Poland understands all the threats from the Russian Federation and is preparing for a possible attack by the state,” local media quoted Ukraine’s envoy in Warsaw Andriy Deshchytsia as saying late Monday as his country continues to reel from a brutal invasion.
The statement was first reported by Ukraine’s Priamyi kanal television, and the ambassador has yet to confirm the statement, even though no denial has been issued either.
Three weeks into the Russian invasion, the two sides now seem to be trying to wear down the other, experts say, with bogged-down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever Russian supply lines.
"The block-by-block fighting in Mariupol itself is costing the Russian military time, initiative and combat power,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian resistance means Russian President Vladimir Putin’s "forces on the ground are essentially stalled.”
"It’s had the effect of him moving his forces into a woodchipper,” Austin told CBS on Sunday.
The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering, Daily Sabah reports.
