More bombs pound Mariupol, Ukraine appeals for assistance

Lviv/Kyiv, March 22

The besieged port city of Mariupol is under continuous bombardment as Russian forces redouble their efforts to capture it after its leaders refused to surrender, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

The city council said the pounding was turning Mariupol into the “ashes of a dead land”. Russia’s RIA news agency said Russian forces and units of Russian-backed separatists had taken about half of the city, citing a separatist leader.

The plight of civilians in Mariupol grew ever more desperate. Hundreds of thousands are believed to be trapped inside buildings, with no access to food, water, power or heat.

“There is nothing left there,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to Italy’s parliament on Tuesday. Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov said the city was under a full blockade and had received no humanitarian aid. — Reuters

Rockets ‘destroy’ Dnipro railway station

Rocket strikes destroyed a railway station in Ukraine’s Dnipro region on Tuesday, killing one person and damaging rails enough to prevent train passage, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. Reuters

Russia halts peace treaty talks, Japan protests

Japan reacted angrily on Tuesday after Russia withdrew from peace treaty talks with Japan and froze joint economic projects related to the disputed Kuril islands because of Japanese sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reuters

#Russia #russia ukraine war #ukrainian crisis