Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Pentagon says it has ‘clear evidence’ of war crimes

The Pentagon is collecting evidence of indiscriminate attacks in Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed his country would be “destroyed” before it surrenders. Warning: Graphic.

The Pentagon says it has “clear evidence” that Vladimir Putin’s forces are committing war crimes in the Ukraine.

During a news briefing, the US defence department’s spokesman John Kirby said they would help gather evidence of indiscriminate attacks as part of an intentional strategy in the invasion of Ukraine.

“We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that,” Mr Kirby told reporters.

“But there’s investigative processes that are going to go on, and we’re going to let that happen. We’re going to contribute to that investigative process. As for what would come out of that, that’s not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make.”

It comes as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would be “destroyed” before it surrenders its cities to invading Russian forces, as he doubled down on a call for direct talks with Vladimir Putin as the key to ending the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Picture: Ukrainian Press Service / AFP

As Russia defended overnight strikes that reduced a Kyiv shopping mall to rubble, killing eight, US President Joe Biden held a call with European leaders to address the increasingly “brutal tactics” employed by Moscow – undeterred by unprecedented Western sanctions.

But despite a soaring civilian toll, the Ukrainian president made clear his countrymen would not “hand over” the capital, the eastern city of Kharkiv, or the heavily bombarded and besieged Mariupol.

“Ukraine cannot fulfil Russian ultimatums,” he said. “We should be destroyed first.”

Nearly a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, Moscow has meanwhile ramped up its air and sea operations, flying 300 sorties in the past 24 hours, in a “desperate” bid to turn the tide against the Ukrainian resistance, a senior US defence official said.

In Kyiv, a new 35-hour curfew was ordered from 8pm Monday (5am AEDT Tuesday), after Russian strikes – likely a missile – laid waste to the “Retroville” shopping complex where AFP reporters saw six bodies covered by black sheets on the ground.

“It’s the biggest bomb to have hit the city until now,” said 30-year-old Dima Stepanienko, who found himself flung to “the foot of his bed” by the explosion.

An Orthodox priest walking through the wreckage whispered prayers while cursing “Russian terrorists”.

Russia claimed the mall was being used to store rocket systems and ammunition.

MARIUPOL’S REFUSAL TO SURRENDER SAVING KYIV

Russia intensified its bombardment of Mariupol as the city’s refusal to surrender played a key role in “saving Kyiv”, according to Ukraine defence officials.

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected an ultimatum to for the city’s surrender, Russia ramped up its shelling of the city, including the targeting of an art school sheltering 400 people.

“Bombs are falling every 10 minutes,” Captain Svyatoslav Palamar of the National Guard Azov Regiment in Mariupol told CNN.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the city’s continued defiance was playing a “huge role in destroying the enemy’s plans”.

“Today, Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa,” he said in a Facebook update as Russia’s deadline for surrender passed. “Everyone must understand this.”

Firefighters putting out a large-scale fire at a food warehouse in Severodonetsk, Lugansk region, destroyed following Russian shelling. Picture: AFP.

Russia was accused of committing “a massive war crimes” in amid reports of about a thousand civilians in Mariupol being stripped of their passports and being forcibly shipped off to Russia.

In Kherson, the fist major city to fall, Russians were accused of firing on protesters. Ukraine’s foreign ministry posted an unverified video showing people rushing to help a man bleeding in the streets.

Reznikov said Russia’s invasion had stalled with the destruction of 1,500 armoured vehicles, 500 tanks, 120 helicopters and 100 aircraft since the start of the war.

The Pentagon said Russia is boosting its air and sea operations in a bid to gain momentum as it struggles with the “dexterity” of Ukraine’s defence.

The port city of Odessa came under increased shelling from Russian warships in the northern Black Sea after Mariupol refused to surrender.

A charred Russian armoured personnel carrier on the front line in the Kyiv region. Picture: AFP.

“The enemy no longer dreams of capturing Kyiv, is out of breath in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, and receiving painful blows near Kharkiv, in the Mykolaiv, Kherson and Luhansk regions,” Reznikov said.

Reznikov claimed the stalling of Russian ground forces from was making Moscow “desperate”, with attempts to push Belarusian troops into the “hell of war in Ukraine.”

“We are taking losses. The enemy is destroying out cities and undermining our economy. The situation is very difficult,” he said.

At least eight people were killed in the bombing of a shopping centre in northwest Kyiv. The 10-storey building was completely destroyed in the blast.

Russia said the mall was being used to store “multiple-launch rocket systems” and ammunition.

Russia’s defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov accused Ukraine of continuing to use civilian infrastructure as a shield for artillery used to attack Russian troops.

Firefighters douse the fire in the Retroville shopping mall after a Russian attack on the northwest of the capital Kyiv. Picture: AFP.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks between debris of Retroville shopping mall and residential district after a Russian attack in Kyiv on March 21. Picture: AFP.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a new curfew for the capital from 8:00pm local time until Wednesday morning.

Ukraine’s emergency services said “enemy shelling” had caused fires on several floors and released security camera footage showing a massive explosion and a mushroom cloud, followed by a series of smaller blasts.

RUSSIA PIVOTS TO AIR, NAVAL WARFARE

Russia is boosting air and sea military operations as it struggles with the “dexterity” of Ukraine’s defence, according to the Pentagon.

A senior US defence official said the Kremlin is “desperate” to increase its momentum in a war in which its troops have grown “frustrated and flummoxed” by a resistance that has shown durability despite being outmanned and outgunned.

Russia ramped up sorties over and near Ukraine, flying more than 300 missions in the past 24 hours, with Kyiv likewise increasing their own air operations in a bid to deny Russia superiority in the skies, the official told reporters.

“They’re not venturing very far or for very long into Ukrainian airspace, because the Ukrainians have been defending their airspace with great dexterity,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“What we’re seeing is a near desperate attempt by the Russians to gain some momentum and try to turn the course of this in their favour,” the defence official said, noting that on day 26 of the offensive, Russian forces remain pinned down 15 kilometres (nine miles) northwest and 30 kilometres east of Kyiv.

RUSSIA SUMMONS US AMBASSADOR AHEAD OF BIDEN POLAND VISIT

Moscow summoned the US ambassador in protest after President Joe Biden branded Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”.

“Such statements by the American president, which are not worthy of a high-ranking statesman, have put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement said ambassador John Sullivan had been handed a formal letter of protest over “recent unacceptable statements” made by Biden.

He was warned that “hostile actions taken against Russia would receive a firm and decisive response,” the ministry said.

Biden described Putin as a “war criminal” in remarks to reporters last week, amid heavy fighting in Ukraine after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into the pro-Western country.

Biden will travel to Poland on Friday to meet President Andrzej Duda.

RUSSIA BANS FACEBOOK AS ‘EXTREMIST’

A Moscow court banned Facebook and Instagram as “extremist” organisations, after authorities accused US tech giant Meta of tolerating “Russophobia” during the conflict in Ukraine.

Meta’s WhatsApp messenger service would not be prohibited because it is not a public platform.

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, authorities blocked access in Russia to Facebook and Instagram, as well as to Twitter.

Meta had announced on March 10 that the platforms would allow statements like “death to Russian invaders” but not credible threats against civilians.

“The activities of the Meta organisation are directed against Russia and its armed forces,” FSB representative Igor Kovalevsky told the court, Russian news agencies reported.

“We ask (the court) to ban Meta’s activities and oblige it to implement this ruling immediately,” he said.

UKRAINE REFUSES TO SURRENDER MARIUPOL

The Russian deadline for the devastated city of Mariupol to surrender passed with Ukraine refusing to give up weapons with Kyiv insisting thousands of terrified civilians be allowed to leave safely.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russia had been told their ultimatum had been rejected.

“We can’t talk about surrendering weapons,” Iryna Vereshchuk told local media, demanding Moscow instead open humanitarian corridors to allow an estimated 350,000 people still trapped to leave.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s bombing of a school where 400 women, children and elderly where sheltering in the southern city of Mariupol was an “act of terror” with people buried “under the rubble”.

An elderly woman stands in front of a destroyed house after bombardments in the village of Krasylivka, east of Kyiv. Picture: AFP

The siege of Mariupol was a war crime, describing it as “a terror that will be remembered even in the next century”, he said.

“Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us.”

Mr Zelenskyy said only two people could stop the war – he and Mr Putin.

“Dialogue is the only way out. I think it’s just the two of us, me and Putin, who can make an agreement on this,” he said.

Later, he told CNN peace talks could be held in Jerusalem.

“Sooner or later we could start the conversation with Russia. Perhaps in Jerusalem. This is the right place for finding peace. If this is possible,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

A volunteer takes position at a checkpoint in a district in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

But he suggested he was not about to give in to one of Mr Putin’s red lines.

“You cannot just demand from Ukraine to recognise some territories as independent republics. We have to come up with a model where Ukraine will not lose its sovereignty.”

In Mariupol, thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped inside the city without water, electricity or gas.

City authorities also claimed that more than 1,000 Mariupol residents had been forcibly taken to Russia.

“The occupiers are sending the residents of Mariupol to filtration camps, checking their phones and seizing (their) Ukrainian documents,” said local official Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have resorted to using long-range missiles as they continue to encounter fierce resistance.

People clean up the debris from destroyed houses after bombardments in Krasylivka. Picture: AFP

Throughout Ukraine, conditions for citizens continue to worsen and aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in shattered cities, where the UN says the situation is “dire”.

In Kyiv, another apartment block was destroyed in a bombing, killing five, while in Chernigiv, dozens of civilians had been killed after shelling hit a hospital.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it had fired its newest Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile, destroying a fuel depot in the southern Mykolaiv region.

A day earlier, the weapon was used to destroy an arms depot near Ukraine’s border with Romania.

US Defence Secretary, General Lloyd Austin, denied it was “a game changer”.