US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has given up on conquering Kyiv after his forces were soundly beaten back by the Ukrainian military.

"Putin thought that he could very rapidly take over the country of Ukraine, very rapidly capture this capital city. He was wrong," Austin told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in Congress.

"I think Putin has given up on his efforts to capture the capital city and is now focused on the south and east of the country," said Austin.

But the path of the overall war, six weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, remains uncertain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told the same hearing.

For Ukraine to "win" the fight, it needs to remain a free and independent nation, with its recognized territory intact, he said.

"That's going to be very difficult. That's going to be a long slog," Milley said.

"The first part of it has probably been successfully waged," he said of the war that began on February 24.

"But there is a significant battle yet ahead down in the southeast, down around the Donbas region where the Russians intend to mass forces and continue their assault," he said.

"So I think it's an open question right now, how this ends."

Austin told the panel of lawmakers that the United States is providing intelligence to Ukraine's military to support its fight in the Donbas, where Moscow-backed secessionists have been fighting government forces since 2014 and now have the direct support of Russian troops.

But Milley said the fight in that area will be difficult, and that to try to push the Russians out, Ukraine will likely need more arms support, like tanks.

"The fight down in the southeast -- the terrain is different than it is in the north," Milley explained.

"It is much more open and lends itself to armor, mechanized offensive operations, on both sides. And so those are the systems that they're looking for," he said.

"They are asking for and they could probably use additional armor and artillery," he said.

Ukraine villagers say Russian soldiers used them as 'shields'
Ivankiv, Ukraine (AFP) April 7, 2022 - In the village of Obukhovychi, neighbours say Russian forces dug in around their houses, using them as a "shield" to discourage counter-attacks by Ukrainian armed forces.

On one road in the rural community -- home to 1,500 before the war -- AFP on Thursday saw five cavernous pits dug in spaces between homes and the street, and in gardens up against residential properties.

All were churned by wheel marks or tank tracks and strewn with ration packs, discarded military clothing and Russian and Belarusian cigarette packets.

Locals in the village -- 70 kilometres (44 miles) northwest of Kyiv -- said they were used by a variety of Russian army vehicles from mid-March until their withdrawal at the end of the month.

Homes on the street are also hemmed in by foxholes and semi-permanent camps, crammed up against civilian addresses despite the wide open countryside in all directions.

"They dug the trenches to put the vehicles in and used us as a shield," said 35-year-old Yulia Piankova.

The boundary wall of her property is marked with white paint reading "children" in Russian language. She has five, one of whom is disabled.

"It's bad that they didn't go into the field to fight, but they came to where they knew that many people were," she said.

"It's a central street and they went around and checked who was there. They took us from the cellar, counted us, and then started to dig the next day."

- Crime in conflict -

The use of human shields is forbidden under the Geneva Conventions, the international code of humanitarian conduct during wartime.

A 1977 protocol of the conventions dictates "civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks".

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, there have been numerous allegations of war crimes against his troops, their commanders and Putin himself.

The United Nations has said Russia's widespread and indiscriminate attacks are of "immense concern".

The discovery of bodies wearing civilian clothing in the Kyiv commuter town of Bucha has piled further pressure on Putin.

Some of the dead had their hands tied behind their backs, with Ukraine alleging they were executed.

The Kremlin has denied any role in the deaths and suggested photos of the corpses are "fakes".

However what appears to be strong evidence of atrocities has been mounting by the day as Ukrainian authorities access ground occupied by Russia before soldiers withdrew to regroup for an attack in the east.

- Surrounded by the enemy -

In Obukhovychi one of the trenches is dug up to the foundations of a home where mud has been piled high up against the ground floor windows.

Another house is half-surrounded by an excavation, in the manner of a castle moat.

The villagers said tanks, communication vehicles and armoured troop carriers were parked here.

Piankova said artillery was also stationed in the garden.

"We think they were trying to protect themselves by putting the vehicles in between houses," said 75-year-old Zhenya Babenko. "They knew that our guys wouldn't shell residential housing."

"They were using people as a shield," she said.

Homes in the village bear evidence of artillery strikes. Windows have been blown out, walls are peppered with holes and buildings have been scarred by blasts.

On a road into the settlement there is a convoy of four destroyed trucks and a crippled tank.

By a communal green there is another destroyed lorry near improvised sleeping quarters dug in the earth.

"They were stationed everywhere in the village," said 62-year-old Mykola Vareldzhan.

"They knew there were kids here, because when they came they went around the houses, checked documents."

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Chinese, Ukrainian foreign ministers discuss Russia invasion
Beijing (AFP) April 5, 2022
China and Ukraine's foreign ministers have spoken for the first time in over a month, with Beijing maintaining its push for peace talks even as allegations of Russian atrocities in towns around Kyiv grow. International condemnation of Moscow has intensified in recent days with the discovery of dozens of bodies in areas around the Ukrainian capital from which Russian troops have withdrawn, though they have denied involvement in the deaths. China has repeatedly refused to condemn its longtime ally ... read more