Ihor Terekhov told Ukrainian television. “Russia is trying to discourage Kharkiv, but it will get nowhere,” he said. Ukrainian defenders pushed Russian armored forces far back from Kharkiv early in the war, and Terekhov said about 1 million residents remained there. South of Kharkiv, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk said the area was hit by rockets and shelling, while on the southern coast the port of Mykolayiv was also heavily shelled, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said at a briefing. “There are no safe areas in Mykolaiv,” he said. “I tell people they have to go.” Reuters could not immediately verify the reports on the battlefield. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters offices. Written by Michael Perry. Edited by: Raju Gopalakrishnan Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
