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Satellite images showed Russians digging trenches near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to hide their vehicles, while sources told Archyde.com the United States was trying to draw Turkey into conflict.
The Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces had taken control of the port of Mariupol (south), making Ukraine “temporarily” unable to reach the Sea of Azov, but stressed that the Russian army had so far failed to lay siege to the capital Kyiv and confirmed a senior Russian general Killed in battle.
Politically, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged China to drop its middle ground and join the international community in condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Johnson said he believed some in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government had “an alternative view” of China’s neutrality toward Russia against its Western neighbors.
On the humanitarian front, the United Nations says 6.5 million people have been displaced within Ukraine and another 3.2 million have fled the country due to the war.
Here’s an update on day 25 of the war:
The city council of Mariupol, Ukraine, announced that thousands of Russian troops had forcibly removed thousands of people from the besieged city.
“In the past week, thousands of Mariupol residents have been transferred to Russian territory,” the committee said in a statement posted on the Telegram channel.
Ukraine has announced that at least 260 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed in fighting around the city of Kharkiv (northeast) since Russian troops invaded the country.
According to the Independent Information Service of Ukraine, the city is still under artillery fire.
Ukraine has announced the suspension of train traffic with neighboring Belarus, and Alexander Kameshin, general manager of Ukraine’s state railway company, said the country no longer has a rail connection with Belarus.
In a statement to local media, Kamesin called on his colleagues in Belarus not to use Belarusian railways to direct Russian military trains to Ukraine.
Ukrainian media reported that military equipment of the Russian army was transferred to a train station in the Gomel region of Belarus on the border with Ukraine.
The U.S. made an unofficial offer to Turkey to send a Russian-made S-400 missile defense system to Ukraine to help Ukraine fight Russian forces, three people familiar with the matter said.
U.S. officials presented the proposal to Turkish officials last month, sources told Archyde.com, without making specific or official requests.
The proposal was briefly discussed during a visit to Turkey by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman earlier this month, the sources added. Analysts expect Turkey to reject the U.S. proposal.