‘ANNIHILATION'

CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL RISES AS PUTIN STEPS UP BOMBARDMENT OF UKRAINE CITIES

- Nicholas Cecil, Rachael Burford, Michael Howie and Will Stewart

VLADIMIR PUTIN came a step closer today to war crime charges amid fears that cities in Ukraine faced being besieged and carpetbombed as Russian forces pursue a “slow annihilation” of opposition forces. As horrifying new reports poured in from cities around Ukraine, the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor told how he had ordered a team of investigators to fly immediately to the region.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said he was “jump starting” an inquiry into war crimes as Russian troops were increasingly adopting tactics used in Chechnya and Syria, which saw parts of cities reduced to rubble by indiscriminate bombardments, after failing to seize control of the country in a planned lightning advance. On a visit to Tallinn in Estonia, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Putin’s generals, who themselves could face war crime charges, had deployed thermobaric weapon systems in Ukraine which can vaporise human bodies. He added: “How far (Putin) will go, what weapons he will authorise to achieve his ultimate aim, is unknown but we’ve seen the use of massive amounts of artillery. We’ve seen the deployment of thermobaric artillery weapon systems and we worry how broad those could go.”

Russia’s strategy in the war is shifting toward a “s low annihi lat ion” of Ukraine’s military, US officials believe, which could see a siege of the capital Kyiv and other major cities.