Russian forces intensified their shelling of several major Ukrainian cities Monday, while a third attempt at talks toward a potential cease-fire showed little progress …
Russian forces intensified their shelling of several major Ukrainian cities Monday, while a third attempt at talks toward a potential cease-fire showed little progress and senior U.S. officials warned that Russian forces could be on the verge of carrying out “mass atrocities” in a widening war zone where food, water, heat and medicine have grown increasingly scarce. The Kremlin appeared to taunt Kyiv ahead of Monday’s talks in Belarus, saying Russia would be prepared to halt its invasion if Ukraine changed its constitution to permanently rule out NATO membership, admit Crimea is now Russian territory, and recognize the Russian-controlled separatist enclaves inside Ukraine as independent states. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly rejected every demand. Talks to allow desperate Ukrainian civilians to leave besieged cities such as Mariupol came as officials at the Pentagon charged Monday that the Russian military is now actively trying to recruit seasoned fighters from Syria’s civil war to be shipped into Ukraine to engage in urban combat against Ukrainian resistance fighters. Russian forces are making significant advances in southern Ukraine, but signs continued to emerge Monday that a separate Russian advance has stalled around the capital of Kyiv, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spent recent days pleading via teleconference with U.S. and European officials for more robust military support. Military experts also say the original Russian invasion plan called for far fewer troops than it now appears will be needed to subdue Ukraine’s dogged defense. “Even Russian mainstream military commentators in Moscow [are beginning] to concede, carefully and elliptically, that the long-prepared blitzkrieg has failed, and in the protracted conflict, Ukraine is gaining strength while time is not working in Russia’s favor,” longtime Russian military analysts Pavel Baez wrote in a new analysis for the Eurasia Daily Monitor Monday. A top Biden administration official said multiple countries are discussing whether to provide warplanes Mr. Zelenskyy has asked for, although it remains to be seen what will come of the discussions. The West has been rushing anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, but some officials fear Moscow would view the delivery of NATO warplanes as a direct involvement in the war that could trigger military retaliation by Russian forces. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday began a lightning visit to the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, former Soviet republics that are all now NATO members. Mr. Blinken hoped to reassure them of the alliance’s protection. But the U.S. and NATO have repeatedly rejected Mr. Zelenskyy’s pleas for a more direct defense, including establishing a no-fly zone over the Ukrainian battle space, for fear of triggering a wider war with Russia. President Biden spoke in a conference call Monday with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to coordinate strategy and new ways to aid Ukraine in the days ahead.
