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Russia shifts focus to try to grind Ukraine’s army in east

FILE - A sculpture with a headband with the flag of Ukraine is seen in a check point in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 26, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) FILE - A man appears through shattered windows of a building after a shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, March 21, 2022. TWith its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky, File) FILE - A Ukrainian police officer is overwhelmed by emotion after comforting people evacuated from Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 26, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) FILE - People stay in a metro station being used as a bomb shelter in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 26, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) FILE - A man walks behind a crater created by a bomb and in front of damaged houses following a Russian bombing earlier this week, outskirts Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Friday, 25, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) FILE - People walk past a crater from the explosion in Mira Avenue (Avenue of Peace) in Mariupol, Ukraine, Sunday, March 13, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) FILE - A machine gun emerges from under the Ukrainian flag on a front line position near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 26, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) FILE - A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) FILE - A Ukrainian Army soldier inspects fragments of a downed aircraft in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Vadim Zamirovsky) FILE - Russian's army tanks move down a street on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) FILE - Smoke rises in the air in Lviv, western Ukraine, Saturday, March 26, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) FILE - A man rides his bike past flames and smoke rising from a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 25, 2022. With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s eastern territory to end the war. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv -- and possibly attempt to split the country in two. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) FILE - A Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces member holds an NLAW anti-tank weapon, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 9, 2022. Authorities announced a new ceasefire on Wednesday to allow civilians to escape from towns around the capital, Kyiv, as well as the southern cities of Mariupol, Enerhodar and Volnovakha, Izyum in the east and Sumy in the northeast. Previous attempts to establish safe evacuation corridors have largely failed due to attacks by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) FILE - A Ukrainian soldier stands a top a destroyed Russian APC after recent battle in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 26, 2022. With Russia continuing to strike and encircle urban populations, from Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the north to Mariupol in the south, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday that they cannot trust statements from the Russian military Friday suggesting that the Kremlin planned to concentrate its remaining strength on wresting the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region from Ukrainian control. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)