Russia’s president Vladimir Putin appeared at a massive rally in Moscow praising his troops fighting in Ukraine as the battle intensified at the centre of Mariupol city.
Students and employees of state-run institutions in many regions were reportedly ordered to attend rallies and concerts marking the eighth anniversary of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Putin made a rare public appearance since the beginning of the war, and praised the troops.
Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko told the BBC that the fighting has reached the city’s centre. Three weeks into the invasion, Russia has suffered heavy tolls on the battlefield.
British Chief of Defence Intelligence Lt Gen. Jim Hockenhull warned that Russia is shifting to a “strategy of attrition,” causing “indiscriminate use of firepower.”
Ukrainian officials said Friday that Russian forces are still trying to storm the southern port city of Mariupol which has lost its access to the Azov Sea. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces are creating a “humanitarian catastrophe” by blockading the largest cities to persuade Ukrainian citizens to cooperate.
