Russia has 8-mile military convoy, ‘colossal’ amount of equipment ready for new blitz: Live Ukraine updates
Russia is resupplying and reinforcing its invasion force in eastern Ukraine with a long convoy of vehicles heading to the region, indicating a new phase of the war is likely to occur there, according to a senior Pentagon officials.
The convoy, exposed in commercial satellite imagery, stretches an estimated eight miles. It appears to contain vehicles to command and supply infantry units and possibly helicopters, said the official who provided intelligence assessments on condition of anonymity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of an impending Russian offensive in his country’s east and has urged civilians to flee the region.
“The occupiers have sent dozens of thousands of soldiers and colossal numbers of equipment to prepare new attacks,” he warned in a speech to South Korean lawmakers translated by NBC News. Josep Borrell, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, issued a similar warning Monday.
The Pentagon official said some of the Russian forces involved in the failed attempt to seize the capital of Kyiv appear headed toward the eastern region. There are about 60 Russian battalion tactical groups in eastern and southern Ukraine – 48,000 to 60,000 troops – the official said.
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VISUAL EXPLAINER: Mapping and tracking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Latest developments:
► Moscow has appointed a new war chief after a largely unsuccessful six weeks of battle in Ukraine. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov had been in command in southern Ukraine, where the Russians had initial success in the invasion. Russian forces, however, continue to have problems with morale, leadership and supply, according to British and U.S. assessments.
► Russia has lost 19,500 troops, 725 tanks,1923 armored vehicles, 347 artillery systems, 154 aircraft; 137 helicopters and an overwhelming amount of other equipment since the war began, the Ukraine military estimated Monday. Russia has not provided numbers but says its troop losses have been “significant.”
► The U.N. Security Council was meeting today to discuss the impact of the war on Ukraine’s women and children. Russia’s veto authority has consistently crippled council efforts to take action against Moscow.
► President Joe Biden is set to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as he presses world leaders to take a hard line against Russia’s invasion.
Russian claim it destroyed missile launchers US helped provide is refuted
The Russian military says it used sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy four S-300 air defense missile launchers near the city of Dnipro, just days after Slovakia sent Ukraine an S-300 air defense system in a deal worked out by the U.S.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement Monday that Ukraine had received the technology from an unnamed European country and that about two dozen Ukrainian troops were also hit by the strike.
“Our S-300 system has not been destroyed,” said Lubica Janikova, spokeswoman for Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger. It was unclear whether both sides are referring to the same airstrike as the Russians have targeted missile defense systems in three locations in recent days.
Slovakia was able to provide a system to Ukraine because the U.S. was willing to give Slovakia a Patriot battery to replace it, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.
Russia could use phosphorus bombs in Mariupol, Brits warn
Russian forces have used phosphorous “munitions” in the Donetsk region in the past, raising the possibility they could be used in Mariupol as fighting for the city intensifies, the British Defense Ministry warned Monday. Phosphorus can ignite on contact with oxygen and severely burn human flesh, but it is not classified as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Russian shelling has continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukrainian forces have repulsed several assaults and destroyed Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery equipment, the ministry said in its latest assessment.
“Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs decreases their ability to discriminate when targeting and conducting strikes while greatly increasing the risk of further civilian casualties,” the assessment warned.
Russian dissenters who fled at start of war unsure on return
A growing numbers of artists have fled Russia to neighboring Finland in recent weeks. Many faced the threat of persecution in Russia for not supporting official stances, and their criticism of the war put them in danger of imprisonment. That compelled them to give up their work and make a new home several hours from the Russian border.
Now, amid a harsh crackdown on opposing views, many are unsure if or when it will ever be possible to return. Many artists said they were also worried about the integrity of their work in Russia, which has increasingly suppressed free speech and expression.
“Theater is meant to talk to people and communicate with them, to explain things about the world,” Alena Starostina told USA TODAY. “But it looks like we failed. We couldn’t stop this war and so, I think we are also responsible for it.”
– Tami Abdollah
Major Russian assault on east Ukraine likely within days, EU official says
Russian is sending a large contingent of troops toward eastern Ukraine and appears poised to launch a major offensive in the Donbas region within days, said Josep Borrell, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. The region includes Donetsk and Luhansk, where Moscow-backed separatists established de facto republics that even Russia only recognized days before the war broke out in February.
“I’m afraid the Russian troops are massing on the east to launch an attack on the Donbas,” Borrell said Monday. “I am afraid … the war will increase on the Donbas.”
Russian forces bisected strategically crucial Mariupol from the city center to the coast on Sunday, isolating the remaining Ukrainian defenders in two locations, according to the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War.