Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: Between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died in war

President Zelenskiy said up to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the war with Russia and 10,000 have been injured, as fighting continued in Mariupol and bombs again hit Kyiv.

Ukraine said it was trying to break Russia’s siege of Mariupol as fighting raged around its key port and the massive Illich steel works, which Russia said was in its hands.

The United States believes two Ukrainian missiles hit Russia’s Black Sea flagship Moskva, causing Russian casualties, a senior official said, countering Moscow’s claim that the missile cruiser sank because of an onboard explosion and more than 500 sailors were evacuated.* Russia’s defence ministry said it had struck a military target on the edge of Kyiv overnight with cruise missiles and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and top finance officials will attend next week’s IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington and meet G7 and other officials, sources said, the first such in-person opportunity of the war.* Russia warned the United States of “unpredictable consequences” if the West continues its “irresponsible militarization of Ukraine,” the Washington Post said.* Zelenskiy asked Biden to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism,” along with North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria, the Washington Post said.

A White House spokesperson said, “We will continue to consider all options to increase the pressure on Putin.”* Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker, Metinvest, told Reuters its would never operate under Russian occupation and that Ukraine had lost access to 30% to 40% of its metallurgy production capacity in Mariupol.QUOTES”The successes of our military on the battlefield are really significant, historically significant. But they are still not enough to clean our land of the occupiers. We will beat them some more,” Zelenskiy said.