By Canadian Press

Russia-Ukraine war: Key things to know about the conflict

Mar 18, 2022 | 8:08 AM

Russian forces are striking Ukrainian cities from a distance again, pounding the capital of Kyiv and the country’s west as their ground offensive inches forward in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.

The war, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is now in its fourth week. Russian troops have failed to take Kyiv — a major objective in their hopes of forcing a settlement or dictating Ukraine’s future political alignments — but have wreaked havoc and devastation.

The fighting has led more than 3 million people to flee Ukraine. The death toll remains unknown, though Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.

Here are some key things to know about the conflict:

WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?

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On Friday, missiles and shelling struck the edges of Kyiv as well as the western city of Lviv, close to Ukraine’s border with NATO countries such as Poland. The Ukrainian air force’s western command said that six missiles were launched at Lviv from the Black Sea, but that two of them were shot down.

The city’s mayor said the missiles hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near Lviv’s international airport, also damaging a bus repair facility. No casualties were immediately reported. The facility had suspended work ahead of the attack, the mayor said on the Telegram messaging app.

Early morning barrages also hit a residential building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person, according to emergency services, who said 98 people were evacuated from the building. Kyiv’s mayor said 19 were wounded in the shelling, just north of downtown Kyiv.

Two other people were killed when strikes hit residential and administrative buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, according to the regional governor.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE PORT CITY OF MARIUPOL?

The besieged southern city of Mariupol has borne much of the bombardment. There, rescuers continued to search for survivors of a Russian airstrike on a theater Wednesday where hundreds of people were sheltering. Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner said Friday that 130 people had survived but that hundreds remain unaccounted for.

Video and photos provided by the Ukrainian military showed that the theater building had been reduced to a roofless shell, with some exterior walls collapsed. Petro Andrushchenko, an official with the mayor’s office, said the building had a relatively modern basement bomb shelter designed to withstand airstrikes.

Russia’s military denied bombing the theater or anyplace else in Mariupol on Wednesday.

WHAT IS THE CIVILIAN TOLL OF THE WAR SO FAR?

Civilian casualties have been mounting. The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has recorded a total of 816 civilians killed and 1,333 injured since the fighting began on Feb. 24, though it only reports counts that it can verify and believes the figures vastly understate the actual toll.

The United Nations says most of the civilian casualties were due to explosive weapons with a wide impact area, such as heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems as well as missile and air strikes. Ukrainian officials say thousands of civilians have been killed.

The World Health Organization has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the United Nations Security Council in a virtual briefing Thursday.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that Russia’s invasion “has largely stalled on all fronts” amid stiff Ukrainian resistance. It said Russian forces have made “minimal progress” on land, sea or air in recent days, and are suffering heavy losses.

Ukrainian forces are using inexpensive Turkish-made drones to carry out lethal attacks on the Russian invaders.

WHAT HAS THE AP DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED?

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, AP journalists are relaying images of destruction, distress, and defiance from across the country.

A soldier standing guard near the site of the strike in Lviv said he heard three blasts in quick succession around 6 a.m. He said he had not heard of any casualties. A nearby resident described his building vibrating from the explosions and people panicking. Smoke continued to rise from the site almost three hours later.

The attacks in Mariupol knocked out the windows of apartment buildings and sent smoke rising above the skyline. Cars, some with the “Z” symbol of the Russian invasion force in their windows, drove past stacks of ammunition boxes and artillery shells in a neighborhood controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, doctors are struggling to treat COVID-19 patients as the bombs fall outside. Several times a day, air raid sirens wail at a local hospital, sending virus patients — some connected to ventilators and struggling to breathe — into bomb shelters.

HOW IS THE WORLD RESPONDING TO THE WAR?

The United States and its allies have put a slew of sanctions in place aimed at crippling the Russian economy. Hundreds of international companies have announced that they are curtailing operations in Russia, and those who remain are under pressure to pull out.

On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock indicated that her country should consider imposing an oil embargo on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. She said it was important to take a stance and not remain silent due to economic or energy dependency.

Film icon Arnold Schwarzenegger told Russians in a video posted on social media Thursday they’re being lied to about the war in Ukraine. He also accused Putin of sacrificing Russian soldiers’ lives for his own ambitions.

Schwarzenegger posted his video on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. While some of those services are blocked in Russia, he also posted it on the Telegram messaging app — which is not — where it got more than a half-million views. It was subtitled in Russian.

And in just the latest measure against Moscow, Britain’s communications regulator, Ofcom, revoked the license of the state-funded Russian broadcaster RT on Friday amid concern its coverage of the war in Ukraine was biased.

WHAT ARE WORLD LEADERS DOING?

President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are scheduled to speak by phone on Friday. Biden also plans to travel to Europe next week for talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion, and will attend an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels. NATO has been bolstering its eastern flank with troops and equipment to deter Russia from invading any of its members.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said American officials are evaluating and documenting potential war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. Blinken said the intentional targeting of civilians is a war crime, for which there will be “massive consequences.”

WHAT IS RUSSIA’S PUTIN SAYING?

On Friday, Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally in Moscow and praised his country’s troops as they press their onslaught in Ukraine.

Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium for the rally and concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, seized from Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Putin likened opponents to “gnats” who try to weaken Russia at the behest of the West — crude remarks that set the stage for sweeping repressions at home against those who dare to speak out against the war in Ukraine.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war between Russia and Ukraine: http://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The Associated Press