Russian rockets hit rail stations
RUSSIA has unleashed a string of attacks against Ukrainian rail and fuel facilities, striking crucial infrastructure far from the frontline of its eastern offensive.
Meanwhile, two fires were reported at oil facilities in western Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border. It was not clear what caused the blazes.
As both sides in the war brace for what could be a grinding battle of attrition in the country’s eastern industrial heartland, top US officials pledged more help to ensure Ukraine prevails.
In a bold visit to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, the American secretaries of state and defence said Washington had approved a $165 million (£129 million) sale of ammunition – non-us ammo, mainly if not entirely to fit Ukraine’s Soviet-era weapons – along with more than $300 million (£235 million) in financing to buy more supplies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the meeting that the West’s united support for Ukraine and pressure on Moscow are having “real results”, adding: “When it comes to Russia’s war aims, Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding.”
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the American support but said that “as long as Russian soldiers put a foot on Ukrainian soil, nothing is enough”.
Mr Kuleba warned that if western powers want Ukraine to win the war and “stop Putin in Ukraine and not to allow him to go further, deeper into Europe”, then countries need to speed up the delivery of the weapons requested by Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the US and its allies of trying to “split Russian society and destroy Russia from within”.
When Russia invaded on February 24, its apparent goal was the lightning capture of Kyiv and perhaps the toppling of its government. But the Ukrainians, with the help of western weapons, bogged down Mr Putin’s troops and thwarted their push to Kyiv.
Moscow now says its goal is the capture of the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in the east.
While both sides said the campaign in the east is under way, Russia has yet to mount an all-out ground offensive and has not achieved any major breakthroughs.
Ukrainian troops holed up in a steel plant in the strategic city of Mariupol are tying down Russian forces and apparently keeping them from being added to the offensive elsewhere in the Donbas.
Over the weekend, Russian forces launched fresh air strikes on the plant in a bid to dislodge the estimated 2,000 fighters. Some 1,000 civilians were also sheltering in the steelworks, and the Russian military pledged to open a humanitarian corridor.
The Russian offer was met with scepticism by Ukraine. Deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine does not consider the route safe and added that Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before.