Russia-Ukraine war live updates: First Mariupol steel plant ...

to destroy these firing positions.”The city’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, confirmed the attacks on the plant Tuesday in a news briefing, saying that “every day there is sad news, every day there is some shelling.” The attacks followed a U.N.-brokered cease-fire at the plant that allowed some groups of civilians to escape.According to Boichenko, there are around 100,000 residents still waiting to be evacuated from the city, which has been under siege by Russian forces since the first weeks of the war.Lauren EganUkraine's prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said she expected that there would be a “huge number” of rape cases related to the invasion.When asked at a news conference Tuesday how many cases of rape her office has recorded since the start of the war, Venediktova declined to provide a number.She said that while she has evidence that Ukrainian men, women and children were raped by Russian soldiers, it will take time to collect firsthand statements.“Some of our victims are still on the occupied territories, some of them are now in Western parts of Ukraine and some are abroad in Europe countries,” she said. A senior U.S. official warned that Russia is planning to annex much of the country’s east later this month.At a reception center, stretchers and wheelchairs were lined up, tiny children’s shoes dangled from a shopping cart and a pile of toys waited for the first convoy of civilians whose evacuation is being overseen by the United Nations and Red Cross.Their arrival would represent a rare glimmer of good news in the nearly 10-week war sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has killed thousands, forced millions to flee the country, laid waste to towns and cities, and shifted the post-Cold War balance of power in eastern Europe.More than 100 people — including elderly women and mothers with small children — left Mariupol’s rubble-strewn Azovstal steelworks over the weekend and set out in buses and ambulancesRachel ElbaumRussian President Vladimir Putin issued retaliatory economic sanctions in response to the “unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organizations,” Moscow announced Tuesday.The announcement didn’t spell out the individuals or organizations that would be affected and said that the government will approve the list of those under sanctions in the next 10 days.The new law would prohibit financial transactions and also ban the export of products and raw materials to those sanctioned. The argument is not only untenable, but also crafty.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said in an interview with an Italian news channel that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish, and said that “Hitler also had Jewish origins.” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov’s statement “unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.”The fresh comments highlight a growing row between two countries at a time when Israel has sought to remain somewhat neutral in the conflict and due to its own security concerns in the Middle East..ReutersKYIV/LVIV — Russian forces fired rockets at the encircled steel works in Ukraine’s Mariupol and smoke darkened the sky above the plant, where officials say 200 civilians are still trapped despite evacuations, while the European Union prepared to sanction Russian oil.Reuters images showed volleys of rockets fired from a Russian truck-mounted launcher on the outskirts of the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol.The attack followed a U.N.-brokered ceasefire around the Soviet-era steel complex that allowed several groups of civilians to escape the last holdout of Ukrainian fighters in the southern port in recent days.More civilians were trapped in bunkers and tunnels under the complex and some 100,000 remained in the rest of the city, mayor Vadym Boychenko said on Tuesday.NBC NewsRachel ElbaumThe war in Ukraine has considerably weakened Russia’s military and recovery won’t be easy, the British government said Tuesday.“Russia’s military is now significantly weaker, both materially and conceptually, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine,” the Ministry of Defence said in its daily briefing.