Ukraine Reports Victories in Counter-Offensive Around Kyiv; Ukraine thwarts Russian advances; NATO Estimates Steep Russian Losses in Ukraine; Russia’s military hit by high-ranking losses; Germany: further Strela missiles are on way to Ukraine; Sweden to provide 5,000 more anti-tank weapons, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine reports victories in counter-offensive around Kyiv:

Ukrainian officials are reporting initial successes in their efforts to retake territory from Russian invaders near Kyiv.

Vitali Klitschko, mayor of the capital city, said Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had taken back most of Irpin, a northwestern suburb of Kyiv.

Klitschko also said a battle was ongoing for the village of Liutizh, 20 miles to the north, and confirmed the retaking of Makariv, west of Kyiv, on Tuesday.

The mayor spoke to reporters from a public park in the capital, over the sound of nearby gunfire.

Ukrainian forces have also retaken territory northeast of Kyiv, toward Chernihiv and Sumy, NBC news reported.

NBC reporter Richard Engel said he’d been briefed by two municipal officials in Kyiv. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine thwarts Russian advances; fight rages for Mariupol:

Ukrainian forces battled continuing Russian efforts to occupy Mariupol and claimed to have retaken a strategic suburb of Kyiv on Tuesday, mounting a defense so dogged that it is stoking fears Russia’s Vladimir Putin will escalate the war to new heights.

“Putin’s back is against the wall,” said U.S. President Joe Biden, who is heading to Europe this week to meet with allies. “And the more his back is against the wall, the greater the severity of the tactics he may employ.”

Biden reiterated accusations that Putin is considering resorting to using chemical or biological weapons, though Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has seen no evidence to suggest that such an escalation is imminent.

The warnings came as attacks continued in and around Kyiv and Mariupol, and people escaped the battered and besieged port city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of not only blocking a humanitarian convoy trying to take desperately needed aid to Mariupol but seizing what another Ukrainian official said were 15 of the bus drivers and rescue workers on the aid mission, along with their vehicles.

Zelenskyy said the Russians had agreed to the route ahead of time.

“We are trying to organize stable humanitarian corridors for Mariupol residents, but almost all of our attempts, unfortunately, are foiled by the Russian occupiers, by shelling or deliberate terror,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation.

The hands of one exhausted Mariupol survivor were shaking as she arrived by train in the western city of Lviv. —>READ MORE HERE

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