U.S. President Joe Biden travelled to Europe on Wednesday for an emergency NATO summit on Ukraine, where invading Russian troops were stalled, cities under bombardment and the besieged port of Mariupol in flames.
Four weeks into a war that has driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes, Russia has failed to capture a single major Ukrainian city, while Western sanctions have ostracised it from the world economy.After failing in what Western countries say was an attempt to seize Kyiv swiftly and depose the government, Russian forces have taken heavy losses.They were frozen in place for at least a week on most fronts and faced supply problems and fierce resistance.They have turned to siege tactics and bombardment of cities, causing massive destruction and many civilian deaths.Moscow said its aim was to disarm its neighbour, and its special military operation was going to plan. It denies targeting civilians.The worst-hit has been Mariupol, a southern port completely surrounded by Russian forces, where hundreds of thousands of people have been sheltering since the war’s early days, under constant bombardment and with food, water and heat supplies cut.New satellite photographs from commercial firm Maxar released overnight showed massive destruction of what was once a city of 400,000 people, with columns of smoke rising from residential apartment buildings in flames.No journalists have been able to report from inside the Ukrainian-held parts of the city for more than a week, during which time Ukrainian officials said Russia has bombed a theatre.An art school was used as a bomb shelter, burying hundreds of people alive. Russia denies targeting those buildings.Biden, due to arrive in Brussels on Wednesday evening, will meet NATO and European leaders in an emergency summit at the Western military alliance’s headquarters.The leaders are expected to roll out additional sanctions against Russia on Thursday. Sources said the U.S. package would include measures targeting Russian members of parliament.Biden will also visit Poland, which has taken in most of the more than 3.6 million refugees who have fled Ukraine and served as the main route for Western supplies of weapons to Ukraine.
(NAN)
