Zürcher Nachrichten - Russia closes on Mariupol as US warns of chemical threat

EUR -
AED 4.02547
AFN 78.958383
ALL 99.102869
AMD 431.181955
ANG 1.961978
AOA 1003.890567
ARS 1184.765046
AUD 1.813586
AWG 1.97271
AZN 1.867466
BAM 1.955265
BBD 2.22659
BDT 133.983319
BGN 1.957778
BHD 0.412787
BIF 3277.602688
BMD 1.09595
BND 1.474296
BOB 7.619914
BRL 6.405394
BSD 1.102698
BTN 94.079244
BWP 15.358795
BYN 3.608812
BYR 21480.619234
BZD 2.215094
CAD 1.559263
CDF 3148.664634
CHF 0.944431
CLF 0.02729
CLP 1047.223301
CNY 7.980215
CNH 7.994999
COP 4582.945323
CRC 557.847278
CUC 1.09595
CUP 29.042674
CVE 110.234821
CZK 25.256829
DJF 196.376238
DKK 7.461451
DOP 69.640934
DZD 146.03502
EGP 55.406831
ERN 16.439249
ETB 145.347308
FJD 2.537019
FKP 0.847795
GBP 0.850992
GEL 3.01429
GGP 0.847795
GHS 17.092321
GIP 0.847795
GMD 78.364643
GNF 9543.387299
GTQ 8.51067
GYD 230.706839
HKD 8.520518
HNL 28.214276
HRK 7.531044
HTG 144.290497
HUF 405.95125
IDR 18351.682095
ILS 4.102536
IMP 0.847795
INR 93.739724
IQD 1444.604509
IRR 46139.49374
ISK 144.852129
JEP 0.847795
JMD 173.912388
JOD 0.776923
JPY 161.033451
KES 142.530979
KGS 95.094267
KHR 4414.791359
KMF 493.729615
KPW 986.361205
KRW 1599.550347
KWD 0.337323
KYD 0.918948
KZT 559.11693
LAK 23885.460858
LBP 98806.249733
LKR 326.960488
LRD 220.54962
LSL 21.028443
LTL 3.236056
LVL 0.66293
LYD 5.33354
MAD 10.502325
MDL 19.485665
MGA 5113.600046
MKD 61.518158
MMK 2300.919896
MNT 3846.361639
MOP 8.828083
MRU 43.97796
MUR 48.956499
MVR 16.881727
MWK 1912.176502
MXN 22.397605
MYR 4.862772
MZN 70.042575
NAD 21.028443
NGN 1679.894432
NIO 40.578891
NOK 11.801632
NPR 150.52679
NZD 1.958628
OMR 0.421635
PAB 1.102798
PEN 4.052091
PGK 4.551754
PHP 62.891131
PKR 309.568949
PLN 4.273706
PYG 8840.579707
QAR 4.019799
RON 4.977847
RSD 117.117937
RUB 92.974546
RWF 1589.164933
SAR 4.112539
SBD 9.114284
SCR 15.716697
SDG 658.12198
SEK 10.951065
SGD 1.474715
SHP 0.861245
SLE 24.933268
SLL 22981.523891
SOS 630.227462
SRD 40.162734
STD 22683.951476
SVC 9.649358
SYP 14249.994157
SZL 21.036241
THB 37.713872
TJS 12.003414
TMT 3.835825
TND 3.376876
TOP 2.566829
TRY 41.607525
TTD 7.469955
TWD 36.360884
TZS 2949.992378
UAH 45.388374
UGX 4030.896458
USD 1.09595
UYU 46.647229
UZS 14248.099286
VES 76.89351
VND 28280.988741
VUV 134.896075
WST 3.078778
XAF 655.777467
XAG 0.037037
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.96186
XDR 0.815577
XOF 655.777467
XPF 119.331742
YER 269.220506
ZAR 20.960317
ZMK 9864.868719
ZMW 30.57363
ZWL 352.89544
  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

Russia closes on Mariupol as US warns of chemical threat
Russia closes on Mariupol as US warns of chemical threat / Photo: Alexander NEMENOV - AFP

Russia closes on Mariupol as US warns of chemical threat

Russian troops intensified their campaign to take the port city of Mariupol on Tuesday as part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine that the United States warned might include the use of chemical weapons.

Text size:

Moscow is believed to be trying to connect occupied Crimea with Russian-backed separatist territories Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas, and has laid siege to the strategically located city, once home to more than 400,000 people.

Reports emerged on Monday from Ukraine's Azov battalion that a Russian drone had dropped a "poisonous substance" in the area, with people experiencing respiratory failure and neurological problems.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was unable to confirm the allegations, but that Washington had "credible information" Russia might use tear gas mixed with chemical agents in the besieged port.

The United States sounded the alarm as civilians were struggling to flee, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemning alleged mass rapes in areas previously occupied by Russian troops.

The last time chemical weapons were unleashed during a conflict was in Syria where a civil war erupted in 2011 as rebels sought to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

The world's chemical weapons watchdog said it was "concerned" by the unconfirmed reports coming from Mariupol, and was "monitoring closely."

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the use of such weapons by Moscow would "elicit a response not just from the United States, but from the international community," without elaborating.

"We have had justified reason to be concerned... that this could be a tactic they might employ, which is to try to mask a potential more serious chemical attack with the riot control agents," he told reporters.

As the fighting dragged toward its seventh week, the Ukrainian army fought desperately to defend Mariupol against the Russian offensive.

- 'They will remember' -

AFP journalists in Mariupol, as part of a Russian military embed, witnessed the charred remains of the city, including the theatre where 300 people were feared killed in Russian bombardment last month.

In his nightly address, Zelensky said he believed Russia had killed "at least tens of thousands of people" in the city.

With little hope of a quick end to fighting, President Vladimir Putin pledged Moscow would proceed on its own timetable, rebuffing repeated international calls for a ceasefire.

"Our task is to fulfil and achieve all the goals set, minimising losses. And we will act rhythmically, calmly, according to the plan originally proposed by the General Staff," Putin told a news conference with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

He dismissed as "fake" claims that hundreds of civilians were killed in the town of Bucha outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv after the withdrawal of Moscow's forces.

Images taken by journalists on the ground, including AFP reporters, of bodies littering the streets of Bucha sparked worldwide outrage and calls for an investigation into possible war crimes.

Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said more than 400 people had been found dead and 25 women reported being raped, as the town prepares for the return of residents who fled the fighting.

"What people will find in their homes is shocking, and they will remember the Russian occupiers for a very long time," he said.

- 'Devil incarnate' -

Heavy bombardment continued in the east as civilians were urged to flee ahead of an expected Russian troop surge around the Donbas region, notably near the town of Izyum.

"What we are doing is helping people -- rescuing them on the one hand and on the other taking measures to assure Russia's security," Putin said.

In the war-torn eastern town of Volnovakha, now under Moscow's control, a school reopened with children listening to a recording of the Russian anthem, watched by armed soldiers.

After two weeks of bombardment, many houses, shops and public buildings are now semi-ruined, windowless or burnt out.

A steady stream of residents fled by bus and train from Kramatorsk -- the Ukrainian military's main hub for its operations in the east -- and neighbouring Sloviansk as fears grew that the cities would be key targets.

"What is happening is inhuman, (Putin) is a fascist. I don't know what to call him -- a devil incarnate," said 82-year-old Valentina Oleynikova, who was fleeing Kramatorsk with her husband.

Meanwhile, the toll on towns previously occupied by Russian forces during their month-long offensive to take Kyiv is still coming to light.

Ukrainian prosecutors said six people had been found shot dead in the basement of a building outside the capital, the latest discovery fuelling allegations of Russian atrocities.

- 'We have nothing' -

UN officials called for a probe into repeated accounts of rapes and sexual assaults against women that have angered Zelensky.

"Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including those of young girls and very young children. Even of a baby!" the Ukrainian leader told Lithuanian lawmakers via video link.

More than 4.6 million Ukrainian refugees have now fled the country, the UN refugee agency said -- 90 percent of them women and children.

The war has displaced more than 10 million people overall.

Her husband, who is waiting to be called up to the army, stood by her side.

"We left everything at home," said the 35-year-old travel agent, who drove with her husband all the way from Mykolaiv to escape Russian shelling.

"We have nothing."

M.J.Baumann--NZN