Guy Chazan and Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv – FT.com March 3, 2022
Vladimir Putin’s forces over-ran their first major Ukrainian city last night and unleashed heavy weapons fire on urban centres, driving the number of refugees who have fled the country to more than a million after just eight days of war.
The reported seizure of Kherson, a provincial capital and Black Sea port, would mark a significant breakthrough for Russia’s southern campaign, which has made steady territorial advances unlike its northern offensive.
Its capture has yet to be confirmed by Ukraine’s military, but on Wednesday evening its mayor Igor Kolykhayev suggested Russian troops had secured the city.
Intense fighting was also reported further east along the coast in Mariupol, which has been heavily bombarded in recent days as Russian forces enveloped the Sea of Azov port.
Mariupol’s mayor said that water, heat and electricity services had been severely disrupted — a potential sign of Moscow attempting siege warfare. Eduard Basurin, the commander of the Donetsk separatists leading the assault, called on Ukraine’s army to surrender in the city to spare it from strikes, according to the Interfax news agency.
Residents of other frontline cities emerged from another night in bomb shelters to find further devastation from shelling and missiles, with the capital Kyiv hit by four huge explosions just before dawn.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces, including a long armoured column, were still attempting to advance on Kyiv. Western officials said this advance has stalled in the face of unexpected resistance, logistical hurdles and shortages of fuel and food.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted: “The villages and towns where columns of Russian troops are standing immediately turn into sites of looting, robbery and murder. We need humanitarian corridors — for food, medicine, ambulances and to evacuate children. We expect active help from international organisations . . . Words are not enough!”
The Ukrainian military said that four Russian landing ships accompanied by three missile boats were moving towards the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, which has so far been relatively unscathed by fighting. Russian forces are also pounding critical infrastructure across the country, often using indiscriminate firepower.
Ukraine’s army said three civilians had been killed during shelling on the eastern city of Izyum: one shell fell on a high-rise building, another on a private house. Russian forces seized the town of Balakliya, south-east of Kharkiv, Russia’s defence ministry said, according to Interfax.
Russian and Ukrainian military claims cannot be independently verified.
The invasion has carried a heavy human toll, creating a fast growing refugee crisis of a scale not seen on the European continent since the fall of Nazi Germany. The UN estimates that more than 1mn mainly women and children have fled Ukraine, mostly across its border with Poland.
Revealing the increasing challenges of the invasion and occupation, Russia on Wednesday for the first time acknowledged heavy casualties during the campaign, disclosing 498 deaths and 1,597 injuries. Ukraine said the figure is far higher but has not disclosed its own losses.
Sanctions have hit Russia’s economy hard, and its vast commodities market is being shunned by refineries, banks and shipowners. Oil has jumped to its highest level in more than nine years, with the Brent crude global benchmark hitting $118 a barrel. Wheat prices climbed above $11 a bushel for the first time since 2008.
In a sign of Russia’s increasing economic isolation, MSCI, the index provider, said it would drop Russian stocks from its widely-tracked emerging markets indices, warning that sanctions had made the country’s equities “uninvestable”. Fitch and Moody’s also joined rival S&P Global in cutting Russia’s sovereign credit rating to junk.
Antony Blinken, secretary of state, said the US remained open to a diplomatic solution, but called on Russia to first halt military operations in Ukraine. “De-escalation, pulling back forces, that would open the path to diplomacy,” he said.
Blinken said he would fly to Brussels on Thursday to continue co-ordination with Nato and G7 allies, and then on to Poland and Moldova.
His visit comes as the Pentagon started to send anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to Ukraine, according to a US official, a step the White House had been reluctant to take in the run-up to the invasion. US supplied stingers helped the Mujahideen drive the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Neither the Russian or Ukrainian air force have established dominance of the skies above the battle zone.
Hopefully Victoria Nuland’s cia/Nazi puppets ( incl. Zelensky ) will be arrested over by the end of the month & hopefully will calm down by Easter.
My feeling is still to march ahead with this and ignore the ratty attitude to Putin in Britain, which runs on lies. Everyone I read says the Nazis were funded by our side for their own reasons, unlike in Bob Smith’s analysis. Alex Jones has his own take, which is still pro-Putin (but he thinks P took the bait and should have held back). Our gov. could not care less about the White British, so any idea that it cares about the people over there is a sick joke. Do WHATEVER Britain does not want!
Why are there no NGOs to help these refugees? Unlike other refugees these are likely to be actual women and children. Unlike other refugees, their men will stay behind and fight.
I think the colour of their skin may have a lot to do with it.
What a week!
Media hyenas are doing their job, as usual. Russia is facing serious political/economic marginalization. As it seems it’s a trap, an ambush, a set up. Ukraine ain’t Chechnya, Georgia or Kazakhstan.
What’s the point of this ground invasion anyway? Zelensky now is a ghost. The ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ Russians will never find; he is going to govern Ukraine unabated from a bunker anywhere in the world. The Russian invasion has made the Jewish clown look like a hero.
Putin has already secured Crimea and separatist regions, he has shown how big his stick is, he has sent the message. Now is time for tactical retreat before things get nastier. Of course, hypothetically speaking, assuming Putin has Russians’ best interest at heart. Putin may conduct air strikes on military targets inside Ukraine the same way Israelis do it towards Syria, but the ground invasion is futile. Out with the Army, in with Russian PR ladies.
Sound the retreat, trumpeter!
PUTIN ADVANCE ! YOU ARE
JUSTIFIED AGAINST NATO THREAD !
AGRESSOR IS NATO SINCE THE 90ties.
Disinformation. If the Russians wanted to liquidate the city, they would employ their heavy artillery. It would be rubble within hours. It is also nonsense to say that the Russians have not established air superiority.
As for the West sending arms, the British and American governments may soon find that their own ‘problem’ groups suddenly start to acquire Russian weaponry.
My take on some of the animosity between the Ukrainians and the Russians is this : (1) Ukranians still see the Russians of ..i.e Stalinist Soviet Communists…from which ( in my opinion they have changed ). Putins Russia is a bit different . Of course you can say he was or is KGB. In any event Putin’s Russia is more open Christian…and look at the open demonstrations in Russia against the war. (2) Ukranians have not forgotten the Holodomor where thay lost millions in a Stalin induced famine. They have also not forgotten the basic Stalin communist state where they joined sides to a large degree with the invading German forces whom they saw as allies fighting the communist purge. (3) Many Ukranians still ally themselves with the Nazis where even some of the streets are named after. The irony is that the mainstream media is calling Putin a Nazi. He is far from it. Do not forget the Stalin regime defeated ( with some help ) most of the German WW II forces.
Hmm.. Remember the Ides of March are on the 15th of March & Purim start on the 16th.. March …
Hmm ????
From the financial times one should expect a good portion of disinformation. The Ukrainian airforce is annihilated.
It all looks very planned both by Russian, Ukrainian, and NATO forces. The fake news has been enormous all through the West and the motive is not just to vilify the Russians.
Seven Fake News Stories Coming Out of Ukraine
https://www.globalresearch.ca/7-fake-news-stories-coming-out-ukraine/5772481
By Kit Knightly
Global Research, March 01, 2022
With Putin and Kremlin on the IMF take and their unwavering support for the Covid war on humanity, just as with our own government and fake news agencies, there is now absolutely NOTHING we can trust from these sources, and we will never have any trust again for any peace, order and good government until we entirely get rid of those who have made war on us, caused all the fakery, fear and disorder, and are behind the thoroughly BAD government we have, as well as all of the thoroughly BAD leaders and people in positions of authority everywhere.
These forced evacuations are a result of fear mongering and the NATO leaders such as Trudeau, Biden, and Johnson, encouraging the Ukrainians to fight the Russians and at the same time saying their forces will not enter the conflict. I have no use for Fox News anymore but Colonel Macgregor in the US seems to be the only person with any authority in that nation who appears honest and has head on right:
“Col. Macgregor keeps it real on Fox News.”
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=250375
As for the clearances from Kiev there is nothing to say the Russians have intended to slaughter anyone or take their property. The exodus is clearly contrived. It is as if it is some kind of mass desensitizing operation for the public everywhere, such that we can expect millions to flee to our borders when the Israelis go into Syria with the real thing. One thing is certain and that is just one more massive performance, with real bullets and real people just like with the Covid plandemic, to usher in their planned UN Agendas and top-down tyranny.
I do not want to lose sight of the fact that Zelensky stinks of the JWO and that Putin is more complicated than that. He said he identified wit all the 200 tribes of Russia, including Jews, of five groups he named, and he speaks to the nation as someone who feels their respect.