Russia is suffering losses on all fronts
Finland has taken a step towards fast-tracking its NATO membership, triggering a blunt warning from the Kremlin, as the war in Ukraine throttled supplies of Russian gas to Europe and the number of refugees passed six million.
In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council voted to investigate alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
And in graphic new evidence of potential war crimes by Moscow’s forces, CNN aired footage it said showed Russian troops shooting two unarmed civilians in the back.
It comes as the US accused Russia of forcibly taking onto territory under its control tens of thousands of Ukrainians,
often singled out for their resistance to the invasion.
The remarks support allegations by the Ukrainian government that estimates nearly 1.2 million people have been deported into Russia or Russian-controlled territory and has denounced so-called “filtration camps” in which Moscow interrogates detained people.
Meanwhile, Finland’s leaders said their nation must apply to join NATO “without delay” – a seismic change in policy since Russia invaded its neighbour in February.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Russia would “definitely” see Finnish membership as a threat.
The Russian foreign ministry
said Moscow would be “forced to take reciprocal steps, military-technical and other, to address the resulting threats”.
But Russia appears to be losing the ability to do more than threaten. It appears it lost almost a whole battalion in a failed attempt to cross a river in eastern Ukraine.
More than 70 tanks and armoured fighting vehicles were estimated to have been destroyed and possibly 1000 soldiers killed by Ukrainian forces.
In what has been described as some of the heaviest fighting of the war so far, Ukrainian artillery bombardments and airstrikes devastated the battalion as it used a pontoon
bridge to try to cross the Siverskyi Donets River.
The attack on the banks of the river, which runs west to east between the separatist provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, has dealt a significant blow to Russian forces as they struggle to make meaningful gains in the Donbas region.
The Ukrainian army published pictures and drone video images showing the charred wreckage of more than 50 vehicles hit by shells.
A Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal officer named Maxim said: “Artillery was ready. In 20 minutes after (our) recon unit confirmed the Russian bridge being mounted, heavy artillery engaged against Russian forces,
and then aviation chipped in as well.” The officer, who completed a tour in the Donbas before the invasion, added: “I have never seen/ heard such heavy combat in my life.”
James Rogers, co-founder of the Council on Geostrategy think tank, said: “This is clearly a setback for the Russians and a victory for the Ukrainians. This will have implications for Russia’s fighting power in the region, and, potentially, morale.”
Elsewhere Russian forces pounded the Azovstal steelworks in besieged southern town of Mariupol with strategic bombing and dozens of airstrikes in one day, according to Ukrainian forces.