WASHINGTON, USA
Ukraine’s military warned the public on Tuesday of more indiscriminate Russian shelling of critical infrastructure as U.S. President Joe Biden issued one of his strongest warnings yet that Russia is considering using chemical weapons.
Russian troops have failed to
capture any major Ukrainian city more than four weeks into their invasion, and
increasingly are resorting to massive destruction of residential areas with air
strikes, long-range missiles and artillery.
The southern port of Mariupol
has become a focal point of Russia’s assault and is largely in ruins with
bodies on the streets but attacks were also reported to have intensified on the
second city of Kharkiv on Monday.
Russian forces were expected
to continue to attack critical infrastructure with “high-precision weapons and
indiscriminate munitions”, Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement.
Biden, without citing
evidence, said Russia’s false accusations that Ukraine had biological and
chemical weapons illustrated that President Vladimir Putin’s “back was against
the wall” and he was considering using such weapons.
“Now he’s talking about new
false flags he’s setting up including, asserting that we in America have
biological as well as chemical weapons in Europe, simply not true,” Biden said
at a business event.
“They are also suggesting that
Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. That’s a clear sign
he’s considering using both of those.”
The Russian embassy in
Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden also told businesses to
be alert for cyber-attacks by Russia. “It’s part of Russia’s playbook,” he said
in a statement.
The United States and its
allies have previously accused Russia of spreading an unproven claim that
Ukraine had a biological weapons programme as a possible prelude to using such
weapons but Biden’s remarks on Monday were some of his strongest on the
subject.
Russia says it does not attack
civilians although the devastation wrought on Ukrainian towns such as Mariupol
and Kharkiv are reminiscent of previous Russian assaults on cities in Chechnya
and Syria.
Putin calls the war, the
biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, a “special military
operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from “Nazis”. The West calls that a
false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression.
Biden is due to travel to
Europe this week for meetings with allied leaders to discuss tighter sanctions
on Russia, on top of the unprecedented financial penalties already announced.
Ahead of the trip he discussed Russia’s “brutal” tactics in a call with
European leaders on Monday, the White House said.
Russia’s siege and bombardment
of Mariupol, which European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called “a
massive war crime”, is increasing pressure for action.
But EU foreign ministers on
Monday disagreed on whether and how to include energy in sanctions, with Germany
saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to impose an embargo.
Biden singled out India for
being was “somewhat shaky” in acting against Russia, its biggest supplier of
military hardware, but praised the other members of the Quad group, Australia
and Japan.
India has urged an end to the
violence in Ukraine but has abstained from voting against its old Cold War ally
Russia.
Even though India has grown
close to the United States in recent years, it still depends on Russia for a
continuous supply of arms and ammunition amid a Himalayan border standoff with
China and perennial tension with Pakistan.
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