Ukraine braces for the fall of Mariupol

Ukraine said yesterday that it expects Russia to launch a huge new offensive soon, as Moscow shifts its focus to seizing territory in the east after its invasion force was driven from the gates of Kyiv this month.The first EU leader to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face since the war began, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, gave a grim account of his talks with the Russian leader, held at a residence outside Moscow.“I generally have no optimistic impression that I can report to you from this conversation with President Putin,” he said. “The offensive (in eastern Ukraine) is evidently being prepared on a massive scale.”After withdrawing forces from northern Ukraine, including suburbs of Kyiv lain to waste under its occupation, Russia now says its main objective is eastern Ukraine.It is demanding Kyiv cede control of swathes of territory there, known as the Donbas, to separatist fighters.Kyiv says it is girding for a new battle.“We forecast that active combat will begin in these areas in the nearest time,” Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said.A US official said Washington believes Russia is trying to reinforce and resupply its troops in the Donbas.The biggest prize Russia aims to capture in the Donbas is Mariupol, the main eastern port, where thousands of people are believed to have died under a near-seven week siege.If Russia finally captures it, it could better link troops advancing from the east with those from Crimea, and shift their focus to a new attempt to encircle the main Ukrainian force in the east.In his latest plea for international support, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told South Korea’s parliament that there were tens of thousands of dead in Mariupol, a figure that has not been confirmed independently.“But even despite this, the Russians are not stopping their offensive”, he said.Russia was concentrating tens of thousands of troops for its new assault, Zelensky said.Seven bodies were found yesterday under the rubble of two multi-storey buildings in Borodianka, Kyiv region, the state emergency service said in Telegram, bringing the total to 19.French investigators arrived in Ukraine to help probe suspected Russian atrocities in the area, as the European Union earmarked €2.5mn ($2.7mn) to the International Criminal Court for future Ukraine cases.As Russian forces have retreated from the outskirts of Kyiv, they left behind evidence of Ukrainian civilians killed under their occupation, in what Western countries have condemned as war crimes.Moscow has rejected the accusations and denies targeting civilians.Last week, Russia also killed 57 people, according to Ukrainian officials, in a missile strike on a train station in the Donetsk region, where thousands of civilians were trying to flee the expected new Russian advance.Moscow denied responsibility for the strike.Just outside the Donbas region, the main eastern city Kharkiv came under heavy shelling yesterday, causing multiple casualties including one child who was killed, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a televised interview.Terekhov said that Ukrainian forces were focused and ready to defend the city if it comes under a new attack: “There is no panic in the city.”German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, speaking before a meeting of European ministers in Luxembourg, said Berlin saw “massive indications” of war crimes in Ukraine.The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said yesterday that Russia is responsible for an escalating global food crisis because of its bombing of wheat stocks and preventing ships from carrying grain abroad.And the World Bank has warned that Ukraine’s economy would collapse by 45% this year – far worse than it predicted even a month ago – while Russia would see an 11% decline in GDP.The World Trade Organisation meanwhile cautioned that the war could almost halve global trade growth this year.Despite Kyiv’s allegations of Russian atrocities, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he was still open to negotiating with Moscow.“If sitting down with the Russians will help me to prevent at least one massacre like in Bucha, or at least another attack like in Kramatorsk, I have to take that opportunity,” he said.Bucha – where authorities say hundreds were killed, some with their hands bound – has become a byword for the brutality allegedly inflicted under Russian occupation.However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Kremlin would not pause the fighting for any new round of peace talks.“A decision was made that during the next rounds of talks, there would be no pause (in military action) so long as a final agreement is not reached,” he said.More than 4.5mn Ukrainian refugees have now fled their country, the United Nations refugee agency said – 90% of them women and children.At least 183 children have died and 342 were injured in Ukraine in 46 days of the Russian invasion, the prosecutor general’s office said on Telegram.