Russia Uses Its Familiar Strategy in Urban Warfare

Surround the city while shelling it; Ukraine's Zelensky calls it a war crime
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 1, 2022 6:50 AM CST
Zelensky: It's a War Crime
In this handout photo released by Ukrainian Emergency Service, a burnt car is seen in front of a damaged City Hall building, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday.   (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Tuesday brings ominous developments in Ukraine, with a massive convoy of Russian tanks en route to the capital of Kyiv and continued shelling of the city of Kharkiv. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's bombing of civilian areas amounted to a war crime, reports the AP. “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," he said. "This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation." His allegation comes after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he would pursue an investigation, reports the New York Times. There's a “reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed," said Karim A. A. Khan.

  • Choked up: Zelensky addressed the European Union by video on Tuesday, and CNN reports that he caused his translator to choke up. "We are fighting just for our land and our freedom," Zelensky said. "We desire to see our children alive. I think it's a fair one." He received a standing ovation before and after the speech.
  • Surrounded: The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, tells the Washington Post that his city is already surrounded by Russian troops, though it remains under Ukrainian control. The approaching convoy of tanks, meanwhile, is expected to put a similar stranglehold in place around the capital of Kyiv.

  • Russia's strategy: An analysis by Steven Erlanger in the New York Times lays out the Russian strategy, one that has been used previously during urban warfare in Chechnya and Syria and one that has drawn allegations of wartime abuses: "Russian military doctrine toward taking cities is both grimly practical and deadly, favoring heavy artillery, missiles and bombs to terrify civilians and push them to flee, while killing defenders and destroying local infrastructure and communications before advancing on the ground."
(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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