Russians halt ground offensive on Kyiv to focus on Donbas
ABOUT 300 people were killed in the Russian air strike last week on a Mariupol theatre that was being used as a shelter, Ukrainian authorities said yesterday, in what would make it the war’s deadliest known attack on civilians yet.
Meanwhile, in what could signal an important narrowing of Moscow’s war aims, the US said Russian forces seem to have halted, at least for now, their ground offensive aimed at capturing the capital, Kyiv. Instead, they are concentrating more on gaining control of the Donbas region in the country’s southeast – a shift the Kremlin seemed to confirm.
Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said the main objective of the first stage of the operation – reducing Ukraine’s fighting capacity – has “generally been accomplished”, allowing Russian forces to focus on “the main goal, liberation of Donbas”.
The seeming shift in Moscow’s stated military objectives – after weeks in which Russian president Vladimir Putin denied Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign country and appeared bent on capturing many of its cities and toppling its government – could point to a possible exit strategy for Russia, which has run into fiercer resistance and suffered heavier losses than anticipated.
In fact, the Russians are no longer in full control of Kherson, the first major city to fall to Moscow’s forces, a senior US defence official said. The official said the southern city is being contested by the Ukrainians in heavy fighting. The Kremlin denied it had lost full control.
The Donbas is the largely Russianspeaking eastern part of the country where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 and where many residents desire close ties to Moscow.
Its coal-mining and industrial Donetsk and Luhansk regions are recognised by Russia as independent.
In Mariupol, the bloodshed at the theatre fuelled allegations Moscow is committing war crimes by killing civilians, whether deliberately or by indiscriminate fire.
The March 16 bombardment of the grand columned Mariupol Drama Theatre, where hundreds of people were said to be taking cover, happened despite the word “CHILDREN” being printed in Russian in huge white letters on the ground outside to ward off aerial attack.
“This is a barbaric war, and according to international conventions, deliberate attacks on civilians are war crimes,” said Mircea Geoana, Nato’s deputy-secretary general.