Russia pressed its new offensive in eastern Ukraine while in the port city of Mariupol, teams of volunteers collected corpses from the ruins after Moscow declared victory there despite Ukrainian forces holding out.
A Russian general declared on Friday that Moscow wants to seize all of southern and eastern Ukraine, far wider war aims than it had acknowledged as it presses on with a new offensive after its campaign to capture the capital Kyiv collapsed last month.
Ukraine said the comments by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia's central military district, had given the lie to Russia's previous assertions that it has no territorial ambitions.
"They stopped hiding it," Ukraine's defence ministry said on Twitter. Russia had "acknowledged that the goal of the 'second phase' of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is."
Minnekayev was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying Moscow aimed to seize the entire eastern Donbas region, link up with the Crimea peninsula, and capture Ukraine's entire south as far as a breakaway, Russian-occupied region of Moldova.
That would mean pushing hundreds of miles beyond current lines, past the major Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa.
Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces had increased attacks along the whole frontline in the east and were trying to mount an offensive in the Kharkiv region, north of Russia's main target, the Donbas.
In Kharkiv city, Russian shellfire hit the main Barabashovo market. Ambulance services said there had been casualties but no details were available yet. A wedding hall and a residential building were also struck.
They are not going to stop. The command of the russian central military district announced the next victim of the russian aggression. After gaining control over the southern Ukraine, russia plans to invade Moldova, where they say russian speakers are being “oppressed.”
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 22, 2022
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In Geneva, the United Nations human rights office said there was growing evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including indiscriminate shelling and summary executions, that had caused many civilian casualities. It said Ukraine also appeared to have used weapons with indiscriminate effects.
Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces had increased attacks along the whole frontline in the east of the country and were trying to mount an offensive in the Kharkiv region, north of Russia's main target, the Donbas.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces control most of Mariupol but Ukrainian troops remain in a part of it. About 120,000 civilians were blocked from leaving, he said.
The mayor of Mariupol appealed for the "full evacuation" of the city.
British military intelligence said a full Russian assault on the plant would likely mean heavy Russian casualties and Putin's decision to blockade it would free up forces for elsewhere in the east.
Heavy shelling continued in the eastern Donbas as Russia tried to advance towards settlements, the British Ministry of Defence said.
