April 12, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian Marines in the besieged port city of Mariupol said they are "holding out to the end" despite being surrounded by Russian forces and running low on supplies.  

"We are the defenders of Mariupol, the 36th Marine Brigade, which is holding the defense of this city to the last," one of the marines said in a video on Facebook.

Independent analysis of the situation in Mariupol on Sunday published by the Institute for the Study of War assessed that the defense of Mariupol had reached a critical stage. 

"Russian forces bisected Mariupol from the city center to the coast on April 10, isolating the remaining Ukrainian defenders in two main locations: The main port of Mariupol in the southwest and the Azovstal steel plant in the east," the analysis stated.

CNN cannot independently verify the situation on the ground in the areas of heaviest fighting in Mariupol. The city, which has been battered by weeks of relentless bombardment, has become a symbol of Ukrainian resolve in the war against Russia. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said "tens of thousands" have died in Mariupol, a figure that cannot be independently verified.

Ukrainian officials have reported further shelling by Russian forces and civilian casualties in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which have become the focus of Russian attacks.

Serhii Haidai, head of Luhansk regional military administration, said the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Kreminna, Novodruzhesk and Rubizhne had been targeted again, with 12 residential buildings struck in the last day.

"Unfortunately, there were casualties in Lysychansk -- one man died, three more people were injured," Haida said. "The number of missile and air attacks on the Luhansk region has increased significantly.

"It is most difficult to evacuate people from the cities of Popasna and Rubizhne," he said, as they were partially occupied by Russian forces. "Our troops repel constant attacks. We can't go to certain areas of cities and pick up people due to constant shelling."

"In the cities of Kreminna, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk evacuation takes place daily," Haidai said, adding it can sometimes be as many as 2,000 people.

He said that hospitals are still operating in Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.

Haidai said that heavy rains could impede Russian efforts to advance.

"Within last two days they began to collect hundreds of units of heavy equipment, pulling it closer to the front line. This suggests that the offensive should begin today and tomorrow, but it is raining today. According to the forecast, it will rain for several days."

He said the rains would force vehicles to use roads, "and this makes an easy target for our defenders. I hope the rains slows down the offensive."

Ukrainian officials say Russian attacks by air are moving further west to the borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Mykola Lukashuk, head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, said that the night in the Dnipropetrovsk region was "restless."

"We had two air attacks on Synelnykiv district at the border of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions," Lukashuk said, adding there were no casualties.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Tuesday that Russian forces continued to regroup along Ukraine's eastern borders and said it expected further ground attacks towards Popasna in Luhansk region and Kurakhove in Donetsk, "with the aim of reaching the administrative boundaries of Donetsk region."

It accused Russian forces of "placing their military equipment and troops directly in residential facilities," as well as in "agricultural enterprises, energy and social infrastructure facilities."

The Armed Forces claimed that six Russian attacks in the east had been foiled Monday and tanks, armored vehicles and artillery systems had been destroyed.

As the fighting in the east continues, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced nine evacuation corridors Tuesday, including from Mariupol and Berdiansk on the southeast coast, and Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Lysychansk.

Nearly two-thirds of Ukrainian children are now displaced due to the ongoing conflict, UNICEF has said.

UNICEF's emergency programs director Manuel Fontaine told the UN Security Council on Monday that he had "rarely seen so much damage caused in so little time" after returning from a visit to Ukraine.

"They have been forced to leave everything behind: Their homes, their schools, and often, their family members," he said.

Fontaine said the UN had verified the deaths of 142 children with 229 injured as of Sunday, but that "the true figures are most certainly much higher given the scale of attacks."

Meanwhile Liudmyla Denisova, commissioner for human rights of the Ukrainian Parliament, said Tuesday that 186 children had died and 344 had been injured.

"It is not possible to establish the actual number of dead and wounded children due to the fact that the occupying forces are actively fighting in Ukrainian cities," she added, stating that the figures were according to the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations and "other sources that need confirmation."

In his Security Council comments, UNICEF's Fontaine also drew attention to the 3.2 million children estimated to still be in their homes.

"Nearly half may be at risk of not having enough food," he said. "Attacks on water system infrastructure and power outages have left an estimated 1.4 million people without access to water in Ukraine. Another 4.6 million people have only limited access.

"The situation is even worse in cities like Mariupol and Kherson, where children and their families have now gone weeks without running water and sanitation services, a regular supply of food, and medical care. They are sheltering in their homes and underground, waiting for the bombs and violence to stop."

He also said unaccompanied children in Ukraine face a "much higher risk of violence, abuse, exploitation, and trafficking," and pointed to the impacts of school closures on 1.5 million students in higher education and 5.7 million school-age children.

"All options are on the table" for how the West will respond if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, Britain’s junior Armed Forces minister said Tuesday.

It comes as unconfirmed reports of a possible strike involving a chemical substance in the Ukrainian port city if Mariupol emerged Monday, which the UK has been unable to verify, James Heappey told Sky News.

"I think it’s useful to maintain some ambiguity [...] over exactly what the response would be, but let’s be clear, if they are used at all, then [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin should know that all possible options are on the table in terms of how the West might respond," Heappey said.

It would be an "effective" and "well considered" response, he added.

CNN cannot independently verify that there has been any kind of chemical strike in Mariupol.

CNN teams on the ground have so far not seen evidence of such an attack, or any imagery from Mariupol sources to verify this.

"That they are part of the discussion is sobering. There are some things that are beyond the pale, and the use of chemical weapons will get a response, and all options are on the table for what that response could be."

He cautioned: "But it’s important to recognize that there are all sorts of ways in which these things could be used, from the use of tear gas which is effectively a riot control measure all the way through to utterly devastating lethal chemical weapons systems.

"So I don't think it’s helpful to be too binary about the situation because these are highly nuanced."

Heappey said some Ukrainian troops will be arriving in the UK in the coming days to learn how to operate 120 British armored vehicles that will be sent to Ukraine, along with defense and anti-tank missiles as part of a new package of high-grade military equipment. 

"We are getting as much to the Ukrainian MoD as we can," he said in a separate interview with LBC radio in London.

CNN geolocated a video shared to social media on Monday showing a large column of Russian military vehicles near Matveev Kurgan, a settlement in Russia’s Rostov region.

The vehicles are seen facing north-west, in the direction of the Donbas region.

A senior Ukrainian official on Monday also said a Russian offensive in Ukraine's Donbas region "has already started," warning that Russia continued to amass forces in the region.

In remarks on national television, Vadym Denysenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, said:

Ukrainian and Western officials have said in recent days they have observed a redeployment of Russian troops to Donbas following major setbacks for Moscow in a push to take Kyiv.

"Yes, there are still no major battles that are being discussed so much in the past few days. But in general we could say the offensive has already started," Denysenko said.

Trevor Reed, an American citizen detained in Russia for nearly three years, has an appeal hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Reed had started a second hunger strike in protest of his treatment by Russian authorities, according to his parents, who met with President Joe Biden last month after holding a protest outside the White House to bring awareness to their son's case.

Regarding the upcoming court appeal, parents Joey and Paula Reed said in a statement they "have little hope for a successful judicial outcome," but believe their son's appeal rights should be pursued "vigorously."

Some context: Reed, a former US Marine, was detained in Moscow in 2019 for purportedly endangering Russian police officers during an altercation. In 2020, he was sentenced to nine years in prison.

His father told CNN last month that an attorney was able to pass along a handwritten note from Reed in which he said "he's OK," but is coughing up blood and was only receiving aspirin for treatment.

Joey Reed had previously said he’s concerned the Russian invasion of Ukraine will worsen his son’s fate.

"Russians who get their truth from the state media are living in an alternate reality," Madeline Roache says.

Every day Roache watches the morning "news" on Channel One, a top Russian state TV channel. She tracks the narratives that Russian viewers are hearing. And she writes a report for NewsGuard — a startup that rates the reliability of news sources — about the "alternative reality."

Overall, Roache told CNN, on state-run TV, "the Russian army is portrayed as triumphant — as not sustaining any losses, any casualties, and is certainly not committing any atrocities. Meanwhile, according to the state media, it's the Ukrainian army committing atrocities, killing civilians, sustaining heavy losses and losing territory to the Russian forces."

Read the full analysis:

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Japan imposed additional sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, freezing the assets of 398 Russian citizens including President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Mariya Vorontsova, according to a news release from Japan's Foreign Ministry.

The new measures also target the family members of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, namely his wife Mariya Lavrova and daughter Yekaterina Vinokurova, according to the release.

Some context: Japan has consistently expanded its sanctions against Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began, including banning Russian imports such as coal and vodka, reducing new investments in Russia and freezing assets held by major banks.

Other nations including the US and the UK have also introduced sanctions against the families of Putin and Lavrov.

Ukraine's prosecutor general told CNN Monday that her office is building more than 5,800 cases of war crimes from Russia’s invasion, and every day they are starting "more and more such proceedings." More bodies are also being exhumed from a mass grave discovered in the town of Bucha, she said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian troops retreating from the north of the country had deliberately left thousands of mines in their wake, in what he considered a war crime.

Here's the latest from the war in Ukraine:

Here's a look at the situation on the ground: