Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Russian offensive in east gains pace
Russian leader Putin warns of lightningfast retaliation if other countries interfere in Ukraine
IRPIN: Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine gathered momentum as several areas came under heavy shelling on Thursday, amid suspicions Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to score a major battlefield success in time for Victory Day, one of Russia’s proudest holidays, on May 9.
Ukrainian authorities reported intense Russian fire in the Donbas — the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin is bent on capturing — and near Kharkiv, a northeastern city outside the Donbas that is seen as key to the offensive.
Ukraine said Russia’s main attack was near the towns of Slobozhanske and Donets, along a strategic frontline highway linking Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv with the Russian-occupied city of Izyum.
Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukraine rally in the occupied city of Kherson on Wednesday, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said, as Moscow tightened its grip over the southern region.
Ukraine also accused Russia on Thursday of stealing grain in Kherson.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a written statement that it “strongly condemns the criminal actions of the Russian Federation in the so-called expropriation of crops from farmers in the Kherson region”.
Asked about the allegations, the Kremlin said it had no information on the matter.
In the ruined southern port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters holed up in the steel plant that represents the last pocket of resistance said concentrated bombing overnight killed and wounded more people. And authorities warned that a lack of safe drinking water inside the city could lead to outbreaks of deadly diseases.
The fresh attacks came as the United Nations chief met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and surveyed the destruction in small towns outside the capital that saw some of the worst horrors of the first onslaught of the war.
UN secretary-general António Guterres condemned the atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia retreated in the face of unexpectedly stiff resistance. He called such towns “the epicenter of unbearable heartbreak and pain”.
Many observers expect Putin will try to claim a big victory in the east by Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.
On Wednesday, Putin threatened “lightning-fast” retaliation against any Western countries that intervene on Ukraine’s behalf.
“If someone intends to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside, and create strategic threats for Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast,” Putin told lawmakers in St Petersburg.
“We have all the tools for this, things no one else can boast of having now. And we will not boast, we will use them if necessary. And I want everyone to know that.”
Kyiv probe over Bucha
Ukrainian prosecutors said Thursday they were investigating 10 Russian soldiers for alleged war crimes in Bucha and had identified more than 8,000 suspected war crimes cases since Russia invaded.
The prosecutor general’s office in Ukraine said the 10 servicemen under investigation served in Russia’s 64th motorised infantry brigade.
They are suspected of “premeditated murder”, cruel treatment and other violations of the laws and customs of war during their occupation of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, in March.
In an interview with a German TV channel, Ukrainian prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova also revealed the country’s investigators had identified 8,600 cases of possible war crimes.
US prez seeks $33bn aid
In Washington, US President Joe Biden said he would ask Congress for a $33 billion package to further arm and support Ukraine and blasted Moscow for “idle comments” on the possible use of nuclear weapons.
“We’re not attacking Russia,” Biden said in a statement from the White House. “We are helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.”
The bulk - $20 billion - would be military and other security assistance, while $8.5 billion will be economic aid to help Ukraine’s government respond to the crisis. Biden also outlined proposals to use assets seized from Russian oligarchs to compensate Ukraine for wartime damage.
Separately, the US accused Russia of planning to stage fake independence votes to justify its conquest of territory in Ukraine, as Russian forces stepped up an assault on the east. The US mission to the OSCE said the Kremlin might attempt “sham referenda” in southern and eastern areas it had captured since the February 24 invasion, using “a well-worn playbook that steals from history’s darkest chapters”.
A British citizen has been killed in Ukraine and another is missing, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, with British media reporting that both were fighting Russian forces.