Russia moving in as Putin warns ‘worst still to come’
Ukraine faces being landlocked for the first time as Russia comes closer to securing Ukraine’s sea-facing southern frontier.
The development came as Russian President Vladimir Putin contacted his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to tell him “the worst is still to come” in Ukraine and his operations “were going according to plan”.
Mr Putin then took to Russian state TV to again justify a war he said was to liberate Ukrainians “brainwashed” by
Nazi propaganda and ruled by neo-Nazis using foreign mercenaries to enslave them.
Curiously, Mr Putin for the first time conceded Ukrainian citizens were being killed but claimed they were being used as human shields by “gangster” Ukraine forces that were hiding snipers and weapons including cannons in the suburbs. He claimed to have proof foreign nationals from China and India were being used as human shields.
“These are tactics of terrorists,” he said, going on to praise the heroes in the Russian military. He pledged the families of dead soldiers would get $65,000 compensation.
His address came as Ukrainian and Russian delegations discussed a truce although the Russian side was not shifting from its demand that Ukraine agree never to accept NATO membership.
The talks, which canvassed “humanitarian corridors” for civilians to escape and a ceasefire, ended in “regret”.
Russian forces on Friday (AEDT) continued to lay siege to the Ukrainian seaside ports with Mariupol on the Azov Sea remaining surrounded and its citizens cut off from electricity and water.
Odessa too is under air attack and a large Russian landing craft force has reportedly left its base in Crimea, suggesting that city faces a troop invasion from the sea.
Russian troops were also moving towards the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, a major shipbuilding centre.
The port of Kherson was earlier declared lost to Russian control although some pockets of resistance still existed.
Fierce fighting was also taking place around Enerhodar, the site of the biggest nuclear plant in Europe, and on the Dnieper River.
Ukraine maintained Russia’s desperation would force them to use tactics they deployed in Syria and Chechnya, where it pounded the cities of Aleppo and Grozny to ruins.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin confirmed one of their top military leaders Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, was killed in Ukraine this week.
The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.
Sukhovetsky, who was 47, began his military service as a platoon commander after graduating from a military academy and steadily rose through the ranks to take a series of leadership positions. He took part in Russia’s military campaign in Syria.