- Roma stroll past Udinese as fans protest De Rossi sacking
- Horschel outduels McIlroy to win PGA Championship play-off
- Audiences summon 'Beetlejuice' to top of N. America box office for third week
- Stones salvages point for Man City against 10-man Arsenal
- Egypt fears 'all out' regional war: foreign minister to AFP
- Last-gasp Boniface gives Leverkusen victory, Stuttgart outclass Dortmund
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote: projections
- Olympic champion Evenepoel retains world title in 'toughest time trial'
- Horschel's eagle beats McIlroy in PGA Championship play-off
- Mourners at commander's funeral express loyalty to Hezbollah
- Norris hails his 'mega' McLaren after dominant win at Singapore
- Monaco beat Le Havre to join PSG at the top of Ligue 1
- Scholz's party narrowly leads far-right AfD in east German state vote: exit polls
- New leftist president vows to 'rewrite Sri Lankan history'
- UN adopts pact to tackle volatile future for mankind
- Leclerc hails Ferrari fightback from torrid Singapore GP qualifying
- Belgian Evenepoel retains world title in 'toughest time trial'
- Sosa rescues point for Forest against Brighton
- Last-gasp Boniface gives Leverkusen victory over Wolfsburg in seven-goal thriller
- Swiss voters reject environment, pensions reforms: official results
- No fairytale ending for Ricciardo after 13 years in Formula One
- Israel and Hezbollah urged to step back from the brink
- What is the UN's 'Pact for the Future'?
- Norris dominates Singapore Grand Prix to cut Verstappen's title lead
- From bullets to ballots: Sri Lanka's comrade president-elect
- McLaren's Lando Norris wins Singapore GP to narrow F1 title race
- UN adopts pact promising to build 'brighter future' for humanity
- Military escalation not in Israel's 'best interest': White House
- Marxist leader declared Sri Lanka's president-elect
- Classes resume at Bangladesh university at heart of protests
- 'Barely anyone left': Sudan's El-Fasher devastated by fighting
- 'Warrior' Joshua vows to fight on despite Dubois mauling
- Martin extends MotoGP lead as Bastianini wins at Misano and Bagnaia crashes out
- New French government instantly under pressure on multiple fronts
- Australia's Brown adds world title to Olympic time trial gold
- Russian strike on Ukraine's Kharkiv wounds 21
- UK's Starmer rules out austerity as Labour conference opens
- Swiss voters reject environment, pensions reforms: projected results
- Israel says 'landed blows' on Hezbollah as Lebanon violence intensifies
- Roma CEO steps down amid anger over club icon De Rossi's sacking
- Incoming French government under pressure on multiple fronts
- Hezbollah rockets strike near Israel's Haifa as UN warns of 'catastrophe'
- Haddad Maia roars back to beat Kasatkina in Korea Open final
- All-rounder Ashwin powers India to 280-run Test win over Bangladesh
- Failed Springbok 'gamble' sets up rugby championship decider
- Lebanon strikes send Israelis to shelters as UN warns of 'catastrophe'
- Far-right AfD eyes new win in east German state vote
- Tony Popovic set to become new Socceroos coach - reports
- All-round Ashwin powers India to big Test win over Bangladesh
- NZ chase 275 to win first Sri Lanka Test after Patel bags six
Russia turns to attrition one month into Ukraine war
Russia's forces in Ukraine appear to be turning to a war of attrition with devastating effect on civilians, after failing to secure hoped-for swift gains when President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion one month ago.
The US government says recent days have brought more intense aerial and naval bombardment as Ukranian resistance holds up the invaders' advance on land.
Attacking forces remain 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to the north-west and 30 kilometres away to the east, able only to bombard it from a distance.
While US President Joe Biden has said Putin's "back is against the wall in Ukraine", US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told CNN Tuesday that Ukrainian forces were now even "going after Russians" who were losing morale as food and fuel run out.
Capturing Kyiv had appeared the Russians' top target as they entered the country on February 24, hoping to topple President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration.
But despite mobilising a force of between 150,000 and 200,000 troops, Moscow failed to anticipate anything other than weak resistance -- likely owing to Russian intelligence failures -- and made sloppy logistical preparations.
Even now, Russia does not have complete control of the skies over Ukraine, complicating their entire offensive.
"The Russian lack a real command and control policy," a former top French military officer told AFP, pointing to lack of coordination between ground and air forces and the strikes' lack of precision.
- Siege warfare -
The number of soldiers killed cannot be verified, although the Pentagon estimates as many as 7,000 Russian dead in the first month according to the New York Times.
That would amount to more losses than the US suffered in the years-long occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
"Putin's offensive is stuck despite all the destruction that it is bringing day after day," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday.
For its part, Kyiv acknowledged 1,300 troops killed in action on March 12 -- likely well below the real figure according to observers.
With their forces bogged down, the Russians have transformed their offensive into a string of sieges apparently aimed at wearing down and demoralising the Ukrainian population.
Around 10 million people have left their homes, while the UN human rights chief says almost 3.6 million have quit the country.
"The more the Russian infantry struggles, the higher the army climbs up the scale of brutality and the disproportionate use of air power," a European source close to NATO told AFP.
"Putin needs a deal, so he needs victories."
Throughout the one month offensive, Russia has only captured one major urban centre -- Kherson in south Ukraine. Mariupol to the east remains subjected to a siege that has caused international outrage.
Uncaptured northern cities like Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest urban centre, are under constant bombardment, while pressure is also growing on those in the south and east.
Mykolaiv, which blocks the way along the Black Sea coast towards Odessa, is also under artillery fire.
- Devastation -
But Russia has yet to put much emphasis on diplomatic efforts and analysts warn that even if a ceasefire were agreed it could just allow Moscow to buy time and rebuild its forces.
More than 200,000 people are stuck in Mariupol, reduced in large part to corpse-strewn ruins and cut off from necessities like food, water, electricity and heat.
Russia's determination to capture the port city is in proportion to its strategic worth, potentially linking annexed Crimea by land with the pro-Russian separatist territories of the Donbas.
A firmer grasp on Ukraine's east could ultimately allow the invaders to encircle the Ukrainian defenders fighting there.
"The next chapter in this war could prove even uglier as it will likely turn into a war of attrition, with greater bombardment of civilian areas," Michael Kofman of the US-based CNA think-tank wrote on Twitter.
"Russian forces will probably try to compensate for poor performance by inflicting greater destruction."
If no negotiated settlement arrives, "attrition war is the most likely path," William Alberque of the International Institute for Strategic Studies told AFP.
He warned against pushing Kyiv into accepting a ceasefire at any cost.
"The worst is, (Westerners') desire to stop the suffering of Ukrainian people could help the Russians. They rely on our desire to see peace as an opportunity," Alberque said.
"They are going to use a ceasefire to build up forces," he warned.
L.Janezki--BTB