Russia intensifies siege on key Ukrainian cities

Russia intensifies its offensive on Ukraine on Wednesday as it enters the first week of its invasion. Seven days at war. Faced with the initial failure of the operation, the Russian army moved on to the siege of the country's key enclaves, stepping up air attacks on the cities of Mariupol, Kherson, Kharkov and the capital, Kiev. The attacks have claimed the lives of at least 2,000 civilians and displaced some 900,000 people.

The port city of Mariupol, bathed by the Sea of Azov and close to the Donbass, is resisting the heavy siege and continuous shelling, although it could fall into Russian hands in the coming hours. This is a crucial enclave that would allow Moscow to establish a corridor between the regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists and the Crimean peninsula, thus encircling Ukrainian forces.

Kherson, close to the Crimean peninsula and Odessa, is also reportedly close to being occupied by Russian troops after suffering a battery of air strikes against civilian targets. Meanwhile, in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkov, Ukrainian forces are resisting indiscriminate shelling by the Russian army, which yesterday claimed the lives of seven civilians in an attack on the governor's building.

Despite strong resistance, the scenario in Kiev does not look any more favourable. The bombing of the TV and radio tower, which killed five people and also hit Babi Yar, the memorial to Holocaust victims commemorating the more than 33,000 Jewish victims murdered by the Nazis in 1941, has been followed by a new wave of devastating air strikes.

The situation in the capital is worsening as a 60-kilometre Russian military convoy approaches from the north. A lack of fuel and supplies has reportedly delayed the operation, which was intended to launch a ground incursion into the country's nerve centre. Meanwhile, in several villages, human chains have been seen holding back, or attempting to hold back, the arrival of Russian troops.

Negotiations are expected to resume on Wednesday in the Belarusian town of Gomel, near the Ukrainian border. The Ukrainian and Russian delegations held their first talks since the invasion began on Monday, but no significant progress was made. The meeting would have served to gauge positions and take the pulse of the negotiators, who see how any slight change in territorial control would upset any dialogue table.

The lack of understanding between the parties led to the return of the respective negotiating teams to the capitals for the traditional consultations. The positions seem clear: the Kremlin's maxim is to force Ukraine to renounce NATO membership and neutralise the country, while Kiev demands an end to the aggression in order to begin discussions, but maintains the defence of its sovereignty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems ready to seize the country's most important cities and count on them as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table. The fall of Kiev would be a turning point, as would the continuity of the current government led by Volodymir Zelensky, playing the role of statesman. The Ukrainian president does not seem ready to leave the country either, and his presence is encouraging the Ukrainian resistance.

Putin wants to achieve all his objectives, which for the time being include "denazifying" and "demilitarising" Ukraine, which is interpreted as removing the executive and replacing it with a puppet government, in line with Moscow's dictates, as well as reducing the country's defence capabilities. Zelenski, however, considers it necessary to put an end to the incessant aggression in order to negotiate. A dialogue from the outset in which Kiev would not accept any of Russia's demands.

The majority foreign backing received by Ukraine, with Brussels and Washington as promoters of retaliation against Russia, has raised hackles in Putin's inner circle, which did not expect the powerful reaction from the West. The economic asphyxiation to which he is being subjected, and the international pariah status contracted this Wednesday at the UN General Assembly, where he was almost unanimously condemned for his aggression, have pushed Moscow into a corner.

Statements by veteran Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggest as much: "World War III would be nuclear and devastating. US President Biden, an experienced man, had commented that the alternative to war is only sanctions'. Lavrov has thus threatened to deploy a nuclear strike should Washington opt for an intervention other than sanctions. A scenario where mutually assured destruction would devastate the planet.