DNIPRO, Ukraine — Russia asserted Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian troops in Mariupol had surrendered, dealing what would be a heavy blow to defenders’ desperate efforts to hold the strategic southern port city. But the claim could not be verified, and Ukraine said the battle continued.
As a seventh week of warfare drew to a close, Russian artillery pounded cities and towns in preparation for what is expected to be an all-out offensive in the country’s eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas. Satellite imagery has shown a growing buildup of Russian troops and heavy equipment in at least three likely staging grounds for an assault.
Western military officials and analysts have predicted a ferocious new phase of combat when that offensive begins, but question whether Moscow’s military command can pivot away from previous strategic stumbles.
