LVIV, Ukraine
Russia moved to obstruct the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine by bombarding rail stations and other supply-line targets across the country while the European Union weighed whether to further punish Moscow with a ban on oil imports.
Heavy fighting also raged
Wednesday at
the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol that represented the last
stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined
southern port city, according to the mayor. A Russian official denied that
Moscow’s troops were storming the plant, but the commander of the main
Ukrainian military unit inside said Russian soldiers had pushed into the mill’s
territory.
The Russian military said it
used sea- and air-launched missiles to destroy electric power facilities at
five railway stations across Ukraine. Artillery and aircraft also struck troop
strongholds and fuel and ammunition depots.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of “resorting to the missile terrorism tactics in
order to spread fear across Ukraine.”
Air raid sirens sounded in
cities across the country on Wednesday night, and attacks were reported near
Kyiv, the capital; in Cherkasy and Dnipro in central Ukraine; and in
Zaporizhzhia in the southeast. In Dnipro, authorities said a rail facility was
hit. Videos on social media suggested a bridge there was attacked.
There was no immediate word on
casualties or the extent of the damage.
Responding to the strikes in
his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “All
of these crimes will be answered, legally and quite practically – on the
battlefield.”
The flurry of attacks comes
as Russia prepares to celebrate Victory Day on May 9, marking the Soviet
Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. The world is watching for whether Russian
President Vladimir Putin will use the occasion to declare a victory in Ukraine
or expand what he calls the “special military operation.”
A declaration of all-out war
would allow Putin to introduce martial law and mobilize reservists to make up
for significant troop losses.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov dismissed the speculation as “nonsense.”
Meanwhile, Belarus, which
Russia used as a staging ground for its invasion, announced the start of
military exercises Wednesday. A top Ukrainian official said the country will be
ready to act if Belarus joins the fighting.
The attacks on rail
infrastructure were meant to disrupt the delivery of Western weapons, Russian
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu complained that the West is “stuffing Ukraine with weapons.”
A senior U.S. defense
official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s
assessment, said that while the Russians have tried to hit critical
infrastructure around the western city of Lviv, specifically targeting
railroads, there has been “no appreciable impact” on Ukraine’s effort to
resupply its forces. Lviv, close to the Polish border, has been a major gateway
for NATO-supplied weapons.
Weaponry pouring
into Ukraine helped its forces thwart Russia’s initial drive to seize Kyiv and
seems certain to play a central role in the growing battle for the Donbas, the
eastern industrial region that Moscow now says is its main objective.
Ukraine has urged the West to
ramp up the supply of weapons ahead of that potentially decisive clash.
In addition to supplying
weapons to Ukraine, Europe and the U.S. have sought to punish Moscow with
sanctions. The EU’s top official called on the 27-nation bloc on
Wednesday to
ban Russian oil imports, a crucial source of revenue.
“We will make sure that we
phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, in a way that allows us and our
partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimizes the impact on global
markets,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European
Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
The proposal needs unanimous
approval from EU countries and is likely to be the subject of fierce debate.
Hungary and Slovakia have already said they won’t take part in any oil
sanctions. They could be granted an exemption.
The EU is also talking about a
possible embargo on Russian natural gas. The bloc has already approved a cutoff
of coal imports.
Russia’s economy is heavily
dependent on oil and natural gas exports.
In Mariupol, Mayor Vadym
Boychenko said that Russian forces were targeting the already shattered
Azovstal plant with heavy artillery, tanks, aircraft, warships and “heavy bombs
that pierce concrete 3 to 5 meters thick.”
“Our brave guys are defending
this fortress, but it is very difficult,” he said.
Ukrainian fighters said
Tuesday that Russian forces had begun storming the plant. But the Kremlin
denied it. “There is no assault,” Peskov said.
Denys Prokopenko, commander of
the Ukrainian Azov regiment that’s defending the plant, said Russian forces got
into the plant’s territory.
Prokopenko said in a video
that the incursions continued for a second day, “and there are heavy, bloody
battles.”
“The situation is extremely
difficult, but in spite of everything, we continue to carry out the order to
hold the defense,” he added.
His wife, Kateryna Prokopenko,
told The Associated Press: “We don’t want them to die. They won’t surrender.
They are waiting for the bravest countries to evacuate them.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations
announced that more than 300 civilians were evacuated Wednesday from Mariupol
and other nearby communities. The evacuees arrived in Zaporizhzhia, about 140
miles (230 kilometers) to the northwest, where they were receiving humanitarian
assistance.
Over the weekend, more than
100 people — including women, the elderly and 17 children — were evacuated from
the plant during a cease-fire in an operation overseen by the U.N. and the Red
Cross. But the attacks on the plant soon resumed.
The Russian government said on
the Telegram messaging app that it would open another evacuation corridor from
the plant during certain hours on Thursday through Saturday. But there was no
immediate confirmation of those arrangements from other parties, and many
previous such assurances from the Kremlin have fallen through, with the
Ukrainians blaming continued fighting by the Russians.
It was unclear how many
Ukrainian fighters were still inside, but the Russians put the number at about
2,000 in recent weeks, and 500 were reported to be wounded. A few hundred
civilians also remained there, the Ukrainian side said.
Mariupol, and the plant in
particular, have come to symbolize the misery inflicted by the war. The
Russians have pulverized most of the city in a two-month siege that has trapped
civilians with little food, water, medicine or heat.
The city’s fall would deprive
Ukraine of a vital port, allow Russia to establish a land corridor to the
Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, and free up troops to
fight elsewhere in the Donbas. - AP
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