Russia regroups for assault on Kyiv as it tightens grip on Mariupol | Financial Times

Russia is regrouping its forces for a renewed offensive on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian military officials, as it seeks to cut off the northern cities of Chernihiv and Sumy.

Russian forces also continued to tighten their grip around Mariupol, the port on the Sea of Azov in south-eastern Ukraine that has been subjected to fierce Russian artillery shelling for more than two weeks.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow, warning it would take Russia several generations to recover from its losses in the war.

The time has come to meet. The time has come to talk, Zelensky said in a video address to the nation. It is time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia s losses will be so great that it will take you several generation to recover.

With Russia s war in Ukraine in its fourth week, its offensive appears to have stalled on several fronts, slowed by logistical challenges, tactical missteps and intense Ukrainian resistance.

Though it has made some headway in the south, where it captured the port city of Kherson early on in the war, its advance has been halted on the approaches to Mykolaiv, a city on the Bug estuary that is a major shipbuilding centre and one of Ukraine s key transport hubs.

Russia has been forced to change its operational approach and is now pursuing a strategy of attrition , according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

This is likely to involve the indiscriminate use of firepower, resulting in increased civilian casualties, destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure and intensify the humanitarian crisis, the MoD said.

via www.ft.com

Very detailed map.