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Heavy fighting engulfed Mariupol yesterday as Russian forces tightened their grip on the besieged Ukrainian city and bombed a school where about 400 residents were sheltering.
The eastern port city, the scene of the heaviest fighting in Moscow’s three-week war against Ukraine, was devastated by relentless shelling, reducing entire neighborhoods to smoldering rubble.
Electricity, gas and water have been cut off and trapped residents are without food. Ukrainian forces said the situation was “difficult: there is famine in the city, street fighting, people are trying to flee”. Local authorities in Mariupol said that after the bombing of the school “civilians are still lying under the rubble”. People are so hungry they are killing stray dogs for food, FT’s Guy Chazan reported.
Taking Mariupol would give the Russians control of part of Ukraine’s southern coast. Although Russia’s military has generally performed poorly, its forces are regrouping and there is little evidence that President Vladimir Putin is scaling back his strategic goals.
More from Ukraine:
Explore our interactive map showing how Russia’s mistakes and Ukrainian resistance transformed Putin’s war. Thank you for reading FirstFT Asia. Send your feedback on this newsletter to [email protected] Here’s the rest of today’s news – Emily
Five more stories in the news
1. Foreign investors are selling Chinese stocks at a record pace Foreign investors bought a record $6 billion in Chinese stocks in the first three months of 2022.
2. Japanese startup wants to cause real pain in the metaverse H2L, a Sony-backed company founded a decade ago, is banking on inflicting physical pain on people in the metaverse, one of a growing number of companies trying to capitalize on delivering real-world human experiences in virtual worlds.
3. Myanmar Junta approves sale of Telenor from the country Myanmar’s military junta has approved the sale of the country’s business of Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor to a Lebanese investment group after months of wrangling over the deal following the military coup earlier last year.
4. China sails vehicles through Taiwan Strait China sailed an aircraft carrier through the sensitive Taiwan Strait today, just hours before Biden and Xi called. An incursion by Beijing’s warplanes into the island’s airspace last month and the war in Ukraine have raised questions about Taipei’s military preparedness.
5. Meta sued in Australia for allegedly “misleading” crypto ads The Australian Competition Authority has taken Meta to court for allegedly allowing deceptive cryptocurrency ads to appear on Facebook.
digest coronavirus
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Midst Beijing’s The current outbreak of Covid-19 The city’s caution rests on fears of a deadly outcome, repeating Hong Kong’s failure but on a large scale.
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Fear of increasingly draconian Covid-19 restrictions is leading wealthy Hong Kongersmany of them expats looking to sell their yachts and luxury cars or move them out of town
The day ahead
Prime rate for China loans The People’s Bank of China is expected to put its LPR on hold following today’s announcement.
Day of Spring Equinox in Japan Financial markets are shut down as families celebrate the traditional day to visit relatives’ graves or hold family reunions. (CNN)
EU foreign policy advice meeting The group will meet in Brussels for talks, including on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
What else do we read?
The growing risks of the global economy This should be the year that the global economy recovered from the shock of Covid-19. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fresh outbreaks of the coronavirus in China threaten the expected recovery, particularly in Europe.
Will AI speed up the search for new drugs? During the pandemic, artificial intelligence has been used primarily as a tool to save scientists time and speed up this notoriously slow discovery process. However, proponents of AI say its wider use during the crisis is just the beginning of a revolution in drug discovery.
China market rally belies deglobalization concerns The magnitude of last week’s rally may have been welcome and impressive, but its impetus — a pledge by the Chinese Communist Party leadership to introduce a series of “market-friendly measures” — had a huge impact, writes Leo Lewis.
The war of Putin’s imagination Maria Stepanova, the award-winning Russian writer, reflects on how fear and dictatorship prompted her homeland to launch its disastrous invasion of Ukraine. “What we are going through could be described as the death of the imaginable,” she writes.
The Strange Death of Salute If the opening salute fades, that’s probably no surprise after two plagued pandemic years followed by headlines about a third world war. Sending an email without an opening greeting is becoming more common but is still unwise, writes Pilita Clark.
travel
Would you travel through the frozen wilderness of Swedish Lapland in a hot air balloon? A tour operator from the Masai Mara wants to do just that.
A hot air balloon hangs over the snow covered pines of Lassbyn in Swedish Lapland © Fredrik Broman
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