Alarm at civilian toll on Russian assault’s ‘cruellest day’
A militiaman carries a child as he helps a fleeing family across a damaged bridge on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. KYIV : The United States raised the alarm Wednesday 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 American warnings 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 cease-fire talks after a first round 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 — in defiance of almost the entire international community. “Today was the hardest, cruellest of the seven days of this w...