While Ukraine certainly will not buckle overnight, as its army hits back at Russian forces wherever and however it can, Moscow’s military might spells an ever-expanding list of horrors for a country under siege on many fronts. The mastermind of the accelerating mayhem, Vladimir Putin, tried in a truculent 75-minute phone call with the leaders of France and Germany today to flip the brutal script, accusing Ukrainians of instigating violence even as accounts of Russia’s deliberate targeting of civilians — in aerial bombardments of Mariupol and other cities, in artillery fire aimed at apartment buildings, in firing on civilians trying to evacuate by way of so-called humanitarian corridors, and even in the kidnapping of a mayor — pile up. The Washington Post reports a senior American defense official said that as of Thursday the Russians had launched 775 missiles “at” — many presumably in — Ukraine since the invasion began, a number climbing “by a few dozen per day.”Against this grim backdrop, President Zelensky’s assertion yesterday that the war, now well past the two-week mark, had reached a “strategic turning point” and that his country was heading toward “victory” might seem premature. That Mr. Zelensky also warned of a “new stage of terror” — saying, as the Associated Press reported, that the Russians “will come here only if they kill us all. If that is their goal, let them come” — may speak less to the doughty leader’s signature defiance than it does to an incipient sense of desperation. Reports of Russian troops surrendering to outnumbered Ukrainian army units in places are encouraging but still largely apocryphal. That the Kremlin is keeping a phone line open to France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz is good but a ceasefire would be better. Paris and Berlin can demand one all they want, but it is Moscow’s tanks and guns on the ground, and as midnight approached Saturday they were hardly ceasing fire. Some additional Saturday developments follow. In a video message Mr. Zelensky said the Russian forces are bombing the Black Sea port city of Mariupol “24 hours a day, launching missiles. It is hatred. They kill children.” The mayor of the city said more than 1,500 people have been killed there since the Russian attack began. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said that of the 3,000 people evacuated from various cities on Saturday, none were from Mariupol, a fact she blamed on Russian obstruction.AP reported Saturday that Ukraine’s military said Russian forces have captured Mariupol’s eastern outskirts. Taking Mariupol and other ports on the Azov Sea would be strategic for Mr. Putin, as it could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.An Associated Press journalist witnessed tanks firing on a nine-story apartment block in Mariupol and was with a group of medical workers who came under sniper fire on Friday.Russian forces have been blockading Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Emergency services said that five people were killed in shelling that struck an apartment building in that city. Artillery fire on residential areas outside the Kiev is ongoing and according to multiple reports can be confirmed by satellite imagery. Russian forces have attacked civilians in Bucha, a satellite town near Kiev, the Kyiv Independent reports. The same source reports that 57 people, “mostly killed civilians,” have been buried in a mass grave in a town churchyard.President Zelensky called for the immediate release of Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the city of Melitopol who was arrested by armed men on Friday, CNN reported. Mr. Zelensky called the mayor’s arrest an “abduction.” Melitopol is situated in southern Ukraine between the cities of Mariupol and Odessa and is presently under Russian military occupation.Russian cruise missiles struck an airport south of Kiev on Saturday, setting fire to an oil depot and an ammunitions depot, the Wall Street Journal reported. Airstrikes also hit suburbs east and west of Kiev, while in the city center a drone was shot down and crashed, setting a bank on fire. The Guardian reports that Ukrainian officials have said Kiev is “ready to fight” as Russian forces renewed their bombardment on the capital, and Mr. Zelensky warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” as hundreds of thousands of civilians remained under fire all across Ukraine.
