US says up to 10% of Russia’s forces lost as bombardment of Ukrainian cities continues

Up to 10 per cent of Russia’s forces have been lost in the first month of its war in Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as the bombardment of the besieged port city of Mariupol and other population centres continued.

Russian troops are frozen in place on most fronts and facing fierce Ukrainian resistance, with the military resorting to siege tactics and widespread attacks on civilians, which have caused massive destruction and many deaths.

Satellite photographs show widespread destruction in Mariupol, with smoke rising from burning apartment buildings.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the French National Assembly on Wednesday that images from the city, and other locations under attack, “recall the ruins of Verdun as in the photos of World War I that everyone has seen”.

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Mr Zelenskiy said that 100,000 people remain in Mariupol out of a pre-war population of 400,000.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that based on “a careful review” of public information and intelligence sources, the United States believes Russian forces have committed war crimes during their invasion. He said the US will back criminal prosecutions of those involved.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said 264 people have been killed in Russian attacks on the capital. He confirmed reports that Ukrainian forces have retaken the nearby towns of Makariv and Irpin.

A senior Russian official, Anatoly Chubais, is reported to have resigned over the Ukraine war, in what appears to be the first crack in the Russian regime.

Mr Chubais oversaw economic reforms in the 1990s, was Mr Putin’s first boss in the Kremlin, headed state-owned businesses and served as Russian envoy to international organisations.

Summits

US president Joe Biden will attend summits with European, Nato and G7 leaders in Brussels on Thursday. In what may be the most important diplomatic mission of his presidency, Mr Biden intends to demonstrate Western unity against Russian president Vladimir Putin, strengthen defences on the eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance and consider further sanctions.

Mr Putin’s announcement that he intends to demand payment in roubles for gas sales to “unfriendly” countries has caused alarm on international markets.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the emergency summit would dispatch four “battle groups” to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia and also send equipment to protect Ukraine “against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats”.

However, Mr Stoltenberg stressed: “It is also extremely important to prevent this conflict becoming a full-fledged war between Nato and Russia.”

Ukraine has said it wants Nato to stop quibbling about what constitutes “defensive” weapons. Nato allies are providing thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, but the Ukrainians say they need armoured vehicles, tanks and planes.

“Every weapon that is being used by the Ukrainian army in the territory of Ukraine is a defensive weapon by definition,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Mr Biden is to consult with allies on the possibility of expelling Russia from the G20 group of the European Union and the world’s other 19 biggest economies. China is resisting attempts to exclude Russia from the group.

Mr Biden is also due to visit Poland to demonstrate support for the ally which has received the largest portion of the 3.6 million refugees from Ukraine. Poland has endangered its own security by serving as the hub for weapons shipments to Ukraine, and Warsaw on Wednesday expelled 45 Russian diplomats whom it accused of espionage.