NATO sees rising toll for Russia

Troop deaths said to be as high as 15,000

A firefighter sprays water inside a house destroyed by shelling Wednesday in Kyiv, Ukraine. The city has been shaken by near-constant shelling and gunfire as sides battle for control of multiple suburbs.
(AP/Vadim Ghirda)
A firefighter sprays water inside a house destroyed by shelling Wednesday in Kyiv, Ukraine. The city has been shaken by near-constant shelling and gunfire as sides battle for control of multiple suburbs. (AP/Vadim Ghirda)


KYIV, Ukraine -- NATO estimated Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine.

By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years of conflict in Afghanistan, mostly during the 1980s.

A senior NATO military official said the alliance's estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ukraine has released little information about its own military losses, but President Volodymr Zelenskyy said nearly two weeks ago that about 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed.

Russia began its invasion Feb. 24 with Europe's biggest offensive since World War II. But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Moscow is bogged down in a grinding military campaign.

Zelenskyy pleaded for people around the world to gather in public today to show support for Ukraine, saying the war breaks the heart of "every free person on the planet."

"Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard," Zelenskyy said in a video near the presidential offices in Kyiv. "Say that people matter. Freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters."

With its ground forces slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units armed with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops are bombarding targets from afar.

A senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday that Russian ground forces appear to be digging in and setting up defensive positions 9 to 12 miles outside Kyiv as they make little to no progress toward the city center.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it appears the forces are no longer trying to advance into the city, adding that in some areas east of Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian soldiers farther away.

Instead, Russian troops appear to be prioritizing the fight in the Donbas region, specifically in Luhansk and Donetsk, in what could be an effort to cut off Ukrainian troops and prevent them from moving west to defend other cities, the official said. The U.S. also has seen activity from Russian ships in the Sea of Azov, including what appear to be efforts to send landing ships ashore with supplies, including vehicles, the official said.

In a sign that Moscow might consider using nuclear weapons, a senior Russian official said the country's nuclear arsenal would help deter the West from intervening in Ukraine.

"The Russian Federation is capable of physically destroying any aggressor or any aggressor group within minutes at any distance," said Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the state aerospace corporation, Roscosmos. He noted that Russia's nuclear stockpiles include tactical nuclear weapons, designed for use on battlefields, along with far more powerful nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles. Roscosmos oversees missile-building facilities.

U.S. officials have warned that Russia's military doctrine envisages an "escalate to deescalate" option of using battlefield nuclear weapons to force the enemy to back down in a situation when Russian forces face imminent defeat. Russia has denied having such plans.

Rogozin did not make clear what actions by the West would be seen as meddling. Putin has warned the West that an attempt to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine would draw it into a conflict with Russia, though Western nations have said they would not create a no-fly zone to protect Ukraine.

On the eve of a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, European Union nations signed off on another $550 million in military aid for Ukraine.

Addressing Japan's parliament, Zelenskyy said thousands of his people have been killed, including at least 121 children.

"Our people cannot even adequately bury their murdered relatives, friends and neighbors. They have to be buried right in the yards of destroyed buildings, next to the roads," he said.

The capital, Kyiv, has been bombarded repeatedly but is not even encircled.

Near-constant shelling and gunfire shook the city Wednesday, with air raid sirens wailing and plumes of black smoke rising from the western outskirts, where the two sides battled for control of multiple suburbs. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 264 civilians have been killed in the capital since the war broke out.

The shelling also claimed the life of another journalist Wednesday. The independent Russian news outlet The Insider said Russian journalist Oksana Baulina had been killed in a Kyiv neighborhood.

In the south, the encircled port city of Mariupol has seen the worst devastation of the war, enduring weeks of bombardment and, now, street-by-street fighting. But Ukrainian forces have prevented its fall.

Zelenskyy said 100,000 civilians remain in the city, which had 430,000 people before the war.

Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of seizing a humanitarian convoy. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russians were holding captive 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers along with their vehicles.

In their most recent update, over a week ago, Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people had died, but the true toll is probably much higher. Airstrikes in the past week destroyed a theater and an art school where civilians were sheltering.

In the besieged northern city of Chernihiv, Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge that was used for aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, regional Gov. Viacheslav Chaus said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted the military operation is going "strictly in accordance" with plans.

Ukraine claims to have killed six Russian generals. Russia acknowledges just one dead general.

The figures from NATO represent the alliance's first public estimate of Russian casualties since the war began. The U.S. government has largely declined to provide estimates of Russian or Ukrainian casualties, saying available information is of questionable reliability.

WAR CRIMES

Meanwhile, the Biden administration on Wednesday made a formal determination that Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine and will work with others to prosecute offenders, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

"Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine," Blinken said in a statement.

The assessment was based on a "careful review" of public and intelligence sources since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, he said.

America's top diplomat said the United States would share that information with allies, partners and international institutions tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"We've seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities. Russia's forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centers, and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded," Blinken said.

Neither Russia nor the U.S. recognizes the authority of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, presenting difficulties for seeking accountability for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The U.S. could still assist a prosecution before the court, which earlier opened an investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine, by helping to gather evidence against Russian forces in Ukraine.

War crimes experts have suggested that Russian forces and government officials could also be prosecuted in countries such as Spain and Germany, where legal codes recognize universal jurisdiction, or that the U.S. could bring criminal charges.

Under U.S. law, an American citizen would have to be among the victims for charges to brought.

Two Democratic members of Congress urged Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday to open an investigation into war crimes for the deaths of two Americans in Ukraine -- Jimmy Hill and journalist Brent Renaud.

"Both Mr. Renaud and Mr. Hill were non-combatants who were not taking any active part in the hostilities, wrote Reps. Ted Lieu and Eric Swalwell, both from California.

U.N. EFFORTS

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday defeated a Russian resolution that acknowledged Ukraine's growing humanitarian needs -- but didn't mention the Russian invasion that caused the escalating crisis that has left millions of Ukrainians in desperate need of food, water and shelter.

To be adopted, Russia needed a minimum of nine "yes" votes in the 15-member Security Council and no veto by one of the four other permanent members -- the U.S., Britain, France and China. But Russia received support only from its ally China, with the 13 other council members abstaining.

The Russian defeat came on the same day the General Assembly started consideration of a resolution drafted by Ukraine and two dozen other countries from all parts of the world and co-sponsored by nearly 100 nations, which states that Russia's aggression is responsible for the growing humanitarian emergency.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told the council before the vote that its resolution "is not politicized," just like other Security Council humanitarian resolutions, and he rejected a U.S. claim that his country had no right to submit such a resolution. He said the Russian draft would be "an important practical step and an important framework for humanitarian workers' efforts."

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield countered that Russia was "attempting to use this council to provide cover for its brutal actions."

"It really is unconscionable that Russia would have the audacity to put forward a resolution asking the international community to solve a humanitarian crisis that Russia alone created," she said. "Russia does not care about the deteriorating humanitarian conditions. ... If they cared, they would stop fighting. Russia is the aggressor, the attacker, the invader, the sole party in Ukraine engaged in a campaign of brutality against the people of Ukraine, and they want us to pass a resolution that does not acknowledge their culpability."

Russia introduced its resolution March 15. A day earlier, France and Mexico decided to move their proposed humanitarian resolution -- blaming the Russian invasion for the humanitarian crisis -- out of the Security Council, where it faced a Russian veto. There are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly.

Earlier Wednesday, Nebenzia told the assembly that by considering the Ukraine-backed French-Mexican resolution, it was engaging in "another political anti-Russian show, set this time in an allegedly humanitarian context." He urged assembly members to vote against the Ukrainian-backed measure.

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged all nations that stand against Russia's war on his country to vote for a U.N. resolution on the humanitarian consequences of its aggression, saying this would send a powerful message aimed at helping people caught in the conflict and ending Moscow's military action.

Kyslytsya said the Ukraine-backed assembly resolution focuses on the need to alleviate suffering and on "immediate cessation of hostilities by the Russian Federation."

"The intention of the initiators and cosponsors of the draft resolution is to ensure the words are translated into prompt actions on the ground," he said. "It will be critical to prevent the spillover effect for the entire world," which is why the text mentions the conflict's impact on food and energy security, especially for the world's least-developed countries.

Nebenzia warned that adoption of that draft "will make a resolution to the situation in Ukraine more difficult." That's because it will likely embolden Ukrainian negotiators and "nudge them to maintaining the current unrealistic position, which is not related to the situation on the ground, nor to the need to tackle the root causes" of Russia's military action, he said.

The Ukraine-backed draft reiterates the demand of a March 2 resolution adopted by the assembly that Russia immediately stop its military offensive in Ukraine and withdraw all its troops, and it demands protection for all civilians and infrastructure indispensable to their survival.

The draft deplores the "dire humanitarian consequences" of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which it says "are on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in decades."

Russia's defeated resolution called for protection of civilians "in vulnerable situations" in Ukraine and safe passage for humanitarian aid and people seeking to leave the country, but it never mentioned the war.

It endorsed the U.N. chief's call for dialogue and negotiations and urged a negotiated cease-fire to rapidly evacuate "all civilians." It also stressed "the need for the parties concerned to agree on humanitarian pauses to this end," while never identifying "the parties concerned."

Information for this article was contributed by Edith Mr. Lederer, Jennifer Peltz, Matthew Lee, Ben Fox, Robert Burns, Yuras Karmanau and staff members of The Associated Press.

  photo  A man helps a disable elderly Ukrainian to embark a train as a children waves at the train station in Odesa, southern Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. The United Nations says more than 3.5 million people — mainly women and children — have fled Ukraine in the four weeks since Russian tanks rolled across the border and Moscow began bombarding towns and cities. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
 
 
  photo  A man lights a candle in an artist's co-living studio space that is used as a bomb shelter and a place to help the Territorial Defense Units, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
 
 
  photo  A serviceman carries the photo of Capt. Andrei Paliy, a deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, during a farewell ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Paliy was killed in action during fighting with Ukrainian forces in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol. (AP Photo)
 
 
  photo  A customer checks his rifle in a gun shop in Lviv, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. The rush for guns and gun training continued in the western city of Lviv. The state of war has streamlined gun purchasing in Ukraine, now simplified. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
 
 
  photo  Municipal workers cover the statue of Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri with sandbags to protect it from potential damage from shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. The statue, by sculptor Luciano Massari, was inaugurated in 2015 to mark 750 years since Dante's birth. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
 
 
  photo  A woman cleans the staircase of broken glass at an apartment building damaged by bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine,Wednesday, March 23, 2022. The Kyiv city administration says Russian forces shelled the Ukrainian capital overnight and early Wednesday morning, in the districts of Sviatoshynskyi and Shevchenkivskyi, damaging buildings.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
 
 
  photo  A Ukrainian serviceman guards the area as Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, right, speaks during a press conference next to his brother, former heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko, in Kyiv, Ukraine,Wednesday, March 23, 2022. From a public park in the city, Klitschko said 264 civilians had so far died from Russian bombardment on the capital, including four children. As he spoke to reporters, explosions and loud gunfire echoed across the city. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
 
 


  photo  Volodymyr, 80, sits amid broken glass and other debris in his apartment Wednesday in Kyiv, Ukraine, after it was damaged by Russian shelling. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)
 
 


  photo  Volunteers gather at a beach Wednesday in Odesa in southern Ukraine to fill sandbags to aid in the defense of their city. Western officials say that Ukrainian resistance has halted much of Russia’s advance. (AP/Petros Giannakouris)
 
 



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