Wed, Mar 02, 2022 page1

• Russia pummels Kharkiv, 65km convoy nears Kyiv

  ‘STATE TERRORISM’: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called a targeted attack on Kharkiv’s main square ‘frank, undisguised terror,’ labeling it a war crime

  • AP, KYIV
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  Russian strikes yesterday pounded the central square in Ukraine’s second-largest city and other civilian targets, while a 65km convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital, as Ukraine’s embattled president accused Moscow of resorting to terror tactics to press Europe’s largest ground war in generations.

  With the Kremlin increasingly isolated by tough economic sanctions that have tanked the ruble, Russian troops advanced on Ukraine’s two biggest cities on the sixth day of an invasion that has shaken the 21st century world order.

  In Kharkiv, a strategic eastern city with a population of about 1.5 million, explosions tore through the region’s Soviet-era administrative building and residential areas.

  

  Vehicles destroyed by shelling are pictured on the outskirts of Kyiv on Monday.

  Photo: AFP

  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the targeted attack on Kharkiv’s main square “frank, undisguised terror,” blaming a Russian missile and calling it a war crime.

  “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget... This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” he said.

  In an emotional appeal to the European Parliament later, Zelenskiy said: “We are fighting also to be equal members of Europe. I believe that today we are showing everybody that is what we are ... We have proven that, as a minimum, we are the same as you.”

  In addition to the strikes on cities, reports have emerged that Moscow has used cluster bombs on three populated areas. If confirmed, that would represent a worrying new level of brutality in the war — and could lead to even further isolation for Russia.

  With Western powers sending weapons to Ukraine and driving a global squeeze of Moscow’s economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s options have diminished as he seeks to redraw the map — and pull Ukraine’s Western-leaning democracy back into Moscow’s orbit.

  The Kremlin denied that it had used such munitions and insisted again that its forces have only struck military targets, despite evidence documented by The Associated Press of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals.

  Unbowed by Western condemnation, Russian officials upped their threats of escalation.

  Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu vowed to press the offensive until it achieves its goals, while a top Kremlin official warned that the West’s “economic war” against Russia could turn into a “real one.”

  A first round of talks on Monday between Ukraine and Russia yielded no stop in the fighting, though both sides agreed to another meeting in the coming days.

  Throughout the nation, many Ukrainian civilians spent another night huddled in shelters, basements or corridors. More than half a million people have fled Ukraine, and the UN human rights office said yesterday that it has recorded the deaths of 136 civilians, including 13 children.

  The real toll is likely far higher.

  “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 neighbors for a fifth straight day. “We have small children, elderly people, and frankly speaking it is very frightening.”

  A Ukrainian military official said Belarusian troops joined the war yesterday in the Chernihiv region, without providing details. Just before that, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had said his nation had no plans to join the fight.

  The precision bombing of Kharkiv’s Freedom Square — Ukraine’s largest plaza and the nucleus of public life in the city — was a turning point for many Ukrainians, brazen evidence that the Russian invasion was not just about hitting military targets, but also about breaking their spirit.

  The strike blew out or shattered windows and walls of buildings that ring the massive central 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 have pulled out bodies,” said Yevhen Vasylenko, representative of the Emergency Situations Ministry in Kharkiv region.

  He said at least six were killed and 20 injured in the strike.

  One after the other, explosions burst through a residential area of Kharkiv in one video verified by The Associated Press. In the background, a man pleaded with a woman to leave, and a woman cried.

  Russia’s goals in hitting central Kharkiv were not immediately clear. Western officials speculated that it is trying to pull in Ukrainian forces to defend the city while a larger Russian force encircles Kyiv.

  Meanwhile, Russian troops advanced toward Kyiv.

  The convoy of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 25km from the center of the city and stretched about 65km, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.

  In a worrying development, Human Rights Watch said it had documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital. Local residents have also reported the use of the munitions in Kharkiv and the village of Kiyanka near the northern city of Chernihiv, though there was no independent confirmation.

  As far-reaching Western sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, the ruble plummeted, and Russia’s central bank scrambled to shore it up.

  Traditionally neutral Switzerland on Monday said that it would also adopt all the sanctions already imposed by the EU on Russia.

  “This is a big step for Switzerland,” Swiss President Ignazio Cassis told a news conference, after the nation had for days hesitated over whether to join the international move to sanction Moscow.

  Additional reporting by AFP
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