The United States has raised the alarm over the "staggering" human cost of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, as the apparent deployment of cluster bombs and other treaty-violating weapons raised fears of a brutal escalation in the week-old conflict.
The US warnings on Wednesday came as Russia revealed 498 of its troops had been killed in the assault on ex-Soviet Ukraine — the first official death toll it has given and one Kyiv says is by far an undercount.
And they came on the eve of the resumption of ceasefire talks after a first round on Monday failed to produce a breakthrough.
On the ground in Ukraine, Russia appeared despite determined resistance to be intensifying the offensive ordered seven days earlier by President Vladimir Putin.
"Today was the hardest, cruellest of the seven days of this war," said Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of the key southeastern port of Mariupol who said Russian forces pummelled the city for hours and were attempting to block civilians from leaving.
"Today they just wanted to destroy us all," he said in a video on Telegram, accusing Russian forces of shooting at residential buildings.
Mr Boychenko said more of the city's vital infrastructure was damaged in the assault, leaving people without light, water or heating.
In Washington, top US diplomat Antony Blinken warned the human costs were already "staggering," accusing Russia of attacking places that "aren't military targets."
"Hundreds if not thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded," said the secretary of state, who will travel to eastern Europe next week to shore up support for Ukraine - and for efforts to secure a ceasefire.
Kyiv is sending a delegation to Thursdays ceasefire talks, at an undisclosed location on the Belarus-Poland border, but has warned it would not accept "ultimatums."
Russia said on Wednesday it had captured the Black Sea port of Kherson, population 290,000, though the claim was not confirmed by mayor Igor Nikolayev who appealed online for permission to transport the dead and wounded out of the city and for food and medicine to be allowed in.
"Without all this, the city will die," he wrote.
A blaze at a Kharkiv University faculty building allegedly caused by a Russian missile strike on 2 March, 2022. Source: Press Association, AAP / State Emergency Service of Ukraine
"There is nowhere in Kharkiv where shells have not yet struck," said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, after Russian airborne troops landed in the city before dawn.
Shelling in the northeastern city of 1.4 million a day earlier drew comparisons to the massacres of civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s.
War crimes court prosecutor opens Ukraine investigation
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor will immediately open an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine, following requests from an unprecedented number of the court's member states.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February has yet to overthrow the government in Kyiv but thousands of people are believed to have been killed or injured, according to officials in both countries and the United Nations.
"Active investigations formally commence in Ukraine upon receipt of referrals by 39 state parties", prosecutor Karim Khan tweeted.
The referrals by member states fast-track an investigation as it allows the prosecutor to skip having to seek approval of the court in The Hague, shaving months off the process. The prosecutor had already said on Monday that he would seek court approval into allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.
It comes as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.
His comments came in parliament, where MPs gave a standing ovation to Ukraine's ambassador in attendance.
Mr Johnson wore a UK-Ukraine flag pin, and many lawmakers wore clothing in Ukraine's blue and yellow colours.
"What we have seen already from Vladimir Putin's regime, in the use of the munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians, in my view already fully qualifies as a war crime," Mr Johnson said.
The prosecutor's office would start collecting evidence for "any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person", Mr Khan said in a statement.
Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the subsequent fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces, Ukraine accepted ICC jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on its territory since the end of 2013.
In December 2020 the prosecutor's office announced it had reason to believe war crimes and other crimes were committed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but a request for a full investigation was not filed.
Russia is not a member of the ICC and rejects its jurisdiction.
The court can investigate allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on Ukraine territory regardless of the nationality of the suspected perpetrators.
Fighters of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces, the military reserve of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, stand guard at anti-tank constructions at Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 2 March, 2022. Source: Press Association, AAP / Lafargue Raphael
UN General Assembly demands Russia withdraw from Ukraine
At the United Nations, the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution Wednesday that "demands" Russia "immediately" withdraw from Ukraine, in a powerful rebuke of Moscow by a vast majority of the world's nations.
After more than two days of extraordinary debate, which saw the Ukrainian envoy accuse Russia of genocide, 141 out of 193 member states backed the non-binding resolution.
China was among the 35 countries which abstained, while just five — Eritrea, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, and of course Russia — voted against it.
A damaged armoured vehicle is seen after shelling in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 2 March 2022. Source: EPA / SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA
The UN rights office, OHCHR, said it had registered 752 civilian casualties including 227 deaths -- but believes the reality is "considerably higher."
"The humanitarian consequences will only grow in the days ahead," Mr Blinken warned.
At the UN, the US ambassador echoed Blinken's alarm about mounting civilian deaths -- accusing Moscow of moving cluster munitions and other arms banned under international conventions into its neighbour.
"It appears Russia is preparing to increase the brutality of its campaign against Ukraine," Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the General Assembly.
US announces new sanctions on Belarus, Russia
The US has announced more sanctions over Russia's war against Ukraine, this time targeting Russian ally Belarus and Russia's defence industry.
The White House unveiled "sweeping restrictions on Belarus to choke off its import of technological goods in response to its support" of Russia's war.
It also announced on Wednesday "sanctions that target Russia's defence sector" to "impose significant costs on Russian weapon development and production companies."
People and their pets at an underground metro station used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 2 March, 2022. Source: Press Association, AAP / Lafargue Raphael
Belarus and Russia are closely linked and Belarus has been used as a key staging ground for the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
The European Union also announced its own raft of sanctions, including blacklisting 22 senior military officers from Belarus and cutting off the country's major export — potash fertilizer.
The US said it was targeting entities "that have been involved in, contributed to, or otherwise supported the Russian and Belarusian security services, military and defence sectors, and/or military and defence research and development efforts."
"This action will help prevent diversion of items, technologies, and software through Belarus to Russia and will significantly degrade both countries' ability to sustain their military aggression and project power," a White House statement on sanctions read in part.
"This will severely limit the ability of Russia and Belarus to obtain the materials they need to support their military aggression against Ukraine."
On Russia, the US government said it was targeting 22 defence-related entities, "including firms that make combat aircraft, infantry fighting vehicles, electronic warfare systems, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles for Russia's military."
The US also formally imposed the sanction already announced by President Joe Biden on Tuesday to block Russian aircraft of all kinds from US airspace — a measure also taken by much of Europe.
