Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 2, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A5WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022 C M Y K PAGE A5 NEWS I WAR INUKRAINE Seniors know a lot, but there’s always more to learn. Visit Canada.ca/seniors or call 1 800 O-Canada (1 800 622-6232) Help ensure your later years are safe and secure. Learn about programs and services for seniors, like how the Canada Pension Plan can work better for you, changes to the Guaranteed Income Supplement, Old Age Security payments, and more. K YIV, Ukraine — Russian forcesescalated their attacks on crowd-ed urban areas Tuesday in what Ukraine’s leader called a blatant cam- paign of terror, while U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to make his Russian counterpart “pay a price” for the inva- sion. “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed after the bloodshed on the central square in Kharkiv, the coun- try’s second-largest city, and the deadly bombing of a TV tower in the capital. Biden used his first State of the Union address to highlight the resolve of a re- invigorated Western alliance that has worked to rearm the Ukrainian mil- itary and adopt tough sanctions, which he said have left Russian President Vladimir Putin ”isolated in the world more than he has ever been.” As Biden spoke, a 64-kilometre con- voy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced slowly on Kyiv, the capital city of nearly three million people, in what the West feared was a bid by Putin to topple the government and install a Kremlin-friendly regime. The invading forces also pressed their assault on other towns and cities, including the strategic ports of Odesa and Mariupol in the south. Day 6 of the biggest ground war in Europe since the Second World War found Russia increasingly isolated, beset by the sanctions that have thrown its economy into turmoil and left the country practically friendless, apart from a few nations like China, Belarus and North Korea. As the fighting in Ukraine raged, the death toll remained unclear. One senior Western intelligence official estimated that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed. Ukraine gave no overall estimate of troop losses. The UN human rights office said it has recorded 136 civilian deaths. The real toll is believed to be far higher. Britain’s DefenceMinistry said it had seen an increase in Russian air and ar- tillery strikes on populated urban areas over the past two days. It also said three cities — Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariu- pol —were encircled by Russian forces. Many military experts worry that Russia may be shifting tactics. Mos- cow’s strategy in Chechnya and Syria was to use artillery and air bombard- ments to pulverize cities and crush fighters’ resolve. Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, which is near central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment buildings. A TV control room and power substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels briefly stopped broadcasting, officials said. The bombing came after Russia an- nounced it would target transmission facilities used by Ukraine’s intelligence agency. It urged people living near such places to leave their homes. Zelensky’s office also reported a mis- sile attack on the site of the Babi Yar Holocaust memorial, near the tower. A spokesman for the memorial said a Jewish cemetery at the site, where Nazi occupiers killed more than 33,000 Jews over two days in 1941, was damaged, but the extent would not be clear until daylight. In Kharkiv, with a population of about 1.5 million, at least six people were killed when the region’s Soviet-era administrative building on Freedom Square was hit with what was believed to be a missile. The attack on Freedom Square — Ukraine’s largest plaza, and the nucleus of public life in the city — was seen by many Ukrainians as brazen evidence that the Russian invasion wasn’t just about hitting military targets but also about breaking their spirit. The bombardment blew out windows and walls of buildings that ring the massive square, which was piled high with debris and dust. Inside one build- ing, chunks of plaster were scattered, and doors, ripped from their hinges, lay across hallways. “People are under the ruins. We have pulled out bodies,” said Yevhen Vasylenko, an emergency official. Zelensky pronounced the attack on the square “frank, undisguised terror” and a war crime. “This is state terror- ism of the Russian Federation,” he said. In an emotional appeal to the Euro- pean Parliament later, Zelensky said: “We are fighting also to be equal mem- bers of Europe. I believe that today we are showing everybody that is what we are.” Another Russian airstrike hit a resi- dential area in the city of Zhytomyr, the town’s mayor said. Ukraine’s emer- gency services said Tuesday’s strike killed at least two people, set three homes on fire and broke the windows in a nearby hospital. About 140 kilometres west of Kyiv, Zhytomyr is the home of the elite 95th Air Assault Brigade, which may have been the intended tar- get. Zelensky said 16 children had been killed around Ukraine on Monday, and he mocked Russia’s claim that it is go- ing after only military targets. “Where are the children? What kind of military factories do they work at? What tanks are they going at?” Zel- ensky said. Human Rights Watch said it docu- mented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine’s east in recent days. Residents also reported the use of such weapons in Kharkiv and Kiyanka village. The Kremlin denied using clus- ter bombs. The first talks between Russia and Ukraine since the invasion were held Monday, but ended with only an agree- ment to talk again. On Tuesday, Zel- ensky said Russia should stop bombing first. “As for dialogue, I think yes, but stop bombarding people first and start nego- tiating afterwards,“ he told CNN. Moscow made new threats of escala- tion, days after raising the spectre of nuclear war. A top Kremlin official warned that the West’s “economic war” against Russia could turn into a “real one.” Inside Russia, a top radio station critical of the Kremlin was taken off the air after authorities threatened to shut it down over its coverage of the in- vasion. Among other things, the Krem- lin is not allowing the fighting to be re- ferred to as an “invasion” or “war.” Roughly 660,000 people have fled Ukraine, and countless others have taken shelter underground. Bomb dam- age has left hundreds of thousands of families without drinking water, U.N. humanitarian co-ordinator Martin Griffiths said. “It is a nightmare, and it seizes you from the inside very strongly. This cannot be explained with words,” said Kharkiv resident Ekaterina Babenko, taking shelter in a basement with neigh- bors for a fifth straight day. “We have small children, elderly people, and frankly speaking it is very frightening.” A senior U.S. defence official said Russia’s military progress — including by the massive convoy — has slowed, plagued by logistical and supply prob- lems. Some Russian military columns have run out of gas and food, the offi- cial said, and morale has suffered as a result. —The Associated Press ‘A nightmare’ in Ukraine as Russia bombards cities YURAS KARMANAU, JIM HEINTZ, VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV ANDDASHA LITVINOVA ● MORECOVERAGEONB4 EVGENIY MALOLETKA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Paramedics move an injured man in, Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, after Russian forces attacked the port city. A_05_Mar-02-22_FP_01.indd 5 2022-03-01 10:23 PM ;