LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities say Russia’s military bombed an art school sheltering some 400 people in the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Heavy fighting is underway weeks into a crippling Russian siege. The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces across southern and eastern Ukraine to link up.
But Western military analysts say that even if the surrounded city is taken, the troops battling for control there may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.
Three weeks into the invasion, many see the conflict shifting to a war of attrition, with bogged down Russian forces launching long-range rockets as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks. Analysts warn a stalemate could prove even deadlier.
