From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Nearly 100 days into Russia’s war in Ukraine, during which Ukraine’s army has surpassed expectations and repelled its much larger foe out of major cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russia now occupied one-fifth of the country — roughly the size of the Netherlands. Zelensky also accused Russia of forcibly deporting more than 200,000 Ukrainian children.
Ukrainian forces have struggled to hold on to territory along the war’s eastern front. Western officials are hoping that sophisticated and powerful weapons from the U.S. and Germany could soon offer the Ukrainians a boost.
For now, Russia’s main military effort is to capture Sievierodonetsk, the last major city in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine that is not in Russian hands. A Ukraininan regional official said troops had pushed Russian soldiers back several blocks in street battles but the majority of the city remained under Russian control.
American predicament: The U.S. has long supplied technology and munitions to the rest of the world, leading to an unfortunate contradiction: The tools that Russian forces are using to wage war are often powered by American innovation. But under sanctions, Russia is struggling to replace its weapons.
Collateral damage: The sudden and mysterious death of thousands of dolphins is raising alarm among some scientists that the war may be harming life in the Black Sea.
