Russian forces surround two key cities in southern Ukraine

Early reports are coming in from Ukraine that Russian forces have entered the city of Kherson, and have surrounded the city of Mariupol, both key targets for Russia in the south of the country.

Military experts say they expect the war in Ukraine to become more destructive and deadly as Russia turns to heavy artillery.

“And in doing that, they’re going to do something that ... they didn’t want to do, because they wanted to take the city intact,” retired U.S. Army Col. Jack Jacobs told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Joe Biden promised to “inflict pain” on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also commended the Ukrainian people for their courage and resilience in the face of Russia’s onslaught.

The World Health Organization is delivering surgical equipment for skin and bone grafts as well as amputations to Ukrainian refugees as Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the sovereign nation finishes out its first week.

A shipment of six tons of medical supplies for trauma care and surgery for 1,000 patients and other supplies to help 150,000 more people will arrive in Poland on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a press briefing in Geneva.

“I think this gives you the graphic nature of what’s happening. These are ordinary civilians being broken and the health system is going to have to put them back together again,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s head of emergencies programs.

The U.N. relief agency has warned that the risk of another Covid contagion is growing as hundreds of thousands of people flee the Russian invasion to Ukraine’s neighbors in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

Ukraine suffered a 555% increase of Covid cases, driven mostly by omicron, in January and February, according to a report from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

SOURCE: CNBC