Costs of War Mount for Russia, and for Civilians in Ukraine

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Russia’s Central Bank limited withdrawals of foreign currency, hoping to shore up the plunging ruble as Western economic penalties take a serious toll. In Ukraine, efforts to evacuate civilians from battered cities resumed, but many remain trapped in the areas of heaviest fighting.

Ukrainian refugees using the ruins of a bridge connecting Irpin and the capital, Kyiv, as a westward escape route away from the area’s heaviest combat zones. | Felipe Dana/Associated Press
LVIV, Ukraine — With Ukrainian resistance holding firm and Western penalties seemingly toughening by the hour, the cost to Russia of its troubled, nearly two-week invasion mounted on Wednesday as its Central Bank limited withdrawals of foreign currency to protect the crashing ruble and the Kremlin’s spokesman accused the United States of waging an “economic war.”

Russia’s isolation continued to deepen as the European Union announced expanded sanctions, more international companies stopped doing business there and import bans threatened its primary commodities, oil and gas. Still, U.S. intelligence officials assessed that President Vladimir V. Putin would intensify his assault, which has so far failed to seize any of Ukraine’s biggest cities despite exacting a monumental toll on civilians.

An apparent Russian strike on a hospital complex in the southern city of Mariupol left destroyed buildings and wounded people being evacuated, according to several videos verified by The New York Times. The number of casualties from the strike wasn’t immediately clear. For the fifth straight day, an evacuation plan was drawn up for the besieged city, where an estimated 200,000 people are without heat and electricity, but local Ukrainian military leaders said active fighting would make escape impossible.

Here are the latest developments: » | Marc Santora and Shashank Bengali | Wednesday, March 9, 2022