April 13 (Reuters) – Russia is beefing up its forces for a new assault on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, setting the stage for a protracted battle that is certain to inflict heavy losses on both sides as the Russians try to encircle Ukraine’s fighters.
FIGHTING
* Russia’s defence ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in the besieged port city of Mariupol. Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesman said he had no information on such a surrender.
* The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, said in televised remarks that more than 100,000 people remained in the city awaiting evacuation. He said earlier that some 21,000 civilian residents had been killed during the siege.
* At least seven people were killed and 22 wounded by shelling in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Kharkiv over the past 24 hours, Governor Oleh Synegubov said.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address to Estonia’s parliament that Russia was using phosphorous bombs in Ukraine, accusing Moscow of using terror tactics against civilians. He did not provide evidence and Reuters has not been able to independently verify his assertion.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – President Joe Biden said for the first time that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine amounts to genocide. Biden's comments come as an ally of President Vladimir Putin is apprehended in Ukraine https://t.co/UFOk95AW6Vpic.twitter.com/WKElguX36Q
* The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it is closely watching the war in Ukraine after an unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol.
* Russia said that claims by the United States and Ukraine that its forces could use chemical weapons were disinformation because Moscow destroyed its last chemical stockpiles in 2017.
DIPLOMACY
* U.S. President Biden said for the first time that Russia’s invasion amounts to genocide.
* Polish President Andrzej Duda and the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are on their way to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, an adviser to the Polish leader said.
⚡️ Macron refuses to call Russian atrocities 'genocide.'
French President Emmanuel Macron said: “I would be careful with such terms today because these two peoples (Russians and Ukrainians) are brothers.”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 13, 2022
* Russian President Vladimir Putin reappeared after a rare public silence to say the invasion was a “noble” cause and that peace talks had reached a dead end.
* Ukraine told Russia to release prisoners of war if it wants the Kremlin’s top political ally in the country freed from detention.
We understand what is at stake. Our actions must match this:
We need tough energy sanctions against Russia now. We cannot keep funding Russia's aggression. Need EU leaders' discussion ASAP. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/A0qqFqY701
* Russia can easily redirect exports of its vast energy resources away from the West to countries that really need them while increasing domestic consumption of oil, gas and coal, Putin said.
* Countries that are seeking advantage by failing to condemn Russia’s “heinous war” against Ukraine are being short-sighted and will face consequences if they undermine Western sanctions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
* Germany would face a sharp recession if gas supplies from Russia are suddenly cut off, the country’s leading economic institutes said, and the government said the war poses “substantial risks” for Europe’s largest economy.
* Russia’s economy is on track to contract by more than 10% in 2022, the biggest fall since after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, a former finance minister said.
QUOTES
* “The United States is ready to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian – that is the way it is.” – Putin
* “We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies (as genocide), but it sure seems that way to me.” – Biden
Nadiya, 65, shows a hole in a wall of a building after shelling in Zalissya village not far from Brovary, Kyiv’s area, Ukraine. EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
