The city council of Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol said in a statement on Sunday that 2,187 city residents had been killed since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
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"In [the last] 24 hours, there were at least 22 bombings of the civilian city. Over 100 bombs have been thrown on Mariupol already," it said in an online statement.
Mariupol is running out of its last reserves of food and water, the city council said on Sunday, adding that Russian forces blockading the city continued to shell non-military targets.
"People have been in a difficult situation for 12 days. There is no electricity, water or heating in the city. There is almost no mobile communication. The last reserves of food and water are running out," it said in an online statement.
The news came after White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned on Sunday that Russia would pay a "severe price" if it launched a chemical weapon attack on Ukraine, and said any attack on NATO territory would trigger a full response by the Western alliance.
Sullivan told CBS's "Face the Nation" that the United States and its allies were consulting closely about the increasing threat of a chemical weapons attack, and were communicating directly with Moscow to warn against any such move.
"The use of weapons of mass destruction would be a shocking additional line that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is crossing in terms of his assault on international law and international norms," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said that US President Joe Biden "has been clear repeatedly that the United States will work with our allies to defend every inch of NATO territory and that means every inch."
Sullivan added that a military attack on NATO territory would cause the invocation of Article 5. That requires other countries in NATO to come to the defense of the attacked nation. Sullivan says "We will bring the full force of the NATO alliance to bear in responding."
Meanwhile, Russia is showing signs it might be willing to have substantive negotiations over Ukraine, even as Moscow currently is intent on "destroying" its neighbor, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Sunday,
Sherman, in an interview with "Fox News Sunday," said the United States is putting "enormous pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a cease-fire in its weeks-old invasion of Ukraine and to allow the creation of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to escape.
"That pressure is beginning to have some effect. We are seeing some signs to have real, serious negotiations. But I have to say ... so far it appears Vladimir Putin is intent on destroying Ukraine," Sherman said.
Sherman did not elaborate on hints Moscow may have provided about talks.
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