UK warns of ‘widespread destruction,’ civilian casualties in next phase of Russian assault

The British defense ministry on Sunday warned that the Russian military will likely increase its assault on Ukraine’s urban areas in the next few weeks, resulting in civilian casualties.

In an update on the situation in Ukraine, the ministry said Russian forces have continued to “encircle a number of cities across eastern Ukraine.”

“Over the past week Russian forces have made limited progress in capturing these cities; instead, Russia has increased its indiscriminate shelling of urban areas resulting in widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties,” officials said.

“It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower to support assaults on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties,” they added.

On Saturday, the United Nations estimated that nearly 900 Ukrainian civilians have died since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began, but said the number could be “considerably higher.”

The “[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights] believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” the U.N. human rights office said in a statement.