Ukraine war Day 6: Russia admits close to 500 of its troops are dead with thousands wounded
Some 498 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine, with 1,597 wounded, Russia’s Defence Ministry said in its first report of military casualties since the country invaded its eastern European neighbour last week.
Moreover, the Russian bombardment of Kharkiv in Ukraine has killed 21 people and hurt 112, a Ukrainian official said. Some Russian planes have been shot down, they added.
Also, more than 2,000 civilians have died in a week of war with Russia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service claimed, though independent confirmation is not possible.
In addition, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed more than 6,000 Russian soldiers have died so far.
Despite the alleged killings, both sides said they are ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the new devastating war in Europe.
The Russian Army intensified its attacks earlier today on multiple cities and crowded urban areas across Ukraine after bloodshed on a city centre square in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, and the deadly bombing of a TV tower in the capital Kyiv (below).
Meanwhile, a Kremlin spokesman says a Russian delegation is ready to resume talks this evening with Ukrainian officials.
In other developments this morning, the Chinese government hinted it is prepared to ‘play a role’ in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, effectively offering to mediate.
Further, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russian forces are laying siege to Ukraine’s major cities.
“Effectively surround a city, bombard it indiscriminately and then eventually close in on a population that they hope to have broken, and indeed take over what’s left of the city,” he told BBC Breakfast today. “We’ve seen that in Chechnya before.
Moreover, a 40-mile convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced slowly on Kyiv, the capital city of nearly three million people.
The invading forces also pressed their assault on other towns and cities this morning, including the strategic ports of Odesa and Mariupol in the south.
Day six so far
Day six of the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II found Russia increasingly isolated, beset by the sanctions that have thrown its economy into turmoil and left the country practically friendless, apart from a few nations like China, Belarus and North Korea.
As the fighting in Ukraine raged, the death toll remained unclear. One senior Western intelligence official estimated this morning that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed. Ukraine gave no overall estimate of troop losses.
The UN human rights office said it has recorded 136 civilian deaths. The real toll is believed to be far higher, however.
The UK Ministry of Defence said it had seen an increase in Russian air and artillery strikes on populated urban areas over the past two days. It also said three cities — Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol — were encircled by Russian forces.
Many military experts worry that Russia may be shifting tactics. Moscow’s strategy in Chechnya and Syria was to use artillery and air bombardments to pulverize cities and crush fighters’ resolve.
TV tower attack this a.m.
Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower (above), which is near central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment buildings. A TV control room and power substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels briefly stopped broadcasting, officials said.
The bombing came after Russia announced it would target transmission facilities used by Ukraine’s intelligence agency. It urged people living near such places to leave their homes.
Zelensky’s office also reported a missile attack on the site of the Babi Yar Holocaust memorial, near the tower. A spokesman for the memorial said a Jewish cemetery at the site, where Nazi occupiers killed more than 33,000 Jews over two days in 1941, was damaged, but the extent would not be clear until daylight.
Missile attack in Kharkiv
In Kharkiv, with a population of about 1.5m, at least six people were killed when the region’s Soviet-era administrative building on Freedom Square was hit with what was believed to be a missile.
The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said its consulate in Kharkiv, located in another large building on the square, was destroyed in the attack.
The attack on Freedom Square – Ukraine’s largest plaza, and the nucleus of public life in the city – was seen by many Ukrainians as brazen evidence that the Russian invasion was not just about hitting military targets but also about breaking their spirit.
The bombardment blew out windows and walls of buildings that ring the massive square, which was piled high with debris and dust. Inside one building, chunks of plaster were scattered, and doors, ripped from their hinges, lay across hallways.
“People are under the ruins. We are pulling out bodies.”
Yevhen Vasyle talking to local media
Zelensky pronounced the attack on the square “frank, undisguised terror” and a war crime. “This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” he said.
In an emotional appeal to the European Parliament later, Zelensky said: “We are fighting also to be equal members of Europe. I believe that today we are showing everybody that is what we are.”
Airstrike in Zhytomyr
Another Russian airstrike hit a residential area in the city of Zhytomyr, the town’s mayor said.
Ukraine’s emergency services said the strike killed at least two people, set three homes on fire and broke the windows in a nearby hospital.
About 85 miles west of Kyiv, Zhytomyr is the home of the elite 95th Air Assault Brigade, which may have been the intended target.
Cluster bomb attack
Human Rights Watch said it documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine’s east in recent days. Residents also reported the use of such weapons in Kharkiv and Kiyanka village. The Kremlin denied using cluster bombs.
Cluster bombs shoot smaller “bomblets” over a large area, many of which fail to explode until long after they’ve been dropped. If their use is confirmed, that would represent a new level of brutality in the war and could lead to further isolation of Russia.
The first talks between Russia and Ukraine since the invasion were held on Monday, but ended with only an agreement to talk again. Zelensky said Russia should stop bombing first.
“As for dialogue, I think yes, but stop bombarding people first and start negotiating afterwards,“ he told CNN.
Russian radio station taken off air
Inside Russia, a top radio station critical of the Kremlin was taken off the air after authorities threatened to shut it down over its coverage of the invasion. Among other things, the Kremlin is not allowing the fighting to be referred to as an “invasion” or “war”.
“It is a nightmare, and it seizes you from the inside very strongly. This cannot be explained with words,” said Kharkiv resident Ekaterina Babenko, taking shelter in a basement with neighbours for a fifth straight day.
“We have small children, elderly people, and frankly speaking it is very frightening.”
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry also said on Tuesday it has evidence that Belarus, a Russian ally, is preparing to send troops into Ukraine, while oil prices surged more than 5 dollars (£3.75) per barrel after a release of supplies failed to calm markets.
In the US, President Biden in his first State of the Union address that the US was closing airspace to Russian planes and vowed to seize the yachts and apartments of Russian oligarchs.
