KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces renewed bombings in the brutalized city of Mariupol on Tuesday and pressed their assault on Ukraine’s eastern heartland, according to Ukrainian officials who described the death and destruction that ensued.
Small numbers of civilians managed to escape Mariupol and reach safety despite the new attacks, which probably doomed additional evacuations. Other evacuees were diverted to Russian-held territory, Ukraine said.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military said Tuesday that 12 attacks were repelled overnight in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two districts that make up the eastern industrial Donbas area. U.S. officials now say they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to annex large chunks of the Donbas region.
