‘Enormous cost’: Ukraine war is likely heading into a more destructive and deadly phase

Members of a Ukrainian civil defense unit pass new rifles to the opposite side of a blown up bridge on Kyiv’s northern front on March 1, 2022.

The next phases of the war in Ukraine are likely to exact a tremendous cost on major cities as Russia turns to bigger, more indiscriminate weapons and prepares for brutal urban fighting.

Russian forces are resorting to weapons such as artillery to bombard the cities despite fierce Ukrainian resistance, according to a retired U.S. Army colonel.

The Russians are going to increase their indirect fire on population centers. Weapons that are aimed at a city are referred to as indirect fire. Large areas are destroyed by weapons such as artillery pieces.

I think Putin is going to have a hard time walking this back. He’s going to keep going until he gets it done ... at some enormous cost.

They are going to do something that they didn't want to do, because they wanted to take the city intact. Try to get in.

At that point, the war switches from one that plays to Russian military strengths to one that plays to the strengths of the Ukrainians. It will be a much more destructive war because it will be fought close to urban areas.

Russia's military culture focuses training on operations in open terrain, whereas the Ukrainians have been preparing themselves for a door-to-door fight in the cities.

The ability of the Ukrainians to destroy Russian forces inside the built-up areas is what they have known from the beginning.

It would be a terrible cost to the cities of Ukraine, which are still full of civilians.

John Spencer, an expert on urban warfare at the U.S. Military Academy, told NBC News that once Russian soldiers are in the cities, it will get really ugly.

Spencer told NBC that the Russians wouldn't be able to take the city by bombing it.

Volunteers make molotov cocktails in the basement of a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already shown a willingness to destroy a city, even within Russia's borders, if that is what it takes to achieve his political goals.

Chechnya was under Moscow's control when Putin was prime minister in 1999. Grozny was largely destroyed by Russian troops. Thousands of people were killed there.

Jacobs said that Putin is going to have a hard time walking back. To Russia, and possibly even to allies.

According to the U.K. Ministry of Defence update, other major cities in Ukraine are likely already surrounded by Russian forces.

The ministry said that Ukrainian forces still hold the cities of Kherson and Mariupol, however they are likely to be encircled by Russian forces.

According to NBC News, the Ukrainian government said that the city of Kharkiv was being bombarded by Russian forces. The city has around 1.5 million people.

Russian rockets killed at least 10 people and wounded 35 in the center of Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to an Interior Ministry adviser.

A 40-mile Russian column is moving from the north towards the city to encircle the capital.

Without air power, Ukrainian troops have not been able to force the convoy to retreat.

The fight around the convoy is important for the Ukrainians. Jacobs said it was important that more Western weapons get to the Ukrainians before they are cut off.

If the Ukrainians can bring enough weapons to bear on that convoy, they will stop it long enough so that the West can resupplied them.