Russia-Ukraine live updates: West warns of growing Russian brutality as Ukraine moves to retake territory; Biden to announce new sanctions

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Moscow’s siege of the strategic port city of Mariupol has entered a bloody new phase. Russian forces are shelling from the sea and vivid new satellite images show widespread destruction, with homes ablaze and factories razed. Despite efforts for evacuation through humanitarian corridors, about 100,000 people are still trapped in the city — many without food or water — in conditions that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described late Tuesday as “inhumane.”

The British Defense Ministry said Russia is likely to respond to its faltering ground offensive “by employing increasingly violent and coercive measures in an attempt to suppress the Ukrainian population.” The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, and Western defense officials predict Russia will step up its bombardment of Ukrainian cities after it appears to have failed in its bid to capture major urban areas and overthrow Zelensky’s administration.

The Pentagon said it had seen indications of Kyiv’s forces going on the offensive, with Ukraine saying Tuesday that it had retaken the town of Makariv, near the capital.

President Biden will announce a new package of sanctions against Russia this week when he travels to Brussels to meet with European leaders, the White House said, as Western allies look for ways to strengthen their pushback against Moscow’s increasingly brutal tactics in Ukraine.

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Here’s the status of Ukrainian cities under Russian attack

By Amy Cheng12:31 a.m.

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Kyiv: Ukrainian forces managed to strike back at Russian troops stalled on the northwestern outskirts of the capital on Tuesday, according to the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank. Air raid sirens still ring throughout the capital multiple times each day to alert residents to heavy Russian bombardment.Makariv: Local authorities said police regained control of the town 40 miles west of Kyiv. The Associated Press reported that control of the territory allowed Ukraine’s forces to retake a critical highway and prevent Russian troops from surrounding the capital from the northwest.Mariupol: Russian forces began shelling this southern port city from the sea, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday, with up to seven Russian warships positioned in the Sea of Azov. Moscow considers Mariupol a strategic anchor for the Russian effort to overtake the region from Ukrainian forces, the official said. Civilians have managed to slowly evacuate from the city, but some 100,000 people remain trapped, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday.Mykolaiv: The Pentagon reported Tuesday that there were signs the Russians are repositioning themselves outside the city to the south after facing fierce resistance. Mykolaiv, which sits near the Black Sea, has managed to hold off Russia’s advances despite an attack on a downtown hotel Monday, a rare strike on a city center.Kharkiv: Nearly half of its 1.4 million residents have fled Ukraine’s second-largest city, with thousands of those who remain living in the subway system as heavy Russian shelling continues above ground.Odessa: Residential buildings were damaged by suspected Russian strikes in the southern part of this city, near the Black Sea coast. Odessa has so far avoided the worst of Russia’s onslaughts, and many residents have chosen to stay.

Rachel Pannett and Paulina Firozi contributed to this report.

U.S. sees signs Ukraine is going on the offensive

By Andrew Jeong12:21 a.m.

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Ukrainian troops appear to be increasingly undertaking offensive operations against invading Russian forces, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that the United States has seen “indications that the Ukrainians are going a bit more on the offense,” after stalling Russian troops. The Ukrainians are trying to regain territory lost to Russia, “particularly in the south,” in cities such as Kherson, Kirby said.

On the same day, a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the Pentagon, told reporters that there had been anecdotal evidence of Ukrainian troops trying to retake lost territory. But the official cautioned that “it will be difficult for us to say that this marks … some sort of major muscle movement” by the Ukrainian military.

Kirby also confirmed Russia’s use of a hypersonic missile in Ukraine “at least in one instance” against a “fixed building.” President Biden on Monday said that Moscow had launched such a weapon against Ukraine.

Russian officials said last week that they had twice launched the missiles, which travel five times the speed of sound and have not been previously used in combat.

Kirby described Russia’s use of hypersonic missiles as overkill and said the weaponry was unlikely to be a game changer in Ukraine.

Russian air force action increases despite flood of antiaircraft missiles into Ukraine

By Daniel Lamothe12:20 a.m.

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The air war over Ukraine appears to have entered a new phase, with the Russian air force boosting the number of flights it makes per day by 50 percent and deploying an increasing array of Russian drones and munitions over the battlefield, according to U.S. defense officials and military analysts.

The expansion comes after Ukraine shot down numerous aircraft early in the war and despite the United States and its allies sending thousands of man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, to Ukraine.

The missiles have forced Russia to adjust its aviation operations, but have not stopped them, analysts said. On Monday, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia had flown about 300 sorties in the previous 24 hours, up from an average of about 200 per day earlier in the war.

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