Ukraine retakes key Kyiv suburb; battle for Mariupol rages

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By NEBI QENA and CARA ANNA

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said it retook a strategically important suburb of Kyiv early Tuesday, as Russian forces squeezed other areas near the capital and their attack on the embattled southern port of Mariupol raged unabated.

Explosions and bursts of gunfire shook Kyiv, and black smoke rose from a spot in the north. Intensified artillery fire could be heard from the northwest, where Russia has sought to encircle and capture several suburban areas of the capital, a crucial target.

Residents sheltered at home or underground under a 35-hour curfew imposed by authorities in the capital that runs to Wednesday morning.

Russian forces also pressed their siege of Mariupol after the southern port city’s defenders refused demands to surrender, with fleeing civilians describing relentless bombardments and corpses lying in the streets. But the Kremlin’s ground offensive in other parts of the country advanced slowly or not at all, knocked back by lethal hit-and-run attacks by the Ukrainians.



Slava Chikov, left, covers the shattered window of his living room with a plastic sheet in a building damaged by a bombing the previous day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-business-europe-58eb1948eae037b72218abca32131498

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[oldsoftie]

1. Sure would be nice if UKR could take out a ship off Mariupol

Among other things
But this is certainly good news for them as well as morale. And bad for the Russians.

[Warpy]

2. With rail supply from Belarus and Crimea disrupted

Russia's war is largely lost. All that is left is making big piles of rubble smaller and slaughtering anyone they find.

How long it takes for the Russian military command to admit they blew it and tell Putin his murderous fool's errand has failed is the only question left, that and a lot of table pounding by diplomats.

The Russians did accomplish one thing, they united a largely divided country. Any ethnic Russians left in eastern Ukraine are not going to want anything to do with the "motherland" now. The cost was appalling to both sides. I doubt the Kremlin will ever admit the true number of casualties on their side.