Russia Expands War in Ukraine, Faces Stiff Opposition on Two Fronts

As Russia expands its war to the western part of Ukraine, it is facing stiff opposition both on the battlefield and on diplomatic fronts.

When Russian troops closed in on Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv Thursday, a convoy of tanks approaching the city came under attack as a Ukrainian army ambush awaited them.  

Despite facing stiff Ukrainian resistance along the way, a senior U.S. defense official said Russian troops are now just nine miles away from the center of Kyiv.

But more hard hits may be coming for Russia diplomatically.  

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During talks with Polish officials in Warsaw Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris said Russia should be investigated for committing war crimes.

"We have been witnessing for weeks, and certainly just in the last 24 hours, atrocities of unimaginable proportion," she said.

Chief among those horrors: the Ukrainian government said the Russians deliberately targeted a hospital in the southern port city of Mariupol, injuring pregnant women and killing three people, including a child. Russia denies that the Mariupol attack was on a hospital, saying it was an extremist base. 

***Donate to OPERATION BLESSING Relief Efforts in Poland and Ukraine***

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops have a "clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to torture it. "

And in Washington today, President Biden is expected to request the G-7 and America's European allies to join the United States in stripping Russia of its most favored nation trade status.

That would further isolate the country, and allow tariffs on Russian goods to be increased.

"Ukraine will never, never be a victory for Putin," Biden insisted.

In Ukraine, CBN'S Orphans Promise (OP) is busy throughout the country, caring for orphans and people in need as it has for years.

In the city of Lviv Thursday, CBN News Senior International Correspondent George Thomas joined a team of workers as they prepared to travel on a dangerous journey to deliver humanitarian relief supplies to an OP center near Kyiv.

"This is a hub. This is a main point. And today hundreds of families are going through this Orphan’s Promise partner ministry there, and they're really helping, folks, Thomas explained. "So we're going to be sending these supplies. I'll be traveling with this convoy tomorrow, this weekend, and we'll hopefully bring you that story Monday morning."

As the fighting intensifies, another 60,000 refugees fled Ukraine Thursday, passing through humanitarian corridors to the safety of neighboring nations like Poland.

READ  CBN's Operation Blessing Sending International Relief Team to Poland-Ukraine Border to Help Refugees

CBN's Operation Blessing is in that country providing refugees with food, water, blankets, toiletry items, and other essential supplies.
Hot meals are also being provided.

Already more than 2.3 million people have escaped Ukraine and are now living as refugees. And with the devastation of the war getting worse, millions more are expected to flee for safety to Poland and other countries.

***Donate to OPERATION BLESSING Relief Efforts in Poland and Ukraine***