As Ukraine enters its third week at war with Russia, we must be continuing to lift them up in prayer. Although the Lord has foiled many of the Russians’ vicious attacks, the Ukranian people have still suffered great losses.

From NBC. Civilians across Ukraine were subjected to intensifying attacks Thursday as Russia’s war entered its third week, bringing growing accusations of war crimes against Moscow over its assault.

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Fresh strikes hit the besieged southern city of Mariupol, and Ukrainian officials said a Russian airstrike on a hospital a day earlier had killed at least three people, including a child.

Russian troops also moved closer to the capital Kyiv on Thursday and could be just 10 miles from the city center, a senior U.S. defense official said….

The U.S. and its European allies have stepped up their efforts to aid Ukraine’s fierce defense, which has seen Russian forces struggle to advance on the ground in two weeks of war but brought increasing devastation from the air….

Civilians under fire

The Russian assault has left many civilians in dire conditions.

Ukrainian officials said they would again attempt to evacuate residents of battered towns and cities along seven safe routes agreed to by Russia. More than 83,000 residents were evacuated from areas across the country in the past two days, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday in a post on Telegram.

But attempts to create a humanitarian corridor for residents in the heavily-hit port city of Mariupol seemed to fail again, with no civilians being evacuated from the city on Thursday, Vereshchuk said. It was the latest in a string of failed attempts to get residents out and aid into the city….

Relentless attacks on Mariupol continued Thursday, local officials said. The city of around 400,000 people has had no heat, electricity or water for at least a week in freezing temperatures.

Wednesday’s attack on the children’s and maternity hospital there killed three, including a young girl, and injured 17, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech posted to Telegram….

Zelenskyy accused Russia of committing a “war crime” and “genocide” after the incident.

In a video released Thursday, Zelenskyy told Russia its invasion would backfire.

“You will definitely be prosecuted for complicity in war crimes,” Zelenskyy said. “And then, it will definitely be, you will be hated by Russian citizens. All those whom you now constantly, daily, for many years in a row, deceive. When they feel the effects of your lies, they will feel in their wallets, in the possibilities that are becoming less and less. On the stolen future of Russian children.”

Britain’s armed forces minister, James Heappey, also said that whether hitting the hospital was “indiscriminate” fire into a built-up area or a deliberate targeting, “it is a war crime.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed those accusations and alleged that the hospital was a base for far-right radical fighters and that all mothers and pregnant women had been taken out of the building. Lavrov gave no evidence for the claims and video taken after the strike showed pregnant women being carried away on stretchers and women crying while holding children outside the building.

Russia’s defense ministry said Thursday that the hospital attack was “staged,” according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti….

Since the beginning of the war, 63 hospitals have been damaged and five medical workers have been killed, Minister of Health Viktor Liashko said in a Facebook post Thursday.

More than 2 million people have fled for neighboring countries and countless others have been displaced inside Ukraine….

Outside of Kyiv, Russia has made moderate operational advances on the ground in the last 24 hours, the senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.

But Russian forces have also suffered losses in attacks from Ukrainian forces, Britain’s defense ministry said in an update Thursday. It reported a “notable decrease” in Russian air activity over Ukraine….

Western aid

The dispute over supplying Kyiv with fighter jets was the first public setback for what has been a united effort to help aid Kyiv and strengthen the West’s position in Eastern Europe.

Harris said during her visit to Poland that the U.S. had delivered two Patriot missile defense batteries to the country, as part of an ongoing effort to beef up the defense of NATO’s eastern flank. Harris also said that the U.S. will give $50 million in humanitarian assistance to help Poland as it deals with a flood of refugees fleeing Ukraine.

The House passed a huge spending bill Wednesday night that included nearly $14 billion in aid for Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Putin on the phone on Thursday and again demanded a cease-fire, government officials said. Their talk came ahead of a European Union heads of state and government dinner later in the evening….

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(Excerpt from NBC. Photo Credit: Getty Images)