Ukraine girds for renewed Russian offensive on eastern front

Ukraine braced for a climactic battle for control over the besieged country’s industrial east as Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup

ANDRIIVKA, Ukraine -- Ukraine braced for a climactic battle for control of the besieged country's industrial east, as Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup and intensify their offensive across the Donbas region, where authorities urged people to evacuate before time runs out.

The mayor of the southern port city of Mariupol said Wednesday that more than 5,000 civilians had been killed there. Meanwhile, in areas north of the capital, Ukrainian officials gathered evidence of Russian atrocities amid telltale signs that Moscow’s troops killed people indiscriminately before retreating over the past several days.

In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the Russian military continued to build up its forces in preparation for a new offensive in the east, where the Kremlin has said its goal is to “liberate” the Donbas, Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland. But he said Ukraine, too, was preparing for battle.

“We will fight and we will not retreat,” he said. “We will seek all possible options to defend ourselves until Russia begins to seriously seek peace. This is our land. This is our future. And we won’t give them up.”