As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second week, Russian forces continue to advance on Ukrainian cities as the people of Ukraine offer significant resistance.
President Joe Biden, in coordination with a number of NATO nations and other allies, have implemented a comprehensive package of devastating sanctions on Russia for its invasion, which sent Russian currency plummeting and isolated the Kremlin from the rest of the world’s economy.
Overall death tolls in the conflict are unclear, but a senior Western intelligence official estimated on Tuesday that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or captured so far. Russia on Wednesday admitted for the first time it had suffered losses, but put the death toll much lower, saying nearly 500 had been killed and nearly 1,600 injured, per a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put the Russian death toll as high as 9,000 on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy, citing attacks on civilians, blasted Moscow’s actions as “frank, undisguised terror” and accused Russia of committing war crimes – a claim echoed by a number of other officials and world leaders, including United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday opened up an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Ukraine after receiving requests from 39 nations.
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