Live updates: Mayor: Russian forces intensify shelling

Live updates: Mayor: Russian forces intensify shelling

SeattlePI.com

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The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war:

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LVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces have intensified shelling in the port city of Mariupol, including with the use of airplanes, the mayor said Saturday night.

“The city is in a very, very difficult state of siege,” Vadym Boychenko told Ukrainian TV. “Relentless shelling of residential blocks is ongoing, airplanes have been dropping bombs on residential areas."

Boychenko said that thousands of children, women and the elderly came under fire as they arrived in the morning for a possible evacuation through a safe passage corridor. Russia promised to stop the shelling of Mariupol, a port city of 430,000, and Volnovakha, a city in the east, but violated the cease-fire.

Russia has made significant advances in the south, clearly seeking to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea. Capturing Mariupol, which has been fending off the attack for six days, could allow Russia to build a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday echoed the president's assertion that Russia has lost more than 10,000 troops.

Kuleba also said in a video message released by the Ukrainian government that the Russians had lost dozens of aircraft and hundreds of armored vehicles.

The claim could not be independently verified. The Russian military doesn’t offer regular updates on their casualties. On Wednesday, military officials revealed a death toll of 498.

“Russians keep bearing devastating losses on the ground, and I cannot understand how mothers, wives and daughters of these Russian soldiers bear this pain, seeing how President Putin sends more and more of their beloved ones to Ukraine,” Kuleba said.

Kuleba added, “Ukraine is...

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