Ukraine braced for Russian onslaught in Mariupol

Ukrainian forces are “surrounded and blocked” in Mariupol as Russian forces push to take the eastern city where a chemical weapons ­attack was reported on Tuesday.

A Russian soldier outside a damaged apartment building in Donetsk, the capital of eastern Donbas region occupied by Moscow-backed separatists. Picture: AFP

Ukrainian forces are “surrounded and blocked” in Mariupol as Russian forces push to take the eastern city where a chemical weapons ­attack was reported on Tuesday.

British and Ukraine officials were trying to verify reports of an “unknown substance” that had led to people suffering from respiratory failure.

Ukrainian commander Andriy Biletskiy said the substance, which was dropped from a drone, ­affected three people in an industrial area of Mariupol, but had not caused “catastrophic consequences.”

The Donetsk People’s Republic defence spokesman in the area had earlier called for the use of chemical weapons “to find a way to smoke the moles out of their holes”.

Eduard Basurin claimed that a Soviet-era factory in Mariupol, where some of the Ukrainian fighters had retreated, was a minefield of concrete and iron and it would be difficult to storm the factory without having many Russian soldiers killed.

Western officials have previously expressed concerns that as the conflict drags into its seventh week, Russia could resort to such extreme measures as a chemical weapons attack.

But Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the city’s mayor, wrote on Telegram that a chemical attack was not confirmed and that he were “waiting for official information from the military.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was alarmed by “extremely concerning” reports of a chemical weapons attack.

Senator Payne said if the use of chemical weapons by Russia was confirmed, “that will be a further wholesale breach of international law”.

“(It would be) a further indication of President Putin and Russia’s absolute violation of every single value and every single … ­aspect of the rules-based global order which has stood us in such good stead for so many decades now,” she said.

“Australia will be working with our counterparts to determine the veracity of these reports.”

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also tweeted that Britain was working to verify the reports.

“Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account,” she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine seized on the chemical weapons threat in his nightly address, warning Russian forces were preparing for a “new stage of terror against Ukraine”. 

Russian soldiers patrol a street in Volnovakha in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. Picture: AFP

President Volodymyr Zelensky again pleaded with his allies for more weapons to boost the ­defence of the city, of which Russian troops were aiming to take control as part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine.

“We are not getting as much as we need to end this war sooner. To completely destroy the enemy on our land … in particular, to unblock Mariupol,” Mr Zelensky said in a national address.

He made a similar appeal for military assistance to South Korea’s parliament earlier, telling MPs that Russia had “completely destroyed Mariupol and burned it to ashes”.

“At least tens of thousands of Mariupol citizens must have been killed,” he said.

Russia is believed to be trying to connect occupied Crimea with Moscow-backed separatist territories Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbas, and has laid siege to the strategically located city, once home to more than 400,000 people.

Ukrainian forces were “surrounded and blocked”, tweeted Myhaylo Podolyak, an official from Mr Zelensky’s office.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said it believed a major assault would happen soon. “We don’t know precisely when, but the preparation is almost over,” spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a briefing.

Pentagon officials reported a Russian convoy had been ­observed heading for Izyum, north of ­Donetsk, saying it appeared to be a mix of personnel-carriers, armoured vehicles and possible artillery.

Such signs of a build-up in Donbas suggest hopes of an imminent diplomatic solution remain slim.

After a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Austrian Chancellor Karl ­Nehammer said he was “rather pessimistic” of such efforts succeeding as Mr Putin had “massively entered into a logic of war”.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer speaks at the Austrian embassy in Moscow after his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Picture: AFP

French investigators arrived in Ukraine to investigate suspected war crimes, the first deployment of military personnel in Ukraine from a NATO country.

Ukraine says more than 1200 bodies have been found around the capital, with authorities pursuing “500 suspects” including Mr Putin and other top Russian officials.

In an effort to shore up wider international support for Kyiv, US President Joe Biden held virtual talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just weeks after saying New Delhi had been “shaky” in its response to the invasion.

“There were conversations about how to mitigate the destabilising impacts of Putin’s war, including on food supply, where India is in a position to assist,” a US official said.

AFP

Additional reporting: Ben Packham, Jacquelin Magnay