Civilian buildings in major Ukrainian cities collapsed and went up in flames after Russian forces bombarded urban centres on Wednesday (March 2), as Moscow’s invasion entered a seventh day.
After meeting strong resistance from Ukrainian troops and citizens, and supply issues including vehicles running out of fuel, Russian forces have intensified their shelling, encircled and sent paratroopers to key cities around the country.
At least 21 people were killed and 112 wounded in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said, while the Ukrainian army said on messaging service Telegram that the Russian military had attacked a hospital there. The claims could not be independently verified.
Russian forces continued to control parts of Ukraine along the Russian and Belarusian borders, as well as southern Ukraine next to Crimea.
Although the military advance had intensified and troops were assaulting cities instead of bypassing them, military analysts said it was too early to say when and how the war would end.
Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military commentator, said the government in Kyiv would not collapse any time soon because the Russian invasion had united Ukrainians.
“The greater the conflict, the more united the population becomes,” he said. “In Kyiv, there is no one who is against Volodymyr Zelensky – no one is trying to depose him. In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing pressure from anti-war protests at home.”
In Russia, pressure is building as citizens begin to find their credit cards unusable and have to queue up to withdraw cash from ATMs.
Trading of most stocks and derivatives on the Moscow Exchange remained closed on Wednesday, but Russian firms listed elsewhere, such as Sberbank, tumbled.
Depositary receipts of the state-owned bank and Russia’s largest lender – which has been cut from the Swift messaging system – plunged more than 90 per cent on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
But the economic sanctions would only harm Russia’s ability to launch assaults in the long run since it has a stockpile within its borders of weapons, military equipment and the raw materials to produce them, Ni said.
“It will also take time for the international economic and financial sanctions to start undermining Russia’s procurement of military raw materials.”
An intelligence update from the British defence ministry published on Wednesday said heavy Russian artillery and air strikes had in the past 24 hours targeted the cities of Kharkiv, Kyiv and Chernihiv, as well as Mariupol in the south.
The ministry on Tuesday said Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kherson, also in the south, were “likely” to be encircled by Russian forces. A Russian column of combat and logistics vehicles was also slowly advancing on Kyiv, and was around 30km (19 miles) from the city centre.
Russia’s military claimed it had taken full control of Kherson on Wednesday, but Zelensky and Kherson’s mayor denied the claim, saying fighting continued on the city’s streets. Russia also said it was open to resuming talks after Zelensky said Russia should stop bombing first.
The previous round of talks at the Ukraine-Belarusian border ended only in an agreement to continue negotiations.
Putin has said the military assault was aimed at demilitarising Ukraine and for separatist-controlled regions in the eastern Donbas region to be formally recognised as sovereign nations.
According to military expert Ni, a decisive battle would be needed for a peace treaty to formally end the war.
“From the experience of past wars, to end one, the most important prerequisite is a battle that allows both sides to agree on who won and who lost,” he said.
“That way, both sides can see clearly each other’s ‘weight’ and set their negotiating positions accordingly. Only then can a peace treaty be signed.”
With a new strategy that targets urban centres, Russian troops were making up for early problems.
“Issues with logistical support in the early stages of the conflict were significant,” said Fu Qianshao, a military aviation expert and retired Chinese air force member in Beijing.
“There were shortages of fuel, water and food. This could be because of initial Russian assessments that the conflict would be a blitz that would last one or two days. They were careless and underestimated their adversaries.”
While Ukraine’s military was no match for Russia’s, there could be a high toll if it tried to enter cities, Fu said.
“It’s not the objective of Russian troops to destroy cities. There might be severe casualties, the city might also sustain heavy damage,” he said. “Kyiv has already been in a battle for many days but Russian forces have only encircled the city and did not enter it.”
Amid heavier fighting between Ukraine and Russia, US President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address on Tuesday said American forces would not engage Russian troops.
“Let me be clear, our forces are not engaged and will not engage in conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine,” he said. “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our Nato allies in the event that Putin decides to keep moving west.”
This article was first published in Asia One . All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
