Ukraine armed forces gear up for Russian attack in east and south

KYIV/MOSCOW • Ukraine's armed forces braced themselves yesterday for a new Russian offensive as powerful explosions rocked cities in the south and east, while Austria's leader met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to call for an end to the conflict.

The meeting between Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Mr Putin was the first face-to-face meeting between Mr Putin and a European Union leader since Russia's Feb 24 invasion of Ukraine.

"This is not a friendly meeting," Mr Nehammer was cited as saying in a statement issued by his office, reiterating that he had hoped to help bring an end to the war or improve conditions for civilians.

"The conversation with President Putin was very direct, open and tough."

Ukraine's defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a briefing in Kviv yesterday that Russia is expected to launch a major offensive in the east soon. "The enemy has almost finished preparation for assault on the east, the attack will begin soon," he said. "We don't know precisely when, but the preparation is almost over."

After rebuffing a Russian offensive on Kyiv, Ukraine has for days said a renewed Moscow attack on its south and east is looming.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is gathering together tens of thousands of soldiers as it plans to concentrate its assault on Ukraine's east.

The Russian invasion has forced about a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes, turned cities into rubble and killed or injured thousands.

Russia has failed to take any major cities, but Ukraine says Moscow has been gathering its forces for a major offensive and has urged people to flee.

Analysts also predict Russian troops will carry out a major offensive from Izium to the central city of Dnipro, a strategic target in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region. Local officials in the city of Dnipro say an airport there has been destroyed by Russian missiles.

Izium is also being used as a staging ground for an attack on Sloviansk, a city that is strategically critical in Russia's effort to capture the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the New York Times reported.

The assessment came as satellite images showed hundreds of military vehicles moving through the eastern town of Velykyi Burluk last Friday. Axios news site reported that the convoy stretched at least 12km long and consisted of hundreds of armoured vehicles and trucks carrying artillery and support equipment.

"We've been talking now for days and days about how Izium was so important to them because it lies almost in the middle of the Donbass region, to the west of it," a Pentagon official said last Friday.

Over in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian forces are preparing for a "last battle", having been besieged by Russians since the invasion, marines in the city said yesterday. "Today will probably be the last battle, as the ammunition is running out," the 36th marine brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces said on Facebook.

"It's death for some of us, and captivity for the rest."

The marines said they had been "pushed back" and "surrounded" by the Russian army. The brigade had been defending the port for 47 days and "did everything possible and impossible" to retain control of the city.

Mr Zelensky told the South Korean Parliament yesterday that tens of thousands of people may have died in Mariupol so far.

Pope Francis on Sunday called for an Easter truce in Ukraine and condemned the "folly of war" as he led Palm Sunday services in St Peter's Square before an audience of tens of thousands of people. In an apparent reference to Russia, he said: "What kind of victory would be one that plants a flag on a heap of rubble?"

Separately, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said 4,547,735 Ukrainians had fled the country since the Russian invasion on Feb 24 - a figure that is up 44,781 on Sunday's update. It is Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.

Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were slated to hold a virtual summit yesterday, clouded by Washington's frustration over New Delhi's neutral stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES, REUTERS