Russia has accused the Ukrainian armed forces of deliberately firing a missile at the crowded train station in Kramatorsk in the east of the country, killing at least 39 people.
"The aim of the strike orchestrated by the Kiev regime on the Kramatorsk railway station was to prevent the departure of the population of the city in order to be able to use it as a human shield", accused the Russian ministry of Defense, ensuring that the missile had been fired from the locality of Dobropillia.
14:21 on 08/04/2022Live: Attack on Kramatorsk station: 39 dead, including four children
13:36 on 08/04/2022At least 39 people including four children were killed in the missile attack on Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian security services have announced (SBU), revising upwards a previous balance sheet.
"Russian fascists bombed Kramatorsk station, killing 39 including four children," SBU spokesman Artyom Dekhtiarenko posted on Facebook.
13:17 on 08/04/2022Fifth round of EU sanctions against Russia for its February 24 invasion of Ukraine targets imports of Russian energy into the EU for the first time , albeit timidly since only coal is concerned. In addition to new export and import bans worth several billion euros in various sectors, as well as new financial and banking sanctions, certain emblematic measures will target caviar, vodka or hunting weapons. No less than 217 new personalities and 18 entities are added to the list.
Also read: Are the sanctions against Russia effective?
13:14 on 08/04/2022Six weeks after the start of the new Russian invasion in Ukraine, the representation of the European Union in the capital of Ukraine is reopening, the head of diplomacy announced European Union, Josep Borrell, on the train taking him to Kiev alongside the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The diplomatic building was evacuated the day after February 24, with teams working since then from Rzeszow (southern Poland). Their work is now resuming in kyiv, with a reduced team. The return to Kiev of Ambassador Matti Maasikas, also on board the train, shows that "Ukraine exists, that there is a capital, a government and representatives of other countries there", commented Mr. Borrell, claiming the country was still under Ukrainian control.
12:37 PM on 08/04/2022EU countries have already frozen at least 29.5 billion euros of Russian and Belarusian assets as part of the sanctions adopted against the war in Ukraine, according to a still partial count announced by the European Commission.
These assets include boats, helicopters, real estate, works of art for nearly 6.7 billion euros. This evaluation “is still in progress” specified the Commission in a press release. Brussels has asked the Member States to share their information and, for the moment, "more than half of them" have communicated the results of their measures.
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
12:10 on 04/08/2022The Russian army has denied any missile fire at Kramatorsk station in eastern Ukraine, denouncing a "provocation" by Kiev forces, while this strike killed at least 35 people.
"All statements by representatives of the nationalist regime in Kyiv that Russia carried out a missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station are a provocation and do not correspond to the truth," the ministry said. Defense, even claiming that only "the Ukrainian armed forces" use this type of "Totchka-U" missile.
12:09 on 08/04/2022EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell "strongly" condemned the attack that hit Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine, blaming the Russia, which denied being the author, of "causing human suffering".
"I strongly condemn this morning's indiscriminate attack on a train station in #Kramatorsk by Russia, which killed dozens and injured many," Borrell said on Twitter.
"This is yet another attempt to close the escape routes for those fleeing this unjustified war and to cause human suffering," he said.
Read also: Ursula Von der Leyen and Josep Borrell on their way to kyiv
I strongly condemn this morning's indiscriminate attack against a train station in #Kramatorsk by Russia, which killed dozens of people and left many more wounded. This is yet another attempt to close escape routes for those fleeing this unjustified war and cause human suffering
-- Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) April 8, 2022 12:05 PM 08/04/2022The United Kingdom on Friday sanctioned the two daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin and that of the head of diplomacy Sergei Lavrov in reason for the invasion of Ukraine, saying he wanted to attack the "lavish lifestyle of the inner circle of the Kremlin".
Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, daughters of Vladimir Putin with his ex-wife Lyoudmila, as well as Ekaterina Vinokourova, daughter of Mr. Lavrov, are now prohibited from entering British territory, where any potential assets will be frozen, a indicated in a press release the British diplomacy, which thus takes over from Washington and Brussels.
11:53 on 08/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denounced "unbounded evil" unleashed by Russia after the rocket attack on the Kramatorsk station in the East, from where evacuees civilians, which killed at least 35 people.
"Without the strength and courage to face us on the battlefield, they cynically destroy the civilian population. It is an evil that knows no bounds. And if it is not punished, it will will never stop,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on Telegram, denouncing the “inhumane” methods of the Russian forces.
11:30 am on 08/04/2022Japan announced new sanctions against Russia in protest of its violations of international law in Ukraine, including the ban on the import of Russian coal.
“We will ban the import of Russian coal. We will adopt alternatives and by gradually reducing imports, we will reduce our energy dependence on Russia,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a meeting. an intervention broadcast on television.
11:27 on 08/04/2022At least 35 people were killed and 100 injured after two rockets hit Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine, through which thousands of people have been evacuated for several days. A humanitarian volunteer helping to evacuate the bodies told AFP that at least 35 people had died.
An AFP journalist saw the bodies, in body bags and under tarpaulins, of at least 20 people. Present there earlier, he had noticed that hundreds of people still hoped to find a train there to leave the city, under threat of a major Russian offensive.
The boss of the Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandre Kamyshin, spoke to him of 30 dead and more than 100 injured, denouncing on his Telegram channel a "deliberate strike". Four cars were burned in front of the station. The interior and entrance to the station were covered in blood, with long marks stretching across the pavement in places and rows of benches charred.
On the forecourt in front of the station, the remains of a missile were still visible, on which one could read in Russian "For our children". Abandoned luggage and countless debris and shards of broken glass also littered the forecourt and surroundings of the station. The bodies, deposited in front of small shops adjoining the station, were then evacuated in army trucks, according to the AFP correspondent.
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
11:17 on 08/04/2022Attack on Kramatorsk train station in Ukraine: at least 30 dead and 100 injured
At least 30 people were killed and 100 injured in the attack that hit the train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, where hundreds of people were waiting to flee the region.
Von der Leyen and Borrell on their way to kyiv
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell announced on Friday that they were on their way to kyiv, a sign of support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.
The "liberated" Sumy region
The region of Sumy, bordering Russia in northeastern Ukraine, has been completely "liberated" from Russian forces, the head of the regional administration Dmytro Zhivitsky announced on Friday, adding, however, that the area was "unsure" and that clearance operations were in progress.
Resumption of evacuations
Evacuations by train of the population of the East, interrupted on Thursday due to a damaged part of the railway, resumed overnight from Thursday to Friday, indicated the governor of the Lugansk region, Serguiy Gaidai.
Situation in Borodianka "much more horrible" than in Boutcha (Zelensky)
The situation in Borodyanka, a town northwest of Kiev recently recaptured by the Ukrainians from the Russians, is "much more horrific" than in Boutcha, where civilians were massacred, Ukrainian President Volodymyr said Thursday evening Zelensky.
"Insult to humanity"
"Indications of rape, torture, execution - in some cases desecrated bodies - are an insult to humanity," US President Joe Biden said of Ukraine on Thursday, after the UN General Assembly removed Russia from its seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
5,000 dead in Mariupol
Proclaimed "new mayor" of the city on Wednesday by pro-Russian forces in Mariupol, Konstantin Ivashchenko delivered his report to the Russian state agency TASS on Thursday, estimating the civilian losses at "around 5,000 people", while "about 60-70% of the housing stock has been destroyed or partially destroyed".
Strike on Odessa
A Russian missile hit infrastructure in the Odessa region on Thursday evening, the city council of this city in southern Ukraine said on Telegram, without immediately causing any casualties.
New sanctions against Russia
The EU adopted on Thursday a new round of sanctions against Russia, with an embargo on Russian coal. The EU has also offered to increase funding to provide arms to Ukraine by 500 million euros, which would be increased to a total of 1.5 billion since the start of the invasion.
More than 100 attacks against health services (WHO)
The World Health Organization on Thursday confirmed more than 100 attacks on health services in Ukraine and requested humanitarian access to the besieged city of Mariupol by Russian forces.
11:02 on 04/08/2022The Russian Central Bank surprisingly lowered its key rate to 17%, after having increased it drastically to 20% in the wake of the first sanctions after the entry of Russian troops in Ukraine.
This decrease, effective from Monday, is justified by the fact that "risks to financial stability are still present, but have ceased to increase for the time being", notes the Bank of Russia in a press release, in particular because of the strict capital controls it has put in place.
10:35 am on 08/04/2022Global food prices reached their "highest levels on record" in March, due to the war in Ukraine which "causes shocks" on grain markets and vegetable oils, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced on Friday.
The FAO food price index, which tracks the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of basic food products, had already broken its record in February since its creation in 1990, and registered a further increase of 12 in March. 6% month-on-month, the organization said in a statement.
09:55 on 04/08/2022More than 9,600 Ukrainian children are currently enrolled in schools, colleges and high schools in France, mainly in the academies of Nice and Versailles, announced the Ministry of National Education in a statement.
According to the latest figures from the "Ukraine cell" based in rue de Grenelle, 9,637 pupils arriving from Ukraine are currently accommodated in primary and secondary classes. This unit was set up at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the end of February, to anticipate the reception and schooling of Ukrainian refugee students.
09:43 on 08/04/2022The region of Sumy, bordering Russia in northeastern Ukraine, has been completely "liberated" from Russian forces, the head of the regional administration announced Dmytro Zhivitsky.
“The territory of the region is liberated from the Orcs,” Mr. Jivitsky announced on Telegram, using the nickname, taken from the book “The Lord of the Rings”, which is frequently given to Russian soldiers in Ukraine. He added, however, that the area was "not safe" and that clearance operations were underway.
09:42 on 08/04/2022Russian troops continue to focus on capturing the port city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
Military experts from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in their latest analysis that Russian forces would "probably" materialize the capture of Mariupol in the coming days. Russian state television said the center of Mariupol, a city with a strategically interesting location on the Sea of Azov, had been taken but that 3,000 Ukrainian fighters were still there. The Ukrainian General Staff report added that Russian troops were also focusing on an offensive around the town of Izium in eastern Kharkiv Oblast. kyiv claims that Moscow recently concentrated its troops there to advance towards Sloviansk in the Donetsk region.
09:39 on 08/04/2022Targeted gas cuts will be able to be demanded in France from major consumers to deal with a possible interruption of Russian supply next winter, according to a decree published Friday in the Journal official.
The government and the gas distribution network GRDF announced last week that they were preparing for this eventuality, pending the publication of the decree. It is "a device of last resort", then underlined the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Only the largest consumers, who use more than 5 gigawatt hours per year, are affected by these measures. According to the government, they number "about 5,000".
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
09:32 on 04/08/2022The Ukraine 12-12 appeal for donations launched by the Belgian Consortium for Emergency Situations a few days after the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine raised 26.7 million in a month, Consortium 12-12 officials said Friday. This sum will be distributed among the seven humanitarian organizations of the Consortium (Caritas International, the Belgian Red Cross/Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen, Handicap International, Médecins du Monde, Oxfam-Belgium, Plan International Belgium, and UNICEF Belgium).
08:50 on 08/04/2022Vladimir Putin will focus his attacks on the Donbass to seek a "victory" for May 9 (anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945), worried Emmanuel Macron Friday on RTL. "For Russia, May 9 is a national holiday, an important military appointment and it is almost certain that for President Putin, May 9 must be a day of victory", explained the head of the 'State. "They are going to concentrate their efforts in the Donbass, we are going to experience very difficult scenes in the coming weeks" in this region of eastern Ukraine, he judged.
07:55 on 08/04/2022President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen took the train early Friday morning to reach Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, accompanied by the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell . She will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky there. The German started her trip in Przemysl, a town in southeastern Poland, very close to the Ukrainian border. "Looking forward to Kiev," wrote Ursula von der Leyen on Twitter, accompanying her message with a photo of her with Mr. Borrell and the Slovak Prime Minister, on a station platform next to a train in the colors of Ukraine. "I'm going to kyiv," said the head of European diplomacy.
Looking forward to Kyiv.@JosepBorrellF @eduardheger pic.twitter.com/YFAgGr5Tlc
-- Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 8, 2022 07:07 on 08/04/2022Russian consul general Georgy Kuznetsov is to be expelled from Belgium among diplomats suspected of espionage activities. Georgy Kuznetsov is a well-known figure in Antwerp. He maintains good contacts with several high Flemish dignitaries. On January 26, the Flemish deputy Filip Dewinter (Vlaams Belang) had notably published on Twitter a photo of him alongside Georgy Kuznetsov in the Flemish Parliament. In January, Georgy Kuznetsov had also had official contacts with the governor of Antwerp Cathy Berx (CD&V). His meetings were not limited to the political world. He had also visited the port of Zeebrugge, the dredging company Deme and had met members of the Antwerp local police "to thank them for the surveillance missions at the consulate". According to the intelligence services, Kuznetsov was above all looking for information that could be useful to the Russian regime during its various meetings.
06:26 on 08/04/2022The World Health Organization on Thursday confirmed more than 100 attacks on health services in Ukraine and requested humanitarian access to the city of Mariupol besieged by Russian forces. "To date, the WHO has verified 103 attacks on health services, with 73 people killed and 51 injured, including health workers and patients," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the interview. of a press conference, describing this assessment as "gloomy". Of the confirmed attacks, 89 hit health facilities and most others transport services, including ambulances.
06:00 on 08/04/2022The situation in Borodyanka, a locality northwest of Kiev recently retaken by the Ukrainians from the Russians, is "much more horrible" than in Boutcha, where civilians were massacred , Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday evening. “There are more victims” in this small town than in that of Boutcha, also northwest of the capital, added Mr. Zelensky in a video message. Shortly before, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced on Facebook that 26 bodies had been discovered by rescuers in the rubble of two bombed apartment buildings in Borodianka, a town that had just over 13,000 inhabitants before the war. . But "it is difficult to predict how many deaths there will be" identified in total, she immediately underlined, noting that it is "the most destroyed city in the region" of Kiev.
05:30 on 08/04/2022European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has offered to increase funding by 500 million euros to supply arms to Ukraine, the European Council president announced on Thursday Charles Michel, expressing his "support" for this initiative. “Once swiftly approved (by member states), this proposal will bring EU aid to Ukraine to 1.5 billion euros for military equipment,” tweeted the official, head of the institution bringing together the leaders of the 27 EU countries.
21:58 on 07/04/2022Twenty-six bodies were discovered by Ukrainian rescue workers in the rubble of two bombed apartment buildings in Borodianka, northwest of Kiev, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced Ukraine Iryna Venediktova.
It is "the most destroyed city in the region" of the capital, she said on Facebook. “Only under the rubble of two bombed-out apartment buildings, 26 bodies were extracted,” she said, adding that “it is difficult to predict how many deaths there will be” in Borodyanka in total.
"Only the civilian population was targeted: there is no military site" in this locality recently taken over by Ukrainian forces after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kiev region, continued Ms. Venediktova.
Macabre discoveries are multiplying in several small towns in this area devastated by the fighting.
21:49 on 04/07/2022The "new mayor" proclaimed by pro-Russian forces in Mariupol announced that "about 5,000 people" had died among the civilian population of this Ukrainian city, besieged for weeks by the Russian military and its separatist allies.
"About 60 to 70% of the housing stock has been destroyed or partially destroyed", added, quoted by the Russian state press agency Tass, Konstantin Ivachtchenko.
He also estimated that 250,000 people had left the city but that at least as many, possibly 300,000, remained behind.
21:20 on 07/04/2022Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize 2021 and editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, announced that he was attacked by an unknown person who sprayed him with a product red on the train.
"They poured oil paint with acetone into the compartment. My eyes burn terribly. On the train from Moscow to Samara. The departure has already been delayed for 30 minutes. I will try to wash myself," said Muratov quoted in this publication.
"He shouted 'Muratov, it's for our guys'", added Mr Muratov. The message is accompanied by two photos visibly taken by the person concerned: one shows him reflected in the mirror of what appears to be the toilets of the train, the head, the torso and the arms sprayed with a red substance. The second photo shows a sleeper train compartment splattered with a large amount of blood-red colored liquid.
21:13 on 07/04/2022Representatives of the Twenty-Seven have decided on an embargo on Russian coal and the closure of European ports to Russian ships, as part of a fifth salvo of sanctions against Moscow, a announced the French Presidency of the Council of the EU.
This "very substantial" package also provides for the ban on exports to Russia, in particular of high-tech goods, up to 10 billion euros, and new sanctions against Russian banks, according to the same source . It had been proposed by the Commission after the discovery of dozens of corpses of civilians last weekend in Boutcha, near kyiv.
20:43 on 07/04/2022"We prohibit new investments in key industries of the Russian economy, including energy", indicate the powers of the G7 in a press release, which also announces "sanctions against the Russian defense sector" and against "elites and their relatives" who support the war decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin against Ukraine.
Export bans on certain goods will be extended, sanctions against banks and Russian public companies extended, according to the text.
While an embargo on energy imports is not considered at this stage, the G7 countries want to "advance" their plans to reduce their dependence on Russian energy, which include "an exit progress of Russian coal".
20:19 on 07/04/202219:51 on 07/04/2022The General Assembly suspended Russia from its seat on the Human Rights Council due to the invasion of Ukraine, during a vote which received 93 votes in favor and reflected an erosion of international unity vis-à-vis Moscow.
Russia views the suspension as "illegal and politically motivated, aimed at ostentatiously punishing a sovereign UN member state that pursues an independent domestic and foreign policy."
"Opportunists"
Russia has decided on an "early termination" of this Council, added Russian diplomacy. “Unfortunately, under current conditions, the Council is virtually monopolized by a group of states who use it for their own opportunistic purposes,” the ministry adds.
"We are sorry for this and we will continue to defend our interests by all legal means and to explain ourselves," said Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on the British channel Sky News.
Vague data
During his interview, the Kremlin spokesman acknowledged "significant losses" within the Russian army deployed in Ukraine, without quantifying them. "We suffered significant military losses," he said, "it's a huge tragedy for us."
Russia has been very tight-lipped about the extent of its losses since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. The latest official report, communicated on March 29, reported 1,351 dead and 3,825 injured.
Also read: The dark side of the Russian army: despite its firepower, its losses are high (infographics)
19:29 on 07/04/2022"War criminals have no place in the UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights", reacted on Twitter the Ukrainian Minister of Affairs foreigners Dmytro Kouleba.
“(I am) grateful to all Member States who supported the relevant UN General Assembly resolution and chose the right side of history,” he added.
The GA suspended Russia from its seat on the Human Rights Council over the invasion of Ukraine, in a vote that garnered 93 votes in favor and reflected an erosion of international unity against Moscow.
Russia's rights of membership in the UN Human Rights Council has just been suspended. War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights. Grateful to all member states which supported the relevant UNGA resolution and thing the right side of history.
-- Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 7, 2022 7:24 PM on 07/04/2022As a result of the war in Ukraine, the European police office Europol expects a possible increase in crime and has announced measures, in particular to combat the trafficking of human beings and arms.
Read the full article here.
18:30 on 07/04/2022NATO member states agree to further strengthen their support for Ukraine "so that Ukraine can triumph over the Russian invasion", said Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, after the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers at the headquarters of the organization in Brussels.
According to the Norwegian, the member states are committed to doing more, "now, and in the medium and long term". “We discussed what more we will do, including cybersecurity assistance and providing equipment to help Ukraine defend against chemical and biological threats,” he said.
Also read: What now, offensive weapons to Ukraine? Why NATO will graze the limits
Mr. Stoltenberg did not specify what additional weapons NATO countries will now supply to Ukraine. However, he had already explained that Member States supply different types of weapons. In addition to military support, Member States will also step up their humanitarian and financial aid.
18:15 on 07/04/2022The UN General Assembly has suspended Russia from its seat on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, due to the invasion of Ukraine. Ninety-three countries supported this proposal, initiated by the United States.
Twenty-four countries voted against this suspension, the second in the history of the UN after the ousting of Libya in 2011. And 58 countries abstained, but the abstentions, a choice denounced by Kiev, were not taken into account in the required two-thirds majority among the only votes for and against.
17:44 on 07/04/2022The German intelligence services (BND) have recorded radio communications from Russian soldiers in which they refer to the abuses committed in Boutcha, northwest of Kiev, where dozens of corpses were discovered, sparking outrage, claims der Spiegel magazine.
The content of certain exchanges corresponds to photos of corpses found in Boutcha and which have sparked a wave of international condemnation, several leaders including the German Olaf Scholz evoking "war crimes" perpetrated by the Russians in this locality taken over by Ukrainian forces, according to the same source.
These recordings contradict the version given by Moscow according to which the corpses of people in civilian clothes found in Boutcha were placed there after the Russian troops evacuated the place.
Read also: Massacre in Boutcha: why do some people shout at the staging?
Thus, in one of the radio messages mentioned by der Spiegel, a soldier explains to another that he and his colleagues shot down a person on a bicycle. However, the photo of a corpse lying on its bicycle went around the world and AFP journalists saw this corpse as well as those of about twenty men dressed in civilian clothes while traversing one of the longest Boutcha's arteries.
In another radio message, a man says: "First we interrogate the soldiers, then we shoot them."
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
17:34 on 07/04/2022The Russian military and its separatist allies have been besieging Mariupol for weeks and are facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.
The fighting is concentrated on the site of a large steel industrial zone of the Azovstal group and in the port, according to Eduard Basurin, representing separatist forces in Donetsk.
Also read: Pro-Russian separatists still admit to fighting thousands of Ukrainians in Mariupol
"How do you imagine the industrial zone? It's a city within the city, and there are several underground levels dating from the Soviet period, it's not possible to bomb from above, you have to clean under land. It will take time," he told Russian channel Pervyi Kanal.
The Ukrainian forces "have prepared themselves, they know the terrain better than us, it makes no sense to mention a date or a timetable" to complete the conquest of Mariupol, he added.
16:33 on 07/04/2022Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday accused his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov of being "accomplice in crimes" committed by the Russian army since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
“The fact that he justifies the bombing of a hospital in Mariupol and the war crimes committed in Bucha and other towns and villages in Ukraine (...) makes him an accomplice in these crimes”, declared Mr. Kouleba during a press conference, after a meeting with the heads of diplomacy of the NATO countries in Brussels.
15:54 on 04/07/2022The "shameful and unacceptable images" of the abuses committed in Boutcha and Irpin, near Kiev, "overshadowed" the talks initiated between Russia and Ukraine, regretted Thursday the one of their craftsmen, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Cavusoglu. "The images from Boutcha, Irpin and other regions are unacceptable. These images overshadowed the negotiations," said the head of Turkish diplomacy.
However, "Russia and Ukraine seem ready to meet again in Istanbul", assured the minister who spoke to the press in Brussels, at the end of the meeting of foreign ministers of NATO.
Turkey has twice hosted direct negotiations between the two parties, on March 10 at ministerial level in Antalya (south) and on March 29 in Istanbul, but "the positive atmosphere that emanated from them was unfortunately darkened," insisted the head of Turkish diplomacy.
15:54 on 04/07/2022Is the Russian army focusing on its logistical reorganization? Or are the difficulties she faces such that she has no choice but to lower her ambitions? After six weeks of war, which began in difficulty, the question remains.
More info via this link
03:39 PM on 07/04/2022About 90% of the civilians killed in the Ukrainian city of Boutcha had gunshot wounds, its mayor Anatoly Fedorouk told Deutsche Welle on Thursday. By Wednesday evening, some 320 dead bodies had been found in Boutcha. “But this number is increasing every day,” Mr. Fedorouk added, “because they were found on private properties, in parks and in places where it was possible to bury them before the bombardments.”
The mayor said he witnessed several situations where Russian soldiers killed Ukrainian civilians. "The Russians opened fire on several vehicles at a checkpoint. A pregnant woman and two children were killed in a car," Fedorouk said. “The most important thing is that the criminals who did this are brought to justice,” Mr. Fedorouk concluded. Many claims have yet to be independently verified.
15:31 on 07/04/2022An investigation into the circumstances of the deaths of people dressed in civilian clothes, found dead in Boutcha by the Ukrainian authorities after the withdrawal of the Russian army, is "the next step" , said Thursday a senior UN official during a trip to this city near Kiev.
"The world is already in deep shock," Martin Griffiths, the UN's under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told an official at Boutcha town hall, assuring that "the next step is to conduct an investigation ".
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
14:54 on 07/04/2022The massacres of civilians attributed to the Russian army north of kyiv will not constitute a turning point in the conduct of the conflict. But they situate the moral impasse in which Russia and its president are plunging.
Read the article via this link
14:36 on 07/04/2022Kyiv has called on Moscow to "reduce its degree of hostility" in the negotiations after Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday of backtracking on proposals made during their talks in late March in Istanbul.
"If Moscow wants to show that it is ready for dialogue, it must reduce its level of hostility", declared on Twitter an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, also a member of the Ukrainian delegation in charge of the discussions with Russia.
2:27 PM on 04/07/2022Russia has accused Ukraine of reneging on some of the proposals it made during talks at the end of March in Istanbul, which Moscow said it welcomed. On Wednesday, "the Ukrainian side presented to the group of negotiators a draft agreement in which it is obvious that it returns to the most important provisions determined on March 29 in Istanbul", said in a video the Russian Minister of Affairs. foreigners, Sergei Lavrov. "This inability once again to find a negotiated agreement demonstrates the true intentions of Kiev, its line aimed at dragging out or even derailing the negotiations, by rejecting the agreements that had been reached," he added. .
According to him, in the text of the proposals made in Turkey, the Ukrainian side had excluded the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, from the guarantees of security and territorial integrity that Kiev demands, but in a new document presented on Wednesday, this part would have disappeared. In addition, Kiev would claim, according to Mr. Lavrov, that the Russian and Ukrainian presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky negotiate directly from Crimea and the Ukrainian Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine where Moscow recognized two separatist powers just before to launch his offensive.
Finally, according to the Russian minister, kyiv would have gone back on a provision providing that Moscow could oppose all future military maneuvers involving foreign forces on Ukrainian territory. "We see with this that the Kiev regime is controlled by Washington and its allies, who are pushing President Zelensky to continue the fights", insisted Mr. Lavrov. Nevertheless, he said, Russia "is continuing the process of negotiations", referring to its own draft agreement without revealing its content.
14:14 on 07/04/2022On this April 7, World Health Day, the Regional Director Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Belgian Hans Kluge has, from a press center in Lviv, in western Ukraine, recalled that the organization he represents continues every day to support healthcare services in the country invaded by Russian forces some 40 days ago. “We are considering all scenarios” in a long-lasting conflict, he explained.
Hans Kluge said that during his visit he was able to see the situation, the intense work of the medical staff that the WHO is trying to support, supply medical supplies and guide, that he is be it war trauma care or more day-to-day issues such as pediatric surgery or the management of diseases such as tuberculosis -- where the Ukrainian health system has taken a considerable step forward in recent years, according to Hans Kluge -- or AIDS again. Deploring the attacks suffered by health infrastructures - in violation of international law - the WHO teams reiterated their request to be able to have access to the people and areas affected by this conflict.
13:20 on 07/04/2022G7 countries call for Russia's suspension from the UN Human Rights Council, in a joint statement.
"We are convinced that the time has come to suspend Russia's membership of the Human Rights Council", a proposal which will be voted on by the UN General Assembly today, say the foreign ministers of the G7 member countries. They further promise that the perpetrators of the Boutcha massacre "will be held to account and will be prosecuted".
11:41 AM on 07/04/2022European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in Kyiv, spokespersons for the EU executive and the Ukrainian presidency confirmed on Thursday. Ms. Von der Leyen is to make the trip with the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on the eve of a donor conference for Ukraine, scheduled for Saturday in Warsaw (Poland).
The EU chief executive's first visit to Kyiv since Russia's Feb. 24 assault on Ukraine comes as the EU decides on a new round of sanctions against Moscow, following footage of massacred civilians in Butcha and other places in Ukraine, which support Western accusations of war crimes committed by the Kremlin, which for its part refutes. It also follows the visit last Friday of the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola and that, on March 15, of three European Prime Ministers - Mateusz Morawiecki for Poland, Janez Jansa for Slovenia and Petr Fiala for the Czech Republic -, to show their support for Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion.
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
11:39 AM on 07/04/2022The coming days will be for civilians in eastern Ukraine "the last chance" to evacuate the region, local authorities have warned amid fears of a major offensive by the Russian army.
"The next few days may be the last chance to leave. All the free towns of the Lugansk region are under enemy fire," its governor, Sergei Gaïdaï, warned on Facebook, indicating that the Russians "were in cutting off all possible avenues of exit".
10:58 on 07/04/2022About fifty people demonstrated Thursday, in front of the gates of NATO headquarters in Evere, to demand an increase in military aid to Ukraine. These Ukrainian activists are calling in particular for a no-fly zone over the country, with fire and blood since the Russian invasion on February 24.
According to them, the multiple atrocities committed in the cities of Bolshaya, Irpin and Mariupol are all reasons for activating urgent additional military aid. "We are asking for combat planes, artillery and tanks. There are a lot of brave civilians who want to fight, but there are no weapons or tanks to protect the troops", launches Vasyl Kushmuns among the protesters. “It is sad to see that NATO is a bureaucratic machine that spends millions on endless meetings, office buildings and especially on weapons that are not used and sit in warehouses before finally being destroyed” , he continues.
Economic sanctions are no longer enough to defend the Ukrainian people, activists insist, calling on the Secretary General of the Transatlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, to put a stop to the Russian war machine once and for all. A NATO summit bringing together the foreign ministers of the member countries is currently being held in Brussels.
10:50 am on 07/04/2022The Ukrainian government has again urged civilians to leave areas in the east of the country where fighting is raging. The creation of ten humanitarian corridors has been planned for Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said on Facebook.
One of the escape routes is for residents of Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that is under heavy fire from Russian troops. Citizens can only leave the city with their own car in the direction of Zaporizhia. Buses to Zaporizhia, on the other hand, depart from the cities of Berdyansk, Tokmak and Melitopol. Further north, five escape routes lead from the bitterly disputed region of Luhansk to the city of Bakhmout. Routes are announced daily. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of having sabotaged the evacuation of the civilian population. Russia recently announced that it would now focus its strikes on eastern Ukraine.
10:40 am on 07/04/2022Kiev accused Hungary of "helping Putin" in the war against Ukraine, the day after declarations by Viktor Orban saying he was ready to buy Russian gas in rubles, to unlike the other countries of the European Union.
"Budapest has taken the next step: helping Putin continue his aggression against Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement, saying Hungary was "destroying EU unity" with this position.
10:40 am on 04/07/2022French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian again summoned the Russian ambassador to Paris on Thursday, after a tweet deemed "indecent" by the embassy on the abuses committed in the Ukrainian locality of Boutcha.
"Faced with the indecency and the provocation of the communication of the Russian Embassy in France on the abuses of Bucha, I decided to summon the Russian Ambassador to the Quai d'Orsay this morning", tweeted the minister. He was referring to a tweet titled "film set", as Moscow denounces a "staging" of the bodies found in the city.
Also read: War in Ukraine: Why the horrors of Boutcha will not mark a turning point (analysis)
10:16 am on 04/07/202210:13 am on 04/07/2022"The Ukrainian people inspire us with their courage" said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, on Thursday at Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at the opening of the North Atlantic Council of Allied Heads of Extended Diplomacy to their partners.
"The invasion of Russia has implications for European security but also for the international order", underlined the head of NATO. The head of Ukrainian diplomacy has indeed made the trip to meet the Foreign Ministers of the Alliance, as well as their partners. He demanded, on his arrival, weapons from NATO.
Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès did not comment on her arrival at the headquarters of the Transatlantic Alliance, as did US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The first meeting session takes place with the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Finland, Sweden and Georgia in the morning, but also with NATO partners in the Asia-Pacific region - Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea. A second session will take place in the afternoon between NATO foreign ministers.
10:04 on 07/04/2022Austria has announced the expulsion of four Russian diplomats, after similar decisions taken by other European countries since Monday in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine." The Austrian Foreign Ministry is revoking the diplomatic status of three members of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one member of the Russian Consulate General in Salzburg," a spokeswoman said in a statement sent to AFP. "These people have committed acts incompatible with their diplomatic status and are asked to leave the territory no later than April 12," she added.
Many European countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Greece have massively expelled Russian diplomats since Monday. These expulsions come as Westerners show their indignation after the discovery this weekend dozens of bodies wearing civilian clothes in Boutcha, northwest of Kiev, following the withdrawal of the Russians who are loosening the noose on the capital. Russia has firmly rejected its involvement, denouncing a Ukrainian "staging" aimed, according to Moscow, at denigrating the image of Russian soldiers.
On Tuesday, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg initially refused to follow his partners in the European Union (EU), believing that the EU should first adopt a common position on the subject. Russia has accredited 290 employees for its diplomatic representation in Austria, including 162 diplomats, in charge of bilateral issues, but who also represent Moscow at the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Experts have considered since the Cold War that Austria, a neutral country of 9 million inhabitants, is a privileged place for international espionage. Austria had expelled a Russian diplomat accused of espionage in August 2020, a first in the history of this state close to Russia, which wants to be a bridge between East and West. Austria had distinguished itself from the Great Britain and a majority of European states in March 2018 when the country refused to expel Russian diplomats in retaliation after the alleged poisoning in the Kremlin of former spy Sergei Skripal. Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries also discussed a fifth round of sanctions on Wednesday and are due to meet again on Thursday to reach an agreement, according to European diplomats. Austria opposes sanctions against Russian oil and gas, like Germany and Hungary.
09:42 AM on 07/04/2022Runners from Russia or Belarus will not be allowed to participate in the Boston Marathon on April 18 due to the invasion of Ukraine, organizers have announced. This ban concerns runners residing in Russia or Belarus, while expatriates of Russian or Belarusian origin will be able to take part in the race provided that they do not wear the colors of their country of origin, specified the Boston. Athletic Association. "We believe running is a global sport, and as such, we need to do what we can to show our support for the people of Ukraine," Boston Athletic Association chief executive Tom Grilk said, adding that organizers were "horrified and outraged" by reports and images showing what is happening in Ukraine.
The Boston Marathon, canceled in 2020 and then held in October 2021 with a lower than normal number of participants due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is returning to its usual schedule and format this year. The statement did not specify how many Russian or Belarusian athletes were registered this year. In 2019, 59 of the more than 30,000 runners who took part in the race were from Russia and Belarus.
07:56 on 07/04/2022The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba on Thursday asked NATO members to provide more weapons to his country to fight Russian forces. "I come to ask for three things: weapons, weapons and weapons. The faster they will be delivered, the more lives will be saved and destruction avoided", pleaded the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs on his arrival at NATO headquarters in Brussels for a meeting with his counterparts from the countries of the Atlantic Alliance
07:45 on 07/04/2022Eastern Ukraine, now a priority target of the Kremlin, was trying to evacuate its civilian population, before a new Russian offensive expected despite new "devastating" American sanctions "against Moscow. To read here
07:30 on 07/04/2022The two daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, sanctioned on Wednesday by the United States because of the "atrocities in Ukraine" after the Russian invasion, have always stayed away from the public sphere, and little is known about them. To read here
07:10 on 07/04/2022 06:26 on 07/04/2022By invading Ukraine, "Putin has clearly dropped the likelihood of the scenario that he remains in the Kremlin until his death... and as he had planned," said Leonid Volkov, a close friend of Alexei Navalny, the main opponent of the Russian president. For the opponent, the Russian president "made a miscalculation" by launching his troops against the country neighbor on February 24, and this invasion is doomed. Mr. Volkov acknowledges that "Putin manages well to sell his propaganda" and to justify the invasion in the eyes of the part of the Russian population which has no other source of information than state television. But insists Mr. Volkov, the Russian elites “live very badly the economic disaster, the losses (human), the restrictions and the sanctions.
06:00 on 07/04/2022For the Pentagon, there is currently no indication that the Russian military will soon deploy chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. "We haven't seen anything to indicate that," spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. So far, no Russian transport of chemical weapons to Ukraine has been reported. Mr. Kirby also announced that Washington will support kyiv by supplying it with additional Javelin-type anti-tank weapons. The Ukrainian military has been using these weapons very effectively lately, according to Kirby.
21:17 on 06/04/2022The European Commission "encourages" member states which have opened investigations into possible war crimes in Ukraine to join the joint investigation team coordinated by the agency judicial cooperation Eurojust, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Eight countries (France, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden, Spain) have launched national surveys.
21:16 on 06/04/2022The United States has announced a new round of "devastating" sanctions against Russia, targeting major banks and the children of Vladimir Putin.
The United Kingdom has announced a ban on all British investment in Russia and imposed sanctions on the banking and energy sectors.
Vladimir Putin's two daughters, in their thirties, are on a new European Union sanctions blacklist being scrutinized by representatives of the Twenty-Seven that includes more than 200 names of men or of business women.
20:04 on 06/04/2022Four civilians were killed and four injured in the shelling by Russian forces on Wednesday of a humanitarian aid distribution center in Vougledar, eastern Ukraine, announced the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko.
"In the morning, the enemy cynically fired on the civilians of Vougledar who had come to receive humanitarian aid. The shelling left four dead and four injured," Kirilenko posted on Facebook.
07:27 PM on 06/04/2022Joe Biden denounced "major war crimes" by referring to the "bodies left in the streets after the withdrawal of the Russians" and the "civilians executed in cold blood" in Boutcha , near Kyiv.
“What is happening is nothing less than major war crimes. Washington, also promising to “stifle for years” the economic development of Russia.
18:35 on 06/04/2022Severodonetsk, the easternmost city held by the Ukrainian army, was the target of sustained bombing, noted an AFP team which saw a building on fire, while few civilians were visible in the streets.
Some residents ventured out when the shelling stopped for a few minutes, before taking cover when the strikes resumed.
"We have nowhere to go, it's been like this for days," commented one of them, Volodymyr, 38, in front of the spectacle of the building in flames of the other side of the street. "I don't know who this war is for, but we are under the bombs..."
Although more active, the front line does not seem to have moved significantly in recent hours and is still located on the northern outskirts of Severodonetsk. The clashes that day seemed to be limited to exchanges of artillery.
04:00 PM on 06/04/2022Kyiv calls on residents of eastern Ukraine to evacuate the region “now” or risk “death” amid fears of a major offensive and murderer of the Russian army on the Donbass, now the priority target of the Kremlin.
If the Russian army launched a major attack in the region, "we could no longer help, because it would be practically impossible to stop the fighting", warned a Ukrainian representative. "We must evacuate as long as this possibility exists. For the moment, it still exists".
Russia has said in recent days that it wants to reposition its forces to focus its offensive on the "liberation" of Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian backed separatists have clashed with the Ukrainian army for eight years.
15:52 on 06/04/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin has not given up his will to take over all of Ukraine and the war is likely to last "for months or even years", warns NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
"We have to be realistic [...] This is why we also have to be prepared for a long journey, both in terms of supporting Ukraine, maintaining sanctions and strengthening our defences.
15:05 on 06/04/2022Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that he had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom he is close, and had offered him a meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, France and German.
“I proposed to President Putin to declare an immediate ceasefire,” he told the press, adding that he had offered to come to Budapest for talks with the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany . "He said yes, but with conditions."
14:30 on 04/06/2022According to the German government, Russia's statements regarding Boutcha are "untenable". Putin's country claimed that there had been no massacre and that the images were the result of Ukrainian staging.
"The explanations given by the Russian side are not tenable in our eyes" following "the evaluation of the satellite images" broadcast in the press, declared the spokesman of the German government Steffen Hebestreit, during a conference press in Berlin.
Read also: Massacre in Boutcha: why do some people shout at the staging?
14:05 on 06/04/2022The UN General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a Western demand for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council due to the invasion of Ukraine.
For Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council, sitting in Geneva, a majority of 2/3 of the countries who will vote for and against in the ballot to which the 193 members of the Assembly are invited general.
02:03 PM on 06/04/2022Russian gas represents 40% of European consumption, and some countries are even more dependent on it. Explanations.
12:54 on 06/04/2022 12:51 on 06/04/2022China has spoken of "deeply disturbing" images after the discovery of corpses in the city of Boutcha in Ukraine, while refusing to incriminate the Russia. "Any accusation must be based on facts" and one must not "mix the humanitarian situation with politics", declared a Chinese representative.
12:37 on 06/04/2022Our sanctions "are relevant because they affect Russia much harder than us", declared the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen, in the European hemicyle, meeting in session plenary.
"These sanctions will not be the last (...) We have banned coal, but now we must look at oil and the income that Russia derives from these fossil fuels".
As a reminder, the European Commission proposed on Tuesday to the EU27 to toughen the sanctions against Moscow, by stopping their purchases of Russian coal, which represent 45% of EU imports, and by closing European ports to ships Russians.
But a possible embargo on oil (25% of European purchases) and gas (45% of EU imports) is the subject of bitter discussions between the member states, Germany having publicly expressed its reluctance, not being able to do without Russian gas "in the short term".
11:54 on 06/04/2022Two civilians were killed and five injured in the shelling of an aid distribution center in Vougledar, eastern Ukraine, according to the governor of the region from Donetsk, Pavlo Kirilenko.
“The humanitarian aid distribution site was shelled by Russian fascists with rockets in Vougledar. Two people were killed and five were injured,” Kirilenko said on Telegram.
The attack "took place during the distribution of humanitarian aid", he said, posting photos showing inert bodies lying outside a building with blown windows.
11:46 on 06/04/2022Volodymyr Zelensky blasted, in front of the Irish Parliament, the "indecision" of some leaders in the introduction of sanctions against Russia, urging the EU to further toughen its measures.
"There are mechanisms to do this, the only thing missing is a principled approach from some leaders, political or economic, who still believe that war and war crimes are not such terrible things as financial losses,” Mr. Zelensky said, insisting: “We cannot tolerate any indecision after what we have been through.”
Read also | Zelensky in the Belgian Parliament: "Peace is more valuable than diamonds, ships, oil and gas"
11:18 on 04/06/2022Greece will expel twelve Russian diplomats, the Foreign Ministry has announced. Other European countries had decided on Tuesday to do the same. These 12 people are members of the diplomatic and consular missions of the Russian Federation.
10:26 on 06/04/2022Pope Francis castigates the "ever more horrible cruelty" that strikes in Ukraine "including against civilians", in reference to the "massacre of Boutcha".
"Recent news of the war in Ukraine (...) bears witness to new atrocities, such as the Boutcha massacre, an ever more horrific cruelty, also committed against civilians, women and children", declared the pope at the end of his general audience.
Read also | Massacre in Boutcha: why some shout at the staging?
09:36 on 06/04/2022The European Union will have to take sanctions on Russian oil and gas "sooner or later", says the President of the European Council Charles Michel, denouncing the "crimes against humanity " perpetrated in Boutcha "and many other cities" in Ukraine.
"I think that measures on oil and even gas will be necessary sooner or later", declared the Belgian official before the MEPs gathered in plenary session in Strasbourg. The European Commission has proposed to the Twenty-Seven to toughen the sanctions against Moscow, by stopping their purchases of Russian coal, which represent 45% of EU imports, and by closing European ports to Russian ships.
09:28 on 06/04/2022Dutch customs authorities have detained 14 yachts in shipyards, including twelve under construction and two under maintenance, which are targeted by sanctions against Russia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. Foreign Affairs.
“In view of the current measures, these vessels cannot be delivered, transferred or exported at the moment,” Wopke Hoekstra said in a letter to the Dutch parliament.
08:49 on 06/04/2022The detail can be read here
08:00 on 04/06/2022They were well sheltered under a pine forest, three kilometers from the first dwellings, in the middle of the countryside: to the northwest of Kiev, a thousand Russian soldiers had established a huge camp basic. To discover here
06:42 AM on 06/04/2022Twitter on Tuesday announced new measures against Russian government accounts to reduce the circulation of official Russian propaganda on the social network. These official accounts will no longer be "recommended" to Twitter users in any category of the site or app, including search, the platform said in a statement Tuesday. The Californian company, like its neighbor Meta (Facebook, Instagram), had already blocked the accounts of the Russian media RT and Sputnik in the European Union. Moscow had responded by restricting access to Twitter in the country (and blocking Facebook and Instagram).
06:00 AM on 04/06/2022Some 400 residents of Hostomel commune in Kiev region are still missing, 35 days after the start of the Russian invasion, according to the administration official local military. Several residents no longer give any sign of life and the bodies of people known to have been killed could not be found, according to Taras Dumenko. Several inhabitants of Hostomel were also found in Boutcha.
Hostomel is located in the northwest of kyiv. The locality of 16,000 inhabitants is particularly known for its international cargo airport, targeted from the start of their invasion by the Russian armed forces.
05:30 on 06/04/2022This is to "address an urgent Ukrainian need for additional Javelin anti-tank systems, which the United States has provided to Ukraine and has so effectively used to defend their country," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "The world was shocked and horrified by the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha, and the United States, alongside our allies and partners, strongly supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity." American diplomacy said that this additional assistance brought to 1.7 billion dollars the American security aid allocated to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
22:29 on 05/04/2022Explosions took place on Tuesday evening in the town of Radekhiv, 70 kilometers from Lviv, the major city in western Ukraine, a local official said, calling people to take shelter.
"Explosions in the Radekhiv region. Everyone stays safe," Maksym Kozitsky, head of the regional military administration, wrote on Telegram. An AFP journalist in Lviv heard anti-aircraft sirens there.
21:00 on 05/04/2022The United States will adopt on Wednesday, in coordination with the European Union and the G7, new sanctions against Russia aimed in particular at prohibiting "all new investment" in this country, according to a source familiar with the matter.
These punitive measures, imposed in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, will further include "enhanced sanctions against financial institutions and state-owned enterprises in Russia, and sanctions against Russian government officials and their relatives" , this source told AFP on Tuesday.
20:47 on 05/04/2022As the NGO's four-person team entered the city's oncology hospital on Monday afternoon, "several explosions occurred near our staff in the space of ten minutes", says Michel-Olivier Lacharité, MSF head of mission in Ukraine, in the press release dated from Paris and Odessa.
"When leaving the area, the MSF team saw injured people and at least one corpse", he adds, specifying that the NGO staff were "not injured". The regional pediatric hospital, located about 300 meters away, was also hit in the shelling of the area, according to members of the team on site.
"After the explosions, they observed numerous small holes in the ground, scattered over a large area. No large-scale craters were visible in this area. These features could suggest the use of cluster bombs" indicates MSF.
20:34 on 05/04/2022British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed Russians directly, telling them in a video that they deserve to know "the truth" about the atrocities committed in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
“The Russian people deserve the truth, you deserve the facts,” the conservative leader said in Russian at the start of this short video posted on social media, before continuing in English.
He said reports from Ukraine about atrocities attributed to the Russian military "in Boutcha, Irpin and elsewhere in Ukraine" had "horrified the world".
They are "so shocking, so sickening (that) it's no wonder your government is trying to hide them from you," he said. "Your president knows that if you could see what is happening, you would not support this war," he added, referring to Vladimir Putin.
To the Russian people, look at what is being done in your name.
You deserve the truth. You deserve the facts. pic.twitter.com/sqDxvGnTnp
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called the discovery of bodies in the Ukrainian town of Bucha a "provocation" aimed at derailing the ongoing negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
"A question arises: what is the use of this open and false provocation (...) We are led to believe that it is used to find a pretext to torpedo the current negotiations", affirmed Mr. Lavrov, in a video message broadcast on Russian television.
19:25 on 05/04/2022The EU has declared "personae non-gratae" 19 members of the Russian representation to the EU. These people from the Russian diplomatic representation to the European institutions, based in Brussels, should receive a request to leave Belgian territory.
EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell announced in a video message on Tuesday afternoon: Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov was summoned the same day for him mean that several officials of the permanent mission are no longer welcome.
The European External Action Service then clarified this decision in a press release. It is about "19 members of the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the EU" who are declared "personae non-gratae for having engaged in activities contrary to their diplomatic status". Their "illegal and disruptive" actions, against the "interests and security of the EU and its member states", violate "the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations", a United Nations treaty which regulates between other the specificities of embassies and diplomats. Since these people benefited from a residence permit based on their diplomatic accreditation with the European institutions, their residence permit in Belgium is interrupted in parallel with the revocation of the accreditation.
"The privileges and immunities of the Russian citizens concerned will be revoked and they will be required to leave Belgian territory", specifies the press release from the European External Action Service. In concrete terms, it is up to the Belgian authorities to revoke the residence permit and notify the persons concerned that they must leave the country. According to a source familiar with the matter, the European decision was taken in collaboration with Foreign Affairs, and orders to leave the territory within two weeks have already been sent to the 19 diplomats.
19:23 on 05/04/2022Britain has frozen $350 billion in foreign currency from the Russian regime, President Vladimir Putin's "war chest", the British Foreign Secretary announced in Warsaw , Liz Truss.
"So far our sanctions have had a crippling effect on those who fuel and finance Putin's war machine. This week we will announce that we have frozen more than $350 billion of Putin's war chest ", she said at a joint press conference with her Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau.
This amount corresponds to "more than 60% of the regime's $604 billion in foreign currency," she said. "With the reserves unavailable, our coordinated sanctions are pushing the Russian economy back into the Soviet era. But we can, and we must, do more," Ms. Truss stressed.
18:52 on 05/04/2022Zelensky urges the UN to act
Volodymyr Zelensky urged the UN to act "immediately" in the face of the "war crimes" committed by Russia in his country, otherwise the United Nations would have to "simply close".
He broadcast a video showing very raw images of people killed in Ukraine, whose violence provoked an indignant reaction from the current president of this body.
Russia is strengthening towards the Donbass
Russia is strengthening to "take control of the whole of Donbass", in eastern Ukraine, and achieve "a land bridge with Crimea", annexed by Moscow in 2014, said the secretary NATO General Jens Stoltenberg.
Cluster munitions
The UN "has received credible allegations that Russian forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times" in Ukraine since the invasion at the end of February, said before the Council of security a senior official of the Organization.
“Allegations that Ukrainian forces used such weapons are also under investigation,” added UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo.
Boutcha: civilians targeted "deliberately"
The images coming out of Boutcha, a Ukrainian town where dozens of bodies were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops, "point to deliberately targeted civilians", said a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. human rights.
"Unlivable" situation in Mariupol
Mariupol has "exceeded the stage of a humanitarian disaster", the mayor of this city in south-eastern Ukraine, besieged by the Russian army, told AFP, describing the situation as "unbearable". some 120,000 inhabitants still in place.
EU: new sanctions under discussion
The European Commission has proposed to the Twenty-Seven to toughen the sanctions against Moscow, by stopping their purchases of Russian coal, which represent 45% of EU imports, and by closing European ports to Russian ships or those operated by of the Russians.
Putin threatens retaliation
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday denounced the “pressure” exerted against Gazprom in Europe, stressing that nationalizing Russian assets was “a double-edged sword”.
Nearly 200 Russian diplomats expelled
After France and Germany on Monday, Italy, Spain and Slovenia in particular expelled Russian diplomats en masse on Tuesday, marking a further deterioration in relations with Moscow after the discovery of massacres attributed to the Russian forces near Kiev.
18:31 on 05/04/2022The UN "has received credible allegations that Russian forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times" in Ukraine since the invasion of at the end of February, a senior official of the Organization told the Security Council on Tuesday.
“Allegations that Ukrainian forces used such weapons are also under investigation,” added UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo. "These weapons cause most civilian casualties as well as massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, hospitals, schools, water stations and electrical systems," she said.
18:11 on 05/04/2022Russia has evacuated "600,000 people" from Ukraine, who did not leave "under duress or abduction" as the West says, claimed to the Security Council the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia.
"We did not come to Ukraine to conquer territories," he also said, again contesting accusations of atrocities against the Russian army.
17:48 on 05/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the war in Ukraine to the massacre of Guernica, a small town in the Spanish Basque Country bombed in 1937 by Nazi aircraft during the Spanish Civil War.
"It's April 2022 but it feels like April 1937, when the world learned about what was happening in one of your cities, Guernica," Ukraine's president said in a live broadcast in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies, in reference to the attack of the German Condor Legion, which caused, according to historians, the death of 150 to 300 people.
17:41 on 05/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video to the UN Security Council showing very raw images of those killed in Ukraine, whose violence provoked a reaction indignant at the current president of this body.
These are "appalling images," British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said, saying she was "outraged." Several bodies or body parts appeared on these images, on a sound background accentuating the dramatization of the video.
Read also: Will Boutcha's barbarity definitely change the course of the war in Ukraine?
17:28 on 05/04/2022Slovenia has in turn decided to expel 33 Russian diplomats to express its "strong protest" and "shock" after the discovery of numerous corpses in the liberated Ukrainian city of Boutcha , where Kiev accuses the Russians of massacre.
The Foreign Ministry has summoned Russian Ambassador Timur Ezhvazov to announce a sharp reduction in diplomatic and administrative staff, according to a statement. A spokeswoman told AFP that 33 people were affected by this measure.
Read also: Will Boutcha's barbarity definitely change the course of the war in Ukraine?
17:20 on 05/04/2022The Czech Republic has become the first state to send tanks to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country. These are an unspecified number of Soviet-era T-72 tanks and a series of BPM-1 combat vehicles that look very tank-like. The BPM-1 also dates from the time of the Soviet Union.
Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova confirmed the information without going into details, Czech media reported. The decision would have been taken after consultation with the NATO countries. Ukraine bought BMP-1 type tanks from a Czech company last week. These machines, 58 in number, would have been used in the past by the East German army. The Soviet Union's BMP-1 armored vehicles were part of the standard equipment of the Warsaw Pact. After the reunification of Germany, these tanks became the property of the German army which managed to sell them to Sweden in the 90s. The Scandinavian country then resold them to a Czech company.
17:12 on 04/05/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the UN to hold Russia "responsible" for "the worst war crimes" since World War II, he says.
Volodymyr Zelensky told the Security Council that Russian forces had sent "hundreds of thousands" of Ukrainians to Russia since the start of the war.
He urges the UN to act "immediately.
Read also: "War crimes", "genocide": who can really punish Vladimir Putin?
16:36 on 05/04/2022The war waged by Russia in Ukraine, "in violation of the United Nations Charter", has consequences in 74 developing countries, affecting 1.2 billion people, has said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the opening of a meeting of the Security Council.
16:11 on 05/04/2022The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken denounced a "deliberate campaign to kill, torture, rape" in Boutcha, a Ukrainian city where dozens of corpses were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops.
“What we saw in Boutcha is not the isolated act of a rogue unit. It is a deliberate campaign to kill, torture, rape, commit atrocities,” he said before to fly to Brussels. "This strengthens our resolve and the resolve of countries around the world to ensure that somehow, one day or another, those who committed these acts are held accountable," he said. he asserted.
16:06 on 05/04/2022The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell announced that he had decided to declare "persona non grata" several members of the Russian representation to the EU because of "activities contrary" to their status as diplomats.
"The Russian ambassador was summoned today by the secretary general of the foreign action service to inform him of this decision," he said. Josep Borrell did not specify the number of Russian diplomats affected by this measure.
15:55 on 05/04/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed to "monitor" food deliveries to countries "hostile" to the Kremlin, in the midst of a wave of sanctions against Moscow with consequences for many agricultural sectors .
"This year, against a backdrop of global food shortages, we are going to have to be more attentive to food deliveries abroad and monitor in particular the conditions of these exports to countries which conduct a hostile policy against us", affirmed Mr. Putin, during a meeting broadcast on public television. Vladimir Putin also denounced the "pressure" exerted against Gazprom in Europe, stressing that nationalizing Russian assets was "a double-edged sword".
"The situation in the energy field is worsening because of crude measures, which are not related to the market, in particular the administrative pressure on our company Gazprom in several European countries", he said on television , after Germany announced the day before taking temporary control of a German subsidiary of the gas giant.
15:23 on 05/04/2022NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he feared the discovery of "other atrocities" during the recapture of territories controlled by the Russians in Ukraine and denounced "war crimes".
“I fear that we will witness more atrocities. The Russians still control part of the Ukrainian territory. When it is retaken, we risk discovering more mass graves, more atrocities, more war crimes, and this underlines the importance of investigations to establish all the facts so that those responsible are brought to justice,” he said during a press conference in Brussels.
14:50 on 05/04/2022The European Commission has proposed to the Twenty-Seven to toughen the sanctions against Moscow, by stopping their purchases of Russian coal, which represent 45% of EU imports, and by closing European ports to vessels operated by Russians.
After the discovery of a large number of bodies in the Kiev region, "we clearly need to increase our pressure even more" on Moscow, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Brussels is also proposing to toughen existing banking sanctions and ban €10 billion worth of exports of crucial industrial equipment and components to Russia, such as advanced semiconductors.
14:39 on 05/04/2022Russia strengthens to "take control of the whole of Donbass", in eastern Ukraine, and achieve "a land bridge with Crimea", annexed by Moscow in 2014, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We are in a crucial phase of the war,” he warned during a press conference on the eve of a meeting of Alliance foreign ministers.
14:30 on 05/04/2022The United States no longer allows Russia, from Tuesday, to repay its debt with dollars held in American banks, increasing the pressure and increasing the risk of a Russian payment default.
“Today is the deadline for Russia to make another debt payment,” a US Treasury spokesperson told AFP, adding that with this measure, “Russia must choose between emptying its remaining dollar reserves or (using) new incoming revenue, or defaulting".
14:13 on 05/04/2022The 27 EU countries are discussing sanctions on Russian coal and oil imports, after the discovery of a large number of bodies in the Kyiv region, said a European manager in Luxembourg.
14:12 on 05/04/2022The number of internally displaced people in Ukraine has crossed the seven million mark. This figure is up 10% from the previous assessment on March 16, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in Geneva.
13:52 on 05/04/2022The Kremlin denounced the European "lack of foresight" after the expulsion from Europe of more than 120 Russian diplomats because of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
"We regret it. The reduction in the possibilities of communicating at the diplomatic level in these difficult conditions" denotes a "lack of foresight which will further complicate the communication (between Russia and the EU, editor's note) necessary to find solutions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “And that will inevitably lead to retaliatory measures,” he added.
13:51 on 05/04/2022The French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) has announced that it has opened three new investigations for "war crimes", for acts committed to the detriment of French nationals in Ukraine since the invasion of Russia.
12:26 on 05/04/2022The images coming out of Boutcha, a Ukrainian city where dozens of corpses were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops, "point to deliberately targeted civilians", said Tuesday a door- word of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
More info here.
12:15 on 05/04/2022Beijing reiterated its call for peace talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine during a meeting between the Chinese and Ukrainian foreign ministers, as Russian forces are accused of committing massacres.
11:19 on 05/04/2022Italy has decided to expel 30 Russian diplomats for "national security" reasons, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told the channel in Berlin. Italian news RaiNews24.
This decision by Italy follows similar measures taken on Monday by Germany and France and Tuesday morning by Denmark.
11:13 on 05/04/2022European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell will travel to Kyiv "this week" to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the report announced. Commission Chief Spokesperson, on Twitter.
This trip follows that of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Friday. It comes ahead of a donors' conference for Ukraine, scheduled for Saturday in Warsaw (Poland), when the Twenty-Seven are discussing this week a new set of sanctions against Moscow, after the images of civilians massacred in Boutcha and elsewhere in Ukraine.
11:08 on 05/04/2022Russia has accused Ukrainian authorities of preparing "stagings" of civilians killed by Moscow forces in several cities, amid international outrage after the discovery of corpses in the town of Boutcha.
More info here.
10:33 on 05/04/2022Ukrainian forces have recaptured "significant territory" from Russian troops in the north of the country, the UK Ministry of Defense claims in its latest report on the war in Ukraine.
"In some of the recaptured areas, fighting is likely to continue at a low level, but as the rest of the Russian forces withdraw, their intensity will drop significantly this week," the report said. The ministry added that Russian soldiers will likely need to be "re-equipped and recovered" before they can be redeployed for operations in the east of the country.
10:24 on 05/04/2022The "largest" global darknet sales platform, named "Hydra Market" and operating in Russian language since 2015, has been dismantled and bitcoins worth 23 million euros were seized, announced the German justice.
10:22 AM on 05/04/2022Russia will no longer be able to pay its national debt from dollar accounts held in US financial institutions, according to a new sanction imposed on Moscow by the US Treasury.
This measure implies a repositioning of Russia, which will have to choose between three less attractive options, announces a ministry spokesperson: pay its debt with the dollars it still has in reserve on its territory, immediately spend the new income or go into default. So many options intended to weaken the Russian economy.
10:03 AM on 05/04/2022Residents of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol, however, will only be able to leave the city by private cars, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said, according to the news agency Ukrinform.
She accused Russian troops of continuing to block humanitarian convoys from reaching Mariupol. For weeks, kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of sabotaging the evacuation of civilians.
According to Ms. Vereshchuk, the Red Cross workers who were allegedly detained in the village of Manhouch, about 20 kilometers west of Mariupol, have since been released. On Tuesday, the Red Cross was to begin a new attempt to bring those present on buses to the town of Zaporizhia.
Some 600 Russian soldiers are currently being held as prisoners of war by Ukraine, according to Vereshchuk.
Ukrainian authorities are looking for ways to reach Ukrainians held in captivity through the Red Cross and want to get Russia to release them, she added. In the regions of the self-declared people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, some people have been reportedly Russian prisoners of war since 2014.
09:51 on 04/05/2022The International Committee of the Red Cross team, detained by police in an area controlled by Russian troops near Mariupol in Ukraine, "was released overnight" , said an ICRC spokesman.
The team, which had been arrested in Mangush, 20 kilometers west of Mariupol, "is now focusing on continuing the humanitarian evacuation operations", the spokesperson said, adding that this incident "shows the volatility and complexity" of this operation
08:45 am on 04/05/2022 07:30 am on 04/05/2022Since the beginning of the train of Western sanctions against Russia, Belgium has blocked 196.4 billion euros in prohibited transactions and frozen 2 7 billion euros of Russian assets in our country, according to figures from the Minister of Finance, Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V). To read here
06:17 on 05/04/2022A Russian offensive focused on the east of the country, but without weakening attacks against civilian targets: the United States believes that the war in Ukraine is entering a new phase, calling for a new response from Westerners. According to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Russia "is in the process of repositioning its forces to focus its offensive on eastern and parts of southern Ukraine." She "tried to submit all of Ukraine and failed", he judged, estimating that this new phase "could last for months or more". According to Washington, "Moscow will continue airstrikes and missile fire on the rest of the country to cause military and economic damage and also, clearly, to sow terror".
06:14 on 05/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, after the discovery of massacres attributed to Russian forces near Kiev, and in particular in Boutcha. In a video broadcast overnight from Monday to Tuesday, Mr. Zelensky confirmed this intervention, which we do not know if it will take place live or delayed. "The time will come when every Russian will learn the whole truth about who among their compatriots killed. Who gave the orders," he said in the video, calling for tougher sanctions against Moscow and more armaments to his country. Earlier Monday, he had gone to Boutcha where dozens of corpses were found in this small town located about thirty kilometers northwest of Kiev, after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
10:45 PM on 04/04/2022The United States and its allies want to announce new economic sanctions against Russia "this week", announced White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
He indicated that the discussions among Westerners at the moment focused in particular on possible measures "related to energy", a very sensitive subject for Europeans, who are very dependent on Russian gas.
Read also: "War crimes", "genocide": who can really punish Vladimir Putin?
He also promised "further announcements of additional military assistance in the coming days" for Ukraine, without giving further details, noting that the equipment intended for the Ukrainian army could come from the United States. themselves or be transported from other countries.
21:55 on 04/04/2022The US government announced on Monday that it has approved the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Bulgaria to "strengthen the security" of this NATO member, against a backdrop of Russia's war in Ukraine.
The US State Department said in a statement that it had notified the United States Congress of its intention to sell these fighters and ammunition to the Eastern European country for 1.67 billion dollars. dollars. He did not specify whether this sale could pave the way for the transfer to Ukraine of Soviet-made combat aircraft, which Bulgaria has.
kyiv is asking its Western partners for Mig-29s that its soldiers already know how to fly, and which a handful of Eastern European countries have. A possible transfer of such Russian planes from Poland had been discussed at the beginning of March, before the United States opposed it, fearing that Russia could see too much direct involvement of NATO in the conflict.
According to the State Department, the sale of F-16s "will improve Bulgaria's ability to deal with current and future threats, allowing the Bulgarian Air Force to regularly deploy modern hunting in the Black Sea region" of which Ukraine is also bordering.
Strengthening the "eastern flank" of the Atlantic Alliance is part of Washington's strategy to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Read also: "Without NATO, Putin would be at the gates of Warsaw"
21:51 on 04/04/2022Residents of Kiev who fled the Russian invasion have been called by the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitali Klitschko not to return there before "at least a week", Russian bombardments still being able, according to him, to occur there.
“We are not ruling out the possibility of rocket fire. Yes, our anti-aircraft defense is working perfectly. But anything can happen. So I ask people to wait for now and not come back,” he said. -he says in a message on Telegram.
"The curfew is (currently) in effect 24 hours a day in several areas of the Kiev region. In the towns near the capital, where the fighting took place, there are also a large number of explosive devices, which can pose a great threat,” the mayor said.
Ukrainian authorities announced this weekend that the Kyiv region had been fully "liberated" after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
The Ukrainian capital suffered numerous strikes in the weeks following the start of the Russian offensive on February 24.
20:59 on 04/04/2022Ten civilians were killed and at least 46 injured in shelling on Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, announced its mayor, Oleksandre Senkevich.
A first strike by the Russian army at 04:00 GMT left "one dead and five injured, including two seriously", before another in which "10 people were killed and 41 others injured", he said. declared in a video message, specifying that the number of victims could still increase.
20:50 on 04/04/2022Russia has judged that its relations with Germany will "deteriorate" even more after Berlin's "unfriendly" decision to expel around forty Russian diplomats in connection with the conflict in Ukraine.
"The unfounded reduction of diplomatic personnel in Russian missions in Germany will narrow the space for maintaining dialogue between our countries, which will lead to a further deterioration of Russian-German relations," the Russian Embassy said. in Berlin in a statement posted on Telegram.
Germany announced the massive expulsion of Russian diplomats amid European outrage over Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, which has redoubled after the recent discovery of bodies in the town of Boutcha.
20:31 on 04/04/2022The bodies of five men with their hands tied were found in the cellar of a children's sanatorium in Boutcha, a town near Kiev taken over by the Ukrainians from the Russians where massacres were perpetrated, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced on Monday.
These "unarmed civilians" whose corpses were unearthed by the security forces were "beaten" before being killed by "soldiers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation", a- we assured from the same source on Telegram. Photos showing these bodies accompany this press release.
20:27 on 04/04/2022Russia has said it has stepped up its humanitarian aid in areas it controls in Ukraine, during a visit to Moscow by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs , the Briton Martin Griffiths.
During a meeting with the senior UN official, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin highlighted "the increase in humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian population in areas controlled by the Russian armed forces" and in pro-Russian separatist areas in eastern Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Mr. Fomin also blamed the "deterioration of the humanitarian situation" on Kiev, accusing the Ukrainian authorities and "nationalist battalions" of "retaining civilians in the towns" affected by the clashes.
20:24 on 04/04/2022Russia to present 'documents' showing what it says is the 'true nature' of events in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where Moscow forces are accused of killing civilians, said his foreign minister.
“Today, through our permanent representative (to the United Nations), we will organize a press conference during which precise documents will be presented on the true nature of the events”, declared the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has specified that this conference will take place at 7.30 p.m. GMT at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Read also: Will Boutcha's barbarity definitely change the course of the war in Ukraine?
20:21 on 04/04/2022Russian forces are preparing a "massive attack" against Ukrainian troops in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine, its governor, Sergei Gaïdaï, announced on Monday.
"We see that equipment is coming from different directions, that they (the Russians) are bringing in men, that they are bringing in fuel (...). We understand that they are preparing for a massive attack", he said in a video message.
"The shelling is becoming more and more dense. Last night, there was an attempt to break through in Rubizhne (not far from Lugansk, editor's note), our defenders repelled it, put out of harm's way several tanks, there were dozens of corpses" of Russian soldiers, continued Mr. Gaïdaï.
"Yesterday, unfortunately, in the explosion of a mine or an artillery shell, two volunteers died" and "a church was bombed", "two priests were injured", he said. he added, without providing further details about it.
The governor therefore called on the inhabitants of the region to leave.
20:20 on 04/04/2022France will expel 35 Russian diplomats "whose activities are contrary to (its) interests", we learned from a source close to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"This action is part of a European approach", explains a press release from the ministry. "Our first responsibility is always to ensure the safety of the French and Europeans", specifies this text.
18:08 on 04/04/2022Germany has decided to expel "a large number" of Russian diplomats stationed in Berlin, in connection with the war in Ukraine, the Foreign Minister announced on Monday, Annalena Baerbock, while according to information obtained by AFP, their number is 40.
The head of diplomacy stressed that these employees of the Russian embassy constituted "a threat to those who seek protection with us". Germany is hosting more than 300,000 Ukrainian refugees who have fled the fighting in their country since February 24.
18:06 on 04/04/2022The German state will take temporary control of the German subsidiary of the Russian giant Gazprom, because of its "importance for the supply" of energy to Germany, announced Economy Minister Robert Habeck. More info here.
Read also: Going without Russian gas, a bearable option for European economies, according to a study
17:26 on 04/04/2022Ukrainian soldiers captured by the Russian army and recently released have reported "inhuman treatment" suffered in captivity, Lyudmila Denisova, human rights officer at the Ukrainian Parliament, said on Monday .
"Ukrainian soldiers recounted the inhuman treatment they had suffered from Russia", she denounced on Facebook, referring in particular to different kinds of physical attacks.
"They were kept in a field, in a pit, in a garage. Regularly, one was out: beaten with the butt, victims of shooting at the level of his ear, intimidated", continues Ms. Denissova.
Referring to sailors captured in the early days of the invasion on Serpents' Island in the Black Sea, she said they were "kept in a tent camp at -20°C, which created frostbite on many boys" and that a dog was left loose in their camp.
Also read:"War crimes", "genocide": who can really punish Vladimir Putin?
17:23 on 04/04/2022The EU is "urgently" discussing new sanctions against Moscow, demanded in particular by France and Germany, after the discovery of a large number of civilian bodies in the region of Kiev, in particular in Boutcha, indicated on Monday the high representative of the EU Josep Borrell.
The EU “condemns in the strongest terms the reported atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in several occupied Ukrainian towns, which have now been liberated,” Borrell added in a statement.
Vincent Van Peteghem, who is taking part in the meeting for Belgium, supported the need for a new package of sanctions, after the images revealed during the weekend. "I think that we should speed up the process of a fifth sanctions package. Of course, they must have a greater impact on Russia than on the EU", he underlined on his arrival, without however name the gas. As far as oil is concerned, "Belgium will certainly not oppose" a measure targeting this sector, he said.
Read also: "War crimes", "genocide": who can really punish Vladimir Putin?
17:11 on 04/04/2022The National Gallery in London has renamed "Ukrainian Dancers" a painting by French impressionist painter Edgar Degas previously known as "Russian Dancers", said the museum, arrested on this work since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The London museum explained "having updated the name of the painting to better reflect the subject of the work", in a statement sent to AFP. Now entitled "Ukrainian Dancers", the painting by the French painter (1834 - 1917) depicts dancers with blue and yellow ribbons in their hair, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
"It is almost certain that these dancers are Ukrainian rather than Russian", writes the museum in the description of the painting published on its website.
4:49 PM on 04/04/2022US President Joe Biden has said he wants a "war crimes trial" after the discovery of numerous bodies wearing civilian clothes in Boutcha, near Kiev.
He also said he wanted to take "additional sanctions" against Russia, to reporters waiting for him to return to Washington after a weekend at his family home in Delaware.
16:05 on 04/04/2022The European Union is ready to send teams of investigators to Ukraine to help collect evidence on war crimes of which Russian forces are accused in the Kiev region, announced the President of the European Commission.
"Perpetrators of these heinous crimes must not go unpunished. The EU has set up a Joint Investigation Team with Ukraine to collect evidence and investigate war crimes and crimes against the humanity," said Ursula von der Leyen.
15:51 on 04/04/2022The United States will try to obtain the "suspension" of Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, in particular in response to "the images of Boutcha" , Ukrainian city where the corpses of many civilians were found, announced the American ambassador to the United Nations.
"We cannot allow a member state that is undermining all the principles that are important to us to participate in the UN Human Rights Council", explained Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield .
15:34 on 04/04/2022Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Monday accused the Russian military of being responsible for the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and spoke of reprisals. "Such an act must not go unpunished," he said. "Our intelligence services systematically identify intruders and assassins. All of them. Each of them will receive what they 'deserve' in due time," he wrote on Facebook.
Mr. Reznikov pointed the finger at the responsibility of the Russian troops who had occupied the city for weeks and compared their actions to those perpetrated in Ukraine by the SS during World War II.
15:32 on 04/04/2022The besieged port city of Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine is "90%" destroyed and "40% of its infrastructure" is "unrecoverable", announced its mayor Vadim Boitchenko. He also said that "about 130,000 inhabitants" were still stuck there.
15:20 on 04/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Boutcha, a town near Kiev recently taken over by Ukrainian troops where the Russian army is accused of having committed a "massacre" on the civilian population.
"Every day, when our fighters enter and retake territories, you see what happens," Mr. Zelensky told the media, wearing a bulletproof vest and accompanied by Ukrainian soldiers, in a street of Boutcha devastated by the fighting. “These are war crimes and it will be recognized by the world as genocide,” Mr. Zelensky told media, including AFP, in a street in this city where the bodies of many civilians were found.
15:00 on 04/04/2022Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended her refusal, in 2008, to initiate the process of admitting Ukraine into NATO in the face of criticism from current President Volodymyr Zelensky who regretted the "absurd fear" shown by some leaders at the time.
The former German official, who left politics at the end of 2021, affirms, in a short statement published by her spokesperson, that she "assumes her decisions from the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest". "In view of the atrocities uncovered in Bucha and other places in Ukraine, all efforts by the government and the international community to stand with Ukraine and end Russia's barbarism and war against Ukraine have the full support of the former Chancellor," replied Merkel's spokeswoman in her message.
14:53 on 04/04/2022In Ukraine, the war does not prevent lovers from getting married. In Kharkiv, a city in the East targeted by intense bombardments, Anton Sokolov and Nastya Gracheva said yes in a metro station before entering the rubble.
See images here.
13:35 on 04/04/2022The UN high commissioner for human rights said she was "horrified" on Monday by images of the bodies in the Ukrainian town of Boutcha, discovered after the withdrawal Russian troops, citing possible war crimes.
"The information that is emerging from this area and elsewhere raises serious and worrying questions about possible war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations of human rights", underlined Michelle Bachelet in a press release, also calling "to preserve all the evidence".
In addition to identifying the bodies to warn the families, Ms. Bachelet also asked that everything be done to determine the causes of death. "It is vital to carry out an independent and effective investigation" into what happened in Boutcha so that justice and reparation are made for the victims and their families, the former President of Chile further underlined.
12:21 on 04/04/2022Civilians shot dead behind a bicycle, in the street, or in a group behind a destroyed house: the massacre that took place in Boutcha by Russian troops, in the suburbs of Kiev, sparked international outrage. Qualified as a war crime by President Zelensky, as "possible genocide" by the Spanish Prime Minister, this act of barbarism could change the course of the war in Ukraine.
Read our analysis here.
12:12 on 04/04/2022Russia "categorically" denies all accusations related to the discovery of a large number of civilian corpses in Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the door-keeper said on Monday. word of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov.
“We categorically deny all charges,” Peskov told reporters, saying Russian Defense Ministry experts had found signs of “video tampering” and “fakes” in the images presented by the Ukrainian authorities as proof of a massacre of which they accuse Russia. “Judging by what we have seen, we cannot trust these video images,” said Mr. Peskov, assuring that it was necessary “to seriously doubt this information”.
11:26 on 04/04/2022Russia has announced that it will investigate a "provocation" aimed at "discrediting" Russian forces in Ukraine, after the discovery of a large number of corpses of civilians in Boucha, near Kiev.
"In order to discredit the Russian military, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released to Western media footage shot in Boutcha, in the Kyiv region, as evidence of a mass killing of civilians," accuses the press release. of the Russian Investigative Committee responsible for the country's main criminal investigations. "According to information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, all the materials disseminated by the Kiev regime on the crimes of Russian soldiers in this locality do not correspond to reality and are provocative in nature," he said.
10:52 on 04/04/2022Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reacted to the images from Boutcha via Twitter. According to him, "these war crimes cannot go unpunished".
“The terrible images of Chechnya will never fade, the lives lost will never be forgotten,” he also tweeted. He states that our country expresses its full support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) for "its important work". The liberal does not use the word "genocide" in his commentary. Only a few European leaders, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, have so far put forward this term to try to describe the horror revealed during the weekend in the vicinity of the Ukrainian capital.
Earlier, Sophie Wilmès had also reacted. According to her, no impunity can be allowed with regard to war crimes.
The horrific images of #Bucha will never fade. The lives lost never forgotten.
These war crimes cannot stay unpunished.
Belgium fully supports the @IntlCrimCourt in its important work ahead.
The Polish Prime Minister has called for the creation of an international commission of inquiry into "the genocide" committed according to him by the Russian army in cities Ukrainians, including Boucha.
“These bloody massacres committed by Russians, Russian soldiers, deserve to be called by their name. It is genocide, and it must be judged,” Mateusz Morawiecki told the press. "This is why we are proposing to set up an international commission to investigate this crime of genocide."
09:41 on 04/04/2022Emmanuel Macron declared himself "in favor" of the European Union deciding on new sanctions vis-à-vis Russia, referring to oil and coal, after the discovery of hundreds of civilian bodies in the Kiev region, particularly in Boutcha.
"What happened in Boutcha imposes a new set of sanctions and very clear measures," the French president told France Inter. "So we will coordinate with our European partners, especially Germany" in "the coming days", he added, referring to individual sanctions and measures on "coal and oil".
The images reaching us from Boutcha, a liberated town near kyiv, are unbearable. In the streets, hundreds of cowardly murdered civilians. My compassion for the victims, my solidarity with the Ukrainians. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes.
-- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 3, 2022 09:33 on 04/04/2022As of Sunday evening, 330 to 340 bodies have already been found after the massacre in the town of Boutcha, near Kiev. This is reported by several Ukrainian media, including the newspaper Ukrajinska Prawda. The search for victims continues.
The images of the small town of Boutcha, just outside Kyiv, where countless bodies of residents were found in the streets, sparked international horror. According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova, the lifeless bodies of 410 civilians were found in the territories of the Kyiv region recently recaptured from Russian troops.
08:46 on 04/04/2022After a COP26 which ended on "naive optimism", for Antonio Guterres, the war in Ukraine could conversely further derail action in favor of the climate. To read here
07:11 on 04/04/2022Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, at least 1,417 civilians, including 121 children, have been officially killed in Ukraine, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of man. The UN estimates that the number of civilians killed is actually higher because many casualties could not be reported and confirmed. Most of the civilian casualties died as a result of explosive devices, artillery or missile fire.
06:44 on 04/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed Russian troops he calls "murderers, torturers, rapists, looters" after the massacre of civilians uncovered in Boutcha, near Kiev, which is expected to result in new Western sanctions against Moscow this week. The summary of the situation can be read here.
06:18 on 04/04/2022Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council to rule on the "hateful provocations" committed according to it by Ukraine in Boutcha, where Russian troops are accused atrocities against civilians. "In light of the hateful provocations of the Ukrainian radicals in Boutcha, Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday April 4," tweeted Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dimitri Polianski.
05:30 on 04/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intervened Sunday via a recorded speech during the 64th edition of the Grammy Awards, equivalent of the Oscars for American music, to ask for the support of his country, in prey to an invasion from Russia. "War. What is the exact opposite of music? The silence of cities in ruins and people killed", launched President Zelensky in his usual khaki t-shirt, before a performance by John Legend , joined on stage by Ukrainian artists, Mika Newton and Lyuba Yakimchukt."Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way possible, all but silence. And after that will come peace “, he said again.
22:00 on 03/04/2022Seven people were killed and 34 injured in a Russian strike on Sunday on a residential area in Kharkiv, the major city in northeastern Ukraine, prosecutors said local.
"Russian occupiers shelled residential buildings in the Slobodskyy district of Kharkiv. As a result, about ten houses and a trolley bus depot were damaged. According to preliminary information, seven people were killed, 34 were injured, including three children," the press service of the regional prosecutor's office said.
20:45 on 03/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Russian leaders should be held responsible for the "murders" and "tortures" in Boutcha, a town northwest of Kiev recently taken over by the Ukrainians where many civilians were killed.
"I want all the leaders of the Russian Federation to see how their orders are carried out. These kind of orders (...). And they have a common responsibility. For these murders, for these tortures, for the arms torn off by explosives (...) For the bullets fired in the back of the neck," Zelensky, switching from Ukrainian to Russian, said in a video message. He added that a "special mechanism" would be created to investigate all Russian "crimes" in Ukraine.
"This mechanism will help Ukraine and the world to bring to justice those who started or participated in any way in this terrible war against the Ukrainian people and crimes against our people", explained the head of the state. "It is time to do everything so that the war crimes of the Russian army are the last manifestation of this evil on earth", he hammered. “Hundreds of people were killed. Civilians tortured and slaughtered. (…) Even the bodies of the dead were mined!” Mr. Zelensky said.
Why were ordinary civilians tortured to death in a peaceful town?
"I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of those killed in Boutcha, Irpin, Gostomel", towns in the Kiev region recaptured by Ukrainian troops after the withdrawal of Russian forces. "What did they do? Why were they killed (...) Why were ordinary civilians tortured to death in a peaceful town? Why were they strangling women after tearing off their earrings ear? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? Manhandle their bodies even after death? Why did tanks crush people's bodies? What has Boutcha done to your Russia? How has all this become possible?”, the president was carried away.
He then addressed himself directly to "Russian mothers" who he said raised "looters", "torturers" "deprived of all that is human" who "kill deliberately and with pleasure". Mr Zelensky also criticized NATO's "hidden refusal" in 2008 to welcome Ukraine into its ranks because of the "absurd fear of certain political leaders with regard" to Moscow who "thought that by rejecting Ukraine they could appease Russia".
"In the 14 years since this miscalculation, Ukraine has experienced a revolution and eight years of war in the Donbass (east, where pro-Russian separatists have created two "republics", editor's note) and now (...) the worst war in Europe since the Second World War". "I invite Mrs. (Angela) Merkel (the former German Chancellor) and Mr. (Nicolas) Sarkozy (the former French President) to visit Boutcha and see what the policy of concessions towards Russia has achieved", continued Mr. Zelensky. But "we do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone other than the Russian military (...) and those who gave them orders", he immediately added.
20:24 on 03/04/2022At least one person was killed and three injured on Sunday in a Russian strike against a hospital in Rubizhne, eastern Ukraine, the governor of the Ukraine announced on Telegram. Serguiï Gaïdaï region, without providing further details.
This locality near Lugansk, in the Donbass region, has already been the target of numerous bombardments since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
07:45 PM on 03/04/2022One person was killed and 14 injured in a Russian strike in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, regional governor Vitaliy Kim announced.
A 15-year-old boy, slightly affected, is among those hospitalized, he said on Telegram.
Mr. Kim added that there had been an undetermined number of killed and injured in another bombardment, in Okatchiv, a locality on the Black Sea.
A lock town on the road to Odessa, Ukraine's largest port, Mykolaiv was heavily shelled when the Russian army tried in vain to seize it.
The Russian noose seemed to loosen there in recent days.
07:15 PM on 03/04/2022The United Nations estimated on Sunday that the discovery of mass graves in Boutcha in Ukraine after the withdrawal of Russian forces raised serious questions about "possible war crimes", underlining the importance of keeping all evidence.
“What is known to date clearly raises serious and disturbing questions about possible war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law,” said the UN human rights office. .
Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of "genocide", claiming to have found the bodies of 410 civilians in the kyiv region recently recaptured from Moscow forces.
In the town of Boutcha alone, northwest of kyiv, nearly 300 people were buried in mass graves, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The UN human rights office said its staff on the ground had not yet been able to verify these claims.
“We are very concerned about the photos and videos available, including images of bodies with their hands tied behind their backs,” he added, however.
At the same time, he did not rule out that "the bodies of Ukrainian or Russian soldiers killed during the hostilities" are among the "some 300 corpses that the city authorities say they have found and buried".
“Civilians who have died of natural causes, heart attacks or other health problems triggered by stress and lack of access to medicine and medical aid over the past month, could also be among the people found dead on the streets of the city," he added.
But given the possibility that war crimes may have been committed, the UN said it was important "to exhume and identify all bodies" in order to establish the exact causes of death.
“It is also important to take all measures to ensure the preservation of evidence,” the UN stressed.
19:08 on 03/04/2022UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday he was "deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Boutcha", in the Kiev region, where many bodies were discovered after the departure of the Russian forces.
“It is essential that an independent investigation makes it possible to hold those responsible to account,” he added in a brief statement.
18:30 on 03/04/202218:26 on 03/04/2022British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday called Russia's "despicable attacks" on civilians in the Ukrainian city a "war crime" of Boutcha, where many corpses were discovered, promising to increase sanctions against Moscow.
06:25 PM on 03/04/2022Pope Francis again condemned Sunday in Malta "the sacrilegious war" in "martyred" Ukraine, a few hours after the discovery of the corpses of civilians which aroused shock and indignation.
"Let us pray for peace while thinking of the humanitarian tragedy of martyred Ukraine, still under the bombardments of this sacrilegious war", declared the pope at the end of an open-air mass in front of at least 12,000 people in the capital Valletta.
18:07 on 03/04/2022The lifeless bodies of 410 civilians have been found in the territories of the Kyiv region recently recaptured from Russian troops by Ukrainian forces, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna announced on Sunday Venediktova.
“410 bodies of dead civilians have been evacuated from the liberated territories” around the capital and “forensic experts have already examined 140 of them”, she said, speaking during a program broadcast on several Ukrainian television channels.
Ms Venediktova suggested that there were probably many other bodies that had not yet been recovered for examination. At the same time, witnesses are being sought from the local population and photo and video evidence is being collected, the prosecutor continued.
In the town of Bucha alone, northwest of Kyiv, nearly 300 people were buried in mass graves, Ukrainian authorities said. The Ukrainians regained control of the entire Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from key towns around the capital, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday.
17:52 on 03/04/2022Hundreds of people fled the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Sunday, for fear of a possible Russian offensive on this part of the country, noted the AFP.
Russia announced at the end of the week that it wanted to “concentrate its efforts on the liberation of Donbass”, a mining basin in eastern Ukraine where Kiev has since said it fears a worsening of the situation.
The Russian forces are indeed trying to take the Ukrainian army in a pincer movement, deployed since 2014 along a front line passing near Donetsk in the south and Lugansk in the east (capitals of the two separatist "republics") pro-Russians of the same name), which has recently reached Izioum in the northwest.
De facto regional capital, since October 2014, of the territory still under the control of Kiev, Kramatorsk is located in the center of the region and would then be surrounded by this pincer movement, raising fears of a fate similar to that of Mariupol, more in the south, devastated by bombardments and fighting.
17:50 on 03/04/2022No impunity for war crimes. This is the message that resounded Sunday in the ranks of the federal government after the discovery of many corpses in the city of Boutcha taken over from the Russian army.
The reaction of Sophie Wilmès and other federal authorities here
The images from the city of #Bucha confirm the fears that have led us since February to support the opening of various international investigations, including that of the ICC. No impunity should be allowed.
-- Sophie Wilmès (@Sophie_Wilmes) April 3, 2022 5:15 pm on 03/04/2022The head of the Italian government Mario Draghi denounced on Sunday "the massacres of unarmed civilians" in Ukraine and warned that "the Russian authorities will have to be accountable."
“The images of the crimes committed in Boutcha and other areas liberated by the Ukrainian army leave us speechless,” he said the day after the discovery of numerous bodies in the streets of Boutcha, near Kiev, after the departure of the Russian forces.
"The cruelty of the massacres of unarmed civilians is terrifying and intolerable. The Russian authorities must immediately cease hostilities, put an end to violence against civilians and be held to account," he added.
5:10 PM on 04/03/2022More than 500,000 people have returned to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.
"During the past week, 144,000 people left Ukraine and 88,000 arrived there. In total (...), about 537,000 of our compatriots returned to Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement. , citing data from the State Border Service.
17:00 on 03/04/2022The Russian Ministry of Defense assured Sunday that its forces had not killed civilians in Boutcha, a town near Kiev recently taken over by Ukrainian forces.
“During the period when this locality was under the control of the Russian armed forces, not a single local resident suffered violent actions,” the ministry said in a statement.
He added that the Russian army had distributed 452 tons of humanitarian aid to civilians in this area. The ministry added that all residents "were given the opportunity to freely leave" the locality "to the north", while the southern suburbs of the city "were under fire from Ukrainian troops around the clock".
The statement further claimed that the images of corpses on the streets of the city were "a new production of the Kiev regime for the Western media". It assured that all Russian military units had withdrawn from Boutcha on March 30, the day after Russia announced that it was going to significantly reduce its activity in northern Ukraine.
4:00 PM on 03/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused Russia of committing "genocide" in Ukraine to eliminate "the whole nation", the day after the discovery of numerous bodies in the streets of a town near Kiev after the departure of Russian forces.
"Yes, this is genocide. The elimination of the whole nation and people, we are citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities,” he said in an interview with the American channel CBS.
"And this is happening in 21st century Europe", he sighed, denouncing "the torture of the whole nation".
Ukraine had previously accused the Russian military of committing a 'deliberate massacre' of civilians in Boutcha, a town northwest of Kiev, as well as other 'horrors' in the now 'liberated' regions of the invader," which sparked Western outrage and calls for additional sanctions against Moscow.
President Zelensky has called for the "100% withdrawal of their troops" to return "at least" to the situation before February 24, the day of the Russian invasion.
“It would allow us to start discussing other questions about the end of the occupation, how we live after this,” he added on CBS, according to excerpts broadcast on Twitter.
"I can't even have a meeting as long as they are bombing. So first the ceasefire, then we can meet the Russian president" Vladimir Putin, added Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The two of us will discuss. When the end of the war comes, and then we will discuss security guarantees together, and the status of neutrality”, while “preserving our sovereignty and a powerful army”, has he estimated, listing the Ukrainian proposals during the ongoing talks with Moscow.
“And if this agreement is violated, we must have the possibility of defending ourselves,” he warned.
“Once we have discussed all this, all the troops must be withdrawn. And after their withdrawal, we can sit down with the countries which will serve as guarantors of security,” he added.
15:55 on 03/04/2022The United States and NATO on Sunday expressed their horror at reports of atrocities against civilians attributed to Russian forces in Boutcha, near Kiev, warning that the departure of Moscow from this region represented neither a "real withdrawal" nor a hope for de-escalation.
"These images are a punch in the stomach", reacted the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken on the CNN channel, recalling having warned "before the aggression of Russia" that it risked " commit atrocities".
“We cannot normalize this. This is the reality of what is happening every day, as long as Russia's brutality against Ukraine continues. he said. He reaffirmed that the United States was helping to "document" possible "war crimes" with international institutions so that those responsible were "accountable", refusing however to say whether he considered these to be "crimes against humanity" or even acts of "genocide".
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for his part considered that the violence in Boutcha was "horrible", denouncing a "brutality unprecedented in Europe for decades".
“It is absolutely unacceptable that civilians are being targeted and killed, and it underlines the importance of ending this war,” he said on the same channel. Asked about the departure of Russian forces from the Kiev region, which Ukrainian forces said they had taken over, he was cautious: "We must not be too optimistic" because "we fear a potential increase in attacks, especially in the South and the East".
"It's not a real withdrawal, it's more an adaptation of their strategy," he insisted. Antony Blinken further asserted that the invasion of Ukraine was already "a spectacular setback for Russia". "They had three goals at the start: the first was to subjugate Ukraine and take away its sovereignty and independence; the second was to assert Russian power; the third was to divide the West and NATO. these three fronts, they have already lost”, hammered the American secretary of state.
15:50 on 03/04/2022France "condemns with the greatest firmness", according to the head of diplomacyThe French Minister of Foreign Affairs condemned on Sunday "with the greatest firmness" the acts committed by the Russian army against civilians in several Ukrainian cities, notably in Boutcha, and called for "their leaders to be tried and sentenced".
"I have read reports of massive abuses committed by Russian forces in Ukrainian towns that they have been occupying in recent weeks, particularly in the locality of Bucha (Boutcha, editor's note). I condemn with the greatest firmness of such acts constituting, if confirmed, war crimes,” said Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a press release sent to AFP.
"We will work, together with our partners, the Ukrainian authorities and the competent international jurisdictions, in particular the International Criminal Court, to ensure that these acts do not go unpunished and that those responsible are tried and sentenced", he added. he adds.
The images reaching us from Boutcha, a liberated town near kyiv, are unbearable. In the streets, hundreds of cowardly murdered civilians. My compassion for the victims, my solidarity with the Ukrainians. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes.
-- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 3, 2022 3:30 pm on 03/04/2022The bodies of 57 people were found in a mass grave in Boutcha, a town near Kiev taken over by Ukrainian forces where Many corpses had already been discovered, the local relief chief said on Sunday, showing an AFP team this site.
A dozen corpses were visible, some only partially buried, behind a church in the center of this locality located northwest of the Ukrainian capital.
Several were in black body bags, others were in civilian clothes.
"Here, in this long grave, 57 people are buried," Serhii Kaplychnyi, who organized the recovery of the bodies, told AFP.
15:25 on 03/04/2022NATO said it was not "too optimistic" about a Russian de-escalation (Stoltenberg)
2:30 PM on 04/03/2022The Kremlin on Sunday deemed it "impossible" to isolate Russia in the contemporary world, as the country is targeted by a series of unprecedented Western sanctions due to its intervention military in Ukraine.
“There can be no isolation of Russia, it is technologically impossible in the contemporary world,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured in an interview with the Russian public television channel Rossia 1, excerpts of which were published by Russian news agencies.
"Russia itself is much bigger than Europe," he added.
International sanctions have been mounting against Russia since the start of its military operation in Ukraine on February 24.
“But sooner or later, we will have to establish a dialogue, whether someone across the Atlantic wants it or not,” Mr. Peskov stressed.
He also recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "never refused to meet" his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to find a solution aimed at ending hostilities in Ukraine.
"Hypothetically, such a meeting is possible," said Peskov, while stressing that the Russian and Ukrainian delegations participating in the peace negotiations must first work out a "concrete" agreement supposed to normalize relations between the two country.
"Not a number of ideas, but a concrete written document", he insisted.
The Russian chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, estimated earlier in the day that it was very early for the time to organize a meeting between MM. Putin and Zelensky.
13:00 on 03/04/2022German Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economy Robert Habeck denounced on Sunday a "terrible war crime" perpetrated in Boutcha, Ukraine, and wished that new economic sanctions are adopted by EU countries against Russia.
"This terrible war crime cannot go unanswered," the ecologist told the German newspaper Bild, the day after the discovery of numerous corpses in Boutcha, a town northwest of Kiev, recaptured from the Russians . "I think a strengthening of sanctions is indicated. This is what we are preparing with our EU partners," he added.
Ukraine: Olaf Scholz wants light to be shed on "crimes committed by the Russian army" against civiliansGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz demanded on Sunday that light be shed on "crimes committed by the Russian army " in Boutcha, near Kiev, taken over by Ukrainian forces and where many corpses were discovered.
"We must shed full light on these crimes committed by the Russian army," said the head of government in a short statement sent by his press service. "The perpetrators of these crimes and their sponsors must be held accountable", he added, demanding in particular that international organizations have access to the region to "document these atrocities".
12:45 on 04/03/2022Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, 45, was killed while trying to leave Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine besieged by Russian forces, the media announced on Sunday. Ukrainian army.
"The Russian occupiers killed the Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, author of the documentary "Mariupolis", while he was trying to leave Mariupol", indicated on Twitter the press agency of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The death of the documentary filmmaker was also announced by the Russian director Vitali Manski, founder of the respected Moscow festival Artdocfest to which Mantas Kvedaravicius had already been invited.
He “was killed today in Mariupol, camera in hand, in this shitty evil war against the whole world,” Vitali Manski wrote on Facebook.
On Twitter, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said it was "shocked" by the announcement of his death.
"He was killed in Mariupol, where he was documenting Russia's wartime atrocities. His previous film, Mariupolis (2016), told the story of a besieged city with a strong will to live," continues the message from Lithuanian diplomacy.
Born in 1976, Mantas Kvedaravicius made a name for himself with "Mariupolis", shot in Mariupol and presented for the first time at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2016.
12:30 on 03/04/2022British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Sunday denounced the "revolting acts" committed by the Russian army against civilians in Ukraine, in particular in Irpin and Boutcha in the Kiev region , calling for a "war crimes investigation".
"As Russian troops are forced to retreat, we see growing evidence of the appalling acts of the invading forces in towns like Irpin and Boutcha," Liz Truss said in a statement. These "indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians" must be the subject of a "war crimes investigation", she added.
12:20 on 04/03/2022Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba on Sunday denounced a "deliberate massacre" in the town of Boutcha, just recaptured from the Russian army, where many corpses were discovered .
“The Boutcha massacre was deliberate. The Russians want to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can. We must arrest them and kick them out. I demand devastating new G7 sanctions NOW,” he said. he writes on Twitter.
"Kiev region. Hell in the 21st century. The bodies of men and women who were killed with their hands tied. The worst crimes of Nazism are back in Europe. This was done deliberately by the Russia," tweeted an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak.
Comparing Boutcha to the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia in 1995, he accused the West of trying "not to provoke the Russians" to avoid a Third World War.
"As a result, the world saw an indescribable horror of inhumanity in Boutcha, Irpin, Gostomel. Hundreds, thousands of people killed, torn apart, raped, tied up, raped again and killed again", a- he wrote on Telegram messaging.
“Are you going to try to turn away again? To organize another summit to worry and shake your head?” he asked, addressing European leaders.
“Genocide”
The human rights officer at the Ukrainian Parliament, Lioudmila Denisova, for her part denounced a "genocide" and a "crime against humanity", calling for judgment and inflicting the most severe sentences on the "barbarian horde of Russia".
"All these people were shot", "they (the Russians) killed them with a bullet in the neck", assured AFP the mayor of Boutcha, Anatoly Fedorouk.
"In Boutcha, we have already buried 280 people in mass graves" because it was impossible to do so in the three cemeteries of the municipality, all within firing range of the Russian soldiers, added Mr. Fedorouk.
The Russians, by withdrawing, leave behind them "a total disaster and many dangers", declared for his part the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
12:00 on 03/04/2022The NGO Human rights watch was able to document several cases of violations of the laws of war by Russian military forces against civilians in the Ukrainian occupied areas of Kiev, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, she said in a statement on Sunday. AFP, for its part, saw on Saturday the lifeless bodies of at least twenty men wearing civilian clothes lying in a street in Boutcha.
More details here.
11:40 am on 03/04/2022European Council President Charles Michel on Sunday accused the Russian military of committing "atrocities" in the Kiev region, calling for more sanctions against from Moscow.
"Shocked by the haunting images of atrocities committed by the Russian army in the liberated region of Kiev", wrote Mr. Michel on Twitter, mentioning the hashtag "#BuchaMassacre", from the name (in English, editor's note) of the Ukrainian locality taken back from the Russians, where nearly 300 people were buried in mass graves.
"The EU is helping Ukraine and NGOs to gather the necessary evidence for prosecution in international courts," said the President of the European Council.
“More EU sanctions and aid are on the way,” he added.
Ukraine denounced on Sunday a "deliberate massacre" attributed to the Russians in Boutcha, the day after the discovery of numerous corpses in this city northwest of kyiv.
The EU has already adopted several sets of sanctions against Moscow since the offensive in Ukraine, massively targeting companies, banks, senior officials, oligarchs, and banning the export of goods to Russia.
Shocked by haunting images of atrocities committed by Russian army in Kyiv liberated region #BuchaMassacre
EU is assisting #Ukraine & NGO's in gathering of necessary evidence for pursuit in international courts.
Further EU sanctions & support are on their way.
Слава Україні!
Russia's chief negotiator in the peace talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, on Sunday praised a "more realistic" position of Kiev ready, under conditions, to accept a neutral status for the country, demanded by Moscow.
"The Ukrainian side has taken a more realistic approach to issues related to the neutral and nuclear-free status of Ukraine," Medinski wrote on Telegram messaging, while clarifying that a proper draft agreement will not was not yet ready to be submitted to the presidents of the two countries.
The chief Ukrainian negotiator, David Arakhamia, affirmed on Saturday that Moscow had "orally" accepted all Ukrainian positions, "except with regard to the Crimea question".
"I have an objection to make. In reality (...), all these agreements obtained in Istanbul are nothing other than what Russia has been asking for since 2014", reacted Mr. Medinski, specifying that these were in particular the neutral and denuclearized status of Ukraine and the non-deployment of foreign military bases on its territory.
If David Arakhamia "calls all this a Ukrainian position, let him do that", added Vladimir Medinski.
While Mr. Arakhamia suggested on Saturday that talks aimed at ending hostilities had made considerable progress, Mr. Medinski assured that he "did not share this optimism".
"Ukrainian diplomatic and military +experts+ are very late in confirming even the agreements already reached at the political level," he said.
Moscow must respond to a series of Ukrainian proposals for an agreement. Kiev proposes the neutrality of Ukraine and to renounce joining NATO, provided that its security is guaranteed by other countries against Russia. It also proposes negotiations to resolve the status of the Ukrainian Donbass and the Crimea.
These proposals, which Medinski called early progress earlier this week, were made during face-to-face talks in Istanbul.
Talks between Russia and Ukraine resumed via videoconference on Friday, with a new round scheduled for Monday, according to Medinski.
09:10 am on 04/03/2022 09:00 am on 04/03/2022The invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops constitutes, after the Covid pandemic, a new test for our economies. This time, we have to face a shock which is not fortuitous, as the appearance of a virus can be, but which is the fruit of a human decision and, more generally, of a system that thought to have disappeared forever with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
To read the rest of the analysis by Bertrand Candelon, Professor of Finance at UCLouvain and Director of Louvain-Finance Research
08:30 on 03/04/2022It is difficult to foresee all the consequences of the conflict already. A negative shock to the economy, that's for sure. A social crisis is possible. Autumn promises to be hot in France.
Gérald Papy's analysis one week before the first round of elections in France
07:30 on 03/04/2022The NGO Human rights watch was able to document several cases of violations of the laws of war by Russian military forces against civilians in the Ukrainian occupied areas of Kiev, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, she said in a statement on Sunday. She mentions repeated rapes, summary executions and other acts of violence and threats against civilians between February 27 and March 14.
The NGO can also confirm cases of spoliation of civilian property by Russian servicemen."The cases we have documented testify to unspeakable and deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians" , said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Rapes, murders and other acts of violence against persons detained by Russian forces should be investigated as suspected war crimes.”
As a reminder, the laws of war prohibit intentional homicide, rape and other sexual violence, torture and inhuman treatment of captured combatants and civilians in detention. Looting and ransacking are also prohibited. Anyone who deliberately orders or commits such acts, or aids and abets them, is liable for war crimes. "Russia has an international legal obligation to impartially investigate alleged war crimes committed by its soldiers", concluded Hugh Williamson.
The NGO had also previously pointed to possible war crimes by Ukrainian forces against Russian prisoners.
06:50 on 03/04/2022A series of strikes hit Odessa, Ukraine's main port, on the Black Sea in the south-west of the country on Sunday morning, AFP journalists noted , Russia claiming to have destroyed a refinery and fuel depots.
"This morning, high-precision sea and land missiles destroyed a refinery and three storage sites for fuels and lubricants near the city of Odessa," the Russian Defense Ministry said in Moscow in its statement. daily item.
These sites provided fuel to Ukrainian forces in the direction of the city of Mykolaiv, further east, he said.
They caused no casualties, according to the Ukrainian army.
Following these explosions, which occurred around 6 a.m. (5 a.m. in Belgium), several huge columns of black smoke and flames rose above an industrial area, according to the same sources. It is a rocket attack that did not cause any casualties, said in a press release an officer of the southern regional command, Vladislav Nazarov.
“The Odessa region is among the priority targets of the enemy. The enemy continues its sneaky practice of striking sensitive infrastructure,” he said, reiterating the ban on any publication on the whereabouts or damage from strikes.
“The Russian Nazis carried out a missile strike, some of which were shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense,” the city of Odessa had previously said in a statement. Anton Guerashchenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, wrote on his Telegram account: "Odessa was attacked from the air. Fires were reported in some areas. Part of the missiles were shot down by air defense. It it is recommended to close the windows".
This historic city has so far been relatively spared from the fighting. The entire eastern coast of the country, from the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, to the pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbass region (East), is occupied by Russian forces, except for part of the city of Mariupol, where they are still encountering resistance from the Ukrainian army.
03:00 on 03/04/2022The Russian military announced on Sunday that it will open flight corridors for foreigners wishing to leave the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The latter will be able to go to Berdiansk, which is occupied by the Russian army. From there, they will be able to travel to areas controlled by the Ukrainian army or to Russia via Crimea, reports the Russian state news agency Tass.
The air route is also open to foreigners who want to leave Berdyansk. The number of foreigners still present in the two port cities is unknown. These would mainly be crew members of ships that cannot leave ports due to a maritime blockade. About 100,000 inhabitants are still stranded in Mariupol.
00:30 on 04/03/2022The Russian invasion of Ukraine could cost Europe "one to one and a half points" of growth, depending on the duration of the conflict, while the Inflation could increase further "by two points to two and a half points", estimated the chief economist of the OECD, Laurence Boone, with the Sunday newspaper.
More details here
11:30 PM on 02/04/2022The Baltic States have stopped importing Russian natural gas which "has not been supplied to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania since April 1", it said on Saturday the manager of the Latvian storage company Conexus Baltic Grid.
More details here
22:20 on 02/04/2022The chief Ukrainian negotiator in the peace talks with Russia, David Arakhamia, affirmed on Saturday that Moscow had accepted the main Ukrainian proposals "orally", adding that Kyiv was now waiting for a written confirmation.
Speaking on a television broadcast, he hinted that talks aimed at ending hostilities had made significant progress.
"The Russian Federation has given an official response to all (Ukrainian) positions, namely that it accepts them, except with regard to the issue of Crimea", annexed by Moscow in 2014, assured Mr. Arakhamia.
He added that while there was "no official confirmation in writing", the Russian side accepted it "orally".
The negotiator also said that if a meeting between Ukrainian Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin were to eventually take place, it would "most likely" take place in Turkey.
Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who this week hosted the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in his country, "called us and Vladimir Putin" on Friday, saying he would host such a meeting, a- he revealed.
"We don't know the date or the place, but we think the place will most likely be Ankara or Istanbul," Arakhamia noted.
Since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine began, Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly called for one-on-one talks with Mr. Putin.
The Ukrainian negotiator stressed that Moscow had agreed during the talks that a referendum on Ukraine's neutrality would be "the only way out of this situation".
If the Ukrainians do not agree to such a status, "we will either return to a state of war, perhaps, or to new negotiations".
The Kremlin has insisted that Ukraine should give up joining NATO and opt for neutrality.
20:30 on 02/04/2022The Ukrainians have regained control of the entire Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian forces from key towns near the capital, the Ukrainian deputy minister announced on Saturday of Defense, Ganna Maliar.
The localities of "Irpin, Boutcha, Gostomel and the whole Kiev region have been liberated from the invader", Ms. Maliar affirmed on Facebook.
All these cities were devastated by the fighting that raged there after the start of the Russian invasion on February 24
The Ukrainians declared on Monday that they had retaken Irpin, which had been in Russian hands since the end of February.
At least 200 of the inhabitants of this small city in the northwestern suburbs of the capital have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, said Wednesday its mayor Oleksandre Markouchine.
Demining operations were still underway there on Saturday, emergency services said, saying 643 explosive devices had been deactivated there since it fell back into Ukrainian hands.
And an AFP team was able to go to Boutcha on Saturday, also very recently "liberated" and which had been inaccessible to the press for almost a month.
Nearly 300 people in total had to be buried "in mass graves" in this city, also at the northwestern gates of Kiev, its mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told AFP on the same day.
An AFP journalist saw the bodies of at least 20 men in civilian clothes lying in a street there on Saturday.
Gostomel, also northwest of the capital, hosts the Antonov military airport, which was attacked by Russian forces on February 25, the day after the start of their offensive in Ukraine.
Russian forces are operating a "rapid withdrawal" from the Kyiv and Cherniguiv regions in northern Ukraine, with the aim of redeploying east and south, the Ukrainian government said on Saturday.
Also read: 'Rapid withdrawal' of Russian forces from northern Ukraine (senior Ukrainian official)
Mariupol still in Russian hands
A martyred city in the south-east and a strategic port, Mariupol, on the other hand, remained in the Russian grip, in a catastrophic humanitarian situation, without it being known on Saturday evening whether the evacuation of civilians envisaged by the Red Cross could have taken place.
06:41 PM on 02/04/2022Thousands demonstrated in Bern, the Swiss capital, on Saturday, despite an unseasonably snowstorm, to demand an end to Russia's devastating war in Ukraine.
There were around 10,000 marching according to the organizers, forming a forest of flags in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine and the rainbow of the peace movement.
Switzerland is not a member of the European Union and has a long tradition of neutrality. The country has nevertheless aligned itself with the sanctions decided by the EU against Russian personalities.
Switzerland said last month it had frozen the equivalent of 5.75 billion Swiss francs ($6.2 billion) in Russian assets since the start of the invasion.
But kyiv has pressured Switzerland, prized by Russian fortunes, to do more.
18:00 on 02/04/202217:45 on 02/04/2022A demonstration by civilians in Energodar, a town in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, was dispersed on Saturday by mortar fire and stun grenades that injured four, a Ukrainian official said.
Today in Energodar, the townspeople gathered again for a rally in support of Ukraine, singing the national anthem,” Lyudmyla Denisova, human rights officer with the Parliament.
"The occupiers used sound grenades and opened mortar fire on the residents, four people were seriously burned," she added.
Videos posted online showed people running from an Energodar plaza amid stun grenade explosions and clouds of white smoke. “Some of the demonstrators were forcibly put into police vans and taken to an unknown location,” added Lioudmyla Denissova, accusing Russian troops of “terrorizing the population” since the capture of the city.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Ukraine, is located on the territory of Energodar, a city conquered in early March by Russian troops and fighting around the plant, whose site was hit by strikes, for a time made us fear the worst.
17:00 on 02/04/2022Almost 300 people in total had to be buried "in mass graves" in Boutcha, a city northwest of Kiev the scene of fierce fighting which has just been taken over by Ukrainian soldiers, its mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told AFP.
“In Boutcha, we have already buried 280 people in mass graves”, because it was impossible to do so in the three cemeteries of the municipality, all within firing range of the Russian soldiers, Mr. Fedorouk said on the telephone .
"In some streets, we see 15 to 20 corpses on the ground", but "I cannot say how many there are still in the courtyards, behind the palisades", continued the mayor. "As long as the deminers have not come to check them, it is not recommended to pick them up" because they can be trapped, he further said. “These are the consequences of the Russian occupation, of the actions” of the enemy, released Mr. Fedorouk.
The corpses of at least 20 men wearing civilian clothes lay in a street in Boutcha, a town northwest of Kiev on Saturday that Ukrainian soldiers have just recaptured from Russian forces, a journalist from the scene noted. AFP.
One of the men had his hands tied and the bodies were scattered for several hundred meters.
We couldn't immediately determine the cause of their death, but one person had a large head wound.
In recent days, Russian forces have withdrawn from several localities near the capital after their attempt to encircle it failed.
Ukraine announced that Boutcha had been "liberated", but this town was devastated by fighting: AFP journalists could see gaping holes caused by shells in apartment buildings and many car wrecks.
15:57 on 02/04/2022More than 170 people were arrested on Saturday in Russia for protest actions against the Russian offensive in Ukraine, indicated the NGO OVD-Info specialized in monitoring arrests in the country.
Around 1:00 p.m. GMT, "more than 178 people were arrested in 15 Russian cities," the NGO said in a statement. In Moscow, a sit-in against the Russian military intervention in Ukraine was scheduled for 11:00 GMT in Zariadié Park, in the shadow of the Kremlin. Soon after, police began arresting people sitting on park benches in the middle of a snowstorm. "No to the war in Ukraine!" Shouted a young woman arrested by the police.
More than 30 police vans were deployed around the park and near the red Kremlin walls, and more than 20 people were arrested, according to the AFP journalist. Arrests also took place in Saint Petersburg (north-west) during a similar rally, as part of a national action announced on social networks.
The sit-in against the Russian military operation in Ukraine was announced on social media for Saturday by activists opposed to the Russian offensive in some 30 cities across Russia, from Vladivostok (Far East) in Sochi (south).
The organizers also said in a statement that they wanted to protest against "the collapse of the Russian economy, against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin" and for the release of imprisoned opponent Alexei Navalny.
“Russia deserves peace, democracy and prosperity,” they wrote. In Saint Petersburg, around 40 people were present in the place designated for the sit-in in the city center, without it being possible to say whether they were demonstrators, according to an AFP journalist. Nevertheless, up to 25 people were arrested, she found. Violating the ban on demonstrations put in place by the Russian authorities, pacifists gather from time to time in Russia to denounce the military intervention in Ukraine.
03:30 PM on 02/04/2022Pope Francis indicated on Saturday that an upcoming visit to Ukraine, at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky, was “on the table”.
François, 85, was invited last month by Volodymyr Zelensky to play the role of mediator in the negotiations between kyiv and Moscow and to visit his country invaded at the end of February by Russian troops.
He was also invited by the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, in order to "show his compassion" with the Ukrainian people.
Traveling to the Mediterranean archipelago of Malta, the pope did not mince words on Saturday morning in a speech delivered in Valletta to Maltese President George Vella and the diplomatic corps.
He castigated the actions of "some powerful" driven by "nationalist interests", in a clear allusion to Russian President Vladimir Putin, without however naming him.
15:20 on 02/04/2022Moscow threatened on Saturday to end its collaboration with the International Space Station (ISS) program if the United States and other Western countries did not withdraw their sanctions on the Russia.
Moscow will set a deadline for the end of cooperation, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced via the Telegram application. A return to normal relations between the space agencies would only be "possible in the event of the total and unconditional withdrawal of the illegal sanctions", added Mr. Rogozin.
02:00 PM on 02/04/2022More than 4.1 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, according to figures from the High Commissioner for Refugees.
The High Commission for Refugees counted exactly 4,137,842 Ukrainian refugees on Saturday at midday. These are 34,966 more than during the previous tally on Friday.
Europe has not seen such an influx of refugees since the Second World War.
Some 90% of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children, with Ukrainian authorities not allowing men of military age to leave.
The UN's International Organization for Migration said some 205,500 non-Ukrainians had also fled the country and sometimes had difficulty returning to their country of origin.
The UN estimates the number of internally displaced persons at nearly 6.5 million.
In total, therefore, more than ten million people, or more than a quarter of the population, have had to leave their homes, either by crossing the border to find refuge in neighboring countries, or by finding refuge elsewhere. in Ukraine.
Before this conflict, Ukraine was populated by more than 37 million people in the territories controlled by Kiev - which therefore does not include the Crimea (South) annexed in 2014 by Russia, nor the areas of Has been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since the same year.
According to UNICEF, more than half of the country's 7.5 million children are either internally displaced or refugees.
13:15 on 02/04/2022A veteran Ukrainian photographer and documentalist, Maks Levine, who had not been heard from for three weeks, was found dead after the withdrawal of Russian troops from territory near Kiev, a announced the Ukrainian presidency on Saturday.
"He disappeared in the area of hostilities on March 13 in the Kiev region. On April 1, his body was found near the village of Gouta Mezhyguirska", a few dozen kilometers north of the capital, said reported on Telegram the head of the presidential administration Andriï Yermak.
According to the Ukrainian NGO IMI (Institute of Mass Information), citing preliminary information from the General Prosecutor's Office, the "unarmed" journalist was hit by "two shots" from Russian soldiers.
Mr. Levine, 40 years old and father of four sons, has collaborated with many Ukrainian and international media.
In 2014, at the start of Kiev's war against Russian separatists, backed by Moscow in eastern Ukraine, he managed to get out of Ilovaisk, a city in the south-east then surrounded, where hundreds Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in a few days.
Several Ukrainian and Western journalists have been killed and dozens more injured in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. At least three of them perished in northeast Kiev where fighting raged between Ukrainian forces and the Russian army, which has retreated in recent days and abandoned dozens of villages around the capital.
12:30 PM on 02/04/2022Pope Francis on Saturday, at the start of his visit to Malta, castigated the acts of "a powerful few" locked up in "nationalist interests" by evoking the "icy wind of war " came from "Eastern Europe".
"Some powerful person, sadly locked in his anachronistic pretensions of nationalist interests, provokes and foments conflicts", launched the sovereign pontiff during his first speech, in front of the authorities and the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace in Valletta.
"We thought that invasions from other countries, fierce urban fighting and atomic threats were dark memories of the distant past. But the icy wind of war, which brings only death, destruction and hatred , fell violently on the lives of many people,” he said.
The 85-year-old pope also denounced the "allures of autocracy", the "new imperialisms" and "generalized aggressiveness", targeting those "who advance on their own account, in search of spaces and of areas of influence". Referring to the "refugees from martyred Ukraine", he also called for "global and shared responses" in the face of "the widening of the migratory emergency", while millions of people are flocking to Europe.
"It is not possible that certain countries take charge of the whole problem in the indifference of others!", launched the pope, a fervent defender of the reception of exiles, regretting that "fear and the "narrative of the invasion" prevails with regard to those who cross the Mediterranean in search of salvation". A few minutes earlier, François had arrived in "PapaMobile" to the cheers of around 2,000 people gathered in the square of the magistral palace, whom he then blessed from the balcony. The Argentinian Jesuit arrived in Malta on Saturday morning for a two-day visit, during which he is due to speak five times.
11:50 am on 02/04/2022According to a senior Ukrainian official, Russian forces are retreating in the north of the country.
Russian forces are making a “rapid withdrawal” from the Kyiv and Cherniguiv regions in northern Ukraine, and aim to “gain a foothold in the east and south”, a presidential adviser said on Saturday Ukrainian, Mykhailo Podoliak.
"After a rapid Russian withdrawal from the Kiev and Chernigiv regions (...), it is quite clear that Russia has chosen another priority tactic: to retreat to the east and south, to keep control of vast occupied territories and gain a foothold there in a powerful way,” he wrote on Telegram messaging.
It is a question of "retreating towards the East and the South, keeping control of vast occupied territories (not only in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk) and gaining a foothold there in a powerful way", he continues.
Moscow's objective is to "gain a foothold in the East and the South and to dictate its terms harshly", he believes.
"We certainly cannot do without heavy weapons if we want to unblock the East and Kherson (southern region, editor's note) and repel the Russians as far as possible", he underlines.
The governor of the Cherniguiv region, Vyacheslav Tchaous, for his part noted that the eponymous city, already devastated by the fighting in recent weeks, did not suffer any new strikes during the night.
The Russians are "withdrawing from the Cherniguiv region", he stressed.
11:45 on 02/04/2022The Red Cross is preparing on Saturday to attempt evacuations of civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine from where more than 3,000 people have already fled, after another night of shelling in several regions of the country.
Full details on civilian evacuations HERE
10:00 on 02/04/2022The Israeli historian and essayist, specialist in Europe, is delighted that the time for complacency towards Russian power is over. European leaders should talk more about what unites them than what divides them. The advice also applies to this Belgium that he has learned to love.
Read his interview HERE
08:00 on 02/04/2022- More than 3,000 people have been rescued from Mariupol, the city in southeastern Ukraine besieged by Russian troops. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said so in a video message.
- At the same time, the Ukrainian president warned that Russian troops, although they seem to be retreating, are creating "a complete disaster" by leaving mines "all over the ground" near Kiev, near the houses and even corpses.
- Beijing says it is not "deliberately" circumventing Western sanctions against Russia.
- The Russian Air Force does not control Ukrainian airspace, the Ukrainian Air Force General Staff posted on Facebook on Friday evening. "The Russians, after more than a month of war, failed to eliminate the Ukrainian air force and air defenses," he said.
- The United States will support Ukraine with 300 million dollars (271 million euros). The money will be spent on, among other things, laser-guided missile systems, drones, armored vehicles, machine guns and satellite services. The Americans want to send tanks built in the former Soviet Union to Ukraine.
07:30 on 02/04/2022China is not "deliberately" circumventing Western sanctions against Russia, Beijing assured Saturday, the day after an EU warning that any support for Moscow will harm its economic relations with Europe.
A close partner of Moscow, Beijing has so far refrained from condemning the Russian invasion, contenting itself with calling on all parties to exercise restraint. Westerners are urging the Asian giant to clearly demonstrate its opposition to the Kremlin offensive.
During talks with Chinese leaders on Friday, the EU warned that any support for Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions will hurt Beijing's economic relations with Europe, its biggest trading partner. "We are not doing anything to deliberately circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia," Chinese foreign affairs official Wang Lutong said on Saturday.
04:30 on 02/04/2022The Ukrainian Air Force still has supremacy over its airspace, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk assured Friday night.
“The enemy does not control and has not controlled the Ukrainian skies,” he said in a statement posted on Facebook, without this assertion having been independently verified. By attacking Ukraine as early as February 24, Russian forces tried to eliminate Ukrainian air forces, without success, he added, adding that the Russians sent more rockets than they operated with bombings and planes. Mr. Oleshchuk called on allied countries to provide more modern weapons, including fighter jets and medium and long range air defense systems. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has, since the beginning of the war, regularly asked NATO to establish a no-fly zone over his country, which the alliance refuses so as not to risk fighting between its aircraft and those of Russia.
03:53 on 02/04/2022The Pentagon will provide up to $300 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, the spokesperson for the US Department of Defense announced in a statement Friday.
“The United States has now committed more than $2.3 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the Biden administration took office, including more than $1.6 billion in military assistance since unprovoked and premeditated invasion by Russia," said John Kirby.
The new aid package includes laser-guided missile systems, Switchblade "kamikaze" drones, as well as light Puma-like drones.
"This decision underscores the United States' unwavering commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, in support of its heroic campaign to thwart Russia's war," the spokesperson said. say John Kirby in his press release.
US President Joe Biden discussed with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday "additional" military capabilities needed to help Ukraine's military "defend its country", according to the White House. The two men had, during a 55-minute call, "discussed how the United States is working day and night to respond to Ukraine's main requests for security assistance", said a press release. American executive.
23:30 on 04/01/2022A column of buses carrying displaced people including residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol arrived Friday evening in Zaporizhia, a Ukrainian city controlled by the army of Kiev, noted the AFP.
The buses were carrying residents of Mariupol who had managed to reach the city of Berdyansk, occupied by Russian forces, where they had been picked up by the convoy, according to testimonies of arrivals to AFP and officials officials. This information was confirmed by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, in a video on Telegram.
“As of today, as we are recording this video, the buses are already on their way, bringing residents of Mariupol, 42 buses, to safety,” she said. AFP was able to observe about thirty buses. "We know how much you hope to be saved. Every day we will try and try again to pass until you have a chance to leave the city, and most importantly, to live peacefully," added Ms Vereshchouk. She said on Thursday that the Ukrainian government was sending 45 buses to evacuate civilians from Mariupol after Moscow announced a truce to allow them to leave. The ICRC, which was to take part in the evacuation, announced on Friday that its team sent to Mariupol had to turn back, the planned evacuation of thousands of civilians from this port city besieged by Russian forces being "impossible" Friday.
22:30 on 01/04/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his "gratification" to Roberta Metsola, the Maltese President of the European Parliament, for coming "heroically" and "personally" to Kyiv, in l welcoming in the Ukrainian capital where he has been entrenched since the end of February.
Ms Metsola, elected President of the European Parliament on January 18, is the first leader of a European institution to visit the Ukrainian capital since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. "I want to personally thank you Roberta, you and your team, at such an important moment for our country (...) today when Ukrainians believe in deeds and concrete measures, to show heroism - because it Today is heroism to come to Ukraine,” said Mr. Zelensky, still in a khaki T-shirt as he welcomed the European delegation, according to a video posted by the Ukrainian presidency.
He thanked Ms Metsola for the European Parliament's support for Ukraine. "We greatly appreciate all these steps. And as we now see everything through the prism friend / no friend, (...) that the gray area no longer exists for us in diplomacy (...) we are happy that you be on the side of light and good regarding Ukraine,” he added. "You came and it is a very important sign. We are grateful to you and we will not forget it," said the Ukrainian president. Before Ms Metsola, only the three Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers had traveled to kyiv on March 15 to show their solidarity with Ukraine.
21:58 on 01/04/2022Ukraine refutes Russian accusations that it attacked an oil depot in Belgorod, Russia, British public broadcaster BBC has reported.
19:32 on 01/04/2022The Council of Ministers has approved an extension of the air police mission carried out by four Belgian F-16s in the Baltic region, announced the Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder .
07:30 PM on 01/04/2022The evacuation of Mariupol could not take place, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A new attempt will be carried out on Saturday, the organization announced in Geneva.
In a statement, she says her nine aides in three vehicles were unable to reach the besieged city. The "arrangements" and the "conditions" made the device impossible. But ICRC staff will "attempt again on Saturday" to facilitate the safe evacuation of civilians out of Mariupol. The parties must honor the agreements and guarantee security, adds the organization.
18:20 on 01/04/2022Ukraine announced that it had exchanged 86 of its soldiers for Russians, without specifying the number of the latter.
“An exchange has just taken place, 86 Ukrainian soldiers, including 15 women, are already safe,” Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram.
17:54 on 01/04/2022The Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered no damage during its four-week occupation by Russian soldiers, but they exposed themselves to radiation, in particular by digging trenches in contaminated area, Ukrainian authorities said.
17:32 on 01/04/2022Emmanuel Macron spoke again with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who asked him to try "to obtain from Russia the necessary conditions for a humanitarian operation in Mariupol" , besieged and bombarded by the Russian army, according to the Élysée.
17:31 on 01/04/2022The European Commission recommended on Friday that the Twenty-Seven coordinate so that each Ukrainian refugee can convert free of charge up to 10,000 hryvnias (about 300 euros) into the currency of the country of welcome, while many banks refuse their money.
17:21 on 01/04/2022At least 53 cultural sites have been damaged or partially destroyed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Unesco said.
Among them, the organization has 29 churches, 16 historic buildings, four museums and four monuments, said Friday in Paris the deputy director general of Unesco for culture, Ernesto Ottone Ramirez.
17:21 on 04/01/2022Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel tried to convince the Chinese president and prime minister to fully commit to stopping the Russian invasion of Ukraine . During an EU-China summit by videoconference, the two European officials, with the head of diplomacy Josep Borrell, spoke in the morning with Li Keqiang, then with President Xi Jinping in the afternoon. "We were able to explain the EU's position and how we are counting on China's commitment to act actively to restore peace and stability", explained Charles Michel during a press conference in the middle of afternoon.
16:27 on 01/04/2022The EU has called on Beijing "not to interfere" in Western sanctions targeting Russia, warning that any support for Moscow will "seriously tarnish the reputation" of China in Europe, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"Companies are watching how countries are positioning themselves (...) No European citizen would understand that (China) supports Russia's ability to continue its war" in Ukraine, she said, alongside by the President of the European Council Charles Michel, following a videoconference summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
15:20 on 04/01/2022 14:36 on 04/01/2022The siege warfare tactics implemented by the Russian army in Ukraine, "punctuated by incessant attacks carried out indiscriminately against densely populated areas", illegally kill civilians in several cities, denounces Amnesty International following new investigations carried out on the ground.
Investigators from the human rights organization collected testimonies that account for "Russia's strategy of siege, including unlawful indiscriminate attacks, disruption of basic services, communication cuts, destruction of civilian infrastructure and restrictions on access to medicines and health care".
For the first time, Amnesty International field investigators in Ukraine have also independently verified physical evidence of the use of banned cluster munitions in violation of international law.
13:54 on 01/04/2022Slightly more than 4.1 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, according to figures from the High Commissioner for Refugees .
"Forced to flee to stay alive. Forced to abandon their homes. Forced to be separated from their families. This tragedy must end," UNHCR said.
Since March 22, the flow of refugees has slowed down significantly, to around 40,000 daily passages.
In total, more than ten million people, more than a quarter of the population, have had to leave their homes either by crossing the border to find refuge in neighboring countries, or by finding refuge elsewhere in Ukraine.
The UN estimates the number of internally displaced persons at nearly 6.5 million.
13:52 on 01/04/2022The EU was trying to persuade China to give up helping Moscow to counter Western sanctions, during a virtual summit where Beijing intends to revive its economic relationship with a weakened Europe by the war in Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel, speaking on behalf of the member states, spoke for almost two hours on Monday morning (Brussels time) with the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
A discussion is also scheduled for 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) with President Xi Jinping.
1:04 PM on 04/01/2022Russian-Ukrainian talks aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine have resumed, according to Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky.
"We are continuing negotiations by videoconference. Our positions on Crimea and Donbass have not changed," he said on his Telegram channel, referring to two Ukrainian regions, one that Russia annexed in 2014 and the other which is partially under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
12:40 on 04/01/2022Russia has resumed the mobilization of young men for compulsory one-year military service, in the midst of armed conflict in Ukraine, with Moscow assuring however that the conscripts will not be sent to the front . Every year, tens of thousands of Russians between the ages of 18 and 27 are drafted into the army for two call-up periods, one in the spring/summer and the other in the fall.
For this spring 2022 call, President Vladimir Putin has set the goal of sending 134,500 young people to military service, according to a decree issued by the Kremlin. The first affections in units should occur at the end of May.
However, many Russians manage to escape military service by paying bribes or obtaining medical exemptions or through their studies.
On March 9, the Ministry of Defense admitted that conscripts were fighting in Ukraine and that some had been taken prisoner. But the Russian army assured that these had been sent to the front by mistake and since repatriated.
The Kremlin claims that, according to Vladimir Putin's instructions, only professional soldiers and officers, having signed a contract, are currently fighting in Ukraine. But several independent Russian media reported cases of conscripts having been coerced or very strongly encouraged to sign a contract and then sent to the Ukrainian front.
12:00 PM on 01/04/2022The Kremlin has estimated that the attack carried out, according to Moscow, by Ukrainian helicopters in Russian territory against a fuel depot will weigh on the Russian-Ukrainian talks to end the offensive in Ukraine.
"It is clear that we cannot consider this as something that will create the appropriate conditions for the continuation of negotiations", estimated Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for the Russian presidency, after the destruction at the dawn of a depot in the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine.
11:37 on 01/04/2022The European police agency Europol said it has deployed teams to the border with Ukraine in neighboring countries to fight against the passage of criminals and "terrorists" who try to enter the EU with the flow of refugees.
11:29 am on 01/04/2022The European Union has deplored the decision of the Russian authorities to prohibit the entry into its territory of European leaders and the majority of MEPs, and underlined their lack of transparency.
"The European Union sanctions respond to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and aim to put an end to these illegal and destructive actions", underlined the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in a press release.
"Unlike the Russian counter-sanctions, the EU restrictive measures were published transparently and on the basis of clear criteria, including legal means to challenge them," he argued. Russian diplomacy has not published the list of people targeted, but said it had informed the European representation in Moscow of this measure.
The new restrictions apply to the most senior leaders of the European Union, including a number of European commissioners and heads of European military bodies, as well as the vast majority of members of the European Parliament, who promote anti-Russian policies, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
10:50 AM on 01/04/2022It is uncertain whether the planned evacuation of civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine, can take place this Friday, said Ewan Watson a spokesman for the ICRC in Geneva.
"There are a lot of moving parts and not all the details are worked out to make sure it happens safely (...) It's not clear yet if it's going to happen today", added the spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross during a regular UN briefing.
10:17 am on 01/04/2022Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army jams the satellite navigation systems of commercial aircraft that are close to combat zones, says Benoit Roturier, director satellite navigation program at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in France (DGAC). Airline pilots reported disruptions in areas near the Black Sea, eastern Finland and the Kaliningrad enclave. These disturbances seem to be caused by Russian vehicles equipped with systems jamming GPS signals, in order to protect Russian troops and installations against GPS-guided missiles. "For the time being, I don't think the goal is to disrupt civil navigation", underlines Benoit Roturier, for whom it is rather "collateral damage".
This situation has not yet caused any major problems, but the Frenchman believes that Europe must put in place contingency plans in the event that all satellite systems are no longer able to be used.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) warned in mid-March against this phenomenon of GPS signal disturbances, due either to "jamming" of satellite positioning signals, or to their "spoofing".
07:56 on 01/04/2022"A fire in an oil depot occurred due to an airstrike by two Ukrainian army helicopters that entered Russian territory at low altitude" , said on his Telegram account the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
In another message, he said firefighters were on the job to put out the blaze and that two depot workers were injured. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations says that 170 rescuers are involved.
The public company Rosneft, owner of the premises, told Russian news agencies that it had evacuated its staff there.
On Wednesday, explosions took place in an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region, without the Russian authorities clearly explaining the cause of the incident. Belgorod is located about 80 kilometers north of Kharkiv, a major Ukrainian city that has been attacked by Russian forces since the start of the Kremlin offensive.
07:37 on 01/04/2022The Australian government has agreed to provide additional military equipment to Ukraine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday. This announcement follows a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to parliament in Canberra. During his virtual address to the Australian parliament on Thursday, Mr. Zelensky had specifically requested the delivery of Bushmasters, armored vehicles used by the Australian army. These armored vehicles would lead to a reinforcement of the Ukrainian army, underlined Mr. Zelensky.
Mr. Morrison promised on Friday that Australia would respond to the Ukrainian request. "We will send weapons, ammunition, humanitarian aid and bulletproof vests. And we will also send our armored vehicles," he said. The material will be transported to Ukraine by military transport planes on an as yet unknown date.
06:52 on 04/01/2022The Ukrainian president assured that the Russian army was repositioning itself in the east of the country in anticipation of "powerful attacks", in particular on the besieged port of Mariupol where Friday a new attempt to evacuate civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to cut off gas supplies to "unfriendly" countries that refuse to pay in rubles, a measure intended to prop up the Russian currency that would mainly affect the European Union.
Russia has indicated this week that it intends to reduce its activity in Kiev and Cherniguiv in order to transfer its strike power from the north to the (separatist) regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east. "It's part of their tactic," Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech overnight from Thursday to Friday.
06:06 on 01/04/2022"I'm on my way to Kyiv", she simply wrote in English and Ukrainian, with a Ukrainian flag and a hashtag of support for the invaded country, and a photo where we see her bundled up in a jacket in front of what appears to be a train car.
Ms Metsola, elected President of the European Parliament on January 18, did not add any details. Arriving at her destination, she would be the first leader of a European institution to visit the Ukrainian capital since the start of the Russian invasion. Before her, three Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers had already traveled to kyiv on March 15 to show their solidarity with Ukraine. The Pole Mateusz Morawiecki, the Czech Petr Fiala and the Slovenian Janez Jansa, accompanied by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, had met the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Prime Minister Denys Chmygal.
On Thursday, Russia announced that it would ban European leaders and the majority of MEPs from entering its territory, in response to punitive measures targeting Moscow. Russian diplomacy has not published the list of people targeted, but said it had informed the European representation in Moscow of this measure.
On my way to Kyiv 🇺🇦
На шляху до Києва 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/8fz43BkapJ
The Russians have left the Chernobyl power plant, according to the Ukrainian official agency.
21:10 on 03/31/2022The French actor Gérard Depardieu, holder of a Russian passport and usually complimentary of Vladimir Putin, denounced "the crazy unacceptable excesses" of the Russian president, and announced that the recipe for his three concerts scheduled for early April in Paris "would go to the Ukrainian victims".
"The Russian people are not responsible for the mad and unacceptable excesses of (its) leaders like Vladimir Putin," the star, who has repeatedly praised the Russian leader, said in a statement to AFP. .
20:35 on 03/31/2022US President Joe Biden said he was "skeptical" of Russia's announcements of a partial withdrawal of its troops to focus the offensive in Ukraine on the Donbass region, east of the country.
He also felt that Vladimir Putin "seemed to be isolating himself", and said he had "indications that (the Russian president) has dismissed or placed under house arrest some of his advisers", while saying that he does not have "irrefutable evidence".
20:28 on 2022/03/31From tomorrow/Friday, Russia will temporarily stop the export of rapeseed and sunflower seeds. The suspension will apply until the end of August, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture announced Thursday in Moscow.
19:38 on 03/31/2022The refocusing of the Russian war effort on Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces will face a battle-hardened Ukrainian army, portends a conflict "prolonged," warned a senior Pentagon official.
19:18 on 03/31/2022Devastated or bombarded fields, workers gone to fight, ruined logistics: the Russian invasion risks halving the cereal harvest in Ukraine, crucial for the world's food, warned the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture in an interview with AFP.
07:04 PM on 03/31/2022Leaders of European institutions and Chinese leaders meet by videoconference for an EU-China summit which will take place in a very particular context, strongly marked by the war in Ukraine. No joint press conference or joint statement is expected. The exercise will aim, among other things, to gauge Beijing's intentions regarding possible support for Russia.
07:04 PM on 03/31/2022One person was killed and four injured in shootings at a convoy of five buses bringing volunteers to the besieged city of Cherniguiv in northern Ukraine, an official said. Ukrainian official.
18:55 on 03/31/2022Russia has announced that it will ban European leaders and the majority of MEPs from entering its territory, in response to punitive measures targeting Moscow for its military intervention in Ukraine.
18:54 on 03/31/2022Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Ankara is ready to become one of Ukraine's security guarantors. "Turkey is ready to become one of the guarantors of Ukraine's security. We welcome such an initiative, but a detailed analysis of (this proposal) is necessary", according to statements by the Turkish president reported by Turkish news agency Anadolu.
06:53 PM on 03/31/2022Washington has announced new sanctions against Russia, this time targeting the technology sector, including Russia's largest semiconductor manufacturer, in order, among other things, to prevent the circumvention of Western sanctions.
04:49 PM on 03/31/2022Russian forces have begun withdrawing from the Chernobyl nuclear site, which they had taken control of on the first day of the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, it has been announced the Ukrainian nuclear agency.
The troops occupying the site left "in two columns towards the border" between Ukraine and Belarus, Energoatom reported on Telegram, adding that there are only a "small number" of Russian soldiers left on the spot.
16:23 on 03/31/2022Vladimir Putin has announced that buyers of Russian gas from "unfriendly" countries will have to pay in rubles from accounts in Russia from Friday on pain of being deprived of supplies, a measure affecting mainly the European Union.
The price of gas remains, however, denominated in the currency of the current contracts, usually in euros or dollars.
"They must open accounts in rubles in Russian banks. And from these accounts they will have to pay for the gas delivered, starting tomorrow," Vladimir Putin declared on television after signing a decree to that effect.
He added that in case of refusal, "ongoing contracts will be stopped".
"If these payments are not made, it will be considered as a breach of obligations on the part of the buyer, and this will have all the necessary consequences", insisted Mr. Putin.
16:14 on 03/31/2022Germany and France are "preparing" for a potential stoppage of Russian gas imports, while Moscow demands, from April 1, payment in rubles for deliveries, what the Europeans refuse, declared the French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, in Berlin.
"There may be a situation in which tomorrow, in very specific circumstances, there will be no more Russian gas (...) it is up to us to prepare these scenarios, and we are preparing them" , he detailed, during a press conference with the German Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck.
03:33 PM on 03/31/2022Russian forces 'not withdrawing but repositioning' in Ukraine and NATO expects 'further offensives' from Moscow, secretary general says of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg, during a press point intended in particular to present the report of the Alliance on the defense expenditure of its member countries in 2021 but which was obviously mainly devoted to the war in Ukraine.
15:10 on 03/31/2022The Russian army is "regrouping its forces to attack" in eastern and southern Ukraine, said the head of the 92nd Brigade and defender of Kharkiv (north-east), the second city in the country where the situation is "stable".
15:06 on 03/31/2022Peace is much more valuable than diamonds, (economic) agreements with Russia, Russian ships in ports, Russian oil and gas, the president launched Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, during an address by videoconference to the House of Representatives.
More info here.
15:05 on 03/31/2022The Kremlin downplayed the scope of its measure obliging Europeans to pay their gas bills in rubles and no longer in euros, judging that it was a simple operation change.
14:59 on 03/31/2022Flanders has prepared an action plan to allow Ukrainian refugees to continue their education in Flanders, says regional education minister Ben Weyts (N-VA). Schools will receive additional resources and capacity to accommodate these students. Alongside reception in OKAN classes (welcome class for non-Dutch-speaking newcomers), the aim is also to be able to provide education in Ukrainian in reception structures thanks to the support of an online platform of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education.
2:48 PM on 03/31/2022A Ukrainian blogger and "political expert" has been remanded in custody for "treason" after supporting the Russian invasion of the country, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has announced .
2:33 PM on 03/31/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Belgian parliament by video, another stop in a series of speeches to Western parliaments, seeking support in the face of the Russian invasion .
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13:50 on 03/31/2022The European Commission has carried out surprise inspections at the German premises of the Russian gas company Gazprom, which it suspects of having violated competition rules to raise prices, have confirmed Thursday by concordant European sources. On Wednesday, the Bloomberg and Reuters agencies had reported such visits, the same day. "Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step in the investigation of alleged anti-competitive practices. The fact that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that companies are guilty of anti-competitive behavior and does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself", specified the European executive.
1:26 PM on 03/31/2022The Kremlin judged worrying Thursday that the United States does not understand anything about the functioning of power in Russia. "They don't understand President Putin, they don't understand the decision-making mechanism, they don't understand our work," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. has already denounced the remarks deemed insulting by President Joe Biden towards the master of the Kremlin. "It's not just a shame, it's concerning because when there is such a degree of misunderstanding, it leads to faulty decision-making which then has serious consequences," he added.
British and American intelligence claimed on Wednesday that Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own advisers who are "afraid to tell him the truth" about his "failed" strategy in Ukraine, where he launched a major military offensive on February 24.
1:24 PM on 03/31/2022Russian forces are "not withdrawing but repositioning" in Ukraine and NATO expects "additional offensives" from Moscow, the secretary said Thursday General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg. "According to our information", Russia "is trying to regroup (its forces) and strengthen its offensive on the Donbass region and at the same time it maintains pressure on Kiev and other cities", estimated Jens Stoltenberg during the meeting. 'a press conference. Moscow said Tuesday to reduce "radically" its activity in the direction of kyiv and Cherniguiv.
13:19 on 03/31/2022Georgia on Thursday described as "unacceptable" the referendum project for the annexation to Russia of the separatist region of South Ossetia, which had been at the heart of the Russian war -Georgia of 2008. The day before, the leader of South Ossetia, Anatoli Bibilov had indicated that he wanted to organize such a consultation after April 10, the date of the next presidential election in this territory whose independence Russia recognized in 2008 in the aftermath of the war.
13:17 on 03/31/2022Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, during a meeting with Vladimir Putin, asked the Russian President for an end to hostilities in Ukraine, the withdrawal of his troops and the guarantee of humanitarian access, the Norwegian government announced on Thursday. "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a brutal attack on a free country and an innocent people who are now being subjected to unimaginable suffering," Støre said in a statement released by his office.
12:56 AM on 03/31/2022Some 83% of Russians approve of Vladimir Putin's action, gaining twelve points compared to February, according to the survey published Thursday by the independent Russian institute Levada which is the first poll since the start of the offensive in Ukraine. Only 15% of Russians say they do not approve of the president's action (-12% in one month) and 2% have no opinion. Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine gains him 11 points (71%, against 60% in February) and the government 15 points (70% against 55% in February). Previous polls had been released in recent weeks and already showed an approval rating for Mr Putin of 80% or more, but these were carried out by pro-government institutes.
12:52 AM on 03/31/2022The British government on Thursday announced a new round of 14 sanctions targeting Russian "propaganda and state media" including the owners of RT and Sputnik to counter the "lies" of the Kremlin reacting to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "(Russian President Vladimir's) Putin's war in Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies," British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said in a statement, "and this latest round of sanctions targets brazen propagandists who spread Putin's fake news and stories".
12:30 on 03/31/2022The government intends to create by mid-June in collaboration with the municipalities some 30,000 reception places for Ukrainian refugees, said Thursday the Flemish Minister for Housing, Matthias Diependaele (N-VA), in front of the Flemish Parliament. Flanders had previously announced that it was aiming for the implementation of 18,000 places by the end of March. According to the Minister, this objective has been achieved. However, efforts should be continued to anticipate possible new arrivals.
12:20 on 03/31/2022The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it is ready "to lead" the evacuation operations for besieged civilians in the city of Mariupol from Friday on condition of having the necessary guarantees, according to a press release from the organization. "The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it," said the press release from the ICRC, which has already tried several times to organize evacuations but was unable to carry them out due to security problems.
12:11 on 03/31/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the Netherlands to be ready to boycott Russian energy during a speech to the Dutch Parliament. "Be prepared to stop energy exports from Russia so as not to pay billions for the war," he said during a videoconference intervention. Europe's largest natural gas field is located in the north of the Netherlands, in the Groningen region. Due to repeated earthquakes, the Dutch government has promised the inhabitants that the tap will eventually be closed.
11:40 am on 03/31/2022Japan has no intention of withdrawing from a major gas project with Russia, despite having adopted, like Western countries, severe sanctions against Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese Prime Minister said on Thursday. Energy-dependent Japan is struggling, like other nations, to balance its fossil fuel needs with its relatively tough stance on Russia.
11:20 am on 03/31/2022Tag "Z" or "collaborator" on the doors of homes, anti-Semitic message: intimidation has multiplied in recent days against opponents and critics of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. These messages also bear the number of two articles of the Russian criminal code, recently adopted, which provide for severe prison sentences for the publication of “false information” on the Russian army or for actions “discrediting” the latter. I have already seen this (these threats) on social networks, it is clearly an organized action + from above +. I will report it to the police", reacted an activist on Twitter.
10:59 am on 03/31/2022President Vladimir Putin is misled by his advisers who are "afraid to tell him the truth" about his "failing" war strategy in Ukraine where Russian troops sabotage equipment and shoot down accidentally their own aircraft, British and American intelligence argued. Read here.
10:56 am on 03/31/202210:13 on 03/31/2022"As of March 31, 2022, in the morning, more than 90% of the territory of the Lugansk People's Republic has been liberated," said Thursday on its Telegram channel the diplomacy of this territory, the independence of which was recognized by Russia just before its offensive on Ukraine and of which Moscow has made the conquest of these territories of eastern Ukraine its priority. These claims could not be verified from an independent source. Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk separatists, for his part assured Wednesday that "about 55 to 60%" of the territory of the eponymous Ukrainian region was under Russian control.
10:02 am on 03/31/2022The Russian Foreign Ministers, Sergei Lavrov, and Ukrainian, Dmytro Kouleba, could meet "within one or two weeks", assured Thursday their Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu, adding that it was "impossible to put forward a date" but that Turkey wished to host such a meeting "as a sincere mediator". "What matters is that the two parties meet and agree on a lasting ceasefire." "It is impossible to negotiate under the pressure of arms," he insisted.
09:30 on 03/31/2022British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss visited India on Thursday, ahead of the arrival in Delhi of Russia's top diplomat, to call on the Asian giant to take more action tough on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. India abstained from voting in the UN Security Council for a resolution condemning Russia and contented itself with calling for an end to the violence. The country also continues to buy Russian oil and products.
08:34 on 03/31/2022Kiev is preparing to send 45 buses on Thursday to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, a besieged city in southeastern Ukraine where Moscow has announced a truce, Iryna Vereshchuk announced, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.
"Last night, we were informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that Russia was ready to open access to humanitarian convoys from Mariupol", in the direction of the city of Zaporozhye, via Berdyansk, he said. -she said in a video posted on Telegram."On the Mariupol corridor we send 45 buses," she added.
07:48 on 03/31/2022The question of the "neutrality" of Ukraine, one of the central points of the negotiations with Russia to end the war initiated by the latter in its neighbor, does not can only be settled by holding a referendum, requiring at least three million citizen signatures and which could take up to a year, underlined in a television interview one of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, quoted by the media British BBC and The Guardian.
Moscow, which says it is threatened by the extension of NATO, is demanding guarantees from kyiv ensuring that Ukraine will not join the Atlantic Alliance and will therefore adopt a "neutral" status. On the Ukrainian side, it is said to analyze the proposal "in depth". But, repeated Mr. Arakhamia, it is a "civic issue, not a political one". A referendum must therefore be organised, a "long procedure which can only arise in a peaceful context".
06:10 on 03/31/2022The European Union and the United States met in Washington for the first time in a strategic dialogue on Russia, the US State Department said . Emphasis was placed, among other things, on the coordination of policies around the war in Ukraine. Both sides condemned "the Kremlin's unjust and barbaric war against Ukraine" and called for an immediate halt to Russian attacks on civilians.
The talks follow a commitment made at the EU-US summit in June 2021, during which both sides agreed to coordinate their policies and actions regarding Russia. Wednesday's talks focused on "strategic goals and policy coordination aimed at ending Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine." The two sides discussed, among other things, new sanctions aimed at further isolating Russia in the economic sphere, according to a joint press release by US Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and Secretary of State European Deputy for Political Affairs, Enrique Mora. The two senior diplomats also welcomed the coordination between the two partners in the imposition of these sanctions.
The United States and the EU have also urged China not to jeopardize sanctions against Russia and not to support Russian aggression in any way. The two diplomats also stressed the importance of continuing to ask China to support an immediate cessation of hostilities, the creation of humanitarian corridors and the prevention of further escalation.
The next meeting will take place at the end of the year.
05:20 AM on 03/31/2022Vladimir Putin "greatly misjudged" the invasion, British intelligence agency GHQ director Jeremy Fleming said in a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra. "We have seen Russian soldiers - out of arms and in low morale - refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft," Fleming said. "And even if Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what is happening and the extent of these miscalculations must be perfectly clear to the regime," he said.
These remarks, published ahead of time, echo those in US intelligence released by the White House the previous day, indicating that Mr Putin was "misinformed" by his advisers on the progress of the Russian operation. Western intelligence services are trying to highlight Russia's failures in this war and the divisions within Putin's inner circle.
On the ground in Ukraine, Moscow uses mercenaries and foreign fighters to support its own forces. Among them is the Wagner Group, which is "shifting into high gear" after being active in the country since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. "The group works like a shadow branch of the Russian military," allowing Vladimir Putin to relieve himself of responsibility for "riskier operations", he argued.
According to Mr. Fleming, the Russian president, however, underestimated the Ukrainian resistance, the strength of the international coalition against him and the impact of economic sanctions. The Russian leader also overestimated his own army's ability to achieve a quick victory, he added.
Moscow's pledge to "drastically" reduce its military activity around Kiev and in the northern city of Cherniguiv "perhaps shows that it has been forced to question itself in a significant way", according to Jeremy Fleming.
03:00 AM on 03/31/2022The talks between Ukraine and Russia will continue virtually this Friday, April 1, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arachamija, announced on Telegram. According to him, during the negotiations in Turkey earlier this week, Ukraine had offered to organize a conversation between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, but the Russian delegation believed that a draft treaty should first be on the table. . For kyiv, such a conversation will certainly not be able to take place in Russia or Belarus in the future.
David Arachamija also praised Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who was present during the final talks on Tuesday. He plays a positive role, the Ukrainian told several media outlets. It provides an "unofficial communication channel", which allows people to express themselves in ordinary, non-diplomatic language. He tries to remain neutral, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation. "Although we do not consider him a neutral party, we can say that he is more neutral than the official side in the negotiations."
At the end of the last round of negotiations on Tuesday, Russia and Ukraine were positive. In the aftermath, both kyiv and Moscow claimed that no significant breakthrough had been made there.
23:10 on 03/30/2022The Russian Ministry of Defense announced a "regime of silence", i.e. a local ceasefire, from 10:00 a.m. Thursday (09:00 a.m. Belgian time) in the besieged port from Mariupol in order to evacuate civilians. This measure should make it possible to open a humanitarian corridor to the Ukrainian city of Zaporijia, with a stopover via the port of Berdiansk, under Russian control. "For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)", added the ministry in a statement.
The Russian ministry also asks that Kiev guarantees the "unconditional respect" of this local ceasefire via a written notification sent to the Russian side, to the UNHCR and to the ICRC before 06:00 Thursday (05:00 Belgian time). Moscow is also demanding that the Ukrainian army undertake to ensure the safety of the bus convoys that will travel along the agreed route for this corridor.
Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of sabotaging the evacuation of Mariupol residents. More recently, French President Emmanuel Macron also insisted, during a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, on a humanitarian aid operation for the city, surrounded by Russian troops for weeks.
21:58 on 03/30/2022The leader of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian territory in the Caucasus that seceded from Georgia, has considered organizing a popular consultation to be attached to Russia.
21:56 on 03/30/2022Ukrainian authorities have claimed that about half of Ukrainian territory has already been "polluted" by munitions used by Russian forces since the start of the invasion , February 24.
"The total area of the areas polluted by explosive devices in connection with the Russian aggression amounts to 300,000 square kilometers," said senior Ukrainian Interior Ministry official Levhen Lenin, who did not provide further details. The figure he gave is impossible to independently verify. "In addition, Ukrainian deminers have deactivated more than 300 explosive devices" since the start of the war, added Mr. Lenin, quoted by the Interfax Ukraine press agency.
21:52 on 03/30/2022The Guardianship Service of the Federal Public Service of Justice has already registered more than 300 unaccompanied minors in Belgium since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said the Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne, in response to questions from MPs Ben Segers (Vooruit) and Katleen Bury (Vlaams Belang).
20:33 on 03/30/2022France sees "no breakthrough" in the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations nor "novelty" in the situation in Ukraine after the Russian announcements of reduction of their military activity in the surroundings of Kiev and in the north of Ukraine, declared the head of French diplomacy.
20:32 on 03/30/2022The German government has indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Europe can continue to pay for Russian gas in euros and not in rubles as ordered recently by Moscow.
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Mr Putin had assured Mr Scholz that payments from Europe next month would “continue to be in euros and transferred as usual to Gazprom Bank , which is not subject to sanctions", and that it would take care of the conversion into rubles.
20:29 on 03/30/2022Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul did not result in anything "very promising" or "breakthrough", the Kremlin said, dampening the hopes of decisive progress in the negotiations.
“At this time, we cannot report anything very promising or a breakthrough. There is a lot of work to be done,” the spokesperson for the Russian presidency Dmitry Peskov. He nevertheless described as "positive" the fact that the Ukrainian side had "finally begun to formulate its proposals in a concrete way and to put them in writing".
6:45 PM on 03/30/2022United States President Joe Biden discussed with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky the "additional" military capabilities needed to help the Ukrainian military "defend their country", said the White House.
"The leaders discussed how the United States is working day and night to meet Ukraine's key requests for security assistance" as well as "the persistent efforts of the United States with its allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian army defend its country," the US executive said in a statement after a call between the two presidents.
18:27 on 03/30/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin told his German counterpart Olaf Scholz that payment in rubles for Russian gas exports, now demanded by Moscow, should not disadvantage European customers.
“This decision must not lead to a deterioration in the conditions of the contracts of European companies that import Russian gas,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement summarizing his telephone conversation with Mr. Scholz, whose country is a major consumer of Russian hydrocarbons.
5:20 PM on 03/30/2022US President Joe Biden meets with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, the White House announced.
5:15 PM on 03/30/2022“We cannot expect the G7 to lift the sanctions just because there is a ceasefire,” he told a parliamentary committee. "We should continue to intensify the sanctions (...) until each" of the Russian soldiers is "out of Ukraine", he added.
4:43 PM on 03/30/2022US President Joe Biden will meet on Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. GMT (10:45 a.m. Washington time) with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House announced.
Joe Biden, who met Ukraine's foreign and defense ministers last week in Poland, has had regular talks with the Ukrainian president since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Also read: Interview with Volodymyr Zelensky: "We are going to win the war. It's just a matter of time"
16:31 on 03/30/2022At least 200 residents of Irpin, a town in the northwestern suburbs of Kiev the scene of fierce fighting, have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion, announced Wednesday its mayor Oleksandre Markouchine.
"At the height of the hostilities, when there was shelling all day, people were simply buried in the gardens or even in the parks. I think around 200 or 300 people died unfortunately" , announced Mr. Markouchine during a press conference. Ukrainian forces announced on Monday that they had regained control of this locality, in Russian hands since the end of February.
16:30 on 03/30/2022Michelle Bachelet spoke on Wednesday of "war crimes" committed in Ukraine in a long indictment by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights against the actions carried out for the essential by the Russian army since the February 24 invasion.
The indiscriminate and large-scale attacks carried out by the Russian armed forces "could be war crimes", launched Ms. Bachelet before the Human Rights Council, using the conditional by convention, war crimes before be proven in court but not beyond doubt.
16:28 on 03/30/2022Austria activated on Wednesday, like Germany, the first level of its emergency plan to guarantee the supply of natural gas in the face of the threat of a halt in Russian deliveries, announced the Chancellor.
“The early warning level guarantees a rapid reaction” to “ensure the gas supply for Austrian households and businesses,” said Karl Nehammer, quoted in a press release.
16:23 on 2022/03/30215:00 on 2022/03/30Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address House MPs tomorrow/Thursday. His speech is expected at 2:15 p.m., at the opening of the plenary session.
More info via this link
02:39 PM on 03/30/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called on Norway, the European Union's second-largest natural gas supplier behind Russia, to provide more energy to his country and to Europe. EU.
During a speech by videoconference before the Storting, the unicameral Norwegian Parliament, Mr. Zelensky also considered that Russian ships “should not have the right to use the ports of the free world”.
14:10 on 03/30/2022Russia will not require payment for its gas in rubles as of tomorrow/Thursday. According to the Kremlin spokesman, this changeover will take time, he said on Wednesday. "Gas deliveries and payments are separate processes," added Dmitry Peskov.
Russia had announced a few days ago that it would only accept payments in rubles for its gas, a demand rejected by Westerners. Due to international sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia says it can no longer use euros and dollars. A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Gazprom and the Russian central bank is scheduled for Wednesday to take stock of the situation. Europe strongly fears that Russia will cut off its gas taps if the energy is not paid for in rubles. Germany notably activated its emergency plan on Wednesday, as a precaution.
13:33 on 03/30/2022A building of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was the target of Russian bombardment in Mariupol, a strategic port under siege in south-eastern Ukraine, claimed a Ukrainian official.
"Occupiers deliberately bombarded an ICRC building in Mariupol", wrote on Telegram Lioudmyla Denisova, in charge of human rights at the Ukrainian Parliament. "For the moment, we have no information concerning the victims," she added, without specifying how many people could have been in the building at the time of the shooting.
13:20 on 03/30/2022Defence is only aware so far of two cases of Belgian soldiers leaving for Ukraine, Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said on Wednesday in the commission of bedroom.
Whether active or reserve, a Belgian soldier cannot fight in the service of a foreign army. In the first case, the soldier was already in Poland when he informed his commanding officer of his desire to join the Ukrainian International Legion. He is the subject of a resignation procedure, the period of illegal absence and desertion having been reached on March 28. In the second case, on March 12, a soldier requested and obtained the termination of his engagement. He has meanwhile stopped in Poland where he would work for an NGO. After 21 days of illegal absence, a soldier is deemed to be a deserter, an offense subject to criminal prosecution, and his engagement is automatically terminated.
On February 24, the date of the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and on March 3, in internal directives, the Chief of Defense (CHOD), Michel Hofman, launched a special appeal to the Belgian soldiers so that they do not let themselves be "carried away by their emotions" and "seduced by rhetoric", and recalled that participation in combat only as a soldier could have "very serious consequences". In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, the fact that a resigning or deserting Belgian soldier has joined the Ukrainian armed forces does not make Belgium belligerent.
12:45 on 03/30/2022The UN Human Rights Council has appointed a Norwegian judge who has served on several international tribunals to lead the investigation into violations committed by Russia during the war in Ukraine.
Erik Mose, a former judge at the Supreme Court of Norway and the European Court of Human Rights, who also presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, has been appointed chairman of the international commission of inquiry newly created independent. The President of the Human Rights Council, Federico Villegas, has also named the two other personalities who will be part of the team.
On March 4, the UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution in favor of an international commission of inquiry into violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
The text presented by Kiev condemns "the violations of human rights and violations of these rights resulting from the aggression of the Russian Federation" and calls for a rapid withdrawal of the Russian army. He calls for the urgent establishment for an initial period of one year "an independent international commission of inquiry", the Council's highest level of inquiry.
The three investigators will be responsible for "collecting, collating and analyzing evidence of (...) violations" of human rights and international humanitarian law resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with a view to future trials , and to identify those responsible for these violations "so that they have to answer for their actions".
12:39 on 03/30/2022The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited the Konstantinovka nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine with the aim of setting up "technical assistance" on fears of an accident. "I am in Central South Ukraine to meet government officials and Ukrainian staff," Rafael Grossi wrote in a tweet accompanied by photos showing him shaking hands with site employees whom he praised "the endurance".
“It is vital to be on the ground to provide effective support at this extremely difficult time,” he added. "I wanted to tell you that we are here with you, that we are ready to help you in any way and in any form possible," insists the head of the UN nuclear police in a video posted on his account.
The Agency now hopes to be able to quickly send experts on site and deliver the equipment necessary to guarantee the safety of the installations.
I personally thanked South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant staff for their endurance and resilience during these extremely difficult times. Staff of all #Ukraine nuclear facilities deserve full respect and admiration for keeping sites running in a safe and secure way amid conflict. pic.twitter.com/hOagFfStNv
-- Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) March 30, 2022 12:09 PM on 03/30/2022Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on Tuesday yielded nothing "very promising" or any “breakthrough,” the Kremlin said on Wednesday, dampening hopes of decisive progress in the negotiations.
“At this time, we cannot report anything very promising or a breakthrough. There is a lot of work to be done,” the spokesperson for the Russian presidency Dmitry Peskov.
12:04 on 03/30/2022The Foreign Office has granted temporary protection to 24,434 refugees from Ukraine since the start of the war. Some 1,000 people were registered on Tuesday, the organization's director general, Freddy Roosemont, said on Wednesday.
When they arrive in Belgium, Ukrainian refugees must register to receive temporary protection (they do not have to apply for asylum). They were initially to do so at the Bordet center in Brussels, before a new, larger center opened its doors in Heysel, in the municipality of Laeken, two weeks ago. "It's been calmer for a few days now," Freddy Roosemont told Belga. “However, we are still expecting a large influx.” The attendance is closely linked to developments in Ukraine, he added. The possibility of making appointments online has helped to reduce queues on site. Two-thirds of people had previously made an appointment online. From now on, the website of the Foreigners Office offers on its website an overview of the number of temporary protections that have been granted since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24th.
11:35 am on 03/30/2022The Ukrainian army has regained control of a strategic highway linking Kharkiv to Chuguiv, in eastern Ukraine, AFP journalists noted on Wednesday. "The road was under fire from Russian forces who killed civilians there. We pushed them back about ten kilometers further north," a commander of the Ukrainian army's 92nd brigade told AFP. .
This strategic highway resumed on Tuesday connects Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, to Chuguyv, a city of 30,000 inhabitants located 50 kilometers to the southeast. The two cities have been heavily bombarded by the Russian army for more than a month, without falling into the hands of Moscow forces.
11:17 am on 03/30/2022For the period from March 4 to 28, a total of 7,181 refugees from Ukraine were reported on the entire SNCB rail network, said the Federal Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet in committee of the Chamber.
The majority of refugees, between 80 and 90%, arrive via Brussels-Midi, from where they can easily be directed to the Heysel registration centre. The main stations concerned in Belgium by their arrival are those of Bruxelles-Midi and Liège-Guillemins. In these two major stations, the SNCB has made available a space for the reception and information of refugees. Since March 1, Ukrainian refugees can travel for free on the SNCB network, as well as on board cross-border trains from/to Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France. To do so, they must present the German DB "Helpukraine" ticket and/or their Ukrainian passport/identity card, or other supporting document.
Since March 1, 7,181 refugees from Ukraine have been able to arrive safely in our country thanks to the @SNCB.
The train is more than ever a symbol and tool of freedom.
Welcome to all the refugees and thank you to all the railway workers for their solidarity and humanity. pic.twitter.com/AYFBZ1GuDh
Despite promises, Cherniguiv bombed | The city of Cherniguiv, in northern Ukraine, was bombed "all night", announced the governor of the region, despite the announcement made the day before by Moscow of a reduction in its military activity in this area .
A Mariupol maternity hospital forcibly evacuated to Russia | Mariupol town hall on Wednesday denounced the forced evacuation to Russia of a maternity hospital in this besieged city in southeastern Ukraine where another maternity hospital had been bombed by the Russians on March 9.
Lavrov announces a fairer world order | Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday announced a fairer world order in partnership with China, during his first visit to the country since the invasion of Ukraine. "We are living a very serious stage in the history of international relations," said the head of Kremlin diplomacy, at the start of a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. "I am convinced that at the end of this stage, the international situation will be much clearer, and that we, together with you, and with our supporters, will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order", a- he launched to the Chinese minister.
Gas: Germany activates its emergency plan | Germany activated Wednesday the first level of its emergency plan to guarantee the supply of natural gas in the face of the threat of a stoppage of Russian deliveries, announced the Minister of the Economy. "A crisis unit is now set up within the ministry" to oversee the situation as the G7 rejected the Russian request for payment in rubles, explained Robert Habeck.
Russia accused of causing a global food crisis | Before the UN Security Council, Russia was accused on Tuesday of having provoked a "world food crisis" or even of putting people at risk of "famine" by having started a war against Ukraine, the "bread basket wheat of Europe". Russian President "Vladimir Putin started this war. He created this world food crisis. And he is the one who can stop it", hammered the number two of American diplomacy Wendy Sherman during a meeting of the Security Council devoted to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
10:55 am on 03/30/2022The number of Ukrainian refugees who have fled their country since the invasion by the Russian army on February 24 crossed the 4 million mark on Wednesday, according to figures from the High refugee commissioner.
A total of 4,019,287 Ukrainians - mostly women and children - have left the country to flee the war unleashed by Russia, according to the updated figure from the dedicated UNHCR website. Poland alone hosts more than 2.3 million of these people.
10:32 on 03/30/2022Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Wednesday called on the European Union to introduce a tax on Russian hydrocarbon imports.
"I call on the European Commission today to establish a tax on Russian hydrocarbons so that trade and economic rules in the European single market work fairly," Morawiecki told reporters.
10:24 on 03/30/2022The city of Cherniguiv, in northern Ukraine, was the victim of bombing "all night", the governor of the region announced on Wednesday, despite the announcement made the day before Moscow reduced its military activity in this area.
"Chernigiv was bombarded all night" with artillery and planes, Governor Vyacheslav Tchaous announced on Telegram, adding that civilian infrastructure had been destroyed and that the city was still without water or electricity.
09:20 on 03/30/2022Germany activated on Wednesday the first level of its emergency plan to guarantee the supply of natural gas in the face of the threat of a stoppage of Russian deliveries, announced the Economy Minister.
“A crisis cell has now been set up within the ministry” to oversee the situation after the G7 rejected the Russian request for payments in roubles, Robert Habeck explained during a press conference. This emergency plan includes three levels of alert and at this stage, "the security of supply" of gas is guaranteed in Germany, he specified. Mr. Habeck insisted that this was a precautionary measure. The Minister also asked German businesses and households to save gas as much as possible.
08:45 on 03/30/2022The international community must take strong action and hold Russia accountable for its invasion of Ukraine, Belgian Ambassador to South Korea Francois Bontemps has said in a statement. an interview with the South Korean news agency Yonhap. He fears that Russia will give other countries, including North Korea, ideas of military inclination.
Mr. Bontemps believes that "rogue states" such as North Korea may misjudge the regional situation and try to "seize this opportunity to show more power." "We have to stop this (the invasion, editor's note) in Ukraine, so as not to encourage other countries to acquire nuclear weapons and to switch to displays of power."
North Korea tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week. As a result, Pyongyang has "crossed the red line", denounces Mr. Bontemps. According to local media, North Korea is currently preparing for another nuclear test. The country is said to have used six such trials in the past.
The ambassador also calls on China to do more to end the aggression and to use its influence to ensure that North Korea does not resort to further provocations.
07:24 on 03/30/2022The announcement made by Russia to "radically" reduce military maneuvers near Kiev and Chernihiv is considered by the Ukrainian army as a simple regrouping of troops intended to deceive the Ukrainian military command. This is what the General Staff affirms in its daily report on the war.
The "alleged troop withdrawal" is more akin to a rotation of individual units, the document says. With this announcement, Russia also wants to create a false image of the encirclement of kyiv, which would supposedly be stopped.
Previously, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said the threat in Kyiv is not going away because Russia is withdrawing its troops.
The Russian army has indeed withdrawn some units from the areas around Kiev and Chernihiv, but it seems, according to the general staff, that these soldiers will be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, fighting continues near Donetsk to the east. In addition, according to the BBC, the Ukrainians believe that Russia is strengthening its positions and laying mines in the villages of Novokarlivka and Luhivske, near Zaporizhia.
In its daily update on Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defense says that it is almost certain that Russia has failed in its plan to encircle the capital because of the disappointing results and of Kiev's counter-offensive. "Russian statements regarding a restriction of activities around Kiev and the withdrawal of some units from this region may mean that Russia agrees to lose the initiative in the region", analyzed the ministry, also specifying that it is very likely that Russia is moving troops to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country.
06:02 on 03/30/2022The State Department has warned of "the possibility of harassment of American citizens" by Russian security forces, "including arrest" and "enforcement arbitrariness of local law", due to Washington's stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Moscow. The warning came after American basketball star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia for over a month.
Washington fears the player could be used as a pressure tool in the dispute, and has so far kept a low profile on her case.
05:50 on 03/30/2022Donald Trump has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the midst of the war in Ukraine, to reveal potential compromising information he has on the son of the American head of state Joe Biden, Hunter. The former Republican president thus returns to accusations that he has repeated many times, in particular during his campaign for the presidency of 2020, and which have been denied by the person concerned.
Hunter Biden is one of Donald Trump's favorite targets. The Trump camp has regularly criticized the fact that this turbulent son had economic interests in Ukraine and China when his father was Barack Obama's vice-president (2009-2017).
03:45 on 30/03/2022"Today the EU Advisory Mission to Ukraine received reliable information that the section's buildings in Mariupol were recently hit by Russian shelling. EUAM's office and equipment were badly damaged," said Josep Borrell. No mission members or other workers were injured.
“We strongly condemn these attacks, as well as all other attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. We call on Russia to immediately halt its military offensive and withdraw all troops and military equipment without conditional the whole of Ukraine", added the European representative for foreign affairs.
EUAM has a headquarters in Kyiv and “field offices” in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odessa.
9:57 PM on 03/29/2022Tuesday's Russian-Ukrainian talks resulted in "positive" signals, Zelensky confirmed.
Also read: Zelensky: "We can say that the signals we are hearing in the negotiations are positive"
21:53 on 03/29/2022Twelve people were killed and at least 33 others injured in a Russian strike that partially destroyed the regional administration building in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, according to a new assessment given by Ukrainian relief.
21:51 on 03/29/2022Russian forces around Kiev have begun a "repositioning" but "not a real withdrawal", said US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby.
"We can confirm that we have seen a small number of 'troops' beginning to reposition," he told reporters. But "we must be ready to see a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine" and "that does not mean that the threat against kyiv is over", he warned.
9:50 PM on 03/29/2022US President Joe Biden and several European leaders agreed in a phone call to continue to sanction Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, warning against any "relaxation of Western determination".
8:12 PM on 03/29/2022Joe Biden said Westerners are waiting to see if Russia "keeps its word" on reducing its military activity towards Kiev and Cherniguiv, Ukraine.
"We'll see if they keep their word," the American president told reporters, shortly after meeting with the French, British, German and Italian leaders. "There seems to be a consensus that you have to see what they have to offer."
20:03 on 03/29/2022The conditions for launching in the coming days a humanitarian operation to help the inhabitants of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, besieged by the Russian army, are "not met at this stage" , announced the Elysée after a meeting between Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine.
19:10 on 03/29/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the Ukrainian forces defending the strategic port of Mariupol, besieged for weeks by troops from Moscow, must surrender to allow assistance to the civilians on the spot.
"To find a solution to the difficult humanitarian situation in this city, Ukrainian nationalist fighters must stop resisting and lay down their arms," Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement summarizing a telephone conversation with his French counterpart. Emanuel Macron.
19:09 on 03/29/2022British, American, French, German and Italian leaders have warned in a telephone conversation against any "loosening of Western resolve" in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Downing Street.
Boris Johnson, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi “agreed that there could be no relaxation of Western resolve until the horror inflicted on Ukraine was over.”
19:08 on 03/29/2022Nine people were killed and at least 28 others injured in a Russian strike that partially destroyed the regional administration building in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, according to a new assessment given by the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office.
19:01 on 03/29/2022Ukraine wants to negotiate the possibility of joining the European Union (EU) in exchange for concessions to Moscow, according to written proposals, Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky told the outcome of a new round of negotiations in Istanbul.
The Ukrainian proposal states: "The Russian Federation has no objection to Ukraine's aspirations to become a member of the European Union," Medinsky said.
In return, kyiv has raised the possibility of giving up its hopes of joining NATO, which is in line with Russian demands, Medinsky explained. The Ukrainian proposals did not include (the recognition of) Crimea as part of Russia after its annexation in 2014, nor the recognition of the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states.
6:40 PM on 03/29/2022The United States still doubts the "real seriousness" of Russia in the negotiations with Ukraine, affirmed the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the announcement of progress in the talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul.
18:38 on 03/29/2022Nearly a thousand children who fled the war in Ukraine are currently enrolled in a school in Wallonia or Brussels, said the Minister of Education, Caroline Désir ( PS).
17:25 on 03/29/2022The telephone conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine is "in progress", announced the Elysée, at a time when Washington and London expressed doubts about the announcement of progress in the talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul.
French President Emmanuel Macron had earlier said he wanted to discuss with his Russian counterpart "to secure the humanitarian operation in Mariupol", specifying that the objective was to launch it "in the very next few days", criticizing to Russia a "failure to respect international humanitarian law".
17:17 on 03/29/2022The British government has warned Russia that it will judge it "by its actions, not its words" after Moscow announced a "drastic" reduction in its military activities in the direction of Kiev and Cherniguiv, in the north-east of Ukraine.
17:00 on 29/03/2022The UK will strengthen its military presence in the Arctic, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Tuesday amid heightened concerns after the Russian invasion from Ukraine.
The Far North "is important for our communications", "for our trade and our travels" and "for our freedoms", underlined Mr. Wallace during a press conference on the base of Bardufoss (north) where he visited troops participating in major military maneuvers.
The new British strategy in the region will involve more surveillance "at sea and on land", "a ship to protect our infrastructure, the cables that Russia targets to make us vulnerable" and more anti-submarine defense , said the British minister. A force of Royal Marines will be "de facto permanently" active in the Nordic countries, notably carrying out exercises in Norway, Sweden or Finland, he added.
16:56 on 03/29/2022The Polish government has announced a draft law including a ban on coal imports from Russia, the first European sanction of this type on energy sources.
“We have included provisions in the bill that block coal imports from Russia at the national level,” government spokesman Piotr Müller told reporters, adding: “we cannot continue to await the reaction of the European Union in this regard".
In early March, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland was ready to ban coal imports from Russia, but was waiting for a green light from Brussels on this. The bill to be sent to parliament concerns the freezing of assets of companies and individuals supporting Russia, the spokesman said.
Also read: War in Ukraine: is European food security in danger?
16:41 on 03/29/2022Between 250 and 300 students who fled the war in Ukraine have applied to various universities and colleges of the FWB in order to be able to continue their studies there, the Minister of Education indicated on Tuesday. 'Higher education Valérie Glatigny questioned in committee of the Parliament.
In most cases, these are welcomed as free students. They also benefit from administrative support as well as language courses, said the Minister. This reception is guaranteed for all students of Ukrainian nationality, as well as stateless persons and nationals of third countries who studied and legally resided in Ukraine before February 24, the date of the start of the Russian invasion.
Ms. Glatigny added that she is currently working to maintain this reception during the next academic year as well. Her desire is to see these Ukrainian students - who benefit from temporary protection - enjoy the same advantages as those granted to refugee students benefiting from subsidiary protection.
In this case, students from Ukraine would then be exempted from having to pay tuition fees. The measure will, however, require changes to EU legislation, the minister said.
16:32 on 29/03/2022European health ministers discussed on Tuesday the need to improve the vaccination of refugees from Ukraine, half of whom are children, against diseases such as poliomyelitis and measles, as well as against Covid-19.
“We consider that vaccination coverage” against these three diseases “is the priority,” said the director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Andrea Ammon, during a meeting in Brussels.
European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides has announced that some 200,000 vaccines against diphtheria and tetanus will be sent to Ukraine thanks to a donation from the Sanofi laboratory, and that an additional 70,000 doses are intended for Ukrainian refugees in the Republic Czech, Slovakia and Moldova.
Some 3.9 million people have already fled the war launched by Russia in Ukraine. She assured that the EU has "enough vaccines to (ensure) coverage of Ukrainian refugees". “There are big gaps in vaccination among those coming from Ukraine, not only regarding the Covid vaccine, but also other vaccines,” said German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
These gaps "must be filled" but "they threaten the refugees themselves and not the population" of Europe, he said. Ukraine, a country with a very dilapidated health system, is among the countries most skeptical of vaccines in general, according to a publication of the American magazine Nature in 2019.
16:22 on 03/29/2022Nearly 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid, the Red Cross estimated on Tuesday at a press conference in Geneva. "No one in Ukraine will be spared by war," warned the president of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies, Francesco Rocca.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the United Nations and its partner organizations have, according to the UN, only been able to help and accommodate 900,000 people in need. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 3.9 million Ukrainians have fled their country. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has also expressed concern about to Ukraine's food supply.
According to a survey conducted in 19 of the country's 24 provinces, food shortages are to be expected within three months in 40% of the areas observed. Uncertainties still hover over harvests, crop maintenance and livestock care, the FAO also recalls. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine had a population of 44 million.
16:22 on 03/29/2022The federal government has decided to expel 21 people accredited as Russian diplomats to the Russian Embassy in Brussels or the Consulate General in Antwerp, for their involvement in operations of espionage and influence threatening the country's security, Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès announced on Tuesday.
The people concerned will have to leave the territory within 15 days, said the head of Belgian diplomacy, during a current affairs debate in the House's External Relations Committee.
This decision was taken in consultation with the Netherlands, which took a similar decision regarding people accredited to the Russian Embassy in The Hague, according to Ms Wilmès.
“This decision is not a sanction, it is only related to our national security. Diplomatic channels remain open with Russia, the Russian Embassy can continue to operate and we continue to advocate dialogue,” said commented Sophie Wilmès.
Read also: War in Ukraine: "Diplomacy is the only way out"
As announced in committee, Belgium has decided to expel 21 people working for the Russian embassy and consulate, who have been identified taking into account their involvement in espionage and influence operations threatening the national security.
-- Sophie Wilmès (@Sophie_Wilmes) March 29, 2022 4:09 PM on 03/29/2022Anyone who wants to give their old bike, children's bike or bike trailer a second life for a good cause can go to a Fietspunt (Bike Point) or Fietsbieb in Flanders and Brussels from Tuesday. The bicycles will be repaired and made available to refugees and other socially vulnerable people through the municipalities or the City, Herw!n, the organization that oversees the Fiestpunten, announced on Tuesday, in collaboration with several Flemish organizations and associations. related to cycling (Fietsbiebs, Fietsberaad, De Fietsersbond and De Grote Versnelling).
The bikes are fully restored and repaired if necessary. Bicycles that cannot be repaired are dismantled in order to reuse certain parts. Depending on the specific needs of a region, agreements have been made between the local authorities and the Fietspunten to make bicycles available to refugees according to different formulas (rental, donation, sale).
Read also: How to help Ukraine from Belgium? Practical Guide
15:26 on 03/29/2022Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu hailed the "most significant progress" since the start of the war, during the talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, specifying that they would not resume on Wednesday.
"This is the most significant progress since the start of the negotiations", estimated the minister after three hours of discussions between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
2:59 PM on 03/29/2022The euro rose sharply against the US dollar on Tuesday, benefiting from progress in Russia-Ukraine negotiations, as did the Russian ruble, which reacted even more.
The single European currency, which has been at half mast for several weeks as the conflict weighs on the economic prospects of the Old Continent, took 1.2% to 1.1121 dollars, while the ruble soared 10.5% to 85.42 rubles for one dollar around 12:45 GMT.
2:58 PM on 03/29/2022US President Joe Biden will meet with European leaders on the war in Ukraine, the White House has announced.
The phone call, scheduled for 9:15 a.m. (1:15 p.m. GMT) with French, British, German and Italian leaders, aims to “discuss the latest developments regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” a spokesperson said. .
14:46 on 03/29/2022The Red Cross has claimed to be the target of massive misinformation about its work in Ukraine and denounced the risks this poses to its personnel.
"We are witnessing deliberate and targeted attacks, using false accounts and disseminating this information to discredit the ICRC," Ewan Watson, a spokesman for the organization, told reporters in Geneva.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, there has been "a huge flow of misinformation and misinformation that we perceive as deliberate, targeted and orchestrated through social media (... ) and sometimes appear in mainstream media,” he explained. "This has the potential to cause real damage to our teams...in the field and to the people we serve."
One of the accusations against the ICRC circulating on social media claims that it assisted in the forced evacuations of Ukrainians to Russia from the besieged city of Mariupol. The ICRC "would never support any operation that would go according to the will of the people and our principles", insisted Mr Watson.
He also called "absolutely false" another circulating accusation that the organization is setting up an office in Rostov, southern Russia, to "screen Ukrainians". The ICRC reported discussions on opening an office in Rostov but stressed that this was part of a regional effort to respond to a massive humanitarian crisis.
Mr. Watson insisted that his neutral organization sought to fulfill its mission of supporting and helping victims of conflict wherever they are.
2:41 PM on 03/29/2022The conditions for a first meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, are now "sufficient" after a new session of Russian-Ukrainian talks Tuesday in Turkey, said the chief Ukrainian negotiator.
"The results of today's meeting (in Istanbul) are sufficient for a meeting at the level of heads of state", declared David Arakhamia. Since the beginning of the conflict, Moscow has always refused such a proposal from kyiv.
2:25 PM on 03/29/2022According to a Russian negotiator, the talks which started in Istanbul were "meaningful".
"The negotiations on an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine entering a practical dimension (...), it was decided, to increase confidence, to drastically reduce military activity in the direction of Kiev and Cherniguiv," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said in Istanbul.
For its part, Ukraine is calling for an "international agreement" to guarantee its security, to which several guarantor countries would be signatories. NATO and even more firmly".
14:08 on 03/29/2022Russia announces "radical" reduction of its military activity in the regions of kyiv and Cherniguiv in Ukraine.
13:19 on 03/29/2022During a speech to the Danish parliament by videoconference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "what Russian troops are doing in Mariupol is a crime against humanity, which takes place live before the eyes of the planet".
The Ukrainian president has claimed that Russian troops are intentionally bombing civilian shelters there.
Read also: Mariupol, hell on earth: "It is so reminiscent of the practices in Chechnya"
12:53 on 03/29/2022According to the latest UN count, 3.9 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. Among them, 2.3 million crossed the Polish border, 600,000 that of Romania, 385,000 that of Moldova and just under 260,000 that of Hungary.
12:30 PM on 03/29/2022A spokesperson for the Russian presidency has denied any attempt to poison Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and two Ukrainian negotiators, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday .
"This is part of the information war" against Russia, assured the spokesperson, adding that "this information does not of course correspond to reality".
On the other hand, it has been confirmed that Roman Abramovich is taking part, as a mediator, in the talks which have started in Istanbul.
12:04 on 03/29/202211:54 on 03/29/2022France is preparing for possible targeted gas cuts at major consumers to deal with a possible interruption in Russian supply next winter, the government and the distribution network operator said on Tuesday.
"We are awaiting the release of a load shedding decree, which the government must release in the coming days," said Laurence Poirier-Dietz, general manager of GRDF, the gas distribution network, at a press conference. If individuals are not affected by these possible measures, the GRDF manager recalled that they could also easily save energy. "The draft decree aims to specify the organization of natural gas consumption load shedding, that is to say the temporary and planned suppression of the supply of natural gas to certain consumers”, confirmed to AFP the Ministry of Ecological Transition. It is "a device of last resort", underlines the ministry.
Read also: The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a real global shock wave, at the center of the Doha Forum
11:39 on 03/29/2022Polish and Czech defense ministers will not take part in a meeting in Budapest of the Visegrad group, known as V4, on Wednesday due to Hungary's links with the Kremlin, announced officials.
Polish Minister Mariusz Blaszczak "will not go" to Budapest, his press service told AFP without further details. Her Czech counterpart, Jana Cernochova, said last week that she would not be going there either. "They have an election next week and it's not fair for me to campaign," she explained. General elections are taking place on 3rd April in Hungary.
“I have always supported V4 and I am very sorry that Hungarian politicians now find cheap Russian oil more important than Ukrainian blood,” the minister said. Commenting on Mr. Blaszczak's decision to snub the meeting, the leader of the parliamentary group of the New Left (opposition) party, Krzysztof Gawkowski, welcomed it. "It's very good that he is not going. The Hungarians must be punished for their position which is pro-Russian," he said.
10:47 AM on 03/29/2022Equity markets were buoyed by the prospect of further talks on Ukraine and a slight pullback in oil prices as volatility continued in the bond market.
In Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange rebounded 1.1% on Tuesday, driven by a yen that fell the day before to its lowest level since 2015 against the dollar and by the decline in US crude oil futures.
The Shanghai market fell 0.3% as the metropolis of 25 million people reported a new spike in Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, despite the capital's partial lockdown. Hong Kong gained 1%.
European indices hoped for progress towards a peace agreement between kyiv and Moscow: Paris rose by 1.46%, Frankfurt and Milan by 1.56% and London by 0.76%. Around 10:15 a.m., the Bel 20 index of the Brussels Stock Exchange gained 1.23%.
"Markets are always keen to gauge the prospect of a peace deal, if you can call it that, with what could be hints of concessions from both sides," says Jeffrey Halley , analyst at Oanda.
10:38 AM on 03/29/2022The international biathlon federation has decided to suspend the Russian and Belarusian federations with immediate effect, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the IBU has announced .
“Both federations have violated the humanitarian obligations of IBU members,” the federation writes on its website. These violations bring discredit to the IBU and to biathlon.
Furthermore, given that the invasion of Ukraine put an end to the activities of the Ukrainian Federation, it would be unfair if the federations of the invading countries could continue to enjoy their full rights as members of the IBU while that their countries have interrupted the practice of sport in Ukraine".
10:10 on 03/29/2022Russia has announced that it will grant a reprieve from military service to young people working in the high-tech sector, to deal with a brain drain caused by the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Companies in the high-tech sector have until May 1, 2022 to draw up a list of their employees under the age of 27 for whom they want to obtain such an exemption, according to a press release from the Russian government.
Students in around sixty university specialties are also concerned, these subjects covering fields as varied as mathematics, cartography, robotics, aeronautics, shipyards and nanotechnology.
"It is important not to slow down the pace of development of the high-tech sector in our country despite the sanctions," Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustin said in the statement.
10:02 on 03/29/2022At least two people died in a Russian strike that partially destroyed the regional administration building in Mykolaiv, a Ukrainian city near Odessa which has been experiencing a respite from recent bombardments days.
AFP journalists saw two corpses being pulled from the rubble of the building, the central section of which partially collapsed after the strike. Regional Governor Vitaly Kim said on Facebook that rescuers were looking for "eight civilians and three soldiers" under the rubble. He said most of those inside at the time of the strike were unharmed.
09:57 on 03/29/2022Ukraine has announced a resumption of evacuations of civilians via three humanitarian corridors, including from the besieged city of Mariupol, after a day of suspension for fear of Russian "provocations".
"Three humanitarian corridors have been validated for today," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video posted on Telegram.
09:49 on 03/29/2022Talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul began shortly after 10:30 a.m. (9:30 a.m. in Belgium), Turkey's official Anadolu agency reported.
The negotiators were welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called on them to "put an end to this tragedy" represented by Russia's invasion of Ukraine since February 24.
Read also: War in Ukraine: "Diplomacy is the only way out"
09:28 on 03/29/2022The United States, after having already sanctioned the defense industry of Russia, plans to target other sectors participating in the war effort led by the Kremlin in Ukraine , said an official from the US Department of the Economy. "We plan to target sectors that are critical to the Kremlin's ability to operate its war machine," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, according to the text of a speech he was to deliver to the think-tank. Chatam House tank in London. The idea is to "undermine Russia's ability to build and maintain (its) tools of war," the official explained.
"In addition to sanctioning companies in sectors that enable malicious Kremlin activity, we also plan to take action to disrupt their supply chains," he said.
09:24 on 03/29/2022Both Russia and Ukraine have "legitimate concerns", Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday as he welcomed delegations of negotiators from the two countries to Istanbul, calling on them to "put an end to this tragedy".
The talks between the two delegations should begin after this reception, in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul where the Turkish Presidency has offices.
07:48 on 03/29/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation was tense in his country despite some military victories in the conflict with Russia. Ukrainian defenders chased Russian units from the town of Irpin, near Kiev, Zelensky said in a video speech posted on Telegram early Tuesday night.
However, fighting continues in this region and in other parts of the country, added the Ukrainian president. Russian troops control the northern Kyiv region and have resources and forces, he explained. The situation also remains "very difficult" in the regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donbass and southern Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky has again called for tougher sanctions against Russia. Regarding a possible embargo on Russian oil supplies being discussed in Europe, he said that there is now a lot of evidence that such a tightening of sanctions against Russia will only take place if Moscow uses chemical weapons. .
06:46 on 03/29/2022Russia does not plan to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed in an interview with the broadcaster American audience PBS on Monday.
"We have no doubts that all the objectives of our special military operation in Ukraine will be achieved. We have no doubts about that," Peskov said. "But any result of the operation, of course, is not a reason to use a nuclear weapon," he added. "We have a concept of security which states very clearly that only when there is a threat to the existence of the state in our country can we and will use nuclear weapons to eliminate the threat,” he explained.
"Let's keep those two things separate, I mean, the existence of the state and [the] special military operation in Ukraine. They have nothing to do with each other," added Dmitry Peskov.
Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries, the spokesperson said. "If it's not a mutual act, if they don't force us to do it, then we can't and don't want to think about it."
06:02 on 03/29/2022Russian negotiators arrived in Istanbul on Monday, where a previous negotiating session had already taken place on March 10, at the level of foreign ministers, but had not led to any advanced. The discussions then continued by videoconference.
One of the important points of the negotiations concerns "security guarantees and neutrality, the nuclear-free status of our state", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Russian media on Sunday. This point "is being studied in depth" but it will necessitate a referendum and security guarantees, he warned, accusing his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and his entourage of "draging things out". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, tempered expectations on Monday, stressing the lack of "significant progress" in the negotiations so far.
05:00 on 03/29/2022On Saturday, the Ukrainian Parliament had indicated that this nuclear research center had been the target of Russian fire. And on Monday, kyiv reported that the building, its thermal insulation and the research hall had been damaged. The neutron source, which contains nuclear material used to generate neutrons for research and isotope production, remained intact.
The building had already been damaged by a Russian bombardment three weeks ago. It was then temporarily cut off from the power supply.
The facility, where only a small amount of radioactive material is stored, is used for "research and development and production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial applications", according to the communication from the IAEA.
10:00 PM on 03/28/2022Joe Biden claimed on Monday that he was not retracting his controversial remarks suggesting he wanted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin out of power, as they expressed personal "outrage" not a "politics" for regime change.
"I'm not withdrawing them" and "I'm not apologizing", the American president told the press. "I was just expressing my outrage that he shouldn't stay in power, the same way the bad guys shouldn't keep doing bad things", "but that doesn't mean we have a fundamental policy change", he added.
He spoke of his "moral outrage over the way Putin is acting". "This man's actions are just brutality," he insisted, but "nobody believes" that "I was talking about overthrowing Putin".
President Biden stirred up trouble by saying in Warsaw on Saturday, about Vladimir Putin: "For the love of God, this man cannot stay in power!" This little phrase, which did not appear in the written text of the speech, forced the White House to immediately try to minimize its scope to ensure that it was not a question of suggesting an overthrow of the master of the Kremlin.
Several experts and leaders of countries allied with the United States considered that this declaration went against the efforts of the West not to justify a Russian escalation in the war led by Moscow in Ukraine. Joe Biden replied that he did not think "at all" that his remarks could cause such an escalation. Asked what the Russian president might think, he replied: "I don't care what he thinks". "He's going to do what he thinks he has to do, period. He's not influenced by anyone." However, the American president has not ruled out a future summit with his Russian counterpart. “It depends on what he wants to talk about!” he said.
21:50 on 03/28/2022- Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and some Ukrainian peace negotiators were likely poisoned earlier this month. They showed symptoms of poisoning after the March 3 peace talks.
- At least 5,000 people have been killed in Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine, since the start of the Russian invasion, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, in charge of the corridors, announced Monday to AFP humanitarians.
- UN to seek 'humanitarian ceasefire' between Russia and Ukraine
- The new round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia will only start tomorrow in Istanbul. A direct meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Putin is not yet relevant.
- Ukraine has regained full control of Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv.
- The Kremlin considers US President Joe Biden's statements that Putin is a "butcher who cannot stay in power" to be "worrying". Mr Biden went on to stress that his administration was not seeking to bring about regime change in Russia, which Putin fears.
- The war has cost Ukraine about 514 billion euros so far. This was announced by the Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko.
- The European Union will set up an information exchange platform compiling the registration by the national authorities of refugees from the war in Ukraine.
- Ukraine has "evidence" of the use by Russian forces of cluster munitions, weapons banned by international conventions, in two southern regions of its territory, assured the general prosecutor on Monday Ukrainian Iryna Venediktova.
- Moscow plans to restrict access to its territory to nationals of "unfriendly" countries
21:00 on 03/28/2022The European Union will set up an information exchange platform compiling the registration by the national authorities of refugees from the war in Ukraine. The measure is included in a ten-point plan that European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson presented Monday in Brussels, at an extraordinary meeting of interior ministers, to manage the influx of Ukrainian war refugees.
These same ministers had activated at the beginning of March, and for the first time, a 2001 directive offering these refugees quasi-automatic temporary protection, lasting up to three years, which allows them access housing, the labor market, the school system, the social and health system. But more than three weeks later, the Member States still did not have the capacity to exchange information on these people who sometimes cross several Member States to join family or friends settled in the Union. The European agency eu-LISA will immediately implement this platform.
A country index
The Commission is also preparing an "index" of countries, classified according to the number of Ukrainian refugees received, the number of asylum seekers of all nationalities combined last year, in relation to the size of the country. The aim is to determine which countries are most subject to the influx and need more support. At the top of the list comes Poland, ahead of Austria and the Czech Republic. The idea of quotas for the distribution of refugees between EU countries is not on the agenda. Poland, which vehemently opposed it following the Syrian refugee crisis (2015), is not asking. The fact remains that refugees should also be encouraged to go to other countries, "otherwise the situation will become untenable", according to the European commissioner.
19:30 on 03/28/2022Ukraine has "evidence" of the use by Russian forces of cluster munitions, weapons banned by international conventions, in two southern regions of its territory, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on Monday.
Questioned during a press conference on the possible use of such weapons to bombard Kiev, Ms. Venediktova replied that she had "no concrete evidence" of their use in the capital and that "investigations" were in progress. "But (...) we have evidence of the use of cluster bombs in the Odessa region (large Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, editor's note) and in the Kherson region", a city whose s seized the Russian army, she immediately added. "We see, especially thanks to your work, to you journalists, that other prohibited weapons are being used, but, as far as I am concerned, I can only mention the cases in which I have evidence on a very concrete basis. , when I have for example (...) fragments (of these machines) or an analysis of the ground", she continued, without providing other details. International NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have claimed to have gathered evidence of the use of cluster munitions in areas hosting civilians in Ukraine. These weapons can contain several dozen mini-bombs that scatter over a wide area, but not all of them explode, turning into anti-personnel mines that, at the slightest contact, can kill and maim even long after the conflict.
07:15 PM on 03/28/2022Russian shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has caused extensive damage, the city's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on Monday. About 1,180 multi-storey residential buildings, more than fifty kindergartens, about seventy schools and fifteen hospitals were destroyed, he told Ukrainian news agency Unian.
The country's second-largest city, which had a population of about 1.5 million before the war, has been shelled nearly 60 times by artillery and mortars in the past 24 hours. The inhabitants of the destroyed houses are housed in the remaining schools, basements and metro stations. Despite the shelling, supermarkets in Kharkiv remain open and all necessary food is available, the mayor said. The city receives humanitarian aid from other cities and a shipment of medicine worth 880,000 dollars (more than 800,000 euros) has arrived from the United States. "Kharkiv is a Russian-speaking city," said Terekhov, quoted by the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper. He says many residents have friends and relatives in Russia. "People could never have imagined in their worst nightmares that Russia would attack Ukraine and Kharkiv."
19:00 on 28/03/2022London warned on Monday against negotiations with Russia amounting to "selling out" Ukraine, saying that any agreement ending the Russian invasion should include a return mechanism sanctions against Moscow in the event of further "aggression".
“We know that Putin does not want to negotiate seriously,” the head of diplomacy Liz Truss told the deputies, accusing the Russian president of “bombing innocent people” despite the holding of talks and believing that it was necessary “ do more" to stop him. She called for concern for the "long term": "We must ensure that future talks do not result in selling off Ukraine and repeating the mistakes of the past", she underlined, judging that the previous agreements had failed to provide Ukraine with "lasting security".
The minister insisted on the need to "restore the territorial integrity" of Ukraine and to "hold the Putin regime accountable before the International Court of Justice". She said the sanctions imposed in recent weeks should not be lifted as long as "Putin continues this war and he has troops in Ukraine".
"We must ensure that Putin can never act so aggressively again," added Liz Truss. "Any long-term settlement must include a clear sanction mechanism that would be triggered automatically in the event of Russian aggression." London was the first country in Europe to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, even before the Russian invasion, and has been punishing Russia harshly for a month. The British government announced Monday to appoint a former judge of the International Criminal Court, Howard Morrison, to advise Ukraine with a view in particular to establishing possible war crimes committed by Russia.
18:20 on 03/28/2022The UN will seek to establish a "humanitarian ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine and intends to dispatch its deputy secretary general in charge of of humanitarianism, announced Monday the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres.
In a press statement at UN headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres said he had "asked Martin Griffiths (Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Editor's note) to immediately investigate with the parties involved the possibility of agreements and arrangements for a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine".
Questioned by journalists on the practicalities of the task entrusted to Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Guterres specified that his deputy would return from Kabul where he is presently and said "hope that he can go to the times in Moscow and Kyiv as soon as possible".
"This must stop"
The UN Secretary General denounced the fact that "since the beginning of the Russian invasion a month ago, the war had led to the senseless loss of thousands of lives, the displacement of ten million people , mostly women and children, and the systematic destruction of critical infrastructure" in Ukraine.
"This must stop", insisted the diplomat. Last Thursday, the UN General Assembly adopted by an overwhelming majority of 140 votes a new "historic" but non-binding resolution which "demands" from Russia the "immediate" end of its "aggression" against the Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities were worried Monday about a worsening of the situation in the besieged port of Mariupol, where at least 5,000 people have already died, on the eve of new talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul.
18:19 on 03/28/2022Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is trying to mediate between Moscow and Kiev to end the war in Ukraine, as well as two Ukrainian negotiators have suffered from symptoms reminiscent of possible "poisoning," the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
After a meeting in the Ukrainian capital in March, the billionaire owner of English football club Chelsea and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian negotiating team "developed symptoms", writes the American newspaper, citing "people aware of this situation". Reddened and watery eyes, peeling face and hands: these symptoms then improved "and their lives are not in danger", he adds.
The daily's sources spoke of possible poisoning, and suspected hard-liners in Moscow who they say want to sabotage talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. A relative of Roman Abramovich, however, said for his part that he was not certain of the identity of those who would have targeted the group, specifies the Wall Street Journal, also affirming that Western experts could not determine the cause of the symptoms. The newspaper confirms in any case that the Russian oligarch, considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and already targeted by sanctions from the European Union and the United Kingdom in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, began to shuttle between Moscow and Ukraine as part of a mediation to end the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that several Russian businessmen, including Roman Abramovich, had offered to help Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal revealed last week that the Ukrainian president had asked his American counterpart Joe Biden not to sanction Roman Abramovich, arguing that he could play a role in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. And in fact, the billionaire does not appear at this stage on the list of oligarchs sanctioned by Washington, yet extended several times and again last Thursday.
6:00 PM on 03/28/2022At least 5,000 people have been killed in Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine, since the start of the Russian invasion, an adviser told AFP on Monday. of the Ukrainian Presidency, responsible for humanitarian corridors.
“About 5,000 people have been buried, but people have not been buried for ten days because of the continuous bombardments,” said Tetiana Lomakina, estimating that “given the number of people still under the rubble (.. .), there could be around 10,000 dead.”
The port city of Mariupol has been besieged by the Russian army since the end of February, forcing thousands of its inhabitants to live in very complicated conditions, without electricity or drinking water.
Of a peacetime population of 450,000, about 160,000 are still stuck there, according to its mayor, Vadim Boitchenko. "All entrances and exits from the city are blocked (...), it is impossible to bring food and medicine into Mariupol," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented on Sunday evening. "Russian forces are bombing humanitarian aid convoys and killing the drivers," he added, indicating that the streets were littered with "corpses" that it was impossible to bury.
Nearly two weeks after the bombing of its theater, the fate of the hundreds of civilians who had taken refuge there is still unknown: the municipality, citing witnesses, said it feared "about 300 dead". But a municipal elected official who fled Mariupol on the day of the bombardment told AFP that any counting of the victims was impossible, given the faulty communications and the absence of local authorities.
17:57 on 2022-03-28The impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was the focus of the 20th Doha Forum, which was held over the weekend. The statements were numerous. With one constant: the war in Ukraine does not only concern Europe.
Read the report of our special correspondent in Doha HERE
17:30 on 03/28/2022European Commissioner Ylva Johansson said on Monday that refugees from Ukraine currently in Poland should be "encouraged" to go to EU countries that are less under pressure, on the occasion of an extraordinary meeting of the Ministers of the Interior of the 27 in Brussels.
Of the 3.8 million people who fled the Russian offensive in Ukraine, nearly 2.3 million arrived in Poland, according to the UNHCR. The number of arrivals in the EU has slowed, now standing at around 50,000 a day, compared to 200,000 at the peak of the influx, according to the European Commission. Quotas for the distribution of refugees - as decided during the 2015-2016 crisis - are not on the agenda and discussions between Member States to relieve the countries bordering Ukraine are on a voluntary basis. , via a solidarity platform, on which they present their reception capacities.
The countries currently most under pressure in terms of receiving refugees are Poland, followed by Austria and the Czech Republic, according to the Commission, which has established an "index" according to the number of Ukrainian refugees received, the number of asylum seekers of all nationalities combined last year, in relation to the size of the country.
17:25 on 03/28/2022The materialization of the evacuation mission thought up by France, Turkey and Greece, for the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol has still not been definitively stopped. After the announcement of the humanitarian operation on Friday evening, the necessary coordination with Russian President Vladimir Putin is still pending, France reported on Monday.
The Kremlin, like the Elysée, says there is no date yet for a phone call between the two presidents. France demands that Russia loosen its vice to let those who wish to leave. French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the action with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday. Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko estimates around 160,000 people still live in the besieged and largely destroyed city. Before the war, around 440,000 people lived in this industrial and port city of strategic importance on the Sea of Azov but which now has no water, electricity, heating or means of communication. Moscow recently stressed that the conquest of Mariupol was imminent. Parts of the city are already taken, says Russian state television. If the city is conquered and the fighting ceases, the planned evacuation mission would likely become obsolete.
16:30 on 03/28/2022The Ukrainian government estimated Monday at more than 500 billion euros the economic losses caused by the war with Russia, announced on Monday on Facebook the Minister of Economy, Yulia Sviridenko. The continuation HERE
15:54 on 03/28/2022The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov announced that a decree was in preparation to limit access to Russian territory to nationals of countries that have committed "unfriendly" acts, in full wave of sanctions against Moscow since its offensive in Ukraine.
“A draft presidential decree is being prepared to introduce retaliatory measures, regarding visas, in connection with the unfriendly actions of several foreign governments,” said Sergei Lavrov, adding that this draft provides for “a whole series of restrictions" to enter Russia, but without specifying which countries would be sanctioned in particular.
03:01 PM on 03/28/2022Danish brewer Carlsberg has announced its withdrawal from Russia and the sale of its large business in the country, which has 8,400 employees.
"We have made the difficult and immediate decision to aim for a complete sale of our Russian business, which we believe is the right thing to do in the current environment. Once finalized, we will no longer have a presence in Russia “, explains the group in a press release, a few hours after a similar decision by its competitor Heineken.
2:56 PM on 03/28/2022G7 nations on Monday said demanding ruble payment for Russian gas is "not acceptable" and shows Russian President Vladimir Putin has his "back to the wall" , said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck. “All G7 ministers agreed that this was a unilateral and clear breach of existing contracts,” Habeck said, following a virtual meeting with his counterparts. of the G7. "I think this request should be interpreted as Putin's back to the wall," he added.
Vladimir Putin announced last week that Russia would no longer accept payments in dollars or euros for gas deliveries to the EU, giving Russian authorities a week to work out a new ruble settlement system.
2:29 PM on 03/28/2022Russia announced on Monday the expulsion of three Slovak diplomats, in reaction to a similar decision taken in March by Slovakia with regard to three Russian diplomats.
Moscow "has decided to declare personae non gratae three diplomats from the Slovak Embassy. They must leave the territory of the Russian Federation within 72 hours," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
14:19 on 03/28/2022The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced that it will suspend its online and print publications until the end of the military operation in Ukraine, at a time when the Russian authorities are stepping up their pressures against critical voices.
In a statement posted on its website, the newspaper, whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, said it had taken this step after receiving a second warning from the Russian telecoms policeman for breach of a controversial "foreign agents" law.
Also read: Ukrainian president speaks to Russian media in hopes of curbing censorship
2:07 p.m. on 03/28/2022It is 2 p.m., here is the update on the situation in Ukraine at midday.
Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: update on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
- "Catastrophic" situation in Mariupol -
In Mariupol (south-east) besieged and bombarded for weeks, "the population is fighting to survive. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic", affirmed on the night of Sunday to Monday the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its account Twitter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denounced a total blockade of this city where more than 2,000 civilians have been killed, according to a recent report communicated by the town hall.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he would speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday or Tuesday to organize an evacuation operation from the city. According to the Ukrainian president, some 100,000 people are still stranded in this strategic port on the Sea of Azov.
- Fierce fighting in the East -
In eastern Ukraine, fierce fighting took place again on Sunday evening near Izium, according to an adviser to the presidency. In Oskil, a nearby village, seven people were killed and five injured in Russian artillery fire, according to the regional prosecutor's office.
In the Lugansk region, one person died and another injured in Russian bombardments, said the head of the regional administration Sergei Gaïdaï.
- No humanitarian corridor on Monday -
"Our intelligence has reported possible provocations by the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors. Therefore, for security reasons for civilians, no humanitarian corridors will be open today", wrote the Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Telegram.
- Ukraine's "neutrality" under consideration -
One of the central clauses of the negotiations with Russia concerns "security guarantees and neutrality, the denuclearized status of our state", a requirement of Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Russian media .
“We are ready to accept it,” he continued. "This point of the negotiations (...) is under discussion, it is studied in depth", he assured.
- New round of negotiations -
Russia and Ukraine have so far failed to make "significant progress" in their talks aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected in Istanbul (Turkey) on Monday for a new session of face-to-face discussions, which should begin on Tuesday.
- Biden's "alarming" comments -
The Kremlin denounced the "alarming" comments of US President Joe Biden who on Saturday called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "butcher", judging that he could "not stay in power" after his invasion of Ukraine.
"This statement is undoubtedly alarming," the Kremlin spokesman told reporters, stressing that Moscow would continue to follow "very attentively" the words of the American president.
- Fires in Chernobyl -
New fires have broken out in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian authorities who have called for the "demilitarization" of the sector under the aegis of the UN.
- Heineken withdraws from Russia -
Dutch brewer Heineken announced on Monday that it would leave Russia, where it has 1,800 employees, because the war in Ukraine continues to "develop and escalate".
- Assistance plan in Spain -
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday a direct aid plan of six billion euros for households and businesses, including fuel subsidies, to compensate for the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.
- Nearly 3.9 million refugees -
Slightly more than 40,000 refugees have fled Ukraine in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people trying to escape the fighting sparked by the Russian army on February 24 to nearly 3.9 million, according to the UN tally released on Monday.
13:26 on 03/28/2022Slightly more than 40,000 refugees have fled Ukraine in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people trying to escape the fighting sparked by the Russian army on February 24, to nearly 3.9 million, according to the UN count released on Monday.
Since March 22, the flow of refugees has slowed markedly, although the figure is approaching the number of four million that the UNHCR projected at the start of the conflict. In total, more than ten million people, more than a quarter of the population, had to leave their homes either by crossing the border to find refuge in neighboring countries or by finding refuge elsewhere in Ukraine.
Poland alone hosts more than half of all refugees who have fled since the start of the Russian invasion – around six out of ten refugees.
12:48 on 03/28/2022The head of Russian diplomacy Sergey Lavrov judged that a meeting between Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky would be "counter-productive" for the time being and conditioned it to the adoption of Moscow's demands in the negotiations.
The Russian diplomat reaffirmed the demands made by the Kremlin at the start of the offensive against Kiev on February 24: the protection of the populations of Donbass, as well as the "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine.
11:28 AM on 03/28/2022Kremlin calls Biden's comments on Putin 'alarming'. As a reminder, President Biden said on Saturday, to everyone's surprise, that Vladimir Putin "cannot stay in power" after his invasion of Ukraine.
"This statement is undoubtedly alarming," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, stressing that Moscow would continue to follow the US president's remarks "very carefully."
Also read: Putin 'can't stay in power': Did Biden make a huge mistake?
11:25 AM on 03/28/2022Russia and Ukraine have not made "significant progress" so far in their negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine, the spokesman said word of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov.
“For the moment, we cannot see any significant progress or progress,” Peskov told the press, as the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected in Istanbul for a new session of talks. .
> Read also: New talks between Kyiv and Moscow: Zelensky says to “study” Russian request for “neutrality” of the country
According to Mr. Peskov, "it is very unlikely" that negotiations will resume face-to-face on Monday evening. "The delegations are just arriving today," he said, with the start of the new round of negotiations expected tomorrow.
11:23 on 28/03/2022Kiev has announced that it will abandon any corridor for the evacuation of civilians for fear of Russian "provocations", before a new session of face-to-face talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey.
"Our intelligence has reported possible provocations by the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors. Therefore, for security reasons for civilians, no humanitarian corridors will be open today", wrote the Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Telegram.
11:19 on 03/28/2022Russian troops want to break through the defense lines around kyiv and continue their advance towards the capital, Ukrainian sources said this morning. The Russian Ministry of Defense has meanwhile published images of armored vehicles which would have left the village of Salissja, about forty kilometers from kyiv, to take the E95 highway.
Information from both parties cannot be independently verified. The Ukrainian general staff also reported on Monday morning that the fighting was continuing in other parts of the country, notably in the regions of Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia, in the south.
09:55 AM on 03/28/2022"Heineken's ownership of the business in Russia is no longer sustainable or viable in the current environment. As a result, we have decided to leave Russia," said Dutch brewer Heineken in a statement.
Heineken had previously announced that it was suspending the production and sale of its flagship beer in Russia. But the group also produced many local beers there. He is now thinking about the future of these activities which he wishes to resell.
07:37 on 03/28/2022Less than one respondent in ten* claims to "not be afraid" of the conflict ravaging the neighboring country of Poland. In other words, 90% of Belgians are "at least a little stressed", writes Le Soir. In detail, a large majority of the population say they are "quite scared" or "very scared". Women and the elderly are statistically more worried than the rest of the population.
The main sources of concern for respondents related to the war in Ukraine are the possibility of tipping into a third world war or an extension of the conflict to the whole European continent, followed by the fear of a nuclear attack.
More than 70% of respondents think that the Belgian army would not be enough to defend the kingdom. This is one of the only questions where community differences appear: breaking down the results by Region, we see that 76% of Flemings do not believe in the Belgian army, compared to 62% of Walloons and 58% of Brussels residents. .
* An Ispos survey conducted as part of the Grand Barometer Le Soir-RTL-Ipsos-Het Laatste Nieuws-VTM, and quoted in Le Soir.
06:24 on 03/28/2022“Significant fires have started in the exclusion zone, which can have very serious consequences,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on her Telegram account on Sunday evening. "However, it is now impossible to control and extinguish the fires in full due to the capture of the exclusion zone by the occupying Russian forces," she added. "Therefore, we demand that the UN Security Council take immediate steps to demilitarize the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone," the official continued.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday that the security situation at Ukraine's nuclear power plants remained unchanged. She had estimated last week that the forest fires around Chernobyl did not pose a major radiological risk.
06:08 on 03/28/2022In the city of Mariupol, besieged and bombarded for weeks, "the population is fighting to survive. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic", affirmed in the night from Sunday to Monday the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter account. "The Russian armed forces are turning the city into dust," he added, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing for his part a total blockade of this city that the Russian army has been trying to take for weeks. "All entrances and exits from the city are blocked (...) it is impossible to bring food and medicine into Mariupol," he said on Sunday evening. "Russian forces are bombing humanitarian aid convoys and killing the drivers," he added.
More than 2,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol, according to a recent report communicated by the town hall. According to the Ukrainian president, some 100,000 people are still stranded in this strategic port on the Sea of Azov. Several attempts to establish safe routes for civilians have failed, with both sides accusing each other of ceasefire violations. And we still do not know, ten days after the bombing of its theater, the fate of the hundreds of civilians who had taken refuge there: an almost impossible mission, according to an elected municipal official from Mariupol.
More info
05:00 on 03/28/2022During the ceremony, the organizers took advantage of a commercial break to display a message calling for "a minute of silence to show our support for the Ukrainian people, currently under attack ".
On the red carpet, several personalities displayed a small blue ribbon in support of Ukrainian refugees from the conflict, such as actress Jamie Lee Curtis who displayed it like a ring on her finger. Others referred to the Ukraine in their clothing, this was the case of Jason Momoa who had slipped a handkerchief in the colors of the Ukrainian flag into his jacket pocket, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch who had hung this same flag in the form of a pin on his suit.
02:30 on 28/03/2022The British Ministry of Defense claims that Russia has "effectively isolated Ukraine from international maritime trade" due to a "remote blockade" of Ukraine's Black Sea coasts . The ministry also said the Russian navy was less able to conduct operations "close to the Ukrainian coast", however, after Ukrainian forces destroyed a large landing craft in the port of Berdyansk.
20:23 on 03/27/2022 18:11 on 03/27/2022Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet from Monday in Turkey for a new round of face-to-face negotiations, announced Sunday David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiators. "During discussions today by videoconference, it was decided to hold the next face-to-face round in Turkey from March 28 to 30," he said on his Facebook page. A face-to-face Russian-Ukrainian negotiation session had already taken place on March 10 in Turkey, in Antalya, between the foreign ministers, without leading to concrete progress.
16:38 on 03/27/2022More than 10 days after the bombardment of the Mariupol theater, the fate of the hundreds of civilians who had taken refuge there is still unknown: faulty communications and the absence of local authorities make the mission almost impossible, explained to AFP an elected municipal official of this port in south-eastern Ukraine besieged by Russian forces.
The town hall of Mariupol, citing witnesses, said on Friday it feared that around 300 people died in the bombardment of the theater where hundreds of people had taken shelter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told him on March 18 that more than 130 people had been saved, without estimating the number of dead. Ms Sukhomlynova, who was in Mariupol as a volunteer as a first aid worker, stresses, however, that it is "very difficult to count the dead" and recalls that the fate of the 400 civilians who were in an art school bombed on 20 March. According to her, it is certain that the overall death toll in her city, besieged by Russian forces since the end of February, is much higher than the figure of more than 2,000 killed so far given by the town hall. "There is no communication with Mariupol. There is network from time to time in some places, it is difficult to pick up. And any manipulation with a phone is dangerous, it can be considered suspicious by both sides You can't photograph anything," she explains.
16:33 on 03/27/2022Russia may want to establish a Korean-style separation in Ukraine, an official with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday. "After failing to take Kiev and overthrow the Ukrainian government, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is changing operational orientation", focusing on "the south and the east" of the country, estimated on Facebook Kyrylo Boudanov, boss of military intelligence. "There are reasons to believe that he could impose a dividing line between the occupied and unoccupied regions of our country, an attempt to create South and North Koreas in Ukraine," a- he added.
16:07 on 27/03/202215:38 on 27/03/2022If the Ukrainian authorities allow it, Flanders is ready to welcome 60 orphans from this country at war, indicated Sunday, in VTM Nieuws, the Federal State Secretary for Asylum Sammy Mahdi (CD&V), after receiving a positive response from Flemish Minister Wouter Beke (CD&V). More than 27,500 Ukrainian refugees have so far been registered at the Heysel site, where Ukrainian citizens fleeing war can receive EU temporary protection status. Most are staying with family or friends. Only a fifth need to receive a reception supervised by the authorities. Over 90% are women and children, most under the age of 12.
15:00 on 03/27/2022Almost half of Ukrainians aged 18 to 55 say they are ready to participate directly in the fighting against the Russian invasion, according to a survey compiled by European researchers despite the constraints of the war. For men, this share rises to around 70%, while it is around 30% for women, according to this opinion poll, the results of which were published by the Oslo Peace Research Institute (Prio). with the support of local pollster Info Sapiens.
2:30 PM on 03/27/2022The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called on Sunday for a boycott of Auchan stores, after the French group announced that it wanted to maintain its activities in Russia, citing in particular the need to support the government buying from the Russians. “Apparently the job losses in Russia are greater than the deaths in Ukraine,” Dmytro Kouleba wrote on Twitter. "If Auchan ignores the 139 Ukrainian children murdered during this month of Russian invasion, let's ignore Auchan and all its products", he added, calling for a "boycott" of the Auchan, Leroy-Merlin and Decathlon stores, all owned by the Mulliez Family Association.
2:30 PM on 03/27/2022The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called on Sunday for a boycott of Auchan stores, after the French group announced that it wanted to maintain its activities in Russia, citing in particular the need to support the government buying from the Russians. “Apparently the job losses in Russia are greater than the deaths in Ukraine,” Dmytro Kouleba wrote on Twitter. "If Auchan ignores the 139 Ukrainian children murdered during this month of Russian invasion, let's ignore Auchan and all its products", he added, calling for a "boycott" of the Auchan, Leroy-Merlin and Decathlon stores, all owned by the Mulliez Family Association.
2:00 PM on 03/27/2022About 2,500 people according to a Brussels-Ixelles police count and up to more than 4,000 according to an estimate by the organizers demonstrated Sunday afternoon in Brussels for peace in Ukraine .
13:26 on 03/27/2022"More than a month has passed since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, since the start of this cruel and senseless war", the sovereign pontiff told the from the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, evoking "a barbaric and sacrilegious act" against a "martyred Ukraine".
1:04 PM on 03/27/2022US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Washington was not seeking regime change in Russia, adding that this issue was "in the hands of the Russians", to clarify issues. remarks made the day before by US President Joe Biden. “As you have heard us repeat, we have no regime change strategy in Russia, or anywhere else,” he insisted during a visit to Jerusalem.
11:46 AM on 03/27/2022The separatist territory of Lugansk, whose independence Moscow has recognized, could soon hold a referendum to join Russia, the territory's leader, Leonid Passechnik, said on Sunday. "A referendum in which the people will exercise their absolute constitutional right and express their opinion on joining the Russian Federation," he said, quoted by Russian agencies. "I don't know why, I'm sure it will," he added, without giving details of a possible date. The pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence Moscow has recognized, are located in the Russian-speaking Donbass mining basin (eastern Ukraine) and have escaped Kiev's control since 2014.
11:24 AM on 03/27/2022Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2.3 million people have fled to Poland, Polish border guards said on Twitter on Sunday. On Saturday, around 31,100 people were registered at the border. However, it is not known how many refugees remained in Poland and how many went to other European Union countries. Some 339,000 people have also crossed the Polish border into Ukraine since the start of the war. These are usually Ukrainians who want to join the army to fight against the Russians or who want to help the population. According to the United Nations, a total of 3.7 million people have fled the country since the Russian invasion.
10:30 am on 03/27/2022The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has formally denied facilitating any forced evacuations of Ukrainian civilians to Russia. The Committee appears to be responding to accusations by Roman Rukomeda, a Ukrainian political analyst who denounces "the strange behavior of the Committee of the Red Cross and its chairman, who announced the decision to open an office in Rostov to help Russian terrorists illegally deport Ukrainian citizens".
For the ICRC, this false information "could have a major impact on people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. This false information also endangers Red Cross teams and volunteers in the field and could threaten our access people who need urgent help". The ICRC points out that it was involved in two "evacuations of people in Ukraine, which took place in Sumy on March 15 and 18 when we facilitated the voluntary exit of civilians from the city". "In both cases, people voluntarily took buses which took them to another town in Ukraine Lubny," the ICRC statement said.
10:00 am on 03/27/2022The German government, convinced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine to invest heavily in defense, is considering the acquisition of an Israeli missile protection system, claims Sunday the daily Bild. The decision has not yet been taken formally but the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the main formation of the ruling coalition, is in favor, specifies the most widely read daily in Germany. According to Bild, the system, inspired by the Israeli "Iron Dome", would cost around 2 billion euros and could be operational as early as 2025 from three sites in Germany. The shield would even be powerful enough to also cover Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries.
09:15 on 03/27/2022Two evacuation routes were set up on Sunday in Ukraine for people who want to flee areas where heavy fighting is taking place. The corridors are in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. That of Donetsk is reserved for the inhabitants of Mariupol. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said residents of Mariupol can also leave the city with their own cars. Previously, they were only evacuated by bus.
08:32 on 03/27/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called in his latest video for the supply of more weapons. "We need more armament. We must not only protect Ukraine but also the other countries of Eastern Europe, under the threat of a Russian invasion. We have made this clear during our talks with our American counterparts in Poland," he said. "What is NATO doing? Is it led by Russia? What are they waiting for?" he criticized.
08:22 on 03/27/2022Since the start of the war in Ukraine a month ago, twelve journalists have already been killed. Ten other reporters were injured, some seriously, according to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova. According to her, the reporters were killed by Russian soldiers. This information has not yet been able to be verified by independent sources. In total, again according to Ms. Venediktova, at least 56 representatives of media companies were attacked, including 15 foreigners.
08:07 on 03/27/2022A wolf, a goat, owls, and of course dogs and cats: at the "House for rescued animals", in Lviv, we now welcome animals in all genres. All were abandoned by their masters who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion. More than two million Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Poland, where AFP has seen many refugees take with them dogs, cats, parrots and turtles to bring them to safety. But arrived in Lviv, the last stop before the Polish border 70 kilometers away, some feel unable to take their animals further. According to Orest Zalypskiï, his site has collected 1,500 animals since the start of the conflict, from migrants but also from shelters located in "hot spots" in the east of the country. “The animals are very stressed”. About 200 of them were adopted by residents of Lviv, while most of the others were taken by volunteers to Germany, Latvia or Lithuania. There are currently no cats to adopt, they are all about to go to Poland.
08:02 on 03/27/2022Russia has denied claims by a US general that Mexico is a nest of Moscow spies where "most of the GRU (the Russian military intelligence, Editor's note)". She considers these remarks “unacceptable”. “Once again, we can observe the propaganda of the United States, one of the main objectives of which is to isolate Russia and Russian diplomats in the world through false information”, continues the embassy. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had already replied on Friday that "Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country, we are not a colony of Russia, nor China, nor the United States".
07:58 on 03/27/2022British sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine could be lifted if Moscow agrees to a full ceasefire and withdraws its troops, said British Foreign Minister Liz Truss told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper on Saturday, stating that these sanctions could be reimposed in the event of a new attack.
Along with other Western countries, the UK has imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 Russian and Belarusian individuals and companies in recent weeks, the last salvo dating from two days ago.
22:55 on 03/26/2022 21:34 on 03/26/2022This large city in western Ukraine, relatively spared from the fighting so far, suffered a series of Russian strikes on Saturday after- midday, two of which hit a fuel depot and injured five, according to local authorities. "Five people from the first site needed medical attention," he added, adding that there was no death to be deplored and that a fire was being extinguished on the second site. "With today's strikes, the attackers want to say hello to President Biden who is currently in Poland," said Lviv Mayor Andriï Sadovy.
21:28 on 03/26/2022"The United States has assured us that it has no objection to the transfer of the planes", wrote Dmytro Kouleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, who met in the morning with US President Joe Biden, on a visit to Poland. "The ball is now in Poland's court," he added.
21:22 on 03/26/2022US President Joe Biden, who said during a speech in Warsaw on Saturday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin should "not stay in power", did not call for a "regime change" in Russia, a White House official later clarified. "What the president meant was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not talking about Putin's power in Russia, or about regime change," the manager said.
08:00 PM on 03/26/2022President Joe Biden reaffirmed on Saturday that the United States did not wish to come into conflict with the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine, but he issued a strong warning to Moscow "Don't even think about advancing one centimeter into NATO territory". "This war is already a strategic failure for Russia", added Mr. Biden during a speech at the royal castle Warsaw, with a particularly harsh tone towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.
19:20 on 03/26/2022Canada and the European Union (EU) have announced the launch of an international fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees, which will culminate on April 9 with a "donors' conference " organized jointly by Brussels and Ottawa. "The 'Act for Ukraine' campaign seeks to mobilize governments, institutions, artists, businesses and individuals to allocate funds to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and neighboring countries," the Prime Minister's office explained. Canadian Minister Justin Trudeau, in a press release co-signed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The initiative of the European Commission and the Canadian government is organized in partnership with the NGO Global Citizen.
18:40 on 03/26/2022US President Joe Biden said Saturday in Warsaw that the battle "between democracy and autocracy" was going to be a long one and that the United States was "on the side" of the 'Ukraine. "This battle will not be won in days or months. We must arm ourselves for a long fight ahead of us," Biden said during a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, before assuring Ukrainians: "We we are on your side".
17:36 on 26/03/2022The city of Lviv, in western Ukraine and relatively spared from the fighting so far, suffered two Russian strikes on Saturday afternoon, injuring at least five , said the governor of the region, Maxime Kozytsky, on Telegram. The strikes targeted an eastern district of the city, Lytchakivsky, without it being known exactly what type of building or infrastructure had been hit. AFP saw large billows of thick black smoke and flames rising above this neighborhood.
17:23 on 03/26/2022The fighting was concentrated on Saturday in eastern Ukraine, which the Russian army now makes its priority, on the 31st day of its offensive. Russian forces also continue to besiege several major cities, including Kharkiv, Cherniguiv and Mariupol." But they are reluctant to engage in large-scale urban operations and prefer to stick to aerial bombardment and indiscriminate artillery in an attempt to demoralize the opposing defence", notes the British Ministry of Defence. The details can be read here.
16:52 on 03/26/2022The Ukrainian city of Cherniguiv, about 120 km northeast of Kiev, is surrounded by Russian forces and it is impossible to evacuate mass civilians and wounded, has alerted its mayor, Vladislav Atrochenko, on Saturday. According to the mayor, who was speaking in an online briefing at the Media Center of Ukraine, a bridge that went in the direction of Kiev was destroyed by Russian forces, while another pedestrian bridge, under constant fire , threatens to collapse, preventing the establishment of humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. "The city is reduced to ashes," said Atrochenko. The local authorities are nevertheless trying to get the seriously injured out, so that they can be operated on.
16:30 on 03/26/2022Two major German regions, Bavaria and Lower Saxony, have indicated that they want to prosecute anyone using the letter "Z" in public, a symbol of support for the war waged by the Vladimir Putin's Russia vs Ukraine. People who "publicly express their approval of Russian President Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine by using this 'Z' symbol should expect criminal consequences," the Interior Minister of Lower Ukraine said. Saxony, Boris Pistorius, in a statement.
4:11 PM on 03/26/2022US President Joe Biden on Saturday called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "butcher" during a meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw. Asked “what he thought of Vladimir Putin, given what he inflicts on these people”, Mr Biden replied with one sentence: “He is a butcher”, while the meeting was transmitted in live by several TV channels from the National Stadium in Warsaw.
15:50 on 03/26/2022Several trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for Ukraine and which had been stuck for a few days in Brussels for lack of financial resources will once again be able to take the road to this country. This is reported on Saturday by the Renaissance organization of the Nation, which organizes the collection of donations having invested Palace 11 of Heysel. This thanks to the donations received after the numerous reports published in the Belgian media concerning their lack of liquidity. In total, thirteen trucks loaded with donations intended for Ukraine were stuck on the Heysel plateau. The humanitarian organization lacked the resources to pay for the fuel.
03:30 PM on 03/26/2022Russia has devoted substantial resources to convey in the media and on social networks its version of the war, presented as a "special operation" intended to "denazify" Ukraine . "We are entering a third world war, not a conventional conflict, but an information war," said Emine Djaparova, herself a former journalist, at the Doha Forum in Qatar. "Like radiation, you neither feel it nor touch it, but it affects you," she said. According to her, convincing Russians and other countries to support Ukraine has become more complicated due to Russian propaganda, which has improved since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and is relayed by political leaders, Internet users, athletes and artists.
15:05 on 03/26/2022US President Joe Biden reaffirmed on Saturday in Warsaw that Article 5 of the NATO treaty, stipulating that an attack on one member country is an attack on all, constitutes a "sacred duty" for the United States. Mr. Biden gave this assurance during his meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose country fears Moscow's aggressiveness after the outbreak of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Biden also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "intends on a divided NATO", but that this division did not occur.
2:58 PM on 03/26/2022The mayor of Kyiv finally gave up on Saturday to impose a new curfew of 35 hours, which he had announced from Saturday evening, to return to a curfew not applying only from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., as every evening. The now usual curfew, in effect from 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) to 7:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT), will be applied and "we will be able to move freely in Kiev on Sunday during the day", he said, without giving any details. explanation for this reversal.
2:30 PM on 03/26/2022The oligarchs are not a united family, and they have little influence over Putin. So why are the sanctions targeting them? To read here
14:04 on 03/26/2022"The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation does not call and does not plan to call reservist citizens to military commissariats," the carrier said in a statement. speech of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov. “Over the past few days, many Russian men have received fake phone calls in which a recorded voice announces that they have been summoned,” he said. “All these fake calls are made from Ukrainian territory, they are absolutely fake and constitute a provocation of Ukrainian special services,” he added.
13:30 on 03/26/2022How to create a "European defense autonomy" in harmony with NATO? Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has forced a leap forward on the part of the European Union. Who discussed it in Brussels with Joe Biden. Political scientist Frédéric Encel advocates a "Franco-British core". An analysis to read here
13:00 on 03/26/2022The German finance minister said he was open to an adaptation, in the light of the war in Ukraine, of the priorities of the European recovery plan adopted by the European Union to face to the covid-19 crisis. On the contrary, the minister rejects the idea of a new pooling of European funds to deal with the economic repercussions of the war in Ukraine, but also with the defense spending that most countries want to increase.
12:26 PM on 03/26/2022 12:05 PM on 03/26/2022Nearly 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian army invaded on February 24, according to the count of the UN published on Saturday, but the number of arrivals has slowed markedly since the beginning of the week. In total, more than ten million people, more than a quarter of the population, have had to leave their homes .The UN estimates the number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine at almost 6.5 million.
11:57 on 03/26/2022A month ago "everything collapsed" for Boris, a neuroscience researcher in Paris. Like thousands of his peers, he saw his research projects built in cooperation with Russia sink after the break with Moscow. Read here.
11:30 am on 03/26/2022A new curfew will again be introduced in kyiv from Saturday evening to Monday morning, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko, announced on Saturday. "The military command has decided to strengthen the curfew. It will last from 8:00 p.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday, March 28," the mayor said on Telegram. Kyiv residents "can only go out to go to a shelter in the event of a warning siren. Public transport, shops, pharmacies and gas stations will be closed," he said. people with passes will be able to move around the city. Several curfews have already been imposed in the capital since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, the last for 35 hours from March 21 to 23.
11:00 AM on 03/26/2022The Russian military has taken control of the town of Slavutitch, where Chernobyl power plant personnel reside, arresting the mayor and sparking pro-Ukrainian protests, it said on Saturday Ukrainian regional authorities. "The Russian occupiers have invaded Slavoutitch and occupied the municipal hospital", wrote on Telegram the military administration of the Kiev region, which includes this city of 25,000 inhabitants 160 km north of the capital, built after the accident. of Chernobyl in 1986. Residents of Slavutitch took to the streets unfurling a huge Ukrainian blue and yellow flag and headed for the hospital, according to regional authorities, who added that Russian forces were firing into the air and throwing stun grenades into the crowd.
10:43 on 03/26/2022Russia is fueling a dangerous arms race by showcasing its nuclear arsenal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Saturday during a video intervention at the Doha Forum, organized by Qatar. "They boast that they can destroy with nuclear weapons not only a particular country, but also the entire planet," Zelensky said, implying that this encouraged other countries to acquire the weapon. atomic. He was speaking in a video message broadcast in front of major international political and economic leaders.
10:21 on 03/26/2022Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance in two weeks, according to images released on Saturday, after an absence that had raised questions that the Kremlin had tried to sweep. To read here
09:59 AM on 03/26/2022“This morning, President Biden will make an appearance at the meeting between Secretaries Blinken and Austin and Ukrainian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and Ministers of Defense Oleksii Reznikov,” said the White House in an e-mail, on the second day of the visit of the chief executive of the United States in Poland.
09:30 on 03/26/2022Putin signs new law banning 'fake news' about RussiaThe law punishes 'fake news' not only about the Russian military but also about state authorities active in Russia foreign. The new law published on Friday evening concerns the treatment of the work of state authorities, embassies or trade missions, when publishing information considered false by the Kremlin. It provides for penalties ranging from 700,000 rubles (more than 6,200 euros) to 1.5 million rubles (more than 13,000 euros), and even up to three years in prison.
09:00 on 03/26/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on Qatar, one of the world's leading exporters of liquefied natural gas, to increase production to counter Russian threats to use energy "to blackmail" and for everyone in Russia to understand that no one can use energy as a weapon," Zelensky said in a video message shown at the Doha Forum, held in Qatar, whose remarks have been translated into English.
07:48 on 03/26/2022 07:39 on 03/26/2022The World Health Organization (WHO) has counted 72 separate attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical personnel since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. At least 71 people were killed and 37 others injured in these attacks. In most cases (56), it is a question of bombardments with heavy weapons, specifies the WHO, which regrets that attacks against medical infrastructures are now an integral part of modern warfare.
07:38 on 03/26/2022“The Russian command has made many mistakes and we are using these mistakes,” General Budanov told the American weekly The Nation. “The Ukrainian army has shown that the "Russian army second army in the world, it was just a myth. It's just a medieval concentration of power, old methods of combat," added the young general of 36 years, who engaged in the army after the fall of the USSR and was trained in NATO methods. "We have a lot of informants within the Russian army, not only in its ranks but also in its political circle and within its command", he affirmed during this interview granted "in recent days ", according to the magazine.
21:47 on 03/25/2022The European Commission has received a mandate from EU member countries to make grouped gas purchases, which will be "the best instrument to bring down the price" of this energy, announced French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday after a European summit in Brussels.
"Group purchasing, the ability to define long-term contracts together, is the best instrument for bringing down the price of our gas and therefore we have given the Commission a mandate to do so", on the model of group purchases anti-Covid vaccines, he said, as the war in Ukraine caused energy prices to soar.
21:05 on 25/03/2022The Twenty-Seven announced on Friday the launch of an EU initiative to alleviate food shortages caused by the war in Ukraine, "Europe's breadbasket" , in the most affected countries.
Inspired by the Covax international program for the distribution of anti-Covid vaccines, this program, called "Farm", aims in particular to increase transparency on global stocks, to ensure supplies to the countries most at risk and to encourage production in fragile regions, according to the conclusions of the EU summit
20:42 on 03/25/2022France, Turkey and Greece will carry out a "humanitarian operation" to evacuate "in the very next few days" from the besieged city of Mariupol, in the south of the Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday.
"We are going, in conjunction with Turkey and Greece, to launch a humanitarian operation to evacuate all those who wish to leave Mariupol", he declared after a European summit in Brussels, specifying having to discuss the subject with Russian President Vladimir Putin "within 48 to 72 hours".
20:39 on 03/25/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday evening signed a law punishing prison sentences of up to 15 years for "false information" about Moscow's action abroad , an additional repressive weapon to control information about its offensive in Ukraine.
This text, whose presidential signature marks the entry into force, punishes the "public dissemination of knowingly false information under the guise of reliable information" about the "activities of Russian state bodies outside the territory Russian".
20:28 on 03/25/2022Ukrainian forces have launched a counter-offensive on the city of Kherson (south), the only major urban center completely conquered by Moscow forces, which is now "contested", has said a senior Pentagon official on Friday.
"The Ukrainians are trying to take over Kherson," the official, who asked not to be named, told reporters. "We cannot say exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the fact is that it is no longer as firmly under Russian control as before."
20:15 on 03/25/2022US President Joe Biden, on an official visit to Poland, hailed the courage of the Ukrainian people who, according to him, recall the events in Tiananmen Square, and repeated that, according to him, Vladimir Putin was a "war criminal". Praising the "courage" and "resilience" of the Ukrainian people, Joe Biden, from Rzeszow, 80 km from the border with Ukraine, made the following connection. "When you see a thirty-year-old woman standing in front of a tank with a gun (...), if we are talking about Tiananmen Square, it is Tiananmen Square" even more importantly, he estimated in reference to the 1989 protests in Beijing. In English, the American president played on the words by speaking of "Tiananmen square squared", "square" meaning the place, and "squared" translating to "squared".
Joe Biden has also, for the second time, called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal". Addressing a meeting on the humanitarian situation with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, the American president said: "the most important thing that we can do (...) is to maintain the unity of the democracies in our determination and our efforts to reduce the devastation wrought by a man who I believe is a war criminal. And I believe we will meet the legal criteria (of that definition) as well."
20:13 on 25/03/2022A hundred Ukrainian refugees were welcomed at the Liège orientation center opened on March 5 at the Guillemins station, said Friday the mayor of the Cité ardente, Willy Demeyer, during the visit of the Walloon Minister for Local Authorities and Housing, Christophe Collignon. This reception area, established in the "Kiss and Drive" area of Guillemins station, received its hundredth visit on Friday since its opening. It will remain open "until further notice".
Refugees from the war initiated in Ukraine on February 24 by Russia are mainly women with children and the elderly. Most have family in the Liège region. The others benefit from the supervision of associations or groups of citizens. Reception at the center is provided every day from 09:00 to 21:00. Refugees receive a document, available in French, English and Ukrainian, setting out the steps to take upon their arrival in Belgium, starting with the need to register in Brussels. "We must guarantee these people a dignified welcome, and we know that we do not create housing in a few months. We must therefore use what is available", commented Christophe Collignon, according to whom 16,000 places of reception are provided in Wallonia thanks to citizens. To supervise this reception, a plan has been established to "verify the quality of what is offered, establish a contract stipulating that the people welcomed pay 20¿% of their income to their hosts, as well as an ethical charter", a- he specified. This plan also plans to quantify existing collective accommodation in Wallonia (training centres, holiday centres, etc.).
Approximately 5,200 places would thus be available. Around sixty emergency accommodations were also provided, the Liège authorities said on Friday, while the local call center recorded some 1,300 calls.
19:38 on 03/25/202219:00 on 03/25/2022The command center of the Ukrainian air forces, in Vinnytsia (center), was hit on Friday by a salvo of Russian cruise missiles, which caused "significant damage", according to the Ukrainian army.
“The Russians fired six cruise missiles. Some were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses. The others hit several buildings, causing significant damage,” the air force command announced on Telegram.
17:33 on 03/25/2022The mayor of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, denounced "indiscriminate" and incessant Russian bombardments on his city, the second in the country. "The situation is today "very difficult today", declared Ihor Terekhov, during an improvised press briefing in a secret place protected from bombs. "Every day, there are indiscriminate bombardments on the city and many people are killed", he denounced, saying that they were targeting "residential areas, civilians, infrastructure such as schools".
"It's a war against Kharkiv, against Ukraine, against the civilians", lambasted the city councilor, estimating that nearly two thirds of the 1.5 million inhabitants fled the city, located at a forty kilometers from the Russian border.
17:19 on 03/25/2022The Russian ambassador in Paris was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday after the publication of cartoons on his Twitter account deemed "unacceptable" by French diplomacy.
"We strive to maintain a demanding channel of dialogue with Russia" but these "actions are perfectly inappropriate", declared the Quai d'Orsay in particular reference to a drawing showing Europeans on their knees licking the buttocks of Russia. 'Uncle Sam.
4:11 PM on 03/25/2022The talks with Moscow are "very difficult", Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba said on Friday, more than a month after the start of the Russian invasion.
“The negotiation process is very difficult,” said the head of Ukrainian diplomacy in a press release, rejecting any “consensus” with Moscow at this stage. Earlier in the day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured that Russia and Ukraine agreed on four out of six negotiating points.
04:11 PM on 03/25/2022Russia's military said on Friday it would now focus on "liberating" eastern Ukraine, saying it had achieved the operation's initial goals military that she has been leading in this country since February 24.
"The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian forces have been significantly reduced, which allows (...) to concentrate the bulk of the efforts on the main objective: the liberation of Donbass", in the east of the Ukraine, Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff Sergei Rudskoy said.
15:21 on 03/25/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday evening, during a discussion by videoconference with the leaders of the Twenty-seven, accusing him of curb the imposition of sanctions against Russia, which entered the war against Ukraine on February 24, according to the presidency.
Volodymyr Zelenski quoted one by one the 27 countries of the European Union by evaluating their level of support for the Ukrainian cause. He ended with Hungary, about which he said: "I want to stop here and be honest once and for all. You have to decide for yourself who you are with. You are a sovereign state. I I saw this memorial in Budapest (on the banks of the Danube) dedicated to mass murder. I was there with my family. Listen, Viktor, do you know what is happening in Mariupol? Please, if you can, go to the Danube. Take a look at these shoes and you will see how mass murder can happen in today's world." He was referring to a memorial in Budapest that depicts metal shoes placed on the banks of the river that crosses the Hungarian capital and is dedicated to Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Read also: Mariupol, hell on earth: "It is so reminiscent of the practices in Chechnya"
"And Russia is doing this today. The same shoes in Mariupol - it's the same people. Adults and children. And grandfathers and grandmothers. And there are thousands of them. But you hesitate - to impose sanctions or not (to) impose them. (You are) not sure to let arms pass", launched Mr. Zelensky, also referring to trade with Russia. "There is no doubt. It is time to decide. We believe in you. We need your support. We believe in your peoples, we believe in the European Union," he added.
15:09 on 03/25/2022 14:52 on 03/25/2022The talks between Russia and Ukraine are stalling on the main points, Moscow's chief negotiator lamented on Friday, while emphasizing a rapprochement on less important aspects.
"Positions are converging on secondary points. But on the main political (issues) we are treading water," said Vladimir Medinsky, quoted by Russian news agencies.
14:51 on 03/25/2022Nearly 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine and the fighting sparked by the Russian army invasion on February 24, according to the UN count, which confirms the slowdown in the number of passages in recent days. In total, more than ten million people, more than a quarter of the population, had to leave their homes.
The UN estimates the number of internally displaced people in Ukraine at nearly 6.5 million. The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) listed exactly 3,725,806 Ukrainian refugees on Friday around 12:00 GMT. These are 50.854 more than during the previous score on Thursday. Since March 22, the number of people seeking to flee fighting and increasingly difficult living conditions in Ukraine has fallen below 100,000 people per day. Europe has not seen such a rapid influx of refugees since the Second World War.
Some 90% of those who fled Ukraine are women and children. According to Unicef, more than 1.5 million children are among those who fled. Before this conflict, Ukraine was populated by more than 37 million people in the territories controlled by Kiev - which therefore does not include the Crimea (south) annexed in 2014 by Russia, nor the eastern areas under control pro-Russian separatists since the same year. Poland alone hosts more than half of all refugees who have fled since the start of the Russian invasion - around six out of every 10 refugees. reported Polish Railways on Tuesday. Before this crisis, Poland was already home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians who came, for the most part, to work in this member country of the European Union.
14:48 on 03/25/2022Kyiv claimed to have again killed a Russian general in the fighting, in southern Ukraine, according to an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksiï Arestovych."Our troops (. ..) killed the commander of the 49th army of the southern district of Russia, General Yakov Rezantsev, in a bombardment of the airfield of Chornobaivka", located in the Kherson region (south), Mr. Arestovych said in a video message.
Russia has so far confirmed the death in Ukraine of General Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st army after serving in Syria in 2018-19. But another Russian general, Vitali Guerasimov is also believed to have died in combat, "Another two-star general was killed today on the Russian side, it's the second in twelve days," retired American general Mark Hertling said on March 8 on CNN, noting that the Russian army made "repeated mistakes" and "communicated by unencrypted means".
14:34 on 03/25/2022The United States "does not intend to use chemical weapons under any circumstances", i.e. even if Russia uses them in Ukraine, assured Friday the American national security adviser Jake Sullivan, aboard Air Force One.
During an exchange with the press, however, he warned that Moscow would pay "a very high price" in the event of the use of chemical weapons, clarifying remarks the day before by President Joe Biden who had promised a " response" in such a scenario, but remaining evasive on the "nature" of this response.
Read also: Chemical weapons in Ukraine: "Putin could be tempted to use them to put an end to this war"
14:25 on 03/25/2022Russia on Friday acknowledged the death of 1,351 of its soldiers since the start of its military offensive in Ukraine a month ago, accusing Western countries of making a "mistake" by delivering arms to Kiev.
"During the special military operation, 1,351 soldiers were killed and 3,825 wounded," Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff Sergei Roudskoy told a press briefing. In addition, Russia has received 419,736 refugees from Ukraine since the start of the operation, according to Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management.
Also read: The dark side of the Russian army: despite its firepower, its losses are high (infographics)
02:14 PM on 03/25/2022US President Joe Biden landed Friday in Rzeszow, Poland, 100 km from the border with Ukraine.
During the first hours of his two-day visit to Poland, Mr. Biden will meet with American soldiers stationed in this city, before traveling to Warsaw for talks with Polish leaders and a visit to a reception center Ukrainian refugees who fled the Russian invasion of their country.
1:10 PM on 03/25/2022Russia's war also has consequences in the Arctic, NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to the major military exercise Cold Response in Bardufoss , in Norway. "The Russian war in Ukraine is a turning point. It creates a new normal for European security and also for Arctic security."
In recent years, the region has seen an increase in Russian military activity, he said. Russia is testing many of its maritime weapons systems in the region, where Russia's strategic submarine fleet is also stationed. In addition, according to Stoltenberg, China's interest in the Arctic is also increasing. "For all of these reasons, the High North is a region of critical importance to all Allies."
12:34 PM on 03/25/2022“The only thing the world has learned in recent weeks is that Russians and Ukrainians are not the same people,” says Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev, the most important Eastern European thinker of the moment. "It's a terrible paradox for Putin." To read here
12:27 on 03/25/2022A month after the start of the invasion in Ukraine, the threat of a Russian chemical attack on Ukrainian soil looms. In view of his modus operandi, "Putin could be tempted to use such weapons", believe some... To Read here
11:56 am on 03/25/2022"The Ministry of Infrastructure proposes to the EU to completely block land and maritime links with Russia and Belarus", the Ukrainian ministry indicated on Telegram, judging these "measures necessary" to "stop the supply to the aggressor country of dual-use goods that can be used for military purposes".
11:35 on 25/03/2022"We have been declared a true total hybrid war. This term (total war, editor's note) used by Hitler's Germany is now pronounced by many European politicians when they explain what they want to do with Russia," Sergei Lavrov said during a meeting with representatives of a Russian diplomatic foundation. "They do not hide their goals: to destroy, break, annihilate, suffocate the economy and Russia as a whole," the diplomat added. But "despite Western efforts, there is no question of isolating Russia," he further stressed. "We will not isolate ourselves. We have many friends, allies and partners around the world. We have a large number of associations in which Russia works with countries from all continents and we We will continue like this".
11:25 on 03/25/2022"When it comes to the G20 format, it is important. But under the current circumstances, when most members are in a state of economic war with us, it does not Nothing fatal would happen" if Moscow is expelled, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
11:15 AM on 03/25/2022"Russia has never violated any international conventions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked by the press about Ukrainian accusations of using phosphorus bombs.
11:11 am on 03/25/2022Three weeks after its launch, the Ukraine 12-12 appeal of the Belgian Consortium for Emergency Situations raised 24.829 million euros, we learned on Friday. These funds are used to provide emergency aid, including access to drinking water, medical care and psychosocial assistance in Ukraine and neighboring countries where refugees are arriving. According to the United Nations, one billion euros will be needed to meet the most urgent needs.
10:39 on 03/25/2022A Russian bombardment on a medical center in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, left four people dead and at least three injured, the regional police of the second district said on Friday. city in the country. "Seven civilians were injured, four of whom succumbed to their injuries in a bombardment with multiple rocket launchers," the police said on their Telegram channel, adding that the strike took place "around 05:45 GMT" on " a medical center" in the South of Kharkiv
10:20 on 03/25/2022"Witnesses have information that about 300 people died in the Mariupol Drama Theater as a result of a bombing by a Russian plane. Until the end, we don't want not believe in this horror. Until the end, we want to believe that everyone is safe. But the testimonies of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act say the opposite", writes the town hall of Mariupol on his Telegram account.
10:07 AM on 03/25/2022The United States will work to supply Europe with an additional 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) this year, under this initiative unveiled by the US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to a statement.
09:37 on 03/25/2022"By the middle of the year, Russian oil imports to Germany should have halved, by the end of the year we are aiming for near independence “, said the Ministry of Economy in a statement, adding that “by autumn we can become globally independent of Russian coal”. For gas, Germany could be "largely independent (...) by mid-2024", he added.
09:27 on 03/25/2022Russia claimed to have destroyed the Ukrainian army's largest fuel reserve near kyiv the day before with cruise missiles. On Thursday evening, "high-precision Kalibr missiles targeted a fuel (storage) base near the village of Kalinovka, near Kiev," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. . "The largest reserve of fuel remaining to the Ukrainian army, which was used to supply units in the central part of the country, has been destroyed," he added. Mr Konashenkov further said that Russian forces had destroyed several Ukrainian military equipment since the day before, including three air defense systems and four drones. It was not possible to independently verify these claims.
09:00 on 03/25/2022The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the highest investigative authority in the country, has already opened more than ten criminal cases for allegedly false information about the forces Russian armies, said Friday the chairman of the committee, Aleksander Bastrykin, responding to the Russian state agency Tass.
Russia has, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, passed a law providing for penalties of up to 15 years in prison to punish "false information" on what it calls "military operations specials" in the neighboring country. Mr. Bastrykin presented it as a means of defense against the information war waged by the West against Russia.
08:32 on 03/25/2022The war in Ukraine risks causing a "shortage of space launchers", necessary for the constellations of satellites, warns the boss of Rocket Lab, Peter Beck, who wants to do fly in 2024 his Neutron, a rocket comparable to the Russian Soyuz.
In a highly intertwined space sector, cooperation is traditionally required despite geopolitical tensions. There "it's unheard of," said in an interview with AFP the New Zealand boss of the company behind Electron, the only mini launcher currently operational in the world.
In response to European sanctions, Russia has suspended launches of its Soyuz rocket for the benefit of its Western customers. But the invasion of Ukraine has "a much greater impact than the simple Soyuz launcher", he believes.
Russia grappling with sanctions, Ukraine becoming a battleground, it is a whole section of the world space industry which finds itself out of the game, according to him: the Russian rocket Proton, the American launcher Antares , whose "first stage is Russian and Ukrainian engines", the Italian Vega rocket (first stage provided by Ukraine, Indian rockets)...
07:26 on 03/25/2022Besieged since March 3, the city of Mariupol resists at the cost of intense suffering. Its capture by the Russian army would be of strategic interest and symbolic importance.
The relentless shelling of the Ukrainian port city is reminiscent of Grozny's fate in the second Chechen war just over two decades ago. The presence of Chechen fighters alongside Russian forces does not reassure the fate that will be reserved for civilians.
Discover Gérald Papy's analysis here.
07:09 25/03/2022Ukraine is using a facial recognition system to identify Russian soldiers killed on its territory, a major development for a controversial technology, experts told AFP on Thursday .
kyiv assures that the information obtained through this software is used to find and warn the families of the deceased, thus bypassing the filter of Russian war propaganda.
> More informations.
06:32 on 03/25/2022The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, Bozar, the Concertgebouw Brugge, the Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, De Singel, Flagey and the Opéra ballet Vlaanderen have joined forces to organize "Classical Music for Ukraine", a series of charity concerts that will take place from this Friday until next Tuesday in different cities of the country.
The program includes works and performances by Alain Platel, Vilde Frang, Herbert Schuch, Daan Vandewalle, Youth Orchestra Flanders, Anu Tali, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Andreas Staier, Fazil Say and Alexandre Kantorow.
The profits from all the performances will be donated to Consortium 12-12, the Belgian consortium for emergency situations, which is currently raising funds to help the Ukrainian population.
06:11 on 03/25/2022US President Joe Biden will visit the town of Rzeszow today, about 80 kilometers from the border with war-torn Ukraine, for a visit to Poland, the second leg of his trip to Europe, the White House announced on Thursday.
Arriving from Brussels, he will be received by Polish President Andrzej Duda, receive a briefing on the humanitarian response to refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and meet American soldiers positioned on the eastern flank of NATO , the White House said in a statement.
He will then travel to Warsaw, where he will deliver a speech “on the united efforts of the free world to support the Ukrainian people” and “holding Russia accountable for its brutal war,” according to the White House.
These two days of visit to Poland come after an extraordinary diplomatic marathon in Brussels, where Joe Biden has multiplied the summits - NATO, G7, EU.
Read also:De Croo warns of devastating effect of Russian energy embargo for EU
21:31 on 03/24/202220:46 on 03/24/2022The United States will welcome one hundred thousand Ukrainians and others fleeing Russian aggression, President Joe Biden announced on Twitter on Thursday, as he was received at the European Council, where he insisted on the unity of Westerners. "We are working to reunite families and provide refuge for those in danger," the Democrat added in his tweet. Present in Brussels for three summits (NATO, G7 and EU), Mr. Biden was received at the start of the evening by the 27 heads of state and government of the EU, three hours behind the initial program.
The unity of Westerners against Vladimir Putin, "is the most important thing we can do to stop this guy, whom we believe at home has already committed war crimes", declared Mr. Biden upon his arrival. For him, the Russian president "wants to show that democracies are incapable of functioning in the 21st century" and that "autocrats will win". "So, from the beginning, I fought for total unity among the great democracies." If Putin wants to break up NATO, "it's because he prefers confrontation against 30 separate countries rather than united", he added. Joe Biden is the first President of the United States physically present at a formal summit of EU Heads of State and Government.
After years of tension between the EU and his predecessor Donald Trump, his visit symbolically confirms a return of trust between Washington and its European partners, at a time when Vladimir Putin is questioning the security order of the Europe. "Your presence is a strong signal. Our unity is solid as a rock", assured the President of the Council, Charles Michel, when receiving Mr. Biden at the Europa building. The American president in return congratulated the Belgian on his re-election as President of the Council. "Without opposition, I would dream of it," he joked.
Today, I announced that the United States will welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia's aggression.
We're focused on reuniting families and providing refuge to those in harm's way.
European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell has called on EU member states to boost their arms supplies and of military equipment to Ukraine against Russia, upon his arrival at the Brussels EU summit on Ukraine. "Let's talk about concrete things, we must continue to support the Ukrainian army. The next two weeks, the weapons will decide which side will win," said the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
"The Russian forces attempted a rapid conquest, and now they are massacring the population. From a military point of view, this is a great failure for Russia. In a month, they could not move to more 200 kilometers from their logistics base," he said. "Since they cannot conquer the cities, they bomb them, they kill innocent people and destroy everything. But the Ukrainians are fighting and we are helping them, providing them with weapons, and the result of the war is not is already more what the Kremlin hoped for. They can suffer a big defeat. We will continue to support Ukraine, and put pressure on Russia."
For this summit, the Spaniard expressed his wish to see European leaders give guidance on new individual and sectoral sanctions against Russia. On Wednesday, on his proposal, the member states validated a doubling - from 500 million to one billion euros - of the European funding on which they can count to supply arms to Ukraine, as they had agreed at the informal summit. of Versailles.
07:41 PM on 03/24/2022US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he was in favor of excluding Russia from the G20, but he acknowledged that this decision depended on the members of this international body.
“I raised this issue today, but the decision is up to the G20. And if Indonesia (G20 chair) and other countries do not agree, then we should ask that the Ukraine can attend the meetings of the G20", the group of twenty major world economies, he said during a press conference in Brussels after a NATO and G7 summit.
07:41 PM on 03/24/2022Russians and Ukrainians exchanged prisoners on Thursday, according to the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and the Russian human rights delegate. "In exchange for ten captured occupants, we recovered ten of our servicemen," she wrote, saying it was the "first real exchange of prisoners of war" with Russia since the start of its offensive in Ukraine. In addition, eleven Russian civilian sailors, survivors of a ship that sank in the Black Sea near Odessa, were sent to Russia against the return to Ukraine of 19 civilian sailors captured by the Russians.
"I confirm the information concerning the exchange of 10 Russian soldiers detained on Ukrainian territory for 10 Ukrainian soldiers. And there was also an exchange of Russian civilian sailors for Ukrainian civilian sailors", indicated the delegate Russian for human rights with the Kremlin, Tatiana Moskalkova. On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that two exchanges had already been organized since the start of the Russian invasion, without however specifying their dates or the number of prisoners concerned. Two days earlier, Tatiana Moskalkova had mentioned an exchange in Ukraine of nine Russian prisoners against Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, a Ukrainian city (southeast) conquered by Moscow. Ms. Vereshchouk had confirmed the exchange concerning the mayor of Melitopol on Wednesday, but she added that there had been no other.
07:13 PM on 03/24/2022US President Joe Biden on Thursday promised a NATO “response” to the use of chemical weapons by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war in Ukraine.
"We will respond if there is recourse. The nature of the response will depend on the nature of this use", declared Mr. Biden at the end of a NATO summit and a G7 in Brussels.
07:10 PM on 03/24/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin "was betting on a division of NATO" by triggering the invasion of Ukraine, but the Atlantic Alliance has "never been more united than today," US President Joe Biden said Thursday in Brussels.
Vladimir Putin "didn't think we could maintain this cohesion. NATO has never, ever been more united than it is today. Putin gets the exact opposite of what he wanted by invading Ukraine," Biden said after a NATO summit and a G7 meeting in Brussels.
18:51 on 03/24/2022The leader of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, assured Thursday that his forces had taken the town hall of Mariupol, a large city in southeastern Ukraine that the Russian army besieged. he guys are reporting by radio that they liberated the Mariupol administration building and raised our flag there," Kadyrov said on Telegram, assuring that Ukrainian forces had "abandoned their positions." Ramzan Kadyrov, criticized by international NGOs for serious human rights violations taking place in Chechnya, announced on March 17 that a thousand Chechen volunteers were on their way to fight in Ukraine.
The Chechen leader, who rules his Caucasian republic with an iron fist, said he was in Ukraine on Monday, alongside Moscow forces at a captured airfield near Kiev. This information could not be independently verified and has been questioned by Ukrainian officials. At the start of the Russian offensive launched on February 24, images circulated on social networks showing a square in Grozny, the Chechen capital, filled with soldiers claiming to be ready to leave for Ukraine at any time. Faithful to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov has a militia at his command. The forces under his control are accused of numerous abuses in Chechnya.
06:01 PM on 03/24/2022Emmanuel Macron on Thursday proposed an emergency plan for food security, in agreement with the G7, in order to respond to the risks of "famine" in many countries that could be caused by the war in Ukraine.
Speaking after G7 and NATO summits, the French president called on Moscow to be “responsible” in allowing sowing in Ukraine to take place, failing which war will result in 12 to 18 months” an inevitable famine", with in particular the risk of grain shortages in Egypt and North Africa.
6:00 PM on 03/24/2022The G7 countries assured Thursday that they "would spare no effort" so that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters, including the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, " to account" for the invasion of Ukraine.
“To this end, we will continue to work together, with our allies and partners around the world,” these countries assured in a joint statement. "The Russian population must know that we have no complaints against them," added the G7 after a meeting held in Brussels.
17:01 on 03/24/2022"The risk of large-scale use of chemical weapons by Russia on the territory of Ukraine is very real," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday in a video address to the heads of state and government of the G7.
This warning comes the day after a statement by his American counterpart Joe Biden who deemed that the use of chemical weapons was a "credible threat".
17:01 on 03/24/2022The UN General Assembly of 193 states adopted on Thursday by an overwhelming majority of 140 votes a new resolution which "demands" from Russia an "immediate" halt to the war in Ukraine.
In a vote of the General Assembly meeting since Wednesday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, 140 countries voted in favor, 38 abstained and five voted against. On March 2, in a vote described as “historic” by the General Assembly, 141 countries had approved a first non-binding resolution which “demands that Russia immediately stop using force against Ukraine ". Five states, including Russia, voted against and 35 abstained.
16:59 on 03/24/2022NATO leaders meeting in an extraordinary summit in Brussels decided on Thursday to extend the mandate of the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg at the head of the Alliance until September 30, 2023 due to of the war in Ukraine, announced the latter.
"I am honored by the decision of NATO Heads of State and Government to extend my term as Secretary General until 30 September 2023," he wrote on Twitter.
“As we face the greatest security crisis in a generation, we are united to keep our Alliance strong and our citizens safe,” added Jens Stoltenberg after the decision of the 30 NATO member countries to renew it for another year.
Initially, the Norwegian was to leave his post in the fall to take over as head of the Norwegian central bank on December 1, the institution to which he was appointed in February.
But the Russian invasion of Ukraine a month ago upset this agenda and Jens Stoltenberg finally gave up the post on Thursday, the Norwegian government said.
"Of course I would have liked to see Jens Stoltenberg become our next central banker, but we are in a dramatic situation in Europe and I understand very well that he gives priority to continuing his role within NATO", Norwegian Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said in a statement.
The Social Democratic leader has led the Atlantic Alliance since October 2014.
Previously he was Prime Minister of Norway in 2000-2001 and then again for a longer period between 2005 and 2013.
Shortly before the announcement of Thursday's decision, the current Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said, on the sidelines of the summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, that he supported the extension of Mr. Stoltenberg's mandate.
15:12 on 03/24/2022NATO will provide Ukraine with protective equipment against chemical, biological and nuclear threats and will also protect its forces deployed on the eastern flank against these threats, announced the Secretary General of the Alliance.
The Allies are “concerned” about the possibility of the use of such weapons in Ukraine after the Russian invasion and “have agreed to provide equipment to help Ukraine protect itself against chemical, biological, radiological threats and nuclear", explained the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg at the end of an extraordinary summit of the leaders of the Alliance.
14:48 on 03/24/2022The G7 and European Union countries will sanction any transaction involving Russia's gold reserves, to prevent Moscow from circumventing the financial isolation measures taken by Westerners, the White House announced.
2:31 PM on 03/24/2022At least six civilians were killed and 15 others injured in a Russian shelling in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, the regional governor said on Telegram.
"According to preliminary data, six civilians were killed and 15 others injured and hospitalized," wrote Oleg Syniegubov, adding that the shelling had hit a post office near which local residents were receiving humanitarian aid.
2:30 PM on 03/24/2022The Kremlin says Russia's defense minister briefed President Vladimir Putin on developments in the conflict in Ukraine, brushing aside questions about the lack of public appearances of Sergei Shoigu for two weeks.
At a meeting of the Russian Security Council, Mr. "Shoigu reported on the progress of the special military operation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian agencies.
14:28 on 03/24/2022The United States announced new financial sanctions against Russia, targeting politicians, oligarchs and the defense industry, in response to the invasion of Ukraine .
These measures, which involve in particular a freezing of assets in the United States, concern in particular 328 deputies of the Duma - as well as the institution itself - and 48 "large public companies" in the defense sector, according to a statement from the White House.
14:26 on 03/24/2022A third of the Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Belgium are currently being welcomed in Flanders, Flemish Housing Minister Matthias Diependaele told the regional parliament.
Flanders has said it is ready to take in 60% of the refugees. This proportion has not yet been reached. Based on figures available on Tuesday, the number of Ukrainians registered in Belgium stood at 20,938, of whom some 4,700 need to find accommodation. The latter are referred to local administrations by Fedasil.
In Brussels and Wallonia, the proportion of people received in this context is roughly equivalent, whereas the two Regions had agreed to take in approximately 40% of refugees (10% in the capital, 30% in Wallonia).
2:19 PM on 03/24/2022The United States announced on Thursday that it was ready "to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and other people fleeing Russian aggression", according to a statement from the White House published at the time. that President Joe Biden participates in several international meetings in Brussels.
02:01 PM on 03/24/2022The Kremlin says Russia's defense minister briefed President Vladimir Putin on developments in the conflict in Ukraine, brushing aside questions about the lack of public appearances of Sergei Shoigu for two weeks.
13:57 on 03/24/2022The United States "has entered into consultations (with their allies) to provide anti-ship missiles to Ukraine", indicated a senior American official, stressing however that this scenario presented "technical challenges".
12:33 PM on 03/24/2022Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged EU states not to pay for gas imports in rubles as demanded by Russia.
12:23 on 03/24/2022Without Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion, all of Russia's neighbors will be in danger, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a speech to the Swedish Parliament.
"If Ukraine did not resist and defend itself (...) it would mean that all of Russia's neighbors would be in danger from now on," the Ukrainian leader said in a videoconference speech.
12:20 PM on 03/24/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of using "phosphorus bombs" in Ukraine, a month after the start of the Russian invasion.
"This morning (...) there were Russian phosphorus bombs. Adults were killed and children were killed again," Zelensky said in a video message posted on his Telegram account. for the attention of the Heads of State and Government of the Atlantic Alliance, meeting in an extraordinary summit in Brussels.
12:14 on 03/24/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked NATO to provide "unrestricted military aid" to his country, so that it can face the Russian army that Kiev face for the moment "in unequal conditions".
"To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs unrestricted military assistance. Just as Russia uses, without restriction, its full arsenal against us," Zelensky said in a message. video published on his Telegram account, for the attention of the Heads of State and Government of the Atlantic Alliance, meeting at an extraordinary summit in Brussels.
12:09 on 03/24/2022Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Mazowiecki said in Warsaw that Russia had become "a totalitarian state" and called for tougher sanctions against Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine.
11:49 AM on 24/03/2022The UK government has announced a new round of sanctions targeting 59 Russian individuals and companies and six Belarusian entities, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Companies such as the Russian diamond giant Alrosa, the private military services group Wagner, or the hydroelectric power station Rushydro are hit.
11:05 am on 03/24/2022NATO is not a party to the war in the Russian-led war in Ukraine and will remain so, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has said, by calling on China, an ally of Moscow, to stand aside from the conflict.
More info here.
10:47 AM on 03/24/2022The Russian Defense Ministry said it had taken "full control" of Izium, which lies southeast of Kharkiv. The city in which about 45,000 people live is strategically located in the east of the country and about 95 kilometers from the Russian border.
10:45 am on 03/24/2022British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for further "pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's government over the invasion of Ukraine, including preventing the Russia to use its large gold reserves.
10:05 AM on 03/24/2022More than half of children in Ukraine have had to leave their homes to flee insecurity and fighting sparked by the Russian army invasion on February 24, the report said. Unicef.
"A month of war in Ukraine has displaced 4.3 million children - more than half of the country's estimated child population of 7.5 million," the UN Children's Fund said. childhood in a statement.
09:08 on 03/24/2022At least four people died, including two children, and six others were injured in Russian strikes on the locality of Rubizhne, near Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, said the governor of the region, Serguiï Gaïdaï.
The governor added that the toll could "turn out to be much higher", accusing the Russians of using phosphorus bombs. Other officials in this region have accused the Russians of using such bombs in recent days, accusations that cannot immediately be verified.
08:32 on 03/24/2022 08:28 on 03/24/2022"Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the big mistake of launching a war against a sovereign country," said the Secretary General of the 'NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, on his arrival at the headquarters of the Alliance before an extraordinary summit which brings together the 30 Heads of State and Government in Brussels.
"We must be ready to consider all possible scenarios and to react to them quickly", explained the head of NATO. "The Alliance has already strengthened its presence on the eastern flank should do so again," Stoltenberg added.
07:48 on 03/24/2022The Heads of State and Government of the thirty NATO countries are holding an extraordinary summit in Brussels, entirely dedicated to the war led by Russia in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden is also attending the meeting, as the Russian offensive in Ukraine has united politicians, including Republicans, behind him.
Read also: Joe Biden, a solid leader, wants to close the ranks of Westerners against Russia
06:30 on 03/24/2022According to NATO estimates, between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers were killed in Ukraine.
These figures are based on information provided by Ukraine, information disseminated in Russia, information from intelligence services, but also information that Russia unwittingly discloses. "In war, mistakes are made," said a senior defense official, on condition of anonymity.
A pro-Kremlin Russian newspaper, Komsomolskaja Pravda, published an information on Sunday reporting that many Ukrainian soldiers had died in combat in Ukraine. The article reported 9,861 soldiers who had lost their lives since the beginning of the war. Which is considerably more than the 498 that Moscow has so far officially confirmed.
The article then disappeared and a journalist from the outlet claimed at a Kremlin press conference that the site had been hacked.
06:14 on 03/24/2022Several fires in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have been extinguished, but some are still burning, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Ukrainian parliament claimed earlier this week that seven fires were burning in the area, spanning two square kilometers and that they were likely caused by Russian shelling or arson.
This territory bordering the nuclear reactor, site of the worst nuclear accident, has come under Russian control since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
11:30 PM on 03/23/2022“Go ahead with Ukrainian symbols to defend Ukraine, to defend freedom, to defend life!” Mr. Zelensky launched in a video message in English. "Meet in the squares, in the street, show yourself and make yourself heard!"
In a fiery speech on the eve of the date marking the first month of the Russian invasion, Mr Zelensky called on the world to “stand up against war from March 24”.
“Speak out, demonstrate from your offices, your homes, your schools and your universities, demonstrate in the name of peace!” hammered President Zelensky.
9:24 p.m. on 03/23/2022The Air Force One plane carrying Joe Biden landed in Brussels shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday (8:00 p.m. GMT), according to images broadcast by the CNN channel. The American president, who wants to cement the unity of Westerners in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, must participate in three major international meetings on Thursday (NATO, G7, European Union) then go to Poland on Friday and Saturday .
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08:15 PM on 03/23/2022A Russian journalist was killed in a bombardment on kyiv on Wednesday, the independent online media for which she worked, The Insider, announced in the evening. Oksana Baulina was killed by a rocket while she was filming the damage caused by a previous strike on a shopping center in the Podil district, in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital, according to a press release from her log. Another civilian was killed and two people accompanying the journalist were injured.
Before joining The Insider, Ms. Baulina was a producer for an anti-corruption foundation in her country. The latter having been classified as an "extremist organization" by the authorities, the journalist had to leave Russia and continued to work for The Insider on the theme of corruption. She had gone to Ukraine as a correspondent, where she had made several subjects in kyiv and Lviv (west), still according to her media, which expressed her "deep condolences" to her family and friends. "We will continue to cover the war in Ukraine, including Russian war crimes as well as the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas that is killing civilians and journalists," adds The Insider, an independent online media outlet founded in 2013 by journalist and activist Roman Dobrokhotov and which is now based in Riga, the capital of Latvia.
A total of five journalists have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24.
19:38 on 03/23/2022Germany will deliver 2,000 additional anti-tank weapons to Ukraine to support it against the Russian invasion, a parliamentary source told AFP. This source, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed information circulating in the German media. The Ukrainian forces have already received 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger-type surface-to-air missile launchers taken from the reserves of the Bundeswehr, the German army.
In addition, Germany has sent about 500 Strela surface-to-air missiles out of the 2,700 promised. The rest of the missiles "are in the process of being delivered", assured Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday during an intervention in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.
"We are one of the biggest arms suppliers to Ukraine in the current situation," she said. "That doesn't make us proud, but that's what we have to do now to help Ukraine," said the environmental minister.
07:17 PM on 03/23/2022The US government “has established that members of the Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
The United States relies on "a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources," Blinken said in a statement, adding that courts should determine legal liability.
07:16 PM on 03/23/2022Russia has decided to expel US diplomats in retaliation for Washington's expulsion of 12 members of the Russian diplomatic mission to the UN in early March, the EU said on Wednesday. Russian diplomacy in a statement.
"On March 23, a note with the list of American diplomats declared persona non grata was delivered to the head of the American diplomatic mission who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry," the statement said.
19:06 on 03/23/2022The United States will announce on Thursday "a set of sanctions that concern both political figures" and "oligarchs", national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced on Tuesday. , en route with President Joe Biden for Europe.
He also said, during an exchange with the press on board Air Force One, that the G7 countries would launch an "initiative" to ensure that Russia could not circumvent the sanctions that had been imposed on it. already imposed following the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
6:31 PM on 03/23/2022Germany on Wednesday criticized a "breach of contract" after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would no longer accept payments in dollars or euros in exchange for its gas deliveries to the European Union.
The demand “constitutes a breach of contract,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck told a press conference in Berlin. “We will now discuss with our European partners how to meet this demand,” he added.
17:55 on 2022-03-23Sweden will send 5,000 additional anti-tank weapons to Ukraine to support it against Russian invasion. The Scandinavian country, which had broken for kyiv with its doctrine prohibiting it from exporting arms to a country at war for the first time since 1939, will send a new shipment of arms. The announcement comes on the eve of a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Swedish parliament on Thursday.
"Sweden will double its contribution to the armed forces with 5,000 anti-tank weapons and demining equipment," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Twitter, welcoming "a new historic decision". A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense confirmed that it was the same model already sent to 5,000 copies by the Swedish army, AT-4 class single-shot rocket launchers. Simple to use, these weapons are however less powerful than an anti-tank missile launcher of Swedish design, the NLAW model. This model was unsuccessfully claimed by kyiv from Sweden. But it was delivered to Ukraine by the British army.
Read also: How Putin brings Sweden and Finland closer to NATO than ever before
17:35 on 03/23/2022Ukraine has decided to equip itself with an "automatic call system to Russia" using facial recognition to reveal to the Russians the extent of their military losses, has announced Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. "Today, we are using artificial intelligence to search social networks for profiles of Russian soldiers based on (images) of their bodies, in order to report their death to friends and relatives," explained Mr. Fedorov on Facebook. “We are setting up a system of automatic calls to Russia to tell the truth about the Russian assassins”, he added, before letting go: “We started doing things that we could not even imagine a month ago".
The aim, explained the Deputy Prime Minister, is to "dispel the myth of a special operation in which no conscript takes part and in which no one dies". Russia has officially dubbed the February 24 invasion a "special military operation". Using the word "war" in this country to describe this intervention is liable to prosecution. Moscow on March 9 for the first time acknowledged the presence of conscripts in Ukraine and admitted that a number of them had been taken prisoner, after claiming that only professional soldiers were fighting there.
President Vladimir Putin had assured in this regard, before this date, that he would not send conscripts or reservists to Ukraine, saying that only "professionals" had the mission of fulfilling the "set objectives". From the first days of the attack on Ukraine, media and NGOs had reported that young Russians just old enough to do their military service were taking part in military operations. In addition, calls from mothers without news of their sons sent to Ukraine have multiplied on social networks.
Also read: The dark side of the Russian army: despite its firepower, its losses are high (infographics)
17:26 on 03/23/2022 15:50 on 03/23/2022A Russian chemical weapons attack in Ukraine is "a credible threat", Mr. Biden warned as he left the White House before s fly aboard the Air Force One presidential plane bound for Brussels for a NATO summit. Allied leaders will meet. A summit meeting which will be coupled with a G7 meeting and a European summit.
The American president will take part in this diplomatic marathon before going on Friday and Saturday to Poland, a country on the front line in the Ukrainian conflict.
15:46 on 03/23/2022Parliamentarians from United Russia, the party supporting President Vladimir Putin, are no longer allowed to leave Russia without special permission granted by party leader Vladimir Vasilyev, said Aleksandr Sidyakin, the party's acting general secretary, to the national news agency Ria Novosti. According to him, the decision was made several months ago.
Only United Russia delegates to the Duma would be affected, not the nearly two million party members.
15:27 on 03/23/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the French Parliament by videoconference, in line with his numerous questions to Western parliamentarians since the start of the Russian invasion of his country.
He called on France to help end this "war on freedom, equality and fraternity" and ask French companies to leave Russia. "French companies must leave the Russian market. Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin and others, they must stop sponsoring Russia's war machine" in Ukraine, he said in a speech broadcast in videoconference in front of French deputies and senators.
14:58 on 03/23/2022The price of European gas rose by more than 20% on Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced to force "hostile countries" to pay for Russian gas only in rubles and no longer in dollars.
The president asked the central bank to set up, within the week, a mechanism allowing payments in rubles. On the Dutch market, which is a benchmark for the price of gas in Europe, a 21% increase was observed on Wednesday, to 119 euros per megawatt hour.
Also read: The conundrum of rising energy prices: why reducing consumption is the only solution
2:40 PM on 03/23/2022NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO would provide "additional support" to Ukraine against nuclear and chemical threats. By insisting that any use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine would have "profound consequences". NATO also calls on China to refrain from supporting Russia's war effort against Ukraine. The NATO chief also accused Beijing of providing "political support to Moscow, including spreading outright lies and disinformation" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
NATO will also deploy four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to strengthen its defenses against Russia on its eastern flank, its secretary general announced on Wednesday. "NATO leaders will decide at their summit on Thursday to strengthen the defense posture with four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, bringing to eight the battlegroups deployed from the Baltic to the Black Sea," said Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg.
Read more here.
1:49 PM on 03/23/2022Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia will no longer accept payments in dollars or euros for gas deliveries to the EU, giving Russian authorities a week to put in place the new ruble system.
“I have taken the decision to implement a set of measures to switch to payment in rubles for our gas delivered to hostile countries, and to waive in all regulations the currencies that have been compromised,” said the Russian President at a government meeting, explaining that it was a reaction to the freezing of Russian assets in the West.
1:30 PM on 23/03/2022The deployment of NATO peacekeeping forces in Ukraine would lead to a direct confrontation between the transatlantic alliance and the Russian army, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday foreign affairs, Sergei Lavrov, as he addressed an audience at the MGIMO political science university in Moscow.
“Our Polish counterparts have said that a decision on sending peacekeepers should be taken at the NATO summit. I hope they understand the consequences of this. "A direct confrontation between Russian forces and those of NATO would follow, which all parties considered unacceptable", according to the head of Russian diplomacy.
Read also: Joe Biden lands in Brussels this Wednesday: part of Brussels will be "hermetically closed"
12:45 on 03/23/2022The Ukrainian Foreign Minister has called on the West to sanction "the propagandists of Russian television", on the eve of NATO and EU summits devoted to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
"Russian TV propagandists are worse than Russian pilots. At least the pilots are in danger of being shot down. (...) Punish each of them", urged Dmytro Kouleba in a message posted on Twitter . “Block all toxic Russian propaganda and those who support it,” he further demanded, lamenting that “talking heads sleep in safety, then take to the air and call for nuclear strikes or invasion of members of NATO".
Also read: How Soviet propaganda is making many Russians ignorant and indifferent
Russian TV propagandists are worse than even Russian pilots. Pilots at least risk being shot down. Talking heads sleep in safety, then go on air and call for nuclear strikes or invading NATO members. Penalty each one of them. Block all toxic Russian propaganda and its enablers.
-- Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 23, 2022 12:42 PM on 03/23/2022Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the G20 summit scheduled for the end of the year in Indonesia, the Russian ambassador said on Wednesday in the Southeast Asian country, rejecting calls to expel Moscow from the group in reaction to the war in Ukraine.
The United States has indicated that it will consult its allies on the possible exclusion of Russia from certain international organizations, including the G20, a group of the world's 20 largest economies.
Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva said Jakarta had invited the Russian president to a summit of G20 heads of state and government scheduled for November in Bali.
His coming "will depend on a lot of things, including the Covid situation, which is now improving. But so far the intention is for him to come," she told reporters. journalists. The diplomat denounced the attempts of several Western countries to exclude Russia from certain international organizations, believing that they represented a "disproportionate" reaction.
12:38 PM on 03/23/2022The Russian-Ukrainian talks are "difficult" because "the Ukrainian side has clear and principled positions", declared Mykhaïlo Podoliak, chief negotiator on the Ukrainian side.
He stressed that the talks, which resumed on March 14, continued "permanently, online". Earlier, Moscow had accused the United States of hampering "difficult negotiations" with kyiv, and accused the Ukrainians of "constantly changing positions".
Read also: War in Ukraine: under international law, there are many possibilities for action for the allies
12:35 on 03/23/2022The Mykolaiv zoo already boasted of being the largest in Ukraine, it now exhibits new specimens: several Russian rockets fell there, including two cluster munitions, accuse its leaders, trapped with thousands of animals with no prospect of evacuation.
As the warning sirens sounded in this key city on the road to Odessa, the main port of Ukraine (South-West), a leopard nervously scratches the bars of its cage.
But it's hard to say whether this Amur leopard, "the rarest subspecies of this feline", is reacting to the shrill noise or the now unusual presence of strangers, after more than three weeks of closure visitors, zoo naturalist Viktor Dyakonov told AFP.
12:09 on 03/23/2022Russia and Ukraine conducted two prisoner exchanges. This was stated by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
According to Ms. Zakharova, the Russian Ministry of Defense organizes daily humanitarian corridors for Ukrainian citizens, and citizens are thus evacuated. The spokeswoman accuses Ukrainian "nationalists" of using civilians as human shields.
11:16 AM on 03/23/2022More than 3.7 million people have left Ukraine in recent weeks. Among them, more than 2.1 million have joined Poland since the start of the war, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Wednesday in Geneva.
Nearly 560,000 went to Romania, more than 370,000 to Moldova, nearly 330,000 to Hungary and more than 250,000 to Slovakia and Russia. To this total must be added more than 100,000 people who fled the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk to Russia in the days preceding the offensive.
In preliminary estimates, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that around 500,000 refugees suffer from mental health problems as a result of the violence. Among them, at least 30,000 are seriously affected. Refugees also arrive with many pathologies, the organization also insists.
10:49 on 03/23/2022The Ukrainian president's chief of staff called on Westerners to deliver "offensive weapons", a "means of deterrence" against Moscow, before an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels dedicated to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and to which Volodymyr Zelensky will address by videoconference.
“Our armed forces and our citizens are holding on with superhuman courage, but we cannot win a war without offensive weapons, without medium-range missiles, which can be a means of deterrence,” Andriy Yermak pleaded, in a video posted Tuesday evening on Telegram.
"It is impossible to defend oneself effectively for a long time without a reliable air defense system capable of shooting down enemy missiles at long ranges", argued Mr. Yermak. However, "we are not given them", he lamented. "Just as they are not giving us planes," he added, a request at this stage systematically rejected by Westerners who do not want to intervene militarily in Ukraine for fear of a widening conflict with Russia.
Also read: The dark side of the Russian army: despite its firepower, its losses are high (infographics)
10:42 AM on 03/23/2022Moscow on Wednesday accused the United States of obstructing the "difficult" Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, believing that Washington's goal was to "dominate" the world order, including understood through sanctions.
"The negotiations are difficult, the Ukrainian side is constantly changing its position. It is difficult to get rid of the impression that our American colleagues are holding their hands," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “The Americans are simply assuming that it is not profitable for them to have this process ended quickly,” he added, almost a month after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. .
Read also: War in Ukraine: under international law, there are many possibilities for action for the allies
10:40 AM on 03/23/2022The strike injured four people, according to a Kyiv city administration statement. "The enemy shelled again. (...) Shevchenkivskyi district came under fire in the morning. Rescuers are currently on site trying to put out several fires in private homes and high-rise buildings" , the city said.
09:58 on 03/23/2022Warsaw has decided to expel 40 Russian diplomats from the country on suspicion of espionage. The Polish counterintelligence services ABW announced on Wednesday that they had identified 45 Russian diplomats suspected of spying.
"The Internal Security Agency has compiled a list of 45 people working in Poland under cover of diplomatic activities (...) who are in fact carrying out espionage activity directed against Poland," the press Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesperson for ABW.
09:55 on 03/23/2022The Russian offensive in Ukraine "is getting bogged down despite all the destruction it causes day after day", German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday.
The "truth is that war destroys Ukraine, but by waging war, Putin also destroys the future of Russia", added the German Chancellor before the Bundestag, assuring that Kiev could "count on the 'help' from Germany.
Read more here.
08:30 on 03/23/2022President Joe Biden flies to Europe on Wednesday, where he will work to strengthen Western unity and toughen sanctions against Russia, which is trying to by invading Ukraine, to upset the post-Cold War balance of power.
A diplomatic marathon awaits Joe Biden, anxious to show his firmness against Russian President Vladimir Putin, but also to keep his promise to restore the United States' alliances to their luster tarnished by four years of Trump's presidency .
On Thursday, in a single day, the latter will take part in three international summits in Brussels: NATO, the G7 and the European Union. Nothing less is needed to symbolically lead beyond Ukraine the great fight of the democratic forces against authoritarianism.
On Friday and Saturday, Joe Biden will travel to Poland, an allied country within NATO, and also the first destination for the majority of the millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war. On his program: a meeting with American soldiers, the details of which are not yet known, a commitment in connection with the reception of refugees and a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
04:35 on 03/23/2022“Almost 100,000 people in inhumane conditions” are trapped in the ruins of Mariupol, “under total siege, without food, water, medicine, under constant shelling “, alerted VolodymyrZelensky in a video published at dawn on Wednesday.
Mariupol, a predominantly Russian-speaking port city strategically located between Crimea (south), occupied by Moscow since 2014, and the separatist territory of Donetsk (east), has been bombed for weeks by the Russians. She was targeted Tuesday by two "superpowered bombs", according to the municipality, which did not give a report. Satellite images taken Tuesday morning by the American company Maxar showed the devastation of residential areas, civil infrastructure and factories.
Russian tanks rolled into the city, and a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday evening that Russian strategy now relied on "long-range fire in the center of town", observed by the Americans "from the last 24 hours".
Residents who fled Mariupol described to the NGO Human Rights Watch "a freezing hell, with streets strewn with corpses and the rubble of destroyed buildings". Russian forces have continued at the beginning of the week to bombard other Ukrainian cities: Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Cherniguiv... Kharkiv (north-east), the country's second city, is surrounded by Russian forces on several sides and major axes, but is not surrounded.
In southern Ukraine, where the only major city in the country they control is located (Kherson), Russian forces are trying to advance west and the Black Sea but are not advancing around Mykolaiv.
01:07 on 03/23/2022“We would appreciate the mediating role of the Holy See in ending human suffering” in Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky wrote on Twitter after a telephone interview with the pope, while the Kremlin judged shortly before that the ongoing talks with Kiev were not "substantial" enough.
The Ukrainian president said he had informed "His Holiness of the difficult humanitarian situation and the blocking of humanitarian corridors by Russian troops", while thanking him for his "prayers for Ukraine and peace".
Volodymyr Zelensky "asked (the pope) to come to our country at this very important moment," he added in a video released overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. "And I believe that we can organize this important visit which brings significant support to each and every one of us, every Ukrainian."
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive which killed thousands of civilians in Ukraine in particular, Pope Francis has multiplied calls for peace. During a public prayer on March 16, he asked God forgive in the name of humans who "continue to drink the blood of the gun-torn dead".
A predominantly Orthodox country, Ukraine has a large Greek-Catholic minority attached to the Vatican, which is concentrated in the west of the country. The third Church in Ukraine, this Catholic denomination of the Eastern rite claims some 5.5 million faithful. in this former Soviet republic which had around 40 million inhabitants before the war.
Talked to @Pontifex. Told His Holiness about the difficult humanitarian situation and the blocking of rescue corridors by Russian troops. The mediating role of the Holy See in ending human suffering would be appreciated. Thank you for the prayers for Ukraine and peace. pic.twitter.com/wj4hmrTRGd
-- Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2022 11:19 PM on 03/22/2022Top diplomat Josep Borrell denounces that in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the Russian armed forces have "deliberately cut off the access of the population to drinking water, using the threat of dehydration to force the surrender of the city and preventing access to the most basic needs".
Jospe Borrell recalls that access to drinking water is a fundamental right and should never be used as a weapon of war. "As good quality water becomes scarcer, lack of water treatment and increased bombardments of civilian infrastructure, such as attacks on chemical industries, create additional risks and further worsen water quality. fresh water", he laments with his colleague Virginijus Sinkevi?ius, European Commissioner for the Environment.
European diplomacy renews its calls on Russia to immediately cease its military actions on the territory of its Ukrainian neighbor, and to withdraw its military forces unconditionally.
22:00 on 03/22/2022The siege by Russian forces of the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol is a form of "genocide", Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told AFP. About 200,000 people still live in this city, which has been surrounded and subjected to daily bombardments since Russia launched its offensive on February 24.
“What I see now in Mariupol is not war, it is genocide,” Venediktova said in Lviv, western Ukraine. "Theaters of war have rules, principles. What we see in Mariupol (is) the complete absence of rules," she added.
For the prosecutor, the Russian Federation "knows exactly what it is doing" in this city on the shores of the Sea of Azov, in the south-east of Ukraine. The country will endeavor to have the Mariupol siege officially "qualified" as "genocide" on the international scene, promised Ms. Venediktova.
21:24 on 03/22/2022Almost a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Georgians are holding their breath. Not without reason. Since the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, which lasted five days, around 20% of the country's land area has been occupied by Putin-backed separatists. The administrative boundaries agreed upon after the clash of arms are hardly respected by the Kremlin. "For too long you have mistakenly assumed that the wars in Georgia and Ukraine have nothing to do with the West," says Georgian MP Teona Akoubardia.
Read the rest of the article via this link
21:11 on 22/03/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is invited to address by videoconference the leaders of the NATO countries who are meeting Thursday in Brussels for an extraordinary summit devoted to the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia, we learned Tuesday from the Atlantic Alliance.
“It will be an opportunity for the leaders of the Allied countries to hear directly from President Zelensky about the catastrophic situation in which the Ukrainian people find themselves due to the aggression of Russia,” said an official from the NATO, adding that the Allies, which provide "a significant amount of essential military equipment" to Ukraine, will consider what more they "can do to strengthen" their support.
21:01 on 03/22/2022Some 20,000 Ukrainian refugees have already registered with the Belgian services, the cabinet of the Secretary of State for Immigration, Sammy Mahdi (CD&V) said on Tuesday evening. These refugees are invited to report to Heysel, in Brussels, before being welcomed in different cities and towns in the country, either collectively or individually with friends or private individuals who volunteer. According to figures provided by the United Nations, Belgium could host up to 200,000 Ukrainian refugees.
According to official figures, ten million Ukrainians have left their homes since the fighting began. Three million have already crossed the border, mainly to Poland. The Secretary of State gave a lecture at the VUB on Tuesday evening on the use of migrants as a geopolitical weapon. During his speech, Mr. Mahdi also referred to the crisis in Ukraine. According to him, the European Union could still go further with regard to sanctions in the granting of visas. "We really have to ensure that the network around Vladimir Putin is hit as hard as possible. We cannot accept that the sons and daughters (of Russians on the lists of sanctioned persons, editor's note) continue to circulate in Europe and have fun with it”, he judged in particular.
20:22 on 03/22/2022Moscow will only use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in the event of an "existential threat" against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Tuesday International.
“We have an internal security doctrine, it is public, you can read all the reasons for the use of nuclear weapons and it is an existential threat to our country,” he said. said.
Also read: The Return of the Nuclear Threat: Who Has Nuclear Weapons and Where Are They? (infographics)
20:20 on 03/22/2022On paper, Russia is the second largest military power in the world. On the ground, on the other hand, we observe a disorganized and inexperienced army, which suffered significant material losses, greater than the Ukrainian losses. But can we therefore speak of a Russian fiasco? The military policies applied for years show that Moscow has always relied on quantity, while the West has always played the technology card. So what do these Russian losses really represent? And what concrete consequences for the war in Ukraine?
Read our analysis via this link
19:59 on 03/22/202219:37 on 03/22/2022French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday denounced Russia's use of "explosive weapons in densely populated areas", considering that "everything , in the aggression of Ukraine by Russia, is unacceptable". “International law is flouted, civilian infrastructure is bombed, explosive weapons are used in densely populated areas, and aid workers are targeted,” the French president said in a video to the first European Humanitarian Forum which s is open on Monday in Brussels.
“International humanitarian law is that line that separates barbarism from our common humanity,” he added. “The law of war is not optional. The protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure is not is not negotiable. Those who betray these rules will be held accountable before international justice", hammered Emmanuel Macron.
He thus recalled the referral to the International Criminal Court on March 2 by 39 States, including all European Member States, "an unprecedented step in diplomatic history, commensurate with the gravity of the situation" . In Ukraine, "it is urgent that the unimpeded implementation of European aid for the population be guaranteed", continued the French head of state.
07:22 PM on 03/22/2022Westerns will announce Thursday "new sanctions against Russia and strengthen" those that already exist, Joe Biden's national security adviser announced at a conference on Tuesday. press. The American president, who will take part in no less than three major international summits in Brussels on Thursday, "will join our allies in imposing new sanctions on Russia and strengthening existing sanctions", in order to prevent Moscow from circumventing them, said Jake Sullivan.
Chaining a NATO summit, a G7 summit and a European Union summit, Joe Biden will "work with the allies on long-term adjustments" concerning NATO's presence in Eastern Europe 'East, continued the national security adviser. The American president will also "announce joint action to strengthen Europe's energy security" and reduce its dependence on Russian gas, said Jake Sullivan.
He will also unveil "additional American contributions" for humanitarian actions in Ukraine and for the reception of millions of Ukrainians who have fled the war, Jake Sullivan reported. "This war is not going to end easily or quickly," he warned. "For the past few months, the West has been united. The president is going to Europe to make sure we stay united," Jake Sullivan said.
18:15 on 03/22/2022Russia on Tuesday opened its first criminal case against a journalist for publishing "false information" about the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine, under a recent law providing for up to 15 years in prison.
The Investigative Committee, in charge of the main cases, announced that it had "opened a criminal investigation against journalist Alexander Nevzorov", accusing him of having "knowingly published false information about a deliberate bombardment of a maternity hospital in Mariupol (south-eastern Ukraine) by the Russian army".
See also: Images that tell of the war in Ukraine
18:04 on 03/22/2022The town of Avdiivka, very close to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, was the target on Monday evening of a Russian attack which caused at least five dead and 19 injured, announced Tuesday Lioudmila Denissova, in charge of human rights at the Ukrainian Parliament. "Five civilians were killed and 19 injured," the official said on her Telegram channel, who pointed out that Avdiivka had been "the target of artillery fire and (Russian) aerial bombardment, having completely destroyed it" . Avdiivka, which had 30,000 inhabitants before the outbreak of the conflict, is located in the northwestern suburbs of Donetsk, an industrial center in the hands of pro-Russian separatists supported by Moscow since 2014.
In Lissitchansk, 150 km northeast of Donetsk, another strike by the Russian army killed two people and injured three, Denisova said. In the same region, in Severodonetsk, one person was killed and about 10 others were injured outside a shop also in an attack by Russian forces, she later reported. Regional authorities said that an investigation was underway to determine what type of weapon had been used.
18:00 on 03/22/2022The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has decided to end its collaboration with two Russian universities, Romain Meeusen, vice-rector of the section, told the Belga agency international relations. It concerns two "military universities": the Moscow Aviation Institute and the ITMO University of St. Petersburg. The military mainly receive academic training here, but there are also programs to develop technology for military purposes.
"All Russian rectors have signed a statement that they support Putin's regime. I don't think that individually all Russian rectors share this view, but it is unacceptable for us to cooperate with universities clearly state in their objectives that they are testing military and other equipment," Meeusen said. The collaboration with the VUB mainly consisted of exchanges, but these will no longer take place. For the sake of clarity, Russian students currently studying at VUB will not be expelled and will continue to receive full support. “A VUB student is a VUB student, regardless of origin, appearance and background,” the vice-rector clarified. The collaboration is suspended for an indefinite period. If the situation in Russia improves in a few years and cooperation is possible again, an ethics committee will look into the matter, but Mr Meeusen doubts that will happen in the near future.
17:58 on 03/22/2022Russian oligarch Dimitri Pumpianski's yacht has been seized in the British enclave of Gibraltar after a complaint from a creditor bank, authorities said, linking the move to British sanctions aimed at it following the war in Ukraine. This ship, flying the Maltese flag and baptized Axioma, was "the subject of a request for seizure by a large international bank to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar", indicated the government of this small territory located at the extreme south of Spain.
Gibraltar allowed the ship to enter its port, which was prohibited under British sanctions targeting a number of Russian oligarchs, "in the interests of creditors who filed suit against the ship", authorities added. Gibraltar without giving more details. "The ship is now seized by the Admiralty Marshal", judge in charge of maritime affairs, "until further notice", they said again. After meeting Gibraltar's Prime Minister Fabian Picardo, British Foreign Minister Liz Truss on Tuesday hailed on Twitter the "seizure by Gibraltar of Dimitri Pumpianski's super yacht stemming from British sanctions". TMK, Dimitri Pumpianski is also targeted by EU sanctions taken since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Several countries, such as Spain, Italy and France, have seized yachts belonging to the wealthiest Russians under EU sanctions that freeze all their assets in the EU.
Also read: Russia's political elite remain loyal to Putin, despite global outcry
17:57 on 03/22/2022At least 100,000 civilians would like to leave Mariupol, besieged by the Russian army, but are stuck in this port city in southern Ukraine, lack of an assured humanitarian corridor, said Tuesday the Ukrainian government.
The shelling of Mariupol by Russian troops also prevents the emergency services from having access to a bombed theater, in the cellars of which hundreds of people had taken refuge last week after an air attack. Russia, for its part, denies having targeted the theater or civilians. Faced with heavy casualties and a fierce defense, the Russian military "strengthened its presence in Ukraine's airspace" on Monday, the Ukrainian military said on Facebook on Tuesday. "In addition to the use of drones, the enemy uses bombers, attack and combat aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles."
04:55 PM on 03/22/2022At least one person was killed on Tuesday in a drone attack on a building in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, AFP noted on the spot. Several "kamikaze" drones targeted a building of the National Academy of Sciences, in the northwest of the city. Rescuers removed at least one body wearing a military uniform from this seven-storey building, from which smoke still rose, AFP saw.
Soldiers present there reported an attack by Russian army "kamikaze" drones, one of which was shot down. The remains of the craft, broken in two and shaped like a wing about a meter wide, were visible on the ground not far from the scene of the incident. Questioned on the spot, a military intelligence officer mentioned an air raid carried out using "Orlan" type drones, saying that it had killed three people - without this being able to be confirmed - and caused a fire. "Two of the devices were shot down," said the official, who requested anonymity.
4:34 PM on 03/22/2022A default by Russia would have "a rather limited direct effect on the rest of the world", estimated Tuesday Gita Gopinath, number 2 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ms. Gopinath stressed that the amounts of the payment deadlines that Moscow must honor "are relatively small on a global scale". "This does not represent a systemic risk to the global economy," she added, while pointing out that some banks with greater exposure, however, could be hit harder.
4:33 PM on 03/22/2022Russia cannot win the war it started in Ukraine on February 24, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday. He reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire.
"Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house," Guterres said Tuesday in New York. "This war cannot be won. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the negotiating table." The UN Secretary General also pointed out that Russia's war was against international law, violated UN treaties and caused terrible suffering. Citizens are terrorized by the systematic bombardments, he denounced. "The continuation of the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily unnecessary. It is time to end this senseless war."
16:21 on 03/22/2022The hacker group "Anonymous" hacked into Russian printers in order to broadcast messages to counter the Kremlin's propaganda on the war in Ukraine, the collective claimed on a Twitter account on Tuesday . Online media also had confirmation from contacts within Anonymous, according to German news agency DPA.
"For two hours, we printed anti-propaganda messages and instructions to install Tor", the free computer network for anonymous surfing on the Internet, via printers located all over Russia. “We have thus distributed more than 100,000 copies”, specifies this Twitter account. The American online media International Business Times, which had access to one of these "hacktivists", was able to obtain evidence of this operation. According to this source, Anonymous printed PDFs on unprotected devices. We can read on these documents that President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin and the Russian media lied to the population. The hacker community also explains how to install Tor, which also allows browsing the dark web, to access "real media" and bypass Russian government censorship.
Also read: How Soviet propaganda is making many Russians ignorant and indifferent
4:05 PM on 03/22/2022Despite global outrage and unprecedented sanctions against his country, President Vladimir Putin can count, for the time being, on the support of Russia's political elite, obsessed with " its own survival.
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15:25 on 03/22/2022The Czech National Theater in Prague has canceled the scheduled first performance of the opera "The Queen's Shoes" by Tchaikovsky due to the war in Ukraine, a report said on Tuesday. theater spokesperson.
"We understand the creative team's decision not to stage this work, which may have elicited negative feelings," the spokesperson said. He pointed out that parts of the Russian composer's work refer to the "great Russian Empire". Theater staff wanted to show their support for Ukraine's struggle to safeguard its independence, he added. This decision, however, has also been criticized, in particular due to the fact that Tchaikovsky lived in the 19th century and is therefore not linked to the current war. The spokesperson for the theater nevertheless assured that all Russian works would not be withdrawn from the program. A dramatization of "The Idiot" by Dostoyevsky and performances of "Swan Lake", a ballet to music by Tchaikovsky, are thus maintained.
15:00 on 03/22/2022Nearly two hundred thousand refugees from Ukraine who arrived in Poland since the beginning of the Russian invasion left this country by train to other host countries, a- we learned on Tuesday from the Polish railways. From February 25 to March 20, nearly 400 regular trains transported more than 140,000 people from Ukraine free of charge and 113 special trains carried more than 45,000 passengers, the spokesman for the PLK company, which manages the Polish railway network, Miroslaw Siemieniec.
These were mainly passengers bound for Berlin, but also for Prague and Vienna. war refugees on domestic and international routes.
According to border guards, 2,141,000 people fleeing Russian aggression arrived from Ukraine in Poland from February 24 to March 21. To this figure should be added an unknown number of people who left Ukraine via the Moldavian or Romanian border and then joined Poland, where the Ukrainian community established for some time now numbers around one and a half million people.
The Polish authorities do not have statistics on the total number of refugees who have gone abroad, as they cross the internal borders of the Schengen zone without any control. Poland continued their journey to the West in coaches or passenger cars, and some flew. On the other hand, the Polish border guards counted the people who traveled to Ukraine. Their number reached 274,000 during the same period.
14:39 on 22/03/2022 14:01 on 22/03/2022The Ukrainian army is carrying out counter-offensives which have made it possible, in the south in particular, to regain ground on the Russian troops, confronted with communication difficulties, the Pentagon spokesman assured on Tuesday. The Ukrainian military "are now, in certain situations, on the offensive," John Kirby told CNN, saying they are "chasing the Russians and pushing them out of areas where the Russians were in the past."
13:59 on 03/22/2022The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) listed exactly 3,557,245 Ukrainian refugees on its dedicated website around 12:00 GMT. These are 67,601 more than during the previous score on Monday. Some 90% of those who fled Ukraine are women and children. According to Unicef, more than 1.5 million children are among those who fled.
Poland alone hosts more than half of all refugees who have fled since the beginning of the Russian invasion (about six out of 10 refugees). Since February 24, 2,113,554 refugees have entered Poland.
Romania: 543,308 people - Moldova: 367,913 - Hungary: 317,863 - Slovakia: 253,592 - Russia: 252,376 - Belarus: 4,308 people.
1:42 PM on 03/22/2022Several fires have broken out in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Seven outbreaks have been identified over a total area of more than two square kilometers, according to Ukrainian parliamentarians, who believe that these fires were caused "probably voluntarily" by Russian troops. This information could not be confirmed by an independent source. The region has experienced several forest and brush fires in the past.
13:36 on 03/22/2022Russia's most famous opponent, Alexei Navalny, was sentenced on Tuesday to nine years in prison for "fraud" and "contempt of court", noted journalists from the AFP present at the hearing. Judge Margarita Kotova added to this sentence a year and a half of probation and a fine of 1.2 million rubles, or around 10,000 euros at the daily rate, while the Kremlin critic has already been imprisoned for more than a year. He will have to serve his sentence in a "severe regime penal colony", which means that his conditions of detention will become stricter.
03:10 PM on 03/22/2022Russian deputies approved on Tuesday a law providing for heavy sanctions to punish "false information" on Moscow's action abroad, a new repressive weapon in the Russian arsenal for controlling information about its offensive in Ukraine. This text, adopted at third reading, punishes the "public dissemination of knowingly false information under the guise of reliable information" about the "activities of Russian state bodies outside Russian territory", according to a press release from Parliament.
03:05 PM on 03/22/2022The war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions against Russia will have "a significant impact" on Walloon companies, in particular due to the Region's dependence on certain types of products metallurgical, warned the regional Minister of Economy, Willy Borsus.
Questioned on the subject by numerous deputies, the Minister immediately drew up a picture of the exchanges between Russia and the Walloon Region. "We can note the relative weakness of direct trade links with Russia, which represents for Wallonia less than 3% of imports and less than 1% of exports", he pointed out. Nevertheless, "the covid crisis has reminded us that beyond the scale of these trade flows, our economic fragility is also impacted by their concentration, which very often underlines our strategic dependence on certain specific products. For Wallonia, the The question is therefore rather the risks that excessive concentration entails for our economic fabric", added the Minister.
1:00 PM on 03/22/2022Russian troops cannot withdraw from Ukraine because the Kremlin had "no choice" when it decided to invade its neighbor on February 24, claimed Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Tuesday in an interview broadcast on television and reported by the Russian state agency Tass. The West's "speculation" about Moscow's possible use of nuclear weapons is getting "on everyone's nerves", he added.
12:30 PM on 03/22/2022“We would appreciate the mediating role of the Holy See in ending human suffering” in Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky wrote on Twitter after a telephone interview with the pope, while the Kremlin judged shortly before that the ongoing talks with Kiev were not "substantial" enough.
Talked to @Pontifex. Told His Holiness about the difficult humanitarian situation and the blocking of rescue corridors by Russian troops. The mediating role of the Holy See in ending human suffering would be appreciated. Thank you for the prayers for Ukraine and peace. pic.twitter.com/wj4hmrTRGd
-- Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2022 12:09 PM on 03/22/2022The town of Avdiivka, very close to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, was the target of a Russian attack on Monday evening, killing at least five people and injuring 19, said Lioudmila Denissova, human rights officer at the Ukrainian Parliament.
“Five civilians were killed and 19 wounded,” the Ukrainian official said on her Telegram channel, indicating that Avdiivka had been “targeted by artillery fire and (Russian) aerial bombardment, completely destroying the village. ".
Avdiivka, which in peacetime is home to 30,000 inhabitants, is located in the northwestern suburbs of Donetsk, an industrial center in eastern Ukraine held since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow.
In Lissitchansk, 150 km northeast of Donetsk, two more people were killed, three injured and eight rescued from the rubble following another Russian military strike, she said .
In another message on her Telegram channel published later that morning, Lyudmila Denisova said that a Russian tank had fired in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, at a car carrying a family with two children.
The family allegedly shouted that they were civilians and waved a white flag, to no avail, she said. The parents and their 9-year-old daughter died and a 17-year-old boy was injured, she added.
11:31 AM on 03/22/202211:27 on 03/22/2022The Kremlin ruled on Tuesday that the ongoing talks with Kiev were not "substantial" enough, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky having said to himself ready on his side for "compromises" which he wants to submit by referendum. "A certain process (of negotiations) is taking place, but we would like it to be more energetic, more substantial," Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency, told reporters.
11:25 AM on 03/22/2022Three humanitarian corridors will be opened on Tuesday to allow the evacuation of civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced on the Telegram application. Citizens will be taken to the city of Zaporizhia. Faced with the influx of people fleeing the war, the Ukrainian authorities have already warned that the number of places in the buses chartered for the evacuation would not be sufficient. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 130,000 people still live in Mariupol. They were 440,000 before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
10:30 am on 03/22/2022These are contracts with suppliers with Russian shareholders, explained the company's CEO, As Tempelman. Currently, nearly 15% of the gas it distributes comes from Russia. Eneco, which is also active in Belgium, notably has a long-term contract with the German Wingas, a subsidiary of the Russian Gazprom, which runs until 2030. But the energy distributor does not intend to break its commitment. According to Mr. Tempelmans, the natural gas that would be released could then be sold at a higher price by Russia. In addition, such a decision could jeopardize the "affordable security of supply" of its customers.
09:20 on 03/22/2022A Russian judge on Tuesday found Alexei Navalny guilty of "fraud", paving the way for a new heavy prison sentence against the main opponent of Vladimir Putin, the latest illustration as of growing repression in Russia.
The prosecution requested last week that the two and a half year sentence that the opponent has been serving for a little over a year be increased to 13 years in prison. The activist and lawyer, aged 45 years, has been on trial since mid-February behind the walls of his penal colony, 100 km east of Moscow, in an improvised court.
09:00 on 03/22/2022Two yachts belonging to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have docked in southwestern Turkey, which is not enforcing Western sanctions imposed on Russia's oligarchs after the invasion of Turkey. Ukraine, Turkish media reported on Tuesday. The Eclipse, a 163m-long luxury vessel flying the flag of Bermuda, docked in the port of Marmaris on Tuesday morning, according to Turkish newspapers citing maritime tracing sites. Billed as the second longest yacht in the world, Eclipse is the second boat from Mr Abramovich, owner of English football club Chelsea to drop anchor in Turkey.
08:22 on 03/22/2022US President Joe Biden assured Monday that it was "clear" that Russia is considering using chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, warning that such a decision would lead to a "severe" Western response.
"He's got his back to the wall," Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing out that Moscow recently accused the United States of possessing chemical and biological weapons in Europe.
"It's simply not true. I guarantee it," he insisted during a meeting with American business leaders in Washington. "They (the Russians) also claim that Ukraine has chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine. This is a clear sign that he (Vladimir Putin) plans to use these two types of weapons," he said. he continued.
The US president reiterates a warning issued earlier this month after Russian officials accused Ukraine of trying to hide a supposed Washington-backed chemical weapons program.
"Now that Russia has issued its false accusations and that China seems to be adopting this propaganda, we must monitor any possible use by Russia of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine", warned the spokesperson of the White House Jen Psaki on Twitter.
Joe Biden repeated on Monday that the use of such weapons would expose Moscow to "severe" retaliation from Western powers, without specifying their nature. Vladimir Putin "knows that there will be severe consequences because of the united front of NATO", he warned, without further details.
08:17 on 03/22/2022 08:00 on 03/22/2022The Russian newspaper close to the Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article on Sunday reporting the very heavy toll of 9,861 Russian soldiers killed since the start of the war in Ukraine before deleting this passage.
The media relayed the report of the Russian Ministry of Defense which evoked the loss of 9,861 dead. A much higher number than the 498 officially communicated so far by Moscow. After a few hours online, this passage of the article was however deleted. Several other media were surprised on Monday by the dissemination of such information, arguing that the briefing from the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday did not report the number of Russians killed on the front. Wall Street Journal reporter Yaroslav Trofimov wrote on Twitter; "Either (the site) KP.ru was hacked, or someone published leaked figures."
05:50 on 03/22/2022A group of Russian saboteurs led by a secret service agent were arrested in a town near Ukraine's borders with Slovakia and Hungary, news agency reports Ukrainian UNIAN. This group of about 25 men is described as responsible for carrying out sabotage actions in Ukrainian government quarters and other parts of the country. Press reports indicate that these individuals planned to pose as members of the Ukrainian armed forces in order to make their way to the Ukrainian capital kyiv. This information, relayed by the dpa press agency, could not be independently verified. The Ukrainian government assures that teams of Russian spies have tried to go to kyiv and eliminate President Zelensky on several occasions since the start of the war.
05:40 on 03/22/2022Japan "strongly" protested on Tuesday against Russia's decision to abandon negotiations for a peace treaty between the two countries because, according to Moscow, of the "position unfriendly" from Tokyo on the conflict in Ukraine.
“This situation is (in fact) the result of Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told parliament in Tokyo. "The (Russian) attempt to shift this issue to Japan-Russia relations is extremely unjustified and absolutely unacceptable," he added. Japan “strongly protests”, launched the Japanese leader, once again condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine which “change the status quo by force, unilaterally”. Japan has joined Western countries in recent weeks in imposing heavy economic sanctions on Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine launched on February 24.
Japan and Russia have had a complex relationship for decades. The two countries did not sign a peace treaty after World War II due to a dispute over four small islands in the Kuril archipelago. Russia abruptly announced on Monday that it was abandoning peace negotiations with Japan, judging "impossible to discuss (...) with a state which occupies an openly unfriendly position and seeks to harm the interests" of Moscow.
The country has also announced that it will end a visa exemption allowing Japanese people to travel to the disputed islands and withdraw from negotiations on joint economic activity between the two countries there. The volcanic islands in question, located between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, are called "Southern Kuril Islands" by Russia and "Northern Territories" by Japan. They were taken by the Soviet army in 1945 and have never been returned to Tokyo since. Tokyo considers these four islands, populated by 20,000 inhabitants, as "an integral part of the territory of Japan".
05:00 on 03/22/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ready to discuss with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "compromise" on Donbass and Crimea to "stop the war".
Any compromise on these territories will however have to be ratified by the Ukrainians in a referendum, and be accompanied by security guarantees for his country, he however warned. And he also warned that Ukraine will be "destroyed" before he surrenders.
"During the very first meeting with the President of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues, they are relevant, they are important for us, about the occupied territories," Zelensky said in a statement. interview with Suspilne, a Ukrainian regional public media. He said he was ready, during this hypothetical meeting with Mr. Putin, to "try to address everything that upsets and displeases Russia".
"A very difficult story"
"I believe that the issue of Crimea and Donbass is a very difficult story for everyone," Zelensky admitted. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, and Donbass is a region in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have proclaimed two "republics", recognized only by Moscow. "I believe that, without this meeting, it is impossible to fully understand what they (the Russians) are ready for in order to stop the war", continued the Ukrainian head of state.
"To find a way out, we must first take the first step towards security guarantees" and end hostilities, he noted. A possible agreement with Moscow on Crimea and Donbass will have to be submitted to a referendum, he warned. "I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes, and they can be historic, (...) we will come to a referendum," he said.
"The people will have to decide on certain forms of compromise. And what they (the compromises) will consist of is up to our conversations" with Russia, continued the Ukrainian president. "I am ready for anything, as long as it is in agreement with our people," he insisted. "In no way do I want to divide our state." He reiterated that Ukraine could "not accept any ultimatum from Russia". "I don't want history to make us heroes and a nation that doesn't exist," he said, "if the nation is destroyed, there will be no room for heroism. ".
Mr. Zelensky also spoke at length about the key issue of NATO. "We have all already understood this. We are not accepted (in NATO), because they (its member states) are afraid of Russia. That's all. And we have to calm down and say: OK , (it will take) other security guarantees,” he said. "There are NATO countries who want to be guarantors of (Ukraine's) security (...) who are ready to do everything that the Alliance would have to do if we were members of it. And I think it's a normal compromise," Zelensky added. Moscow says it wants a guarantee that Ukraine will never enter NATO, an organization created to protect Europe from the threat of the USSR at the start of the Cold War and which has gradually expanded to the gates of Russia.
04:45 on 03/22/2022The United Nations General Assembly will convene on Wednesday in an effort to reach a new resolution on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A draft resolution on the humanitarian consequences of war is expected to gain broad support among the 193 UN members. It was likely, but still uncertain, that a vote would take place on Wednesday, diplomats said. According to these sources, the objective is to reach at least 141 votes in favor of the document, as was the case for a previous resolution on this conflict, adopted by the general assembly earlier this month. The draft of this new resolution, consulted by the dpa news agency, calls among other things for an immediate cessation of hostilities by Russia against Ukraine, in particular attacks targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. The document also calls on Moscow to withdraw its armed forces from Ukraine immediately. Another draft resolution has also been tabled by South Africa and does not mention Russian aggression. It is unclear whether this will be put to a vote.
04:00 on 03/22/2022A video conference between EU agriculture ministers and their Ukrainian counterpart Roman Leshchenko had to quickly end due to a bomb scare in Ukraine. Mr Leshchenko was participating remotely in this meeting of ministers in Brussels when sirens sounded in the undisclosed location where the Ukrainian minister was, confirmed the French Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, whose country holds the rotating presidency. of the EU. The agricultural sector in Ukraine, a major producer of wheat and corn but also a leading exporter of sunflower oil, was hard hit by the Russian invasion. During the exchange, Mr. Leshchenko appealed to European allies for food aid and support for Ukrainian agriculture.
01:30 on 03/22/2022A demonstration of civilians in Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, was dispersed on Monday by automatic weapons fire, stun grenades and gas tear gas, which left at least one injured, according to Ukrainian officials.
"In Kherson, the occupiers fired at people who had come out peacefully, unarmed, to protest. For freedom, for our freedom," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video at dawn on Tuesday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba meanwhile denounced on Twitter "Russian war criminals (who) opened fire on unarmed people peacefully demonstrating against the invaders". Video images broadcast by local media show protesters advancing towards the center of Freedom Square, chanting "glory to Ukraine!", and at the same time soldiers going to meet them before opening fire. Videos taken from at least two different angles then show the flight of several dozen demonstrators under heavy fire. They were broadcast on social networks by two local media, Souspilné Novini and Most Kherson.
There is no indication from these images that the automatic weapons fire was aimed directly at the demonstrators or caused any casualties. A Kherson regional council official, Yuriy Sobolevsky, said on his Facebook page that Russian forces dispersed the crowd by "firing into the air" and using "gas, flares and stun grenades", making several "victims". Kherson, close to Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014, is the first large city (more than 200,000 inhabitants) seized by Russian forces after their invasion of Ukraine on February 24. It has since been the scene of regular demonstrations by its inhabitants against the occupier. A large gathering on Sunday March 13 had been the subject of what appeared to be warning shots.
01:30 on 03/22/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on the need for a "meeting", "in any form", with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to "stop the war" in Ukraine.
“I believe that, without this meeting, it is impossible to fully understand what they (the Russians) are ready for in order to stop the war,” Zelensky said in an interview with Suspilne, a Ukrainian regional state media .
Mr. Zelensky, for whom, as he recently stressed, "without negotiations, the war will not be stopped", has already repeatedly called for a summit meeting with Mr Putin, but his call on Monday is particularly insistent . Several sessions of talks have taken place face-to-face and by videoconference between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Mr. Zelensky also said in his televised address on Monday evening that any "compromise" in the negotiations with Russia would be subject to a referendum in Ukraine. "I told all the negotiating groups that if we discuss all the changes, even if they're historic, we're not going anywhere. We'll have a referendum," Zelensky said. He affirms that the population must express its opinion on "this or that form" of compromise.
12:57 AM on 03/22/2022The President of the United States Joe Biden considered on Monday that it was a "patriotic" duty for American companies to better protect themselves from possible computer attacks carried out by Russia in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine.
“The national interest is at stake. (...) It is a patriotic duty to invest as much as you can” in cybersecurity, he said during a meeting in Washington with officials. business representatives. "Russia could be preparing an action against us (...). Russia has substantial computer resources, and it will happen," he said again. According to the White House, essential infrastructures, mainly operated and owned by the American private sector, could be targeted.
21:44 on 21/03/2022Europol in turn warned of the risk for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the invasion of their country of falling into human trafficking networks when arriving in the EU, urging host countries to remain vigilant. “The number of potential victims arriving from Ukraine is likely to attract both individual and opportunistic attackers posing as volunteers as well as criminal networks specializing in human trafficking,” warned the European agency. police in a press release.
Read also: Already cases of exploitation of Ukrainian refugees in Belgium
The areas of greatest concern are, according to Europol, border areas, reception and accommodation centers as well as transport hubs such as train and bus stations. Eastern Europe has been a region of source for exploited human trafficking victims across the EU. It is also a region of origin of members of many criminal networks, recalled Europol. Most of those fleeing Ukraine are women, children and vulnerable people at risk of sexual and labor exploitation as well as forced crime and begging, or other criminal activities. "Countries hosting refugees from Ukraine should remain alert to indications or attempts to recruit potential victims of human trafficking," Europol said. “In the short term, the highest risks relate to the potential targeting of victims by criminals under the guise of promising transport, free housing, employment or other forms of immediate support,” Europol explained.
21:22 on 03/21/2022The Russian media regulator has blocked access to the site of the French channel Euronews, a new media banned in Russia amid increased control over information related to the offensive in Ukraine . According to Russian news agencies, Roskomnadzor blocked the site of the euronews.com channel and its Russian version ru.euronews.com at the request of the Prosecutor's Office. The reason for this blocking was not specified.
Since the start of the Russian intervention in Ukraine on February 24, the Russian government has considerably tightened its control over the information disseminated on the Internet, one of the last spaces for free expression in the country. Many Russian and foreign media, including the BBC, were banned from access and American social networks Facebook and Instagram were declared "extremist" by a Moscow court on Monday.
Access to Twitter has also been restricted.
Also read: How Soviet propaganda is making many Russians ignorant and indifferent
20:50 on 03/21/2022The European Union has denounced the destruction committed indiscriminately by the Russian army in the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine as a "major war crime" and decided to double its financial support for the purchase of armaments sent to Kiev.
"We have a political agreement to add 500 million euros to the funding of the European Peace Facility" in order to continue supplying armaments to the Ukrainian authorities, announced the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell at the from a meeting in Brussels with EU foreign and defense ministers on the Russian-led war. A first envelope of 500 million has been exhausted and the requests of the Ukrainian government require the commitment of a second tranche of funds, a European source explained. The "European Peace Facility" is a fund endowed with 5 billion euros topped up by the Member States outside the Community budget.
"What is happening in Mariupol is a major war crime. The indiscriminate bombings are devastating the city and killing everyone", denounced Josep Borrell and several ministers.
Several European ministers spoke out on Monday for a new wave of economic sanctions to isolate Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. "No decision was taken today and no new set of sanctions will be decided this week," announced Josep Borrell. "But guidance will be given on Thursday and Friday at the summit of heads of state and government and it will be followed by concrete decisions," he explained.
20:47 on 03/21/2022The detention in the Netherlands of two Ukrainians suspected of human trafficking was suspended last Friday due to the war in Ukraine and the call of the Ukrainian government to defend the country, "extraordinary, serious circumstances", according to a decision of the court of Zeeland and West Brabant (west). The two men, respectively aged 29 and 27 and from the city of Loutsk (northwest of the Ukraine), are suspected of having helped eleven Albanians who were trying to reach England by boat, the prosecution told AFP on Monday.
Their detention was suspended due to "the war situation in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government's appeal to its people to defend the country", the defendants' wish to respond to this appeal and their interest in being with their family, explained the court. social interest served by the continued detention on remand".
"To our knowledge, this has never happened before in the Netherlands," a court spokeswoman told AFP. she specified, and the suspects will not have to be present at their trial. But conditions for their release have been defined. “If they receive a prison sentence, they will ultimately have to serve this sentence,” explained the spokesperson.
20:13 on 03/21/2022Any "compromise" in negotiations with Russia to end the conflict will be subject to a referendum in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a media interview on Monday Ukrainian regional public." I explained it to all the negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes (which will appear in a possible agreement, editor's note), and they can be historic, (...) we will come to a referendum," he told Suspilne, a news website. "The people will have to decide on certain forms of compromise. And what they (the compromises) will consist of is up to our conversations" with Russia, he continued.
Mr. In this regard, Zelensky returned at length to the key question of NATO, an organization to which his country will not be able to join, as he recently conceded. "We have all already understood this. We are not accepted (in NATO), because they (its member states) are afraid of Russia. That's all. And we have to calm down and say: "Okay, (we will need) other security guarantees", he underlined. "There are NATO countries which want to be guarantors of the security (of Ukraine) (...) which are ready to do everything that the Alliance should do if we were members of it. And I think that's a normal compromise," Zelensky said.
Moscow says it wants a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO, an organization created to protect Europe from the threat of the USSR at the start of the Cold War and which has since gradually expanded to the gates of Russia.
07:49 PM on 03/21/2022US President Joe Biden has called on companies to protect themselves from possible cyberattacks carried out by Russia in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine.
“My government reiterates these warnings based on constantly evolving intelligence data that the Russian state is considering different avenues of potential cyberattacks,” the president wrote in a statement released by the White House. . Read more
19:15 on 202/03/21218:55 on 2022/03/21An online reservation system will be set up at the registration center for Ukrainian refugees, the Office for strangers. He should avoid the formation of too large queues in front of Palace 8 of Heysel where the center is located.
Last Monday, the registration center that took place on the Brussels Expo site officially took over from the former Bordet Institute, which was too small to accommodate the influx of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. In total, since the decision taken by the European Union to grant Ukrainians temporary protection status, no less than 11,800 people have been registered in Belgium. About forty counters have been opened where, in clusters, people who are waiting outside Palace 8 are welcomed, especially women and children as well as the elderly. According to current estimates, around 200,000 people could be registered in Belgium.
The formation of long queues, sometimes from very early in the morning, has been observed in the park bordering Hall 8. To remedy this, a "ticketing" system will be implemented no later than Tuesday morning. People with a Ukrainian passport or identity card will be able to register for a specific day and time in order to be received and registered. The number of counters will also be increased, from 42 to 64. Information will be available either through the panels installed around Palace 8, or online on the site managed by the crisis center "info-ukraine.be ".
However, the situation already seemed to be improving after hearing from the Immigration Office. This Monday, at the beginning of the afternoon, the park was empty, said the spokesperson.
18:45 on 03/21/2022After rising energy prices, will the war in Ukraine also drive up prices in Belgian supermarkets? The price of cereals and sunflower oil are expected to increase in the coming weeks, indirectly impacting other food products.
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18:35 on 03/21/2022Russia has stepped up its air and naval operations in Ukraine in the face of resistance from Ukrainian forces which continue to hamper the advance of the Russian military in the country, a senior official said. Pentagon official. “Over the past 24 to 48 hours, we have seen an increase in air activity on both sides,” said the senior official, who requested anonymity, during a press briefing.
"The Russians have carried out more than 300 sorties in the last 24 hours and the Ukrainians have also accelerated the pace of their sorties", he added, without quantifying the sorties of the Ukrainian aviation, much less larger than the Russian Air Force. These operations do not manifest themselves in dogfights, he said. The Russian Air Force tends to fire air-to-surface missiles at Ukrainian targets from Russian or Belarusian airspace. "They don't venture very far or very long into Ukrainian airspace" which the Ukrainians defend "with great dexterity," he said.
“We have seen an increase in naval activity in the northern Black Sea,” the official from the US Department of Defense also indicated. "The Russians have just over a dozen warships" in this area, including amphibious ships, combat vessels, minesweepers and patrol boats, "and we believe that at least one of the bombardments of Odessa “comes from this area, he explained. "We believe it would be wrong to conclude that this is a sign that Odessa is under imminent threat from an amphibious assault," he said.
5:54 PM on 03/21/2022Ukraine “cannot accept any ultimatum from Russia” to “stop the war,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday in an interview with Ukrainian regional state media.
“We must all be destroyed first, only then their ultimatums will be respected,” he told Suspilne, a regional news site that published the video of this interview. "We (the Russians) issue an ultimatum, here are all the points, fill them in and then we will stop the war: it is not correct, it will not bring results", he continued, hammering that "the people are united".
Moscow, for example, would like the cities of Kharkiv (north-east), Mariupol (south-east) or Kiev, the capital, to go, underlined the Ukrainian head of state. But “neither the inhabitants of Kharkiv, neither those of Mariupol, nor those of Kiev, nor myself, the president, we cannot do it," he said. "And we see it well in the occupied cities of Melitopol, Berdyansk (...), people do not let themselves be done. They (the Russians) put up a flag, people remove it", affirmed Mr. Zelensky. "What do you want? Destroy us all. That's why I answer: we can only respect this ultimatum if we are no longer here", he concluded.
17:32 on 03/21/2022The Russian military has claimed that the shopping center ravaged by a powerful strike overnight in kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, is vacant and used as an arms and ammunition depot.
“A battery of Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers and a storage base for their ammunition were destroyed with long-range precision weapons on the night of March 21 in an inoperative commercial center,” said the Russian ministry of security. the Defense in its regular briefing on the offensive in Ukraine.
17:10 on 03/21/2022Russia announced to abandon negotiations with Japan, the two countries having never signed an agreement since the Second World War due to a territorial dispute, arguing the "unfriendly position" of Tokyo in the face of the conflict in Ukraine.
"Russia does not intend, under the current circumstances, to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
16:42 on 03/21/2022A demonstration by residents of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, was dispersed by automatic weapons fire and tear gas, which injured at least one, according to videos from two local media.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba denounced on Twitter "Russian war criminals (who) opened fire on unarmed people peacefully demonstrating against the invaders".
We see on the images of the protesters advancing towards the center of the Place de la Liberté and at the same time soldiers going to meet them before opening fire. Videos taken from at least two different angles then show the flight of several dozen demonstrators under heavy fire.
In Kherson, Russian war criminals opened fire at unarmed people who peacefully protested against invaders. You can see a wounded pensioner. This is the ugly face of Russia, a disgrace to humankind. We must stop Russia! Sanction them, isolate them, hold war criminals to account. pic.twitter.com/WeItSykD3q
-- Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 21, 2022 4:25 PM on 03/21/2022Russian chess player Sergey Karjakin, who faced Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in 2016 for the world championship title, was suspended for six months from all international competition because of his positions supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Ethics Commission of the International Chess Federation (Fide) considered that the speeches of the 32-year-old Russian, who fervently approved of the invasion of Ukraine, could "undermine the reputation of chess and/or Fide," according to a statement released on Monday.
It therefore "sanctioned him with a ban on participation" in any classified competition organized by Fide for six months from Monday.
03:56 PM on 03/21/2022Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday called on China to "play an important role" in finding a solution to end the conflict with Russia.
"We share Beijing's position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine, and call on China, as a world power, to play an important role in these efforts," wrote the Minister on his Twitter account.
For decades, the Ukrainian-Chinese relations have been based on mutual respect, understanding and benefit. We share Beijing's position on the need to find a political solution to the war against Ukraine and call on China as a global power to play an important role in this effort.
-- Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 21, 2022 3:55 PM on 03/21/2022Russia has summoned US Ambassador to Moscow and accused President Joe Biden of driving Russian-US relations” on the brink of rupture" by his "unworthy" statements aimed at Vladimir Putin.
The statements of Mr. Biden, who notably called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for his offensive in Ukraine, “are unworthy of a high-ranking statesman”, estimated the ministry Russian Foreign Affairs in a statement issued after the summons of the American representative.
03:45 PM on 03/21/2022The bombardments continue on Monday on the capital Kiev, where the Ukrainian forces are resisting, while Mariupol continues to be pounded, without for the moment the Russian forces completely controlling this strategic southern port city. More informations.
2:28 PM on 03/21/2022A collection of speeches and an "unpublished address to the French" by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be published in May, the French editions Grasset announced on Monday.
"Grasset editions announce the exclusive publication of a book by President Zelensky composed of a set of selected speeches and an unpublished address to the French. This book will constitute the first world edition of his speeches", indicated the publisher in a statement to AFP.
The title of the book has not been disclosed. "All profits from the sale of the book will be donated to the support organization for the Ukrainian people managed by the Ukrainian Embassy in Paris," added Grasset.
13:15 on 03/21/202212:10 on 03/21/2022The Russian security services (FSB) have demanded the "immediate" banning of American social networks Facebook and Instagram, on the first day of a trial for "extremism" in a context of increased repression since the offensive in Ukraine.
"The activities of Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) are directed against Russia and its armed forces. We demand its prohibition and the obligation to apply this measure immediately", declared during the hearing FSB spokesman Igor Kovalevski was quoted by the Interfax news agency. A prosecutor also called for Meta to be banned, "due to clear signs of extremist activity." However, he asked to exempt the messaging application WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, from this ban. On March 11, the Russian prosecutor's office had asked Meta to be classified as an "extremist" organization, a measure paving the way for the banning of all its activities in Russia.
Also read: How Soviet propaganda is making many Russians ignorant and indifferent
12:07 on 03/21/2022The bar of 3.5 million refugees linked to the Russian offensive in Ukraine has been crossed, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More than two million have traveled to Poland, he said in Geneva.
In total, more than 3.4 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive. Among them, more than 180,000 are nationals of other countries, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). To this total must be added 50,000 people who had joined Russia from the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the three days preceding the war.
In addition to Poland, more than 530,000 people fled to Romania. They are nearly 370,000 to have gone to Moldova, more than 310,000 to Hungary, more than 250,000 to Slovakia and more than 230,000 to Russia. Even more people fled but remained in Ukraine.
With these internally displaced persons, the number of those forced to leave their homes exceeds 10 million, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said on social media on Sunday.
12:04 PM on 03/21/2022Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, at least 115 children have lost their lives, the Ukrainian public prosecutor's office said. More than 140 children were also injured.
It was in the capital, Kyiv, that most of the young victims died. According to the prosecution, some 530 school buildings were attacked by Russian troops. Of these, 72 would have been completely destroyed. However, these figures could not be independently verified.
Read also: War in Ukraine: under international law, there are many possibilities for action for the allies
11:35 on 03/21/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the European Union to stop all "trade" with Russia, and in particular to refuse its energy resources, in a video on Telegram messaging.
"No euros for the occupiers, close all your ports to them, do not send them your goods, refuse energy resources", pleaded the Ukrainian president. “Without trade with you, without your companies and your banks, Russia will have no more money for this war,” he added.
11:22 on 03/21/2022Eight evacuation corridors will be set up to evacuate civilians from besieged areas in Ukraine. These corridors will also be used for the delivery of humanitarian goods, announced the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk.
People fleeing the area of Mariupol, a major port city in southeastern Ukraine besieged by Russian forces, must be brought to safety in Zaporizhia. Evacuations are also planned from besieged towns north and east of Kiev. An exodus is still planned from the area around the towns of Shevherodonetsk and Lysychansk, in the pro-Russian separatist region of Lugansk, to the city of Bakhmut, in the other separatist region of Donetsk.
11:18 am on 03/21/2022The Kremlin has estimated that a potential European embargo on Russian oil would hit "everyone", at a time when the European Union must study at a meeting the possibility of new sanctions against Moscow.
“Such an embargo would have a very serious influence on the world oil market, a harmful influence on the energy market in Europe. Europeans," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency.
"It's a decision that would strike everyone," he continued, during a press briefing.
Also read: "The brutal truth is that the war in Ukraine is impoverishing Belgium" (analysis)
11:15 AM on 03/21/2022Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced that a new curfew will be imposed in the Ukrainian capital from Monday evening until Wednesday morning.
"It will start today at 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) and last until 7:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT) on March 23," the former world boxing champion wrote on his Telegram channel.
11:08 on 03/21/2022Shopping center bombed: at least 8 dead in kyiv
Russian troops were still trying to encircle Kiev: in the night from Sunday to Monday, a bombardment of a shopping center in the northwest of the capital killed at least eight people, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
The complex was devastated by a very powerful strike that formed a gaping crater several meters wide in front of a charred 10-story building.
Ammonia leak in northern Ukraine-
In the north of the country, the regional governor of Sumy reported an "ammonia leak" in an area of 2.5 km around a factory that produces fertilizers. Ukrainian authorities have ordered residents of s Shelter in basements or low rise buildings to avoid exposure to this lighter than air product.
Around 07:45 GMT, the Ukrainian emergency services indicated on Twitter that the accident, caused by a bombardment of unspecified origin, was "over".
Russia's defense minister has accused 'nationalists' of 'mining' ammonia and chlorine storage facilities to 'massively poison local residents, should they enter the city' of the Russians.
Mariupol: kyiv rejects ultimatum to capitulate
Ukraine will not "lay down its arms and will not leave the besieged city" of Mariupol (south), declared its Deputy Prime Minister to a Ukrainian media, in reaction to the ultimatum posed by Russia. There is no talk of surrender or laying down arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this," Iryna Vereshchuk told the Ukrayinskaya Pravda newspaper.
The Russian Defense Ministry had called on Ukraine to "lay down its arms" and demanded a "written response" to its ultimatum before 5 a.m. Monday, in the name of safeguarding the inhabitants and infrastructure of the city of Mariupol, ravaged by bombardments and fighting. Mrs Vereshchuk demands the opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow some 350,000 people still stranded in Mariupol to leave.
Kidnapped children in orphanages
The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister affirms the existence of kidnappings in orphanages: "350 children will be taken by force to Russia without allowing us to recover them", she told the Russians, asking them to say "in which orphanage" they will be placed, and "why". "It's terrorism," she said.
Assault on Mariupol 'a major war crime' (EU)
“What is happening in Mariupol is a major war crime. The indiscriminate bombardments are devastating the city and killing everyone,” European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell denounced on Monday.
The port city of Mariupol is a central target for the Russians. It forms a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea, to the southwest, and territory controlled by Russia since the February 24 invasion, to the north and east.
Biden in Warsaw on Friday
The American president will travel to Warsaw on Friday to meet his Polish counterpart. The White House has clarified that Biden will meet with NATO, G7 and European Union leaders in Brussels beforehand.
Zelensky hopes for Israeli mediation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight from Sunday to Monday that Jerusalem would be "the right place to find peace", referring to the negotiations with Russia, which he calls for.
"Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is trying to find a way for negotiation with Russia and we are grateful to him. For all his efforts, so that sooner or later we can start the discussion with Russia. Maybe in Jerusalem. It's the right place to find peace. If it's possible," the Ukrainian head of state said in a video posted on Telegram.
10:41 am on 03/21/2022The ammonia leak from a chemical plant located in the Ukrainian city of Sumy (northeast) does not pose any danger to the population, claimed on the Telegram messaging application civil authorities. The leak would meanwhile be plugged. The ammonia leak would have been produced when a tank was damaged by a bombardment. A factory worker was injured in the incident.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the leak had meanwhile been closed. The information, however, could not be independently cross-checked.
10:19 am on 21/03/2022The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell on Monday declared the destruction committed indiscriminately by the Russian army in the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine as a "major war crime".
“What is happening in Mariupol is a major war crime. the European Union, devoted to examining new sanctions against Moscow.
Read also: War in Ukraine: under international law, there are many possibilities for action for the allies
10:16 on 03/21/2022Ukrainian authorities have asked residents of the northern town of Novosselytsya to take shelter after an ammonia "leak" at a nearby chemical plant, fighting against troops Russian forces still raging in the region.
Around 07:45 GMT, the Ukrainian emergency services indicated on Twitter that the accident, caused by a bombardment of unspecified origin, was "over".
Earlier, the governor of the Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytsky, had reported an "ammonia leak" in the facilities of the Sumykhimprom company, affecting an area of 2.5 kilometers around the plant, which produce fertilizer.
Residents were told to seek refuge in basements or low-rise buildings to avoid exposure. "Ammonia is lighter than air, therefore shelters, cellars and lower floors should be used for protection," Jyvytsky wrote in a message posted on Telegram messaging.
08:43 on 03/21/2022Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: update on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
08:12 on 03/21/2022Staff rotations at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began on Sunday for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Energy Agency announced atomic.
"The Ukrainian national regulatory authority has confirmed that those who left have already been replaced by other Ukrainian employees," he added, "welcoming" this partial rotation.
Prior to today's rotation, the same work crew had been at the site since the day before Russian forces entered the area, which the IAEA said "endangered" one of the "pillars" of nuclear security, namely that personnel can make decisions without undue pressure".
Russian forces took control of the plant on February 24, but around 100 Ukrainian technicians who were finishing their night shifts continued to manage daily operations at the site, where radioactive waste has been since the accident of 1986, the worst in history.
07:41 on 03/21/2022Bodies of victims were lying outside the Retroville shopping center in northwest kyiv this morning, according to an AFP journalist.
The site was hit by a very powerful strike that pulverized vehicles and left a gaping crater several meters wide in the parking lot in front of a charred and still smoking ten-storey building.
The entire southern part of the huge mall was destroyed, along with a fitness club in the parking lot. Debris, destroyed vehicles, twisted scrap, littered the stage for hundreds of meters.
On Monday morning, firefighters and soldiers were busy in the rubble to search for other victims.
06:35 on 03/21/2022An ammonia leak from a chemical plant is reported in the Ukrainian city of Sumy (northeast), a region where fighting is raging. A regional army official alerted the population via the Telegram application asking all residents within a radius of five kilometers around the factory to take shelter in the basement to avoid being in contact with poisonous gas.
"Ammonia is lighter than air, therefore shelters, cellars and lower floors should be used for protection," Zhyvytsky wrote in a message posted on Telegram messenger.
The extent and cause of the incident are unclear at this stage.
06:26 on 03/21/2022New negotiations between kyiv and Moscow will take place today by videoconference to find a solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
This was agreed by Ukrainian and Russian negotiators. The two camps want to resume their talks, assured Sunday the head of the Ukrainian delegation Mykhailo Podoliak, quoted by the Ukrainian news agency Unian.
The last high-level discussions for a return to peace date back to last Monday. Mr. Podoliak. He had previously assured that negotiations with Moscow on ending the war would still take "several weeks", but that there were signs that Moscow's position was becoming more "reasonable" and realistic, without giving details.
06:22 on 03/21/2022Ukrainian leaders have rejected an ultimatum issued by the Russian military for the surrender of the port city of Mariupol.
"There will be no surrender, no laying down of arms," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk assured Ukrayinska Pravda at dawn on Monday. The Ukrainian response to the Russian ultimatum has already been communicated, she confirmed. "It's deliberate manipulation and real hostage-taking," she added of the request.
She demanded instead that the Russian army open more humanitarian corridors from the besieged city on the Sea of Azov.
00:06 on 03/21/2022Several more explosions were reported on Sunday evening in the Ukrainian capital kyiv. According to the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitschko, several homes in the Podilsky district, west of the metropolis, were damaged. A shopping center was also hit, killing one person. Finally, a fire is also reported.
A huge explosion shook the city during the attack and fires were visible in the rubble of the Retroville shopping center, according to AFP journalists. “Enemy fire” caused a fire on several floors of the shopping center located in the Podilsky district, in the northwest of the city, and set fire to several vehicles, for their part specified the emergency services on Facebook .
20:35 on 03/20/2022"Andrei Nikolaevich Paliï was killed in the fighting to liberate Mariupol from the Ukrainian Nazis", wrote on Telegram Mikhail Razvojayev, the governor of Sevastopol. This city on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Russia, is the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
According to Razvojayev, Andrei Paliy, a "true officer from a military dynasty" who enjoyed "great authority over the Russian fleet", perished in the clashes around Mariupol, a strategic port city in the south of eastern Ukraine besieged by the Russian army for several weeks.
According to the Russian media, Andreï Paliï was in 2020 deputy commander of the Russian forces in Syria where Russia has been intervening militarily since September 2015 in support of the forces of the regime of Bashar al-Assad
19:15 on 03/20/2022"Ukraine made its choice 80 years ago and we have Righteous who hid Jews, it is time for Israel to make its choice (...) indifference kills, calculations kill,” Zelensky said in a speech in Ukrainian translated into Hebrew.
“It is possible to mediate between countries, but not between good and evil,” he added, as the Jewish state took a cautious stance after the Russian invasion of Israel. Ukraine, claiming special ties with both countries. Additionally, Israel has over one million citizens from the former Soviet Union.
"One may wonder why we cannot receive weapons from you and why Israel has not imposed serious sanctions against Russia?" Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president further called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a tragedy for "Jews and the whole world", drawing parallels with the Holocaust, the Jewish genocide by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
"The Kremlin is using Nazi terminology, the Nazis were talking about the 'final solution' for the Jewish question, you will never forget that and now Moscow is talking about the 'final solution' for Ukraine," he said. hammered.
"We cannot rewrite the history of the Holocaust, this genocide which was also committed on Ukrainian soil. The war is terrible, but comparing it to the horrors of the Holocaust and the final solution is revolting," said reacted on Twitter Yoaz Hendel, the Israeli Minister of Communications.
"Politics aside, we are witnessing an event where the distinction between right and wrong, between the aggressor and the aggressor, is clear. The time for moral clarity has come," said Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai in front of pro-Ukrainian demonstrators gathered in the center of the Israeli metropolis.
17:22 on 20/03/2022These new waves of deadly bombardments, in particular on the besieged port city of Mariupol (south-east) whose streets are according to testimonies strewn with corpses, intervene while negotiations already in courses between delegations.
“I am ready for negotiations with (Vladimir Putin). I have been ready for the past two years and I believe that without negotiations the war will not be stopped,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast by CNN .
"We know that the building was destroyed and that peaceful people are still under the rubble. The death toll is being clarified," the municipality said on Telegram. These statements could not immediately be independently verified.
To inflict "such a thing on a peaceful city (...), it is an act of terror which will be remembered even in the next century", indignantly Mr. Zelensky, denouncing a new "war crime ".
16:20 on 20/03/2022NATO has started the deployment of Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries on Slovak territory to strengthen the defense of its western flank, announced the Slovak Minister of Defense, Jaroslav Nad on Facebook.
It is the German and Dutch forces which, at the request of NATO, will install these anti-aircraft defense systems in the vicinity of the Sliac base, in the center of the country.
According to Minister Nad, this deployment is temporary in nature.
The batteries can also be moved to protect a larger territory.
Slovakia shares a 100 km border with Ukraine. The country already has old S-300 anti-aircraft missiles that still date from the Soviet period.
14:50 on 03/20/2022"Of course it's not an easy thing to come to an understanding while the war continues, civilians are killed, but we would like to say that the dynamic is progressing," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in comments broadcast live by Turkey's official Anadolu news agency. "We see that the parties are close to an agreement," he added.
According to Cavusoglu, Turkey is in contact with the negotiating teams of the two countries. He nevertheless refused to divulge the details of the talks because "we are playing the role of honest mediator and facilitator".
In an interview with the daily Hurriyet, the spokesman for the Turkish presidency, ?brahim Kalin, indicated that the two parties were negotiating on six points: Ukraine's neutrality, disarmament and security guarantees, so-called "de-nazification", the removal of obstacles to the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, the status of the separatist region of Donbass and the status of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014.
Turkey has said it is ready to host a meeting between Mr. Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We are working day and night for peace," Cavusoglu said on Sunday.
1:50 PM on 03/20/2022“The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million people have fled, either internally displaced or refugees abroad,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, everywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes.
The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled — either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad.
The humanitarian situation in Mariupol, as in several other besieged cities, is dire. Families have recounted the corpses lying on the streets for days, hunger, thirst and the biting cold of nights spent in cellars with sub-zero temperatures.
A group of 19 children, most of them orphans, are "in great danger", stranded in a sanatorium, their guardians having been unable to recover them due to the fighting, their relatives and witnesses told the AFP.
To inflict "such a thing on a peaceful city (...), it is an act of terror which will be remembered even in the next century", indignantly Ukrainian President Zelensky. The siege of Mariupol "will go down in history for war crimes", he said.
In the north of the country, the mayor of Chernihiv, Vladislav Atroshenko, described an "absolute humanitarian disaster" in his city.
"The indiscriminate artillery fire in residential areas continues, dozens of civilians are killed, children and women," he told television. "There is no electricity, heating and water, the city's infrastructure is completely destroyed." In a bombed hospital, "operated patients lie in the corridors in a temperature of 10 degrees," he said.
The strikes have not stopped either in Kiev, the capital, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv, a large Russian-speaking city in the northwest, where at least 500 people have been killed since the start of the war, according to official figures Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian president said that 180,000 people have so far been able to flee from combat zones through humanitarian corridors.
"But the occupiers continue to block humanitarian aid, especially around sensitive areas. It's a well-known tactic. (...) It's a war crime," Zelensky said on Saturday. .
According to the Ukrainian authorities, 6,623 people were evacuated through the humanitarian corridors on Saturday, including 4,128 fleeing Mariupol and 1,820 fleeing Kyiv.
Since February 24, more than 3.2 million Ukrainians have taken the road to exile, nearly two-thirds of them to Poland, sometimes only a stopover before continuing their exodus.
10:45 on 20/03/2022The local authorities in Mariupol have accused the Russian army of bombing an art school serving as a refuge for several hundred people. Statements could not be independently verified immediately. Civilians were trapped under the rubble.
"Yesterday, Russian occupiers dropped bombs on the G12 art school on the left bank of Mariupol, where 400 Mariupol residents -- women, children and the elderly -- had refugees", declared the municipality of this port city besieged by the forces of Moscow.
"We know that the building was destroyed and that peaceful people are still under the rubble. The death toll is being clarified," she added in a statement posted on Telegram.
09:30 AM on 03/20/2022For the second day in a row, Russia has claimed to have used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, this time to destroy a Ukrainian army fuel reserve in the south of the country.
"A large reserve of fuel was destroyed by Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea, as well as hypersonic ballistic missiles fired by the Kinjal aviation system from the airspace of Crimea," said the Ministry of Defense in a press release, without specifying the date of this strike.
06:47 on 03/20/2022The National Security Council of Ukraine has suspended the work of a number of pro-Russian parties, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a video message.
These include two parties that sit in parliament.
This decision will be valid as long as martial law applies in the territory. "The activities of these politicians, aimed at division or collaboration, will not succeed, but (on the contrary) will cause a severe reaction (on our part)", declared the Ukrainian head of state.
05:28 on 03/20/2022"We have to talk about additional means again. We need in the short term, that is to say this year, an additional envelope to meet the most If the government agrees to increase the budget, we will first work on equipping our soldiers and on cybersecurity. We do not yet know how many millions it is. to reach 2%? Maybe not. But that's not the most important thing. What matters is what we do with these additional resources", explains the Minister.Find out more
04:55 on 03/20/2022"One of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is destroyed. The economic losses for Ukraine are immense," said MP Lesia Vasylenko, who posted on her Twitter account a video showing thick columns of smoke rising from an industrial complex.
Another MP, Serhiy Taruta, wrote on his Facebook page that the Russian forces, besieging Mariupol, "virtually destroyed the factory".
Azovstal's general manager, Enver Tskitishvili, said in a video message posted on Telegram that his company had taken precautionary measures at the plant from the start of the Russian invasion, to prevent any damage to the plant. 'environment. "The coke oven batteries no longer represent a danger to the lives of the inhabitants. We have also shut down the blast furnaces properly," he said. "We will return to the city, rebuild and resurrect the business," he promised, without specifying the extent of the damage.
The Azovstal factory in Mariupol belongs to the Metinvest group, controlled by the richest man in Ukraine, Rinat Akhmetov.
#Mariupol #Azovstal One of the biggest metallurgical plants in #Europe destroyed. The economic losses for #Ukraine are huge. The environment is devastated #StopRussiaNOW pic.twitter.com/4GMbkYb0es
-- Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) March 19, 2022 02:30 AM on 03/20/2022The mayor of the northern city of Chernihiv has issued a heartbreaking plea for help as his city is surrounded by Russian troops.
"Indiscriminate artillery bombardments continue on inhabited areas, killing peaceful people", denounced Vladyslav Atroshenko. According to the mayor, the city of nearly 300,000 inhabitants, located not far from the Russian and Belarusian borders, is facing a humanitarian disaster.
"There is no electricity, no water, no heating and the city's infrastructure is completely destroyed." Health infrastructure was also reportedly hit by shelling.
No humanitarian corridor could be set up to evacuate civilians.
22:16 on 03/19/2022Italy has denounced threats from Russia against it, after statements by a Russian diplomat on European sanctions.
Alexei Paramonov, director of the European department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused Italy, in an interview with the Russian public agency RIA-Novosti, of succumbing to "anti-Russian hysteria" and of forgetting "in a second" centuries of bilateral relations and agreements.
He added that he hoped that the promise made earlier this month by the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire - who later backtracked - of a "total economic and financial war" against the Russia was not going "to emulate Italy and lead to a series of irreversible consequences".
The Italian Foreign Ministry said it "firmly rejects these threatening statements" from the Russian side, and assured that Rome and its European partners will "continue to exert maximum pressure" on Russia to stop the intervention military conducted against Ukraine.
The Russian official also recalled that Russia had provided "significant" assistance to Italy at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to him at the request of Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called "particularly odious and unacceptable" the comparison "between the invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic crisis in Italy".
As for Mr. Guerini, he said that Italy would not "play the propaganda game" and would continue to stand by Ukraine.
10:00 p.m. on 03/19/2022A group of 19 children, most of them orphans, are "in great danger", stranded in a sanatorium in Mariupol, a Ukrainian city besieged by Russian forces.
Children and adolescents, aged 4 to 17, were sent to this juvenile clinic specializing in the treatment of lung diseases, before the outbreak of the Russian offensive on February 24.
They are now "in great danger", their guardians having been unable to recover them because of the fighting in this city bombed with its inhabitants for several weeks, told AFP a witness, Alexeï Volochchuk.
21:00 on 03/19/2022“The nationalist regime in Kyiv is preparing attacks on diplomatic buildings of the United States and other Western countries. These attacks will be presented as attacks by Russian forces,” the official said. Spokesman for Russian Defense Minister Igor Konashenkov.
In this way, Ukraine intends to increase the pressure on NATO to deliver more weapons to Ukraine and establish a no-fly zone throughout the country, according to Moscow. The spokesperson, however, did not provide any evidence to support his statement. Since the start of hostilities on February 24, several Western countries have withdrawn their diplomatic personnel from the capital kyiv. Several embassies, including that of France, have thus withdrawn to Lviv.
17:03 on 03/19/2022The United States will send a contingent of troops to Bulgaria to reinforce NATO on the eastern flank, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said after a meeting with the Secretary American at Defense, Lloyd Austin.
The contingent will be placed under the command of the principal NATO commanders in Europe. Petkov assured that no weapons would be delivered to Ukraine from Bulgaria. However, humanitarian aid will continue, he added.
4:15 PM on 03/19/2022"China can be an important part of the global security system if it makes the right decision to support the coalition of civilized countries and condemn Russian barbarism", tweeted Mykhaïlo Podoliak , an adviser to the presidency and one of the participants in the negotiations with Russia.
🇨🇳 can be the global security system's important element if it makes a right decision to support the civilized countries' coalition & condemn 🇷🇺 barbarism. It is a chance to sit at the table as equals. The West must explain to Beijing how $1.6 trillion differs from $150 billion
-- Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 19, 2022 3:45 PM on 03/19/2022"The challenge is to manage to go to the cities that are surrounded or about to be", says to AFP Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the crisis in Ukraine. The situation is "catastrophic".
The lack of humanitarian access makes it almost impossible to deliver emergency food aid to the encircled port of Mariupol (south-east) as well as to the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy in the north-east. This is a “siege” tactic that is “unacceptable in the 21st century,” Kern said.
The UN agency WFP had to undertake to fill the Ukrainian warehouses "from scratch". Replacing the supply chains broken by the fighting is proving to be a "massive task".
The agency hopes to reach 3.1 million people in Ukraine but efforts to get them food such as pasta, rice and canned meat are hampered by difficulties in finding "volunteer truck drivers ".
“The closer you get to these towns, the more they worry about their safety,” says Kern. "And that means we don't have the ability to reach people in Mariupol, Sumy and Kharkiv, cities that are almost surrounded now or completely in the case of Mariupol."
More than 3.25 million refugees have fled Ukraine so far, but many people remain trapped, including "hundreds of thousands of women and children", he said. "They can't get out and we can't reach them."
Read more: Russia's 'siege' tactic in Ukraine is unacceptable in the 21st century
3:20 PM on 03/19/2022During a speech to his Conservative Party conference in Blackpool Johnson said the time had come to "choose between freedom and oppression".
Referring to some "who say that we would do better to put up with tyranny", the head of the conservative government considered "that they are deeply wrong". "Trying to normalize relations with Putin again after that, as we did in 2014, would be to make the exact same mistake," he said, referring to Ukraine's annexation of Crimea.
Boris Johnon felt that Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine because he felt threatened by freedom and democracy in Ukraine "because in Putin's Russia you are imprisoned for 15 years just for calling an invasion a invasion, and if you oppose Putin in an election, you are poisoned or shot."
He said that Vladimir Putin was "terrified by the effect of this Ukrainian model on him and on Russia" and "totally panicked" at the thought of a revolution in Moscow.
12:54 on 03/19/2022A military barracks in northern Mykolaiv (southern Ukraine) was completely devastated after being hit by six rockets.
"No less than 200 soldiers slept in the barracks", according to Maxime, a 22-year-old soldier interviewed on site. "At least 50 bodies have been extracted, but we don't know how many are left under the rubble," continues the young soldier. Evguéniï, another soldier on the spot, estimates that the strikes could have killed 100 people.
The Russians allegedly carried out missile strikes against sleeping soldiers, according to Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaly Kim in a video posted on Facebook. He said he was waiting for information on the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces.
AFP journalists saw three dead at the site, including a shredded body pulled from the rubble where rescuers were working. A survivor was also extracted.
According to a soldier on the spot, Evguéniï, some 200 young soldiers were quartered in this barracks. Dozens were killed, said another, without giving his name. "We continue to count but it is impossible to know given the state of the bodies," said a rescuer interviewed by AFP.
The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevych, quoted by Ukrainian media, indicated that this city, which had almost half a million inhabitants before the war, had been bombarded from the neighboring region of Kherson, under Russian control. "The shelling is happening too fast for us to pick it up and put the (alarm) system on," he said, quoted by the Ukraïnska Pravda news site.
Mykolaiv and its region are the scene of heavy fighting and Russian bombardments. The city is strategic because it is the last lock before the great port city of Odessa.
08:52 on 03/19/2022The Russian Defense Ministry said it used "Kinjal" hypersonic missiles the day before to destroy an underground weapons warehouse in western Ukraine. Russia had never previously reported the use of this ballistic missile in the two conflicts where it is belligerent, Ukraine and Syria. It has been deployed many times in exercises since the first successful test in 2018.
According to the state agency Ria Novosti, his job is a first.
This type of missile, highly maneuverable, defies all anti-aircraft defense systems, according to Moscow. "On March 18, the Kinjal aeronautical complex with its hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse of missiles and ammunition of the Ukrainian army aviation in the locality of Delyatin, Ivano-Frankivsk region", announced the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.
The “Kinjal” hypersonic ballistic missiles and the “Zircon” cruise missiles belong to a family of new weapons developed by Russia and which Mr. Putin describes as “invincible”. Successfully tested in 2018, the Kinjal ("dagger" in Russian) hit all their targets during the tests at a distance of up to more than 1,000 km, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
08:00 on 03/19/2022The Ukrainian president appealed to Moscow, saying it was "time" to discuss "peace and security" otherwise the consequences for Russia will be felt over several generations.
"Peace and security negotiations for Ukraine are Russia's only chance to minimize the damage caused by its own mistakes," Zelensky said in a video posted to Facebook, filmed at night in a deserted street. "It is time to come together. It is time to discuss. It is time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, he warned, the losses for Russia will be such that it it will take several generations to recover."
07:30 on 03/19/2022This message comes the day after Vladimir Putin's speech in front of tens of thousands of Russians, gathered in a stadium to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. Nearly 100,000 people in front and 95,000 in the stadium itself, this is in total more or less the number of Russian soldiers who attacked Ukraine, underlined Volodymyr Zelensky. "Imagine for a moment 14,000 corpses in this stadium, with in addition tens of thousands of wounded and mutilated."
These figures correspond, according to the Ukrainian president, to Russian losses since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. These figures could not be independently verified, but the Russian army has probably lost several thousand soldiers since the start of what the Kremlin describes as a "special military operation".
Once again, Volodymyr Zelensky called for an end to the carnage. "We must put an end to the war. Ukraine's proposals are on the table." Talks between Ukrainians and Russians have been going on for several weeks,
12:09 AM on 03/19/2022The federal government has reached an agreement on extending the service life of Doel 4 and Tihange 3. Two new gas-fired power plants will also be built. For the energy transition, just over one billion euros is planned. Read here.
10:00 PM on 03/18/2022Arranged in a row, 109 prams and baskets of babies are lined up in the market square of Lviv, an attempt by the inhabitants of this city in western Ukraine to make their mourning, three weeks after the start of the conflict against Russia. One hundred and nine is the number of children killed in Ukraine since February 24, the day when Russia launched an offensive on the territory of its neighbor.
20:49 on 03/18/2022Russia has accused the Council of Europe, which officially excluded it on Wednesday, of being a "Russophobic" instrument at the service of Westerners, claiming to reject the "tutoring of Brussels" in matters of human rights. "By placing the service of the interests of the bloc above its own statutory objectives, the Council of Europe has been transformed into an obedient instrument of the European Union, NATO and their satellites" according to the door- word of Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova. She also accuses the EU of "trading exceptions, exemptions and privileges" as to the values it defends, "like in a bazaar".
20:30 on 03/18/2022China expert Alice Ekman does not see today a "distancing of China from Russia" which, if it happened, would not be according to it than "frontage", so much "the Sino-American rivalry" is "deep" and "broad". Three questions for a sinologist to read here.
20:04 on 03/18/2022US President Joe Biden has “outlined the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it carries out a brutal attack on Ukrainian cities and civilians”, in a video interview with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the White House said on Friday. The two leaders signaled their desire to "keep the channels of communication open" during this meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, according to a press release.
19:29 on 03/18/2022The US Department of Commerce has blacklisted about 100 Russian aircraft. The United States has banned planes made in the United States or made up of at least 25% American-made parts from entering Russia without specific permission. These aircraft can no longer benefit from refueling, maintenance or the provision of spare parts or services. The list includes planes from Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Utair, Nordwind, Azur Air and Aviastar, as well as Abramovich's Gulfstream G650 private jet.
19:00 on 03/18/2022Those who made the decision to leave early often had connections abroad, a project in mind and a place to go, while those now fleeing the beleaguered country to war are lost, not knowing what to do, underlined the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh stressed that the refugees arriving now have a greater need for help, no plans and don't know where to go. "That's what we've really noticed over the past five to last six days in Poland," he said. According to the UNHCR, 3.27 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
18:37 on 03/18/2022"Hundreds" of people are still under the rubble of a theater bombarded by Russian forces in Mariupol according to the Ukrainian president, and Russian missiles hit the outskirts of Lviv, the big city hitherto spared from the west of the country. According to the Mariupol city council, the shelling caused at least one serious injury, but no deaths.
“Debris clearance continues to the extent possible and information on casualties will be completed,” the council said. At the time of the attack, "up to a thousand people", mainly "women, children and the elderly" were hiding in this building, according to the same source.
18:31 on 03/18/2022Like the European Union, Switzerland has already imposed financial sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, the government decided to ban exports of its luxury goods to the country. This measure will come into force in the coming days. "Some companies could be seriously affected" by this measure, warned the executive. Switzerland is home to luxury watch brands such as Rolex, Richemont, Tissot, Tag Heuer, Patek Philippe, Breitling and Omega. Exports to Russia represent only a small share of the Swiss watch industry's income. In 2021, Russia was the sector's 17th largest market, with revenue of around 252 million euros.
18:29 on 03/18/2022Germany is stepping up its efforts with gas exporters likely to replace supplies from Russia, the Minister of the Economy going to Qatar on Saturday, after a trip in Norway this week. To read here
18:23 on 03/18/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Friday, in a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, of "numerous war crimes", ensuring that the forces led by Moscow were doing "everything possible" not to target civilians.
18:00 on 03/18/2022"The subject of Ukraine's neutral status and its non-membership of NATO is one of the key points of the negotiations, it is the point on which the parties have brought their positions as close as possible," said Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation to the talks with Kiev, quoted by Russian agencies. However, he noted "nuances" about the "security guarantees" demanded by Ukraine. "As far as demilitarization is concerned, I would say 50/50", he continued, saying he could not reveal the details of the negotiations but that delegations are "halfway" to an agreement on the issue.
17:54 on 03/18/2022Russia celebrated Friday the eight years of the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, in full offensive in its pro-Western neighbor. The highlight of the show, for 95,000 spectators in the stadium and 100,000 outside according to a police count, was the speech of the Russian president, who came in a navy blue jacket and a cream turtleneck sweater. Vladimir Putin was praising the heroism of the Russian soldiers engaged in Ukraine when suddenly the public television channel Rossiya-24 interrupted its intervention, showing other moments of the same.Read here
17:42 on 03/18/2022The Director of the World Food Program has issued a strong appeal to developed countries not to "neglect" countries, other than Ukraine, which are also in an extreme precariousness. "I'm trying to wake up the Europeans and the United States," David Beasley said in a conversation with Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund's managing director for conflict-affected countries. on Ukraine, please don't neglect the Sahel, please don't neglect Syria, Jordan, Lebanon. If you do, the consequences will be catastrophic, more than catastrophic," Mr. Beasley added.
17:20 on 03/18/2022Every day, thousands of Ukrainians cross Belgian territory. Finding suitable accommodation for them became a real headache and the government quickly called for the solidarity of the Belgian people. Some have decided to offer accommodation to Ukrainian families and discover a new daily life. To read here
16:50 on 03/18/2022"Uzbekistan supports the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov told the National Senate . He is the first representative of a Central Asian republic, historically linked to Russia, to come out of his reserve about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
16:26 on 03/18/2022Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that military conflicts were "in no one's interest", during an exchange with his American counterpart Joe Biden, who press China to distance itself from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. "The Ukrainian crisis is not something we wanted to see" happen, said the Chinese head of state, according to remarks reported by Chinese television. "As permanent members of the UN Security Council and as the world's top two economies, it is incumbent on us not only to lead China-US relations on the right track, but also to shoulder our international responsibilities and work for peace and tranquility in the world,” he assured his counterpart, according to the same source.
15:54 on 03/18/2022Fleeing "hell" from the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukrainian families recount the corpses lying in the streets for several days, hunger, thirst and the biting cold of past nights in cellars with temperatures below zero. To read here
15:48 on 03/18/2022The instabilities of the world are increasing the ranks of the hungry. After the Covid-19, it is the war in Ukraine which poses enormous risks to world food security, denounce several NGOs. For whom action must be taken urgently, "but this short-term response must not call into question the need for profound change, because each global crisis illustrates the vulnerability and inadequacy of our food system to the challenges of the 21st century". A carte blanche to read here
3:25 p.m. on 03/18/2022You are asked to bring a maximum of two bottles of oil and two packets of flour per customer or receipt. This only concerns the Colruyt stores of the group, known for their purchases in large volumes. However, the measure does not apply to other brands (Spar, OKay or Bio-Planet). According to Colruyt, there is currently no shortage and the supply is sufficient for normal consumption. “But consumption has not been normal in recent days”, justifies a spokesperson. "This is a preventive measure. To allow shelves to be restocked and to give all customers the opportunity to make a purchase."
Lidl follows the example of Colruyt and also limits the sale of oil but also that of canned vegetables and toilet paper. For oil and canned vegetables the rule is two pieces per customer, for toilet paper three packets.
15:10 on 03/18/2022The United Nations confirmed on Friday the death of 816 civilians in Ukraine. That number was 780 on Thursday. The verified number of civilians injured during the war has risen from 1,252 to 1,333. Not all casualties have however been reported to the UN and it is also difficult to confirm known cases due to the raging war. The organization believes that the figures are in fact much higher. In Mariupol in particular, according to unconfirmed information, many inhabitants, around 2,500, are said to have died.
03:09 PM on 03/18/2022This is the considerable issue of the conversation on Friday between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Joe Biden leads it from the "Situation Room", this ultra-secure room of the White House from where the United States conducts its most risky operations and its most difficult negotiations.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, the Chinese communist regime, nursing its relationship with Moscow and sharing with Russia a deep hostility towards the United States, has refrained from calling Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine. But the "boundless friendship" professed by Beijing and Moscow is being tested by war and Xi Jinping "must arbitrate between various priorities. He values partnership with Russia, but he does not want to undermine relations with the West."The interests of China and Russia are not aligned. Putin wants to dynamite the international system while President Xi sees himself as the architect of a new international order", further analyzes the expert.
15:01 on 03/18/2022More than 130 people have been rescued from a theater building in Mariupol bombed by the Russian military, but "hundreds" of others remain under the rubble, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, while promising the continuation of relief operations "despite the bombardments" which continue in this large port city
14:50 on 03/18/2022Vladimir Putin was praising the heroism of Russian soldiers engaged in Ukraine, in front of tens of thousands of people in a stadium during a major concert in Moscow celebrating the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, when suddenly the Russian public television channel Rossiya-24 started showing other moments of the same event, official speeches and popular songs. Russian President Vladimir Putin therefore suddenly disappeared from the screens in the middle of a speech.
Fifteen minutes later, television resumed broadcasting the Russian president's speech on a delayed basis.
Here's video of Putin suddenly vanishing mid-sentence. Where is he?! pic.twitter.com/c6VqE6GG3s
-- max seddon (@maxseddon) March 18, 2022 2:41 PM on 3/18/2022"The humanitarian situation in cities such as Mariupol and Sumy is extremely serious, with residents facing severe shortages - at life-threatening consequences - of food, water and medicine," said a spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Matthew Saltmarsh. "More than 200,000 people do not have access to water in several localities of the oblast (region, editor's note) of Donetsk, while the incessant bombardments in the Lugansk region have destroyed 80% of certain localities, leaving 97,800 families without electricity," said Matthew Saltmarsh.
14:37 on 03/18/2022A G7 meeting will be organized in the wake of NATO and EU summits. The meeting will be devoted "in particular to the situation in Ukraine". Germany is chairing the G7 this year, which also brings together the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada, Japan and Italy.
2:20 PM on 03/18/2022A former Kremlin adviser, Arkadi Dvorkovich, one of the few Russian officials to have criticized the offensive in Ukraine, has resigned from the management of a public economic foundation. Created in 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation is a state-run technological innovation project aimed at creating the Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley and diversifying an economy highly dependent on hydrocarbon revenues. Deputy Prime Minister between 2012 and 2018, Mr. Dvorkovitch, 49, is also the current president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), a sport in which Russia retains significant influence.
14:03 on 03/18/2022Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have announced the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats in total, in the context of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
13:59 on 03/18/2022The Council of Ministers has approved the acquisition of weapons for Ukraine, confirmed the cabinet of the Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder, following information published in "Le Soir". According to the daily, the amount of the operation amounts to 11 million euros and concerns lethal and non-lethal weapons as well as protection and night vision devices.
The equipment will be purchased from Belgian companies: FN Herstal, a manufacturer of light weapons, Sioen, which specializes in textiles and which notably produces bulletproof vests, and OIP, which produces vision systems. The Council of Ministers also decided to reconstitute part of the stocks of arms and ammunition of the Belgian army.
13:41 on 03/18/2022Secretary of State for the Budget Eva De Bleeker (Open Vld) will try, with the government, to integrate the effects of the war in Ukraine as much as possible into budgetary control, she assured, in reaction to the publication, the day before, of the report of the monitoring committee.
In the program De Ochtend, the Secretary of State estimated the costs for the first months at around 800 million euros.
1:05 PM on 03/18/2022According to British intelligence, Moscow is having difficulty supplying its troops with food or fuel, the British Ministry of Defense has reported. This is explained by the fact that Russia does not fully control the airspace and must move on unpaved terrain.
Counterattacks by Ukrainian troops would force Russia to deploy large numbers of troops to defend its own supply routes, weakening Russian troops, according to British intelligence.
13:03 on 03/18/2022The Polish Prime Minister announced a series of so-called "anti-Putin shield" measures, intended according to him to "derussify the Polish and European economy", curb inflation, protect jobs and resist Moscow's "gas blackmail".
12:01 on 03/18/2022The Norwegian government has announced that it will release an additional 3 billion crowns (308 million euros) this year to, in particular, strengthen its military presence in the Far North near from the border with Russia.
"Even if a Russian attack on Norway is unlikely, it must be realized that we have a neighbor to the east that has become more dangerous and more unpredictable."
11:57 AM on 03/18/2022The European Union has offered the same aid to refugees fleeing the war in Syria as to those who have left Ukraine since the Russian invasion in late February, the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas.
11:07 on 03/18/2022The Russian president accused Ukraine of "dragging" talks on the conflict and considered that Kiev had "unrealistic" demands, during a telephone interview with the German Chancellor.
“It has been noted that the Kiev regime is trying by all means to drag out the negotiation process, putting forward new unrealistic proposals,” the Kremlin said in a statement summarizing Vladimir Putin’s remarks to Olaf Scholz.
10:38 on 03/18/2022Reducing speed on the road, working from home, making public transport cheaper: the IEA has unveiled measures to rapidly reduce oil consumption, in the face of the risk of shock caused by the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
All of these 10 measures would reduce oil consumption by 2.7 million barrels per day in four months, the equivalent of the consumption of all cars in China, according to the International Oil and Gas Agency. energy (IEA).
10:36 on 03/18/2022The number of people arriving from Ukraine to Poland to flee the Russian invasion has exceeded two million, Polish border guards have announced.
10:18 on 03/18/2022Ukrainian authorities have announced the establishment of nine new humanitarian corridors across the country to allow civilians to safely flee combat zones.
"People should be able to flee the Russian-besieged port city of Mariupol towards Zaporizhia in the northwest," the Ukrainian deputy prime minister said. Other corridors are planned, such as in the Sumi region towards Poltava in central Ukraine.
A tank truck filled with fuel for private cars was on its way to Mariupol where the situation is particularly dramatic, continues Irina Vereshchuk. Thousands of civilians have managed to leave the city in recent days in their vehicles. But many are still trapped in this city by the Sea of Azov, where there has been no electricity, water or heating for days. According to kyiv, the aid convoys do not succeed.
10:00 am on 03/18/2022Disturbances of GPS signals used for air navigation have intensified since the invasion of Ukraine, also affecting areas relatively far from the conflict such as the Mediterranean or Finland, have notified the authorities.
09:56 AM on 03/18/2022"Ofcom today withdrew RT's broadcast license in the UK", the regulator said, considering it was no longer "suitable or appropriate" to broadcast the channel in the country after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
08:38 on 03/18/2022The Russian military and its separatist allies are now fighting in downtown Mariupol, a besieged strategic Ukrainian port in the southeast of the country, the Russian Ministry of Security has announced. Defense.
"In Mariupol, the units of the People's Republic (self-proclaimed, editor's note) of Donetsk, with the support of the Russian armed forces, tighten their grip of encirclement and fight the nationalists in the center of the city", indicated the Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
08:10 on 03/18/2022Russian "missiles" destroyed a factory in the airport district of Lviv, a large Ukrainian city located near the Polish border, without causing any casualties, its mayor said , Andriy Sadovy.
"Several missiles hit an aircraft repair factory. The building was destroyed by the gunfire. Operation of the factory had been previously suspended, so there are no casualties at this time" , he wrote on his Facebook account.
In a statement, the Ukrainian Air Force said that according to preliminary information, the area had been hit by four Russian cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea, several hundred kilometers away. Two other Russian missiles were shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses before reaching their target, according to this source.
07:48 on 03/18/2022Russian "missiles" hit the airport district of Lviv, a large Ukrainian city located near the Polish border, announced its mayor, Andriy Sadovy.
"Missiles hit the Lviv airport area," he wrote on his Facebook account, assuring that the strike did not directly hit the airport.
“The situation there is being clarified,” he added.
An AFP reporter saw a plume of smoke billowing into the air above the area, along with police vehicles and ambulances heading in that direction.
The major city of Lviv has been spared the fighting so far. But the Russian army bombarded a Ukrainian military base in this region on Sunday, killing at least 30 people.
06:59 on 03/18/2022Explosions in the Ukrainian city of Lviv (west) are reported by journalists from the American channel CNN. There is no indication yet of what has been affected. The explosions reportedly took place minutes after an airborne warning siren went off.
Several images posted on social networks, unverified at this stage, show a cloud of smoke. Agence France Presse (AFP) and a journalist from the BBC, communicating on Twitter, report that these fumes are visible near the airport area of the city.
🔴 NEWS ALERT
War in Ukraine: Lviv airport sector hit by strikes pic.twitter.com/iXabiNWm16
A leader of the separatists in eastern Ukraine, in the Lugansk region, claims that the Ukrainian army shelled populated areas in five places, Russian news agency TASS reports.
06:33 on 03/18/2022Ukraine still retains control of key areas of the country that Russian forces are trying to seize, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukrainian troops retaliated to all attacks by Russian troops, Zelensky detailed in a video message posted on the Telegram platform.
The Ukrainian president adds that residents in the cities of Mariupol (south), Kharkiv (east) and Chernihiv (north) are besieged by Russian units, but they will not be abandoned.
"You will be free," insisted the president, assuring that from the army to the church, everyone was doing their best to help the Ukrainian people. He also thanked US President Joe Biden for his "new and effective" help.
Thursday, he implored Westerners to help "stop this war", when a Russian strike killed at least 27 people in the east of the country. For him, "a people is being destroyed in Europe". "Help us stop this war!", He added during his intervention by videoconference at the German Bundestag.
06:29 on 03/18/2022As many as 1,300 people were in an air-raid shelter under the Mariupol theater in southern Ukraine when it was bombed, according to MP Sergei Taruta, s 'expressing in the night from Thursday to Friday on Facebook. Previously, the mayor of the city mentioned a thousand people who had taken refuge there, but no report of victims of the bombardment has been communicated at this stage.
06:28 on 03/18/2022The Russian armed forces continue their offensive on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, 150 kilometers from the capital Kiev, in the north of the country, communicated the Ukrainian General Staff on Facebook, quoted by the dpa news agency.
06:27 on 03/18/2022The Ukrainian army claims to have launched an operation to drive the Russian military out of the suburbs of the capital kyiv.
The head of the kyiv regional military administration claimed that there was "resistance from the enemy".
The Russians were moving their units. He could not reveal further details as operations were underway. Pavlyuk cited a number of towns around the capital that were at risk. Bombardments were reported north of the capital.
06:25 on 03/18/2022The Chamber approved during the night of Thursday to Friday in plenary session the motion for a resolution condemning the aggression of Ukraine by Russia. The text received unanimity minus the abstention of the PTB, reiterating the vote taken in the morning in committee.
06:24 on 03/18/2022The risk of a Russian default, raised after the imposition of heavy Western sanctions against the Kremlin, seemed to be receding at least temporarily following the payment of interest owed by Moscow on its debts.
22:52 on 03/17/2022Donations from the Belgian population to the Ukraine 12-12 consortium, which unites several humanitarian organizations that coordinate to raise funds, have reached 17.78 million in recent days euros. The fundraising action continues. Donations can be made via bank account number BE 19 0000 0000 1212 and online via the 1212.be website.
22:47 on 03/17/202221:43 on 03/17/2022"They called for co-sponsorship" for their text, according to them relating to humanitarian work, "and there was no back," an ambassador said on condition of anonymity, implying that neither China nor India supported the controversial Russian initiative and would not have voted in favor of it.
21:31 on 03/17/2022Setting the scene a few hours before an exchange between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the United States announced on Thursday that China would expose itself to reprisals if it were to " supporting Russian aggression" against Ukraine. This is the clearest warning issued by the United States to China since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. This interview, the fourth between the two leaders since Joe Biden is president
20:13 on 03/17/2022The United States expressed skepticism on Thursday about the ongoing talks between Ukraine and Russia to end the war. "On the one hand, we salute Ukraine for remaining at the negotiating table while it is under bombardment at all times, and on the other hand, I have not seen any significant effort on the part of of Russia to end the war it is waging through diplomacy," US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken told reporters.
20:00 on 17/03/2022The European Union condemns the "serious violations of humanitarian law" and the "war crimes" committed by Russia in Ukraine, and will hold its leaders to account. "The EU condemns in the strongest terms the Russian armed forces and their proxies, who continue to target the civilian population and Ukrainian civilian infrastructure," said Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy.
19:42 on 03/17/2022A city still at peace but already ready for war, which oscillates between the expectation of a Russian attack, announced several times, and the sweetness and lightness of a beginning spring on "the pearl of the Black Sea". Still spared the horrors of war in the north and east, Odessa seems suspended. The rest can be seen here
19:12 on 03/17/2022In practice, the Scandinavian country will fetch, at the request of Moldova, 2,500 Ukrainian refugees in this poor country and 550 others requiring hospitalization, as well as their families, to relieve the health systems of neighboring countries of Ukraine.
19:10 on 03/17/2022Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, who became an anti-war muse after appearing on a pro-Kremlin newscast to denounce the offensive in Ukraine, will leave the Pervy Kanal channel on her own accord This 43-year-old woman, mother of two, also declined French President Emmanuel Macron's offer of asylum because she "does not want to leave" her country. After being arrested, she was immediately sentenced to a simple fine and released. However, she still faces criminal prosecution punishable by heavy prison terms, under the terms of a recent law cracking down on any "false information" about the Russian army. Also read: Who is Marina Ovsiannikova, former pro-Russian turned opposition hero?
18:55 on 03/17/2022After failing to make quick gains at the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military is making little progress in the face of still combative Ukrainian forces and remains in pursuit of success military likely to be converted into political benefits, experts say. Read more here
18:22 on 03/17/2022ICRC President Peter Maurer, visiting Ukraine this week, on Thursday called on the belligerents to alleviate the suffering of civilians. The organization wishes to send a new team there as well as humanitarian assistance as soon as the situation allows. "The suffering in Mariupol must not become the future of Ukraine," he insisted. The scale of the devastation is "tremendous" in Ukraine, Maurer told reporters.
The evacuation this week by the ICRC and the Ukrainian Red Cross of "thousands of people" from Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine, is nevertheless a "glimmer of hope". The humanitarian official also showed a certain optimism as to the chances of success of the evacuations of civilians, contrary to what happened in certain cases in Syria, where these operations were sometimes instrumentalised.
18:14 on 03/17/2022Several Russian shots on Thursday killed at least 27 people in the besieged Kharkiv region, a large city in northeastern Ukraine, local authorities announced. "Russian soldiers fired artillery at the town of Merefa in the Kharkiv region around 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Thursday. A school and a cultural center were destroyed. 21 people were killed and 25 injured, 10 of whom are in a state serious", announced the regional prosecutor's office on Facebook.
17:41 on 03/17/2022The perpetrators of war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine, where the Russian army is accused of bombing civilian populations, will be "accountable" before international justice, warned Thursday the G7 foreign ministers in a joint statement. The heads of diplomacy of this group chaired this year by Germany "welcomed the work of investigation and collection of evidence in progress, including by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court" in Ukraine.
17:30 on 17/03/2022The Committee of Ministers, the organization's executive body, "decided today to suspend all relations with Belarus", announces the Council of Europe in a communicated. He also specifies that he wants to "strengthen ties with Belarusian civil society and the opposition in exile". Belarus is not a full member of the Council of Europe, having not signed the European Convention on Human Rights. It nevertheless cooperates with the organisation, as a signatory state to twelve conventions initiated by the Council of Europe, in particular the Convention on action against trafficking in human beings, the European Cultural Convention, and the Convention on wildlife conservation in Europe.
17:11 on 03/17/2022The town hall of Mariupol is still trying to establish an assessment of the bombing of the theater. According to a message from the town hall on Telegram, the situation is "critical" with "uninterrupted" Russian bombardments and "colossal" destruction. "According to initial estimates, around 80% of the city's housing stock has been destroyed," she added.
17:08 on 03/17/202216:58 on 03/17/2022Austro-American actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger addressed the Russian people to "tell them the truth about the war in Ukraine" in a video posted Thursday on social networks, in which he denounces "propaganda and disinformation" from the Kremlin. "I know that your government told you that it was a war to denazify Ukraine. Denazify Ukraine? That's not true", asserts the former governor of California who repeats having only "affection and respect for the people of Russia" in this long video of more than nine minutes and subtitled in Russian.
I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share. pic.twitter.com/6gyVRhgpFV
-- Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) March 17, 2022 4:25 PM on 03/17/2022Ivan Fedorov has been traded for nine Russian conscripts. The mayor who was released on Wednesday had disappeared last Friday. Pro-Russian separatists had launched a lawsuit against the 33-year-old mayor shortly before his disappearance "for his support for a Ukrainian far-right organization". kyiv had spoken of a kidnapping and many people had called for his release on the streets of Melitopol.
16:00 on 03/17/2022The Austrian press revealed on Thursday the existence of precious jewels offered by Vladimir Putin to an ex-minister appointed by the extreme right in 2017, goods which have now returned to the bosom of Austria. These white gold earrings adorned with sapphires, estimated at 50,000 euros, were given to Karin Kneissl in gratitude for the invitation to her wedding in August 2018, according to the daily Kronen Zeitung. The images where we see her waltzing with the Russian president are seen around the world.
After leaving the government, Karin Kneissl was appointed in June 2021 to the board of directors of the Russian oil giant Rosneft, joining former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Both refuse to leave office despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
15:51 on 03/17/2022On his Telegram account, Kadyrov said that one of his relatives, Apti Alaoudinov, is "at the head of a thousand volunteers from the Chechen republic" who are "en route to participate in the special operation for the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine".
Read also: Ukraine: Wagner and Kadyrovtsy group, these brutal militias in the service of Putin
15:49 on 03/17/2022The Swiss federal authorities are working hard to increase accommodation capacities, "More than 1,000 people can be registered every day in the federal asylum centers", has indicated the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) in a press release. Up to 60,000 people could seek refuge in Switzerland. An estimate that may vary depending on the continuation of the fighting.
03:47 PM on 03/17/2022Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba on Thursday asked that Turkey be "one of the guarantors" of a possible agreement with Russia. "Ukraine has made an offer on the collective security agreement: P5 (the five permanent members of the Security Council, editor's note), plus Turkey and Germany," said Cavusoglu, his Turkish counterpart, visiting Lviv in western Ukraine, assuring that "the Russian Federation saw no objection to it".
15:26 on 03/17/2022In addition to this online system, "the number of counters will increase from 42 to 66 in the coming days, if all the necessary equipment is available", specified the general manager of the Foreign Office, Freddy Roosemont. This should make it possible to perform more than 3,000 recordings per day. On Wednesday, 1,780 Ukrainian refugees were registered in Heysel, bringing their number in Belgium to nearly 11,500.
15:13 on 03/17/2022Fifty-eight children are among the victims. The UN agency says it has been able to verify information about 1,252 civilians injured since February 24. The High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, noted that these data were probably underestimated.
14:58 on 03/17/2022Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala appealed for help for the 270,000 Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the Czech Republic and warned at the same time that his country could not accommodate many more. The Czech parliament passed a law granting destitute refugees 200 euros per month. People hosting Ukrainian refugees receive 120 euros per refugee per month
14:55 on 03/17/2022The European Space Agency (ESA) has suspended the Russian-European ExoMars mission and the search for alternatives for the launch of four other missions, following the termination of cooperation with the Russian space agency Roscosmos due to the war in Ukraine, she announced in a press release after her Board meeting. The ExoMars mission planned the September launch of an ESA rover bound for the planet Mars, using a Russian launcher and lander.
14:43 on 03/17/2022"The large Russian groups, which feared sanctions, now have nothing to fear. They can come to the peninsula quietly, especially the banks, and work actively in the region “, said Mr. Putin. "The restrictions taken against Russia create many problems, but that's not all, they also open up new possibilities," he added.
Britain will soon deploy its Sky Saber medium-range anti-missile system in Poland, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace.14:03 on 03/17/2022More than 100,000 refugees have been added in 24 hours to the three million people who have already fled Ukraine and the fighting triggered by the invasion of the Russian army on February 24, according to the UN count.
13:39 on 03/17/2022Nearly 130 Ukrainian civilians were rescued from the Mariupol theater air-raid shelter, which was bombed on Wednesday, according to a Ukrainian parliamentarian.
“The air-raid shelter under the theater withstood the raid,” Olga Stefanishyna wrote on Facebook. Referring to a "miracle", she said that workers were already evacuating the rubble to help survivors get out of their shelter.
13:33 on 03/17/2022Unesco will provide a first batch of 125 helmets and bullet-proof vests with the "press" logo so that the "maximum possible number of journalists operating in Ukraine have this vital equipment", has announced the UN organization as part of emergency measures to protect journalists covering this conflict.
13:28 on 03/17/2022US President Joe Biden will speak by telephone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, in particular on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House announced.
This is about "keeping the channels of communication open between the United States and the People's Republic of China," said US executive spokeswoman Jen Psaki in a statement, adding that the two leaders would also discuss "competition" between Washington and Beijing.
13:27 on 17/03/2022The Council of Europe has warned of the risk for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the invasion of their country by Russia to fall into human trafficking networks, urging its member states to protect them "as a matter of urgency".
1:27 PM on 03/17/2022The House Foreign Relations and Defense Committees on Thursday approved a motion for a resolution that condemns Russia's aggression in Ukraine. The text received unanimity minus the abstention of the PTB.
13:26 on 03/17/2022The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, repeated that NATO would not intervene militarily in the war in Ukraine, on the sidelines of a video intervention by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, before the German parliament.
Olaf Scholz, however, thanked his Ukrainian counterpart for his "impressive words". Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video broadcast in the Bundestag, called on the German Chancellor to "destroy the wall" being erected in Europe "against freedom". He also renewed his call for additional military aid from Germany. "Give Germany the leadership role it deserves," he said.
12:20 on 03/17/2022The head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian has accused Russia of "pretending to negotiate" a ceasefire in Ukraine while continuing to "get the people talking". weapons".
As in Aleppo (Syria) or Grozny (Chechnya), the "Russian logic (..) is based on the usual triptych: indiscriminate bombardments, so-called humanitarian 'corridors' designed to then accuse the adversary of not not respect them and talks with no other objective than to pretend to negotiate," he said in an interview with the daily Le Parisien.
"Russia has chosen to continue to make arms speak", it "refuses for the moment" the ceasefire, affirms Jean-Yves Le Drian, pointing to the "maximalism of its demands", its " desire for a Ukrainian capitulation" and "the escalation of the siege war".
"It is a dramatic process of long-term brutality", he predicts, believing that Ukraine is engaging for its part "with responsibility and openness in the talks".
12:17 PM on 03/17/2022The war in Ukraine risks costing global growth one point in a year if its effects on energy and financial markets prove to be long-lasting, the OECD warns in a report , and could push inflation up by around 2.5 additional points.
"The role of Russia and Ukraine in the world economy is weak", says the OECD, quantifying this weight at 2% of world GDP, just like the share of these two States in world trade .
These two countries, however, have a "significant influence on the world economy" through their weight in many raw materials: they represent 30% of world wheat exports, 20% for corn, mineral fertilizers and natural gas, and 11% for oil, estimates the OECD.
12:10 on 03/17/2022More than 50 people lost their lives in shelling in the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine. "In the past 24 hours alone, 53 bodies of our citizens murdered by the Russian aggressor have arrived in the city's morgues," the head of the region's military administration, Viatcheslav Tchaus, announced on Telegram.
11:43 on 03/17/2022The Kremlin has rejected the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, which the day before ordered Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine.
"We will not be able to take this decision into account," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, stressing that both sides -- Russia and Ukraine -- had to be agreement so that the decision can be implemented. "In this case, no agreement can take place," he said.
11:37 AM on 03/17/2022Facebook's parent company Meta has removed a doctored video in which President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on his troops to lay down their arms. Ukraine's president never made the statement, Meta security director Nathaniel Gleicher said on Twitter. "We promptly reviewed and removed this video as it violated our policy against misleading and manipulated media." Meta informed other Internet platforms of the deception.
11:36 am on 03/17/2022The war in Ukraine leads to higher production costs for independents in Wallonia and Brussels, as well as a drop in their turnover, warns the Union middle classes. The professional organization surveyed more than 1,600 self-employed and SME managers on the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on their activity.
11:35 AM on 03/17/2022Some 1.95 million people have crossed the Polish border to safety since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Polish border guards said on Twitter. 60,000 refugees arrived on Wednesday, down from the previous day.
10:42 AM on 03/17/2022The Mariupol Drama Theater air-raid shelter withstood the bombardment and people are coming out alive from the rubble, BBC and CNN reported.
However, it is not clear that everyone survived the airstrike, but the BBC assures on the basis of the testimony of a parliamentarian that most of the women and children who had taken refuge there would still be alive .
10:39 on 03/17/2022The Ukrainian authorities have announced that nine new humanitarian corridors will be opened across the country, allowing civilians to flee combat zones in a safe manner. Regarding the besieged city of Mariupol, a tank truck should be brought from Zaporizhia with fuel for private cars, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video message.
10:35 am on 03/17/2022Russia assured Thursday that it had paid a first installment of interest linked to bonds, immediately removing the possibility of a default, while its assets at the abroad are frozen by Western sanctions.
09:51 on 03/17/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Germany to tear down the new "Wall" erected in Europe against freedom since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Dear Chancellor (Olaf) Scholz, tear down this wall, give Germany the leadership role it deserves," the Ukrainian leader said in a video speech broadcast to the lower house of the German parliament .
09:34 on 03/17/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received a "standing ovation" from the German Bundestag before a video intervention in front of deputies.
The day after a video address to the US Congress, the Ukrainian leader began a video address to the lower house of parliament during which he was to renew his call for additional military aid from the Germany.
09:03 on 03/17/2022Debris from a missile shot down over Kiev killed at least one person and injured three, rescue services said, Russian military not releasing the pressure around the Ukrainian capital.
"In Kiev, the debris of a downed missile caused damage and fire in a multi-storey building," the emergency services said on their Telegram account, adding that the explosion had taken place around 5 a.m. local time (3 a.m. GMT). "According to preliminary information, thirty people were evacuated, among them three were injured. One person died," the source added.
08:34 on 03/17/2022Private cars are allowed out of the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine, the mayor has said.
Some 6,500 vehicles have left the port city in the past two days. There is no ceasefire, however, so civilians must leave as the city comes under enemy fire, Boychenko said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the corridor humanitarian aid in the country was not operational on Wednesday.
He also said that the Russian army had not ceased its bombardments.
08:03 on 03/17/2022The price of wheat is down and was down 25% this week compared to the record price recorded last week. Global supply forecasts are a bit more optimistic.
The wheat harvest in Ukraine is not due to start until July. Negotiations could therefore still lead to a ceasefire before this period and allow farmers to start harvesting, in a difficult recovery context. In addition, other large producers, such as the United States and Canada, are said to be planning to sow more wheat. Several countries in Europe would consider doing the same.
07:10 on 03/17/2022A merchant ship flying the Panamanian flag was sunk by Russian missile fire in the Black Sea, and two others were damaged, the administrator of the Maritime Authority of Panama announced , Noriel Arauz.
06:38 on 03/17/2022Ukrainian authorities have claimed that Russia destroyed a theater in which more than a thousand people had taken refuge in the besieged city of Mariupol, with the human toll remaining at this time. indeterminate stage.
"The invaders destroyed the Dramatic Theater. A place where more than a thousand people had taken refuge. We will never forgive this," the municipality said on Telegram messaging.
The American space technology company Maxar Technologies, which specializes in satellite imagery, published on Wednesday a photo of the Mariupol Drama Theater taken on Monday, according to it.
According to the photo seen by AFP, the word "children" was written on the ground, in huge white letters and in Russian, in front and behind the building.
The town hall of Mariupol published a photo of the theater on Telegram showing its central part completely destroyed, with thick white smoke billowing from it. According to the authorities, it was a plane that dropped a bomb on the building.
"The plane dropped a bomb on the building (...). It is impossible to establish the toll in the immediate future because the bombardments of the residential areas continue", indicated the town hall.
"The entrance to the shelter is blocked by debris. Information about the victims is being verified," she said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense for its part denied having bombed the theater, blaming the explosion on the account of the Ukrainian nationalist battalion Azov.
Moscow had already blamed this military unit during the bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital last week, which sparked an international outcry.
"It is impossible to find the words to describe the level of cynicism and cruelty with which the Russian invaders are annihilating the peaceful inhabitants" of Mariupol, the town hall was indignant in its press release.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian army had already announced that the Russian army had bombarded civilians fleeing Mariupol in a humanitarian corridor, causing "deaths" and injuries, including a seriously injured child.
06:31 on 03/17/2022In a video message, Zelensky claimed that the Ukrainian authorities were already working on a reconstruction plan. Regardless of the damage, the president expressed his confidence in the country's ability to rebuild everything quickly. He also acknowledged that the humanitarian corridors set up to evacuate civilians did not work on Wednesday, because the armed forces Russians had not refrained from firing.
06:29 on 03/17/2022Marina Ovsiannikova, a Russian TV worker who broke into a pro-Kremlin newscast to denounce the offensive in Ukraine, says she doesn't want to leave his country. Although she fears for her safety after her protest action.
To read on the subject: Who is Marina Ovsiannikova, former pro-Russian turned heroine of the opposition?
06:27 on 03/17/2022UK, US, Albania, France, Norway and Ireland have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday afternoon on Ukraine due to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country, AFP learned on Wednesday from diplomatic sources.
"Russia commits war crimes and targets civilians," said the British diplomatic mission to the United Nations on its Twitter account. "Russia's illegal war in Ukraine is a danger to all of us," she added, calling for an urgent meeting.
21:38 on 03/16/202221:00 on 03/16/2022Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) admitted, on the sidelines of a visit by the King to the Heysel registration center, that There is discussion about the social assistance given to people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Read more here.
20:40 on 03/16/2022US President Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal". An exit and words deemed "unacceptable and unforgivable" by the Kremlin. Biden had earlier confirmed the sending of $800 million in additional military aid to Ukraine in the process. The president nevertheless believes that the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which could involve NATO forces shooting down Russian planes, would constitute too great an escalation.
20:22 on 03/16/2022This was indicated by the Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne, in response to André Flahaut (PS). For only a few of them, an effective departure has been confirmed. At this stage, it is difficult to draw an ideological profile of these people even if some candidates for the potential departure were known for their links with extremism. The others weren't. The departure of volunteers to Ukraine does not in itself constitute an offence, recalled the minister. However, the government "strongly" advises against joining the Ukrainian army or the international legion that supports it.
08:00 PM on 03/16/2022The mayor of Melitopol, in the south of Ukraine, kidnapped on March 11 by the Russians, has been released, announced the Ukrainian authorities. In a video posted on Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to him on the phone and says he is "glad to hear the voice of a living man". It takes a day or two to recover and then I am at your service to contribute to our victory," replied Mayor Ivan Fedorov.
07:40 PM on 03/16/2022Since the start of the Moscow offensive on February 24, the leaders of the two Churches have had fundamentally different attitudes, the pope distinguishing himself by multiplying calls for peace. Patriarch Kirill, for his part, justified the Russian military operation during a sermon on February 27, seeing it as a confrontation against the "forces of evil" who "fight the historic unity" between Russia and Ukraine. This attitude has earned Kirill protests from part of his clergy in Ukraine, which is divided mainly between two Orthodox Churches, one independent, and the other attached to the Patriarchate of Moscow.
07:23 PM on 03/16/2022"The Court has decided to suspend the examination of all applications against the Russian Federation pending consideration of the legal consequences of this Resolution on the work of the Court", indicates in a press release the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the judicial arm of the Council of Europe based in Strasbourg (eastern France).
19:00 on 03/16/2022A theater housing "hundreds of civilians" was heavily damaged by a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, the town hall of this besieged city in the south-east announced on Wednesday. Ukraine. "The plane dropped a bomb on the building where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. It is impossible to establish the toll immediately, because the bombardments of the living quarters continue", wrote the town hall on Telegram by posting a photo of the theater, the central part of which is destroyed.
Another horrendous war crime in Mariupol. Massive Russian attack on the Drama Theater where hundreds of innocent civilians were hiding. The building is now fully ruined. Russians could not have known this was a civilian shelter. Save Mariupol! Stop Russian war criminals! pic.twitter.com/bIQLxe7mli
-- Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 16, 2022 6:44 PM on 03/16/2022Belgium has already registered 10,000 refugees who are entitled to European temporary protection status. They are welcomed in collective structures but also in private homes. Although the vast majority of them are motivated by good intentions, to avoid "less good intentions", the Secretary of State is preparing with his colleague from the Interior a uniform screening procedure that cities and municipalities could apply. It is estimated that around 200,000 Ukrainians could arrive in Belgium. Flanders will assume about 60% of this number, Wallonia and Brussels about 40%
18:28 on 03/16/2022"At the request" of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who addressed the US Congress in the morning, "we are helping Ukraine to acquire additional air defense systems and longer range," he said in a short speech, adding that this new aid would also include drones. It confirms the sending of 800 million dollars of additional military aid to Ukraine, an "unprecedented" envelope of one billion dollars in one week to support the Ukrainian army against the Russian invasion.
18:18 on 03/16/2022Russian investigators on Wednesday opened the first three criminal cases for spreading "false information" about the Russian military, under a feared new law passed in the midst of conflict in Ukraine. It provides for penalties of up to fifteen years in prison. It particularly worries opponents and media critics of the Kremlin, who fear prosecution for any denunciation of the offensive. The suspects, whose names have not been given, reportedly disseminated "false information" on the Internet in early March about the action of Russian troops in Ukraine, one on a social network, and the other on a "messaging " on line.
18:02 on 03/16/2022Russian strikes against civilians fleeing Mariupol, a besieged city in southeastern Ukraine, left "dead" and injured on Wednesday, including a seriously injured child, a announced the Ukrainian army. A convoy of civilians en route from Mariupol to Zaporozhye was targeted by Grad multiple rocket launchers around 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT), the army said on Telegram, posting a photo of a wounded and bloodied child.
17:42 on 03/16/2022"There is no question of deploying NATO troops or planes in Ukraine", affirmed Jens Stoltenberg, at the end of a meeting of ministers of Defense of the Alliance. He thus declined Poland's request to send a "peace mission protected by armed forces" to the former Soviet republic. But he nevertheless pleaded for a reinforcement of troops on the NATO border. Especially on the ground level.
17:15 on 03/16/2022Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the WHO has authenticated 43 attacks against the health system. These can be attacks on medical facilities or healthcare workers. "The health system has become a target (...). It's starting to be part of the strategy and tactics of war. It's totally unacceptable, it's against international humanitarian law," the chief said. WHO Emergency Department Michael Ryan at a press conference.
17:10 on 03/16/2022The Americans and their allies officially launched on Wednesday an international task force dedicated to tracking down Russian oligarchs and all those who violate the sanctions adopted against Moscow since the invasion of the 'Ukraine. "Our sanctions, our trade restrictions and other measures have already had a significant cost for Russia (...), this multilateral task force will increase it even more", commented Janet Yellen, the American secretary of the Treasury.
17:04 on 03/16/2022The Russian authorities announced on Wednesday that they had blocked the BBC site and promised other responses in the "information war", launched according to Moscow by the West since the Russian military offensive in Ukraine
16:54 on 03/16/2022The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, on Wednesday ordered Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation must immediately suspend the military operations it began on February 24, 2022 on Ukrainian territory,” said Joan Donoghue, presiding judge of the ICJ, whose seat is in The Hague.
16:46 on 03/16/2022NATO will not deploy troops or air assets in Ukraine and is preparing a substantial reinforcement of its military presence in the allied countries on its eastern flank, its secretary general announced on Wednesday .
"There is no question of deploying NATO troops or planes in Ukraine," said Jens Stoltenberg in response to Poland's request to send a "peace mission protected by armed forces".
16:34 on 03/16/2022The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the decision-making body of the pan-European organization, has formally decided to exclude Russia from the organization based in Strasbourg ( France). Russia itself had notified on Tuesday its wish to leave the Council of Europe and to detach itself from the European Convention on Human Rights, but the Committee of Ministers continued its own procedure and decided itself, his side, that Moscow had crossed the red line and can no longer be a member.
The effect is immediate, according to the communication from the Committee of Ministers. "The Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as of today, 26 years after its accession." The day before, the parliamentary assembly of the organization had pronounced in this direction. Directly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Council of Europe had already suspended the rights of representation of Russia. However, it was not yet formally excluded. The Council of Europe, whose judicial arm is the European Court of Human Rights, will therefore increase to 46 members (including all EU members, but also Turkey, UK, etc.).
16:11 on 03/16/2022Belgium has already registered 10,000 Ukrainian refugees, announced the Secretary of State for Asylum, Sammy Mahdi, during a visit by the King and Queen at the registration center open since Monday at Heysel.
On Tuesday, the number of people registered (over one day) reached 2,000 units. The Secretary of State expects a similar number on Wednesday.
Read also: Welcoming refugees: effective for Ukrainians... but still more problematic for others
16:01 on 03/16/2022Ten people who were queuing to buy bread were killed on Wednesday morning by Russian fire in Cherniguiv, in northern Ukraine, announced the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office.
"Russian soldiers fired on people who were queuing to buy bread near a grocery store in a residential area of Cherniguiv. According to an initial report, 10 civilians were killed", announced in a communicated to the prosecution.
15:56 on 03/16/2022Heads of the Russian Catholic and Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, discussed the conflict in Ukraine on Wednesday and wished "a fair peace", according to a statement from the patriarchate from Moscow.
“The parties underscored the critical importance of the ongoing negotiation process, expressing the hope to quickly reach a just peace,” the Patriarchate said.
3:28 PM on 03/16/2022Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday, in the first official high-level exchange between states States and Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. "Mr. Sullivan told General Patrushev that if Russia is serious about diplomacy, then Moscow must stop attacking Ukrainian cities," the White House said in a statement.
The adviser to the US president also "reiterated the firm and clear opposition of the United States to Russia's wanton and unjustified invasion of Ukraine", according to this report. He promised to "continue to make Russia pay the price, to support the defense of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to strengthen NATO's eastern flank", added the American presidency. “Mr. Sullivan also warned General Patrushev about the consequences and implications of a possible Russian decision to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine,” the White House concluded.
15:15 on 03/16/2022The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine stands at 3.06 million since the beginning of the Russian invasion, according to a tally by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published on Wednesday.
Most - nearly 1.9 million - have found refuge in Poland, including just over 66,000 people on Tuesday alone, according to Polish border guards. There is, for the moment, no information as to the number of these refugees who have since left Poland for another country. Just over 467,000 people have joined Romania, 344,454 from Moldova and 272,943 from Hungary.
15:14 on 03/16/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated on Wednesday that the avalanche of Western sanctions and condemnations hitting Russia, its economy, its athletes and its world of culture was comparable to anti-Semitic persecution.
"The West has dropped the mask of decency and started to act abhorrent. There are obvious parallels with anti-Semitic pogroms," he told a government meeting broadcast on Monday. television.
15:13 on 03/16/2022Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Wednesday that his military operation in Ukraine was a "success", saying that Moscow would not let this country become a "bridgehead" for " aggressive actions" against Russia.
"The operation is taking place successfully, in strict accordance with the pre-established plans", declared Mr. Putin according to remarks broadcast on television, assuring once again that he did not intend to "occupy" the 'Ukraine.
15:11 on 03/16/2022The Ukrainian electricity grid is now "connected" to the European grid, announced Wednesday Barbara Pompili, the French Minister for Ecological Transition, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU .
"We were committed to it, it's done: the Ukrainian electricity network, which has been operating since the start of the war in isolated mode, has been connected since this morning to the European network," the minister wrote on Twitter. Energy.
2:45 PM on 03/16/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky challenged his American counterpart Joe Biden on Wednesday during a video address to the United States Congress, urging him to be the "leader of the world " and the "peace leader".
"As the leader of my nation, I address President Biden," he said, speaking in English at the end of his speech by videoconference. "You are the leader of a nation, of your great nation. I want you to be the leader of the world. To be the leader of the world is to be the leader of peace," he said. Khaki t-shirt from Ukraine, after having both thanked Joe Biden for his help but also implored the Americans and their Western allies to do more to save his country from the Russian invasion.
Also read: Russian allies, Ukrainian backers, the ambiguous: how world powers are positioning themselves on the war in Ukraine
🔴 #LIVE - "President #Biden, I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace."
Watch #Ukraine's president Volodymyr # Zelensky's full address to the #USCongress: https://t.co/GSrGOjoMbF pic.twitter.com/p8b009uWq6
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drew a parallel between Moscow's war in Ukraine and the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States as well as the attack of the Japanese aviation against the American base of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
"In your great history, you have pages that allow you to understand Ukrainians," he said in a videoconference address to American elected officials. "Remember Pearl Harbor, that terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was darkened by the planes attacking you", "remember September 11, that terrible day in 2001", he said. added. "This terror, Europe has not experienced it for 80 years," he hammered.
2:11 PM on 03/16/2022Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received a standing ovation from the United States Congress on Wednesday ahead of his videoconference address. "Slava Ukraina", "Glory to Ukraine", launched the Speaker of the House of Representatives to introduce her speech.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed his call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect it from Russian attacks. After quoting Martin Luther King's famous "I had a dream", he launched by videoconference: "I have a need, the need to protect our sky. I need your decision, your help. "
"Is it too much to ask, to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, to save people? Is it too much to ask, a humanitarian no-fly zone?" - he added, before having a video of his country under the bombs projected in front of the American elected officials.
Read also: Why banning flights over Ukraine would have catastrophic consequences: "Fortunately NATO refused"
14:07 on 03/16/2022Ukrainian refugees are constantly arriving in Belgium, nearly 8000 have already registered. But not all of the refugees who continue to arrive are Ukrainians. Every day, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians or Ethiopians cross the territory of Belgium in search, too, of a place to take refuge. Are they forgotten?
Read the article via this link
1:17 PM on 03/16/2022Russian telecoms policeman Roskomnadzor has blocked the sites of at least 15 additional media outlets, AFP reported on Wednesday, as Moscow tightens its control over information published online on the conflict in Ukraine.
The sites of renowned investigative media Bellingcat, local Russian media, as well as Russian-language media based in Israel and Ukraine were inaccessible on Wednesday in Russia without a virtual private network (VPN), AFP journalists observed .These sites also now appear on the official list of resources blocked by Roskomnadzor.
Russia-based sites blocked include the independent media outlet Kavkazkï Uzel (Kavkaz-uzel.eu), covering the Caucasus, and a regional outlet based in the Urals, Perm (permdaily.ru). Roskomnadzor has also suspended access to two Russian-language media based in Israel, where there is a large community of immigrants from the former USSR: 9 TV Channel Israel (www.9tv.co.il) and Vesty Israel (www.vesty. co.il).
Several Ukrainian news outlets were also blocked (novosti.dn.ua; bukinfo.ua) and an Estonian outlet, Postimees, which has a Russian version.
11:59 on 03/16/2022Britain claims that the Russian army has suffered heavy losses in the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army exploited Russia's tactical weaknesses, thwarted the Russian advance and "inflicted heavy casualties on the troops", an intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defense said.
The latter adds that the options of the Russian army are limited, having failed to take control of the airspace. The Ukrainian army general staff claims that the Russian army has lost 40% of its troops since the start of the war, but such claims must be taken with a grain of salt, as they cannot be independently verified.
London previously reported, based on intelligence information, that the Russian regime had sent forces from its fleet to the Pacific and from Armenia to Ukraine. Moscow would also call on mercenaries, as it was already suspected for the conflict in Syria. They could be used to control occupied territory, to let official troops continue the battle.
Also read: Why is Russia recruiting thousands of Syrians?
11:17 AM on 03/16/2022A neutrality of Ukraine on the model of Sweden and Austria is the compromise that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are currently discussing, the Kremlin said. "It is indeed the option which is currently being discussed and which can be considered as that of a compromise," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Ukraine is asking for "absolute security guarantees" against Russia while rejecting the idea of a model of "Swedish or Austrian neutrality" put forward by Moscow, the Ukrainian presidency announced on Wednesday. "Ukraine is now in a state of direct war with Russia. Therefore, the model can only be + Ukrainian +", declared one of the Ukrainian negotiators Mykhaïlo Podoliak in comments published by the presidency. He specifies that he wants "absolute security guarantees" against Russia and whose signatories would undertake to intervene on the side of Ukraine in the event of aggression.
11:07 a.m. on 03/16/202211:00 a.m. on 03/16/2022The power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear site has been fully restored and is provided by neighboring Belarus, authorities in the Belarusian region of Gomel, citing the Belarusian Ministry of Energy. "The power supply to the Chernobyl power plant has been completely restored," the ministry said in a statement posted on the Gomel region's Telegram channel. “Currently, the supply of electricity to the infrastructure of the plant is ensured by the Belarusian power systems”, continues this source, specifying that the level of radiation on the site was “stable” on Wednesday.
The power supply to the nuclear site, located on the border with Belarus and which fell into Russian hands on February 24, was cut for the first time last week and restored on Sunday. But on Monday, the Ukrainian operator Ukrenergo accused the Russian army of having again cut off the power supply to the plant by damaging a high-voltage line supplying the site.
Reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl power plant exploded in 1986, causing the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history. It is covered with a double sarcophagus, one built by the Soviets and now damaged, the other, more modern, inaugurated in 2019. The three other reactors of the plant were gradually closed after the disaster, the last in 2000 .A system powered by electricity is nevertheless still necessary to cool the 20,000 fuel assemblies stored in the site pool.
10:06 on 03/16/2022The defense ministers of the thirty NATO countries met for an extraordinary meeting focused on the war in Ukraine and the measures to be taken to defend the territory of the Alliance in the face of any aggression from Russia. "We will consider not only the immediate consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also the long-term consequences and the long-term adaptation of our alliance, how to further strengthen our deterrence and our defence", affirmed the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, to the press on his arrival at NATO headquarters.
This meeting must also serve to "remove any space for miscalculation or misunderstanding on the part of Moscow on our preparation to protect and defend all allies", he added alongside the US Secretary of State. Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Also read: Russian allies, Ukrainian backers, the ambiguous: how world powers are positioning themselves on the war in Ukraine
Mr. Stoltenberg reaffirmed that several hundred thousand soldiers are on alert and more than 100,000 American soldiers are present in Europe "by thanking the United States for their commitment within NATO. He also recalled that 40,000 soldiers were placed, following the launch on February 24 of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, under the direct command of NATO, mainly in Eastern Europe, with the support of maritime and air resources.
10:04 am on 03/16/2022The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday it feared a "shock" on world oil supply, following sanctions against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, while lowering its demand forecast for 2022.
“The prospect of large-scale disruptions in Russian production threatens to create a global oil supply shock,” writes the agency, which advises developed countries on their energy policy, in a monthly report.
09:34 on 03/16/2022France recalled the "obligation" for the belligerents in Ukraine to "protect" journalists covering the conflict, after the death of four of them, including a Franco-Irish since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
“I recall the obligation incumbent on the armed forces to protect journalists in accordance with international humanitarian law and I condemn in the strongest terms any action that targets them,” declared the head of French diplomacy, Jean - Yves Le Drian.
09:28 on 03/16/2022At the new center in Heysel, 3,729 Ukrainians were registered on Monday and Tuesday, of which 720 applied for housing, said the spokeswoman for the Office of foreigners Dominique Ernould based on the latest figures from the previous evening. On Monday alone, 1,578 people were registered.
Counting the 6,050 registrations made until Sunday at the Bordet center, this makes a total of 9,779 registered. For the record day in this previous place, 887 were recorded last Friday. The processing capacity has therefore been greatly increased with the new center in Heysel. "In the morning, there are a lot of people, but yesterday there was no one left when we closed the doors", commented Dominique Ernould. "We were able to check everyone in. On Monday evening, there were a few people we couldn't take. We close the doors at 5:30 p.m., but we are still working until 7:30 p.m. to register people inside. ". She specifies that there are 42 counters and that there is room to add more if necessary.
09:05 on 03/16/2022The Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye, largely spared by the Russian offensive and refuge for people fleeing the besieged city of Mariupol, was targeted by strikes, in particular one of its stations , according to local authorities.
08:27 on 03/16/2022Russia faces a first bond payment deadline that threatens it with default as its overseas assets are frozen by Western sanctions.
07:50 on 03/16/2022Several loud explosions were heard at dawn on Wednesday in Kiev, followed by columns of black smoke in the sky, AFP found, as the Russian army intensified in recent days its firing against Ukrainian cities.
Around 6 a.m., at least three strong explosions sounded in the west of the capital, already targeted the day before and placed under curfew until Thursday morning.
Several thick columns of black smoke were observed shortly after in the sky of the city, like the day before, when several Russian strikes had hit residential buildings.
Further explosions were heard in the early morning.
No assessment or details were given immediately by the local authorities, while the press was not allowed to circulate in the city, under tension, because of the curfew.
Three weeks after invading Ukraine, the Russian army has intensified its fire in recent days, targeting in particular cities where fighting is raging such as Kharkiv (north), the suburbs of Kiev, Mariupol (south) or Mykolaiv (south), but also the west of the country.
07:02 on 03/16/2022Turkey must be careful not to adopt Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda, says European Ambassador to Ankara Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, quoted by the German Press Agency dpa.
Turkey is currently playing a "balancing act", according to the diplomat. He expects Turkey, for example, to restrict access to "Russian propaganda channels" such as the RT media.
06:25 on 03/16/2022Russia has lost nearly 40% of its units sent to Ukraine since Moscow launched an offensive on the neighboring country at the end of February, advances the Ukrainian general staff.
06:24 on 03/16/2022The American president must make this announcement after an intervention by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky before the United States Congress. This brings "the total announced in the past week alone to $1 billion," the official said on condition of anonymity.
06:23 on 03/16/2022The talks became "more constructive" after two days of video discussions.
"In the first rounds, Russia was not ready to listen to our positions, but only issued ultimatums: that Ukraine should surrender, lay down its arms, that our president should sign an act of surrender" , Mr. Shovkva explained. "Now Russia has adopted a bit of a different tone."
The adviser therefore argues that the Ukrainian delegation is "cautiously optimistic" but that a breakthrough could only be achieved by the presidents, Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine calls for the war to end and for Russian troops to withdraw. Moscow demands that Ukraine recognize the annexed Crimea as well as the separatist areas in the east of Ukraine as independent states.
06:20 on 03/16/2022Russian ground troops have made virtually no progress in Ukraine, US government estimates. The capital kyiv is still bombed, however, according to a senior US defense official.
Civilians and residential areas are increasingly targeted, it is said across the Atlantic, but the Russian army has not made significant progress towards the capital. According to American estimates, Russian troops are located to the northwest, 15 or 20 kilometers from the center of the city. To the east, they would be 20 to 30 kilometers away.
The towns of Chernihiv (north) and Mariupol on the Sea of Azov are still isolated. For now, Washington sees no immediate movement by sea to the important port city of Odessa.
According to the Pentagon, the Russians have fired 950 rockets since the start of the invasion. There are no new westward attacks to report, according to the US official, and there are no indications that Russia plans to move to those areas. But Moscow may keep this option in reserve. Belarus is also not mine to move troops, he further described.
06:18 on 03/16/2022Poland asks for a NATO "peace mission", "protected by the armed forces", to help Ukraine, the Polish Deputy Prime Minister said in Kiev , Jarosław Kaczynski.
"This mission cannot be an unarmed mission. It must seek to provide humanitarian and peaceful aid to Ukraine," Kaczynski was quoted as saying by the PAP news agency. The latter took part, alongside the Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers, in a meeting in the evening with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Chmygal.
10:30 PM on 03/15/2022The first lady of Ukraine fears for the safety of her husband, Volodymyr Zelensky, she said in a written exchange with ABC News. "Like all women in Ukraine, I fear for my husband," says Olena Zelenska. This one, aged 44, calls her husband every morning and is confident in his ability to "defend the country he loves". The first lady, who calls the Russian attacks "genocide" in Ukraine, prays the NATO to end air strikes and "close airspace". Olena Zelenska urges citizens of democratic countries to ask their leader to take action against Putin. "We have to stop this. When I say 'we', I mean the whole world."
21:31 on 03/15/2022"Deep contradictions" persist in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, which will continue on Wednesday, but a "compromise" is still possible, said Tuesday an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podoliak . "It's a complicated and extremely laborious negotiation process. But, of course, a compromise is possible," he said on Twitter.
We'll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise. During the break, work in subgroups will be continued...
-- ??????? ??????? (@Podolyak_M) March 15, 2022 08:32 PM on 03/15/2022The number of people who fled Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion of the country by the Russian army has reached three million, has said a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration in Geneva. Almost every second that passes, a child in Ukraine becomes a refugee, said the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). A total of 97 children have been killed since the start of the war, according to President Zelensky.
20:27 on 03/15/2022"Today about 20,000 people left Mariupol by car using a humanitarian corridor. Of the 4,000 cars that left the city, 570 have already arrived in Zaporozhe", at some 230 km to the northwest, said in a statement the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
20:23 on 03/15/2022Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder visited the Romanian military base in Constanta on Tuesday, about 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, where some 300 members of the he Belgian army have been deployed since last week as part of NATO's rapid reaction force. On the spot, if the atmosphere within the troops seems relaxed and the war still abstract, the soldiers say they are prepared for all eventualities. Read more here.
20:00 on 03/15/2022The speed and intensity of the economic and financial sanctions decided against Russia will certainly make them effective, but Europe must stop buying Russian oil and gas, believes the Nobel Prize in Economics Joseph Stiglitz. To read here
19:30 on 15/03/2022The President of the European Council Charles Michel indicated on Tuesday afternoon on Twitter that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to reiterate to him the European call to "put urgently an end to the fratricidal war against Ukraine", in the words of the Belgian. "The EU is united in its condemnation of Russian aggression," he said, recalling that a new sanctions package was approved the same day.
Stressed to President @KremlinRussia_E the urgent need to stop Russia's fratricidal war against #Ukraine
The #EU is united in condemning Russia's aggression, responding with powerful sanctions and providing further support to Ukraine.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu was dispatched on Tuesday "to Moscow" where he will have talks on Wednesday and then will visit " in Ukraine” on Thursday to seek a ceasefire, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced.
07:00 PM on 03/15/2022Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from the Syrian army and allied militias ready to be deployed in Ukraine, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. Man (OSDH). Read more here.
18:45 on 03/15/2022The European Union on Tuesday banned the export to Russia of its luxury sedans, champagne, jewelry and other items prized by elites who support President Vladimir Putin in order to sanction their lavish lifestyle during the war in Ukraine. A list of luxury products and goods approved by the Member States has been published in the Official Journal. It is 14 pages long and covers products from the EU leisure, luxury and technology sectors.
18:30 on 15/03/2022NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Tuesday that he has convened an extraordinary summit of the leaders of the Alliance countries on March 24 in Brussels, where a meeting of the EU Heads of State and Government in the presence of Joe Biden.
18:22 on 03/15/2022The 27 countries of the European Union have reserved more than 10,000 hospital beds for Ukrainians, and France could welcome the first patients "by the end of the week" , European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and French Minister Olivier Véran announced on Tuesday.
6:08 PM on 03/15/2022The British government on Tuesday announced new sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including imposing punitive tariffs on vodka and asset freezes against more of 350 people and entities. Among them are some fifty oligarchs - such as Mickhail Fridman, German Khan and Petr Aven - and members of their families, according to British diplomacy, but also former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev or Kremlin spokespersons Dmitry Peskov and of diplomacy Maria Zakharova. The oligarchs sanctioned on Tuesday represent a combined fortune of more than 100 billion pounds (120 billion euros), according to the ministry, which bases its estimate on Forbes. This new addition brings the list of Russian targets of British sanctions to 935 people and 70 entities, essentially since the start of the invasion in Ukraine at the end of February.
18:06 on 15/03/2022Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa "are traveling to Kiev today as representatives of the European Council, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Chmygal and to affirm "the EU's "unequivocal support for Ukraine," according to a statement. Morawiecki's chief of staff, Michal Dworczyk, said the delegation is traveling by train which crossed the Ukrainian border around 0730 GMT. Shortly after 11:00 GMT, he said the train had passed Lviv and was heading towards kyiv.
5:40 PM on 03/15/2022Marina Ovsiannikova, an employee of a Russian television channel, burst into a pro-Kremlin newscast yesterday to denounce the offensive in Ukraine, without however imprisoning her. Convicted of having committed an "administrative offense", Ms. Ovsiannikova will have to pay a fine of 30,000 rubles (about 250 euros at the current rate), according to an AFP journalist present at the hearing. Released, however, she still faces criminal charges punishable by heavy prison sentences.
17:37 on 03/15/2022Some three million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion launched on February 24, according to a tally released Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). ). Half are children with or without a parent.
17:36 on 03/15/2022Russia decided on Tuesday to initiate the procedure of "exiting the Council of Europe", accusing NATO and the EU of having made it an instrument in the service of "their military-political and economic expansion in the East". "The notification of the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the Organization" was delivered on Tuesday to its Secretary General Marija Pej?inovi? Buri?, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
17:16 on 03/15/2022NATO on Tuesday warned Russia against any attempt to use chemical weapons in Ukraine and is strengthening its defenses on its eastern flank with Patriot anti-missile systems in Poland and in Slovakia, indicated its secretary general. "Russia is making nonsensical accusations about biological labs and chemical weapons in Ukraine. This is just another lie. But we are concerned that Moscow could stage a covert, false flag operation possibly including chemical weapons "
17:04 on 03/15/2022In its ambition to become a world power again, the Kremlin is acting in an ever more imperialistic way. Should Ukraine and/or the West compromise in order to avoid the worst? Experts are divided on the issue, as there is a real danger that it will embolden Putin in his bid for annexation. An analysis to read here.
17:01 on 03/15/2022"The Russians have already killed 97 children" by bombing "schools, hospitals, homes", he said live by video in front of the Canadian parliament. "We are not asking for much. We are asking for real support, which will help us win," he added to Canadian MPs who cheered him on their feet for several minutes.
17:00 on 03/15/2022Marina Ovsiannikova, a Russian TV worker who broke into a pro-Kremlin newscast to denounce the offensive in Ukraine, is on trial for protesting illegally, according to a Moscow court.
The hearing is underway, according to the Ostankino district court in Moscow interviewed by AFP, and the defendant faces 10 days in detention. She was not immediately charged with the crime of publishing "false information" about the Russian military, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to offer "consular protection" to journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, either at the embassy or by granting her asylum. He demanded from Moscow "all clarity" on his situation, adding that he would have "the opportunity during (his) next meeting with President Putin to propose this solution in a direct way".
"I do not recognize my guilt," she proclaimed in the courtroom, stressing that she had expressed her opposition to the conflict, according to an AFP journalist. "I remain convinced that Russia is committing a crime (...) and that it is the aggressor of Ukraine", she affirmed with great calm.
16:57 on 03/15/2022NATO must adapt to the new security reality created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its military integration with Belarus, said the organization's secretary general , Jens Stoltenberg.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine and its military integration with Belarus form a new security reality on the European continent. We must review our military posture in the face of this new reality,” the Norwegian said.
Read also: "Europe must change" (interview)
4:35 PM on 03/15/2022A Fox News cameraman was killed while covering the war in Ukraine, the American television channel announced on Tuesday.
Pierre Zakrzewski was accompanying journalist Benjamin Hall, who was injured when their vehicle was fired upon Monday in Horenka, near Kiev, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement.
4:23 PM on 03/15/2022It is "normal" for officials from neighboring states of Ukraine to show up to express their solidarity with Kyiv in the face of the Russian invasion. Their trip to Kiev is also a way of embodying "strong European solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainians": Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reacted in these terms to the announcement of the trip to Kiev by the Polish Prime Ministers , Czech and Slovenian on the same day.
According to a communication from the Polish government relayed by AFP, they are traveling to this country at war "as representatives of the European Council", among other things to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky there.
16:21 on 03/15/2022Russia has imposed entry bans on US President Joe Biden and other senior officials in the United States, in response to the new sanctions package decreed by Washington following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
16:13 on 03/15/2022The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has counted, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, the death of 691 civilians, including 48 children or young people, according to figures from the UN agency available on Tuesday.
The war has also left at least 1,143 injured so far. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, this number is actually even higher.
04:05 PM on 03/15/2022Washington announced new sanctions targeting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his wife, as well as Russian individuals and entity, for corruption and human rights violations, the Treasury said in a statement.
These sanctions target Alexander Lukashenko, "head of a corrupt government in Belarus whose network of patronage benefits those around him and his regime", as well as his wife, specifies the Treasury. In addition, four Russian individuals and an organization are also targeted.
16:03 on 03/15/2022Slovak authorities say they have charged two Slovaks with spying on behalf of Russia, accusing them of passing highly sensitive NATO and ISIS intelligence to Moscow. Ukraine."We have taken steps to eliminate the activities of a Russian Federation intelligence network operating in Slovakia," police chief Stefan Hamran told reporters. "Four people were arrested, and two of them have been charged with espionage," he said, adding that the other two had been released.
16:01 on 03/15/2022A strike on an apartment building in Kiev caused the death of at least four people, according to a new report provided on his Telegram account by the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitali Klitschko.
A total of four explosions were heard early Tuesday morning in kyiv, a city almost completely surrounded by Russian forces that attacked Ukraine on February 24. Buildings and a metro station were hit, AFP journalists noted.
15:31 on 03/15/2022Russia proposes to its 14 partners of the UN Security Council to vote on Wednesday on a "humanitarian" resolution linked to the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine, have Russian diplomats announced on Tuesday.
During a meeting with the press, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, regretted that France and Mexico had given up putting their draft resolution on humanitarian aid to the vote after 15 days discussions, preferring to request a vote directly from the United Nations General Assembly.
"We are going to propose our own project which is humanitarian", said Vassily Nebenzia. He stressed that since the launch by Emmanuel Macron of a resolution on humanitarian aid, Moscow had said it was ready to participate in its possible adoption. Russia was also clear on the fact that there should be no mention of "politics" in this text.
15:23 on 03/15/2022"It must be recognized" that Ukraine will not be able to integrate NATO", says Zelensky.
“We heard for years that the doors were open, but we also heard that we could not join. This is the truth and it must be recognized,” said the Ukrainian president in videoconference during a meeting of the leaders of the countries of the Joint Expeditionary Force, a coalition led by Great Britain.
14:54 on 03/15/2022The Spanish authorities have seized a second yacht in the Balearic archipelago and are seeking to prove that it belongs to a Russian oligarch targeted by European sanctions taken after the invasion of Ukraine, announced the Ministry of Transport.
A first yacht was seized in Spain on Monday, in Barcelona, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced in the evening.
14:46 on 03/15/2022"A dangerous moment" for Kyiv
Russian strikes are increasing in Kiev, the capital, which is living "a dangerous and difficult moment", said the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitschko, while decreeing a curfew from Tuesday 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) to Thursday 07:00 (05:00 GMT).
In eastern Ukraine, the airport in the city of Dnipro suffered "massive destruction" after two Russian bombardments overnight, according to regional authorities.
A refugee child every second
The number of people who have fled Ukraine since the Russian army began to invade the country has reached 3 million, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. in Geneva. Almost every second that passes, a child in Ukraine becomes a refugee, said the UN Children's Fund.
Resumption of talks
The fourth round of negotiations to try to find a solution to the crisis has resumed after a break the day before, announced a senior Ukrainian official, insisting on the request for a ceasefire formulated by Kiev.
European leaders in Kyiv
The Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers are due to travel to Kiev as representatives of the European Council to affirm the European Union's "unequivocal support" for Ukraine, the Polish government has announced.
Thousands of Syrians recruited by Russia
Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from the Syrian army and allied militias ready to be deployed in Ukraine, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Humanitarian Corridor
Some 2,000 vehicles were able to exit via a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol, besieged by Russian forces and pro-Russian separatists, the municipality said.
UK sanctions
The British government has imposed trade sanctions against Russia, including punitive tariffs on vodka and a ban on the export of luxury goods.
"Addiction" to Russian hydrocarbons
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Western countries to end their "addiction" to Russian hydrocarbons, shortly before a visit to Saudi Arabia.
Cereals: Russia limits its exports
Russia has introduced restrictions on exports to four former Soviet republics on cereals, of which it is a major exporter, in order to avoid shortages and an explosion in prices. The countries concerned are Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Beijing refuses to be "affected"
China refuses to be affected by Western sanctions against Russia, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to remarks reported by the Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.
02:37 PM on 03/15/2022The municipality of Auderghem has proposed to the Minister-President of Brussels and to the Regional Urban Development Company (SAU) the creation on its territory of a village of structural accommodation for Ukrainian refugees able to accommodate nearly 1,000 people.
According to Didier Gosuin (DéFI), mayor of this commune in the south-east of the capital, the SAU has undeveloped land of +/- 4 ha on the Triangle Delta site behind the CHIREC, in Auderghem. This site is partly serviced and could accommodate at least one modular accommodation village of +/- 300 units. It also allows the installation of collective equipment.
2:34 PM on 03/15/2022The fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia has resumed after a break the day before, a senior Ukrainian official has announced, insisting on the request for a ceasefire. by Kyiv.
"Negotiations are ongoing," said Mykhailo Podoliak, a negotiator and adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Twitter. Discussions include "a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops" from the territory Ukrainian, he added.
Negotiations are ongoing. Consultations on the main negotiation platform renewed. General regulation matters, ceasefire, withdrawal of troops from the territory of the country…
-- Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 15, 2022 2:31 PM on 03/15/2022Ukraine expects the Russian invasion to cause huge economic damage to the country. "The Economy Ministry expects a loss of one-third to one-half of gross domestic product," the Kiev government said, quoting an interview with Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko given to the American magazine Forbes.
“Based on another estimate, it would be around US$500 billion,” he said, without giving further details. "The exact amount we can only calculate after the war."
2:21 PM on 03/15/2022Some 2,000 vehicles were able to exit via a humanitarian corridor from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, besieged by Russian forces and pro-Russian separatists, the municipality said.
“Two thousand more cars are waiting outside the city,” added the Mariupol city council, which did not specify how many people were able to flee the port city where conditions are catastrophic after days of bombings and seat.
02:07 PM on 03/15/2022It's hard to say today what impact the war will have on our businesses. But the conflict should reduce our GDP by 1%. At least. Read the article here.
14:05 on 03/15/2022There is so far no increase in the nuclear threat in Belgium following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Crisis Center indicated to the sub - House Nuclear Safety Committee. If a threat should appear, various protective measures contained in a "nuclear toolbox" are ready to be implemented.
The Crisis Center sees no reason to panic. "We started the risk analysis in Belgium on February 24 and, so far, we have not observed any increase in the threat on Belgian territory", explained the coordinator of nuclear emergency planning. , Hans De Neef, who also recalled the warning already issued to the population: there is no reason to take an iodine tablet as a preventive measure.
If a nuclear threat were to be detected, Belgium has an emergency plan, including a large-scale communication campaign to inform the population in all possible ways.
13:58 on 03/15/2022Russian and Ukrainian delegations are to resume talks, as Russian strikes increase on Kiev itself and the Russian military expands its offensive across the country, throwing on the roads from exile more than three million Ukrainians.
Two people were pulled dead and 27 others were rescued alive from a building in a western district of the capital, Svyatoshin. The 15-storey building burst into flames on Tuesday after being hit by a strike, according to Ukrainian emergency services.
Another nine-story building was hit in the northwest district of Podil, closer to the city center, causing one person to be injured, according to the emergency services. Further south, the Ossokorky district also suffered damage, according to an AFP photographer.
The capital is going through "a dangerous and difficult time", said the city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, in decreeing a curfew from Tuesday 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) to Thursday 7:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT). kyiv, which Russian forces are trying to encircle, has been emptied of at least half of its approximately three million inhabitants since the start of the conflict on February 24.
1:45 PM on 03/15/2022Three journalists have been killed and more than 30 injured since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, announced Loudmyla Denisova, in charge of human rights at the Ukrainian Parliament. At least 35 journalists were victims" of the Russian forces, including three killed, said Ms Denissova on her Telegram account.
American Brent Renaud was shot dead in the northwestern suburbs of Kiev on Sunday, Ukrainian journalist Yevgeny Sakoun was killed in the bombing of the television tower in Kiev and Ukrainian Viktor Doudar died during fighting near Mykolaiv (south).
Several journalists were injured by "intentional enemy fire", she added, citing the cases of Swiss, Czechs, Danes and Britons. "The enemy is also trying to destroy the Ukrainian audiovisual infrastructure," continued Ms. Denisova, citing the shootings against television towers in kyiv, Lutsk and Rivne (west).
1:37 PM on 03/15/2022The Russian Central Bank has announced that it will suspend its purchases of gold from banks so that they can satisfy the population's demand for this metal.
"In order to create conditions to meet the demand of the population, the Bank of Russia suspends the purchase of gold from credit institutions from March 15, 2022," the Bank of Russia said in a statement.
“Currently, the demand of the population for the purchase of physical gold bars has increased, due in particular to the removal of VAT on these transactions,” noted the institution.
12:26 on 03/15/2022Almost every second that passes, a child in Ukraine becomes a refugee, the UN Children's Fund has said, commenting on the steady stream of people fleeing the country from the February 24 and the Russian invasion.
Over the past 20 days, an estimated 1.4 million children have been forced to flee the country, or about 55 per minute or "virtually one child per second", said James Elder, a spokesman for the Unicef, during a regular UN press briefing in Geneva.
The spokesperson, also echoing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stressed that these children "are at significant risk of separation, violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking".
Read also: Ukrainian refugees: the abject proposals of some host candidates
12:17 AM on 03/15/2022Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from the Syrian army and allied militias, ready to be deployed in Ukraine, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. (OSDH).
The Kremlin announced on March 11 that volunteers, including those from Syria, were welcome to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, invaded by the Russian army since February 24.
According to the OSDH, Russian officers, in coordination with the Syrian army and allied militias, have opened enlistment offices in areas held by the Damascus regime.
"More than 40,000 Syrians have registered to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine so far," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of OSDH, a UK-based NGO, told the vast network of sources in Syria.
12:15 PM on 03/15/2022The British government has imposed trade sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, including punitive tariffs on vodka and an export ban luxury products.
"Russian vodka is one of the emblematic products affected by the increase in customs duties", which represents an increase of "35 percentage points compared to current rates", the Ministry of International Trade said in a press release on Tuesday. .
The luxury goods concerned will be in particular high-end cars, fashion or works of art, specifies the ministry.
"We want to do the maximum damage to Putin's war machine while minimizing the impact on British businesses, while G7 leaders unite on a new wave of economic sanctions against Moscow", justifies the ministry in its press release.
“The ban on exports will come into force quickly and to ensure that the oligarchs and other members of the elite who have enriched themselves during the reign of (Russian) President Vladimir Putin and support his illegal invasion, are deprived of luxury goods," he insists.
12:12 on 03/15/2022"The work between the two delegations (Russian and Ukrainian) is continuing by videoconference, it is complex work, and the fact that it is continuing is already positive", has estimated the spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov.
“We don’t want to make predictions at the moment,” he added, preferring “to wait for tangible results before informing the populations of the two countries.”
Previously, Oleksiï Arestovitch, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, had considered it possible that a peace agreement would be found between Moscow and kyiv. "I think by May at the latest (...) we should most likely reach a peace agreement, and maybe much faster," he said on a YouTube channel.
Asked during a press briefing about the format of such an agreement, Mr. Peskov for his part judged that it "was also too early to discuss it publicly". "That is also part of the discussions." The fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia is due to resume after a "technical break" on Monday.
12:06 on 03/15/2022The number of people who have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian army's invasion of the country has reached 3 million, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva.
"We have now reached the 3 million mark in terms of population movements out of Ukraine," IOM spokesperson Paul Dillon said at a regular UN press briefing. .
Of this total number of refugees, more than 1.4 million are children according to Unicef figures, and 157,000 are nationals of other countries fleeing Ukraine, the IOM said.
11:08 on 03/15/2022A convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was able to enter Ukraine. A total of 11 trucks were able to transport 200 tonnes of emergency aid, the organization said on social media on Monday evening.
The load collected food, medical equipment to treat the wounded or other components. The ICRC has repeatedly called for humanitarian corridors in recent days. Some of its employees in Mariupol have denounced inhumane conditions. In particular, the organization assists dozens of people in this city where hundreds of thousands of people lack food.
10:48 am on 03/15/2022Kiev City Hall has imposed a 36-hour curfew from Tuesday evening in the Ukrainian capital which is experiencing a "dangerous and difficult moment", announced Mayor Vitali Klitschko .
Traffic will be banned in the city "from today" at 8:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) and until 7:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT) on Thursday, the former world boxing champion announced on Telegram, after Kiev was bombed several times on Tuesday morning.
10:34 on 03/15/2022The airport in the city of Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, suffered "massive destruction", after two Russian bombardments overnight from Monday to Tuesday, regional authorities said.
“During the night, the enemy attacked Dnipro airport. Two strikes. eponymous region on Telegram.
10:25 am on 03/15/2022Russia introduced restrictions on exports to four former Soviet republics on cereals, of which it is a major exporter, overnight from Monday to Tuesday, in order to avoid shortages and a price explosion.
"Russia is introducing a temporary ban on the export of grain to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (...)", indicated the press service of the Russian government. The EAEU economically unites Russia with Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Read also: Trade, oil, banks, oligarchs: update on sanctions targeting the Russian economy
09:52 on 03/15/2022The entire Ukrainian province of Kherson is in Russian hands, says the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, the Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed the occupation.
The port city and provincial capital of Kherson had already fallen to the Russians on March 2. This southern province, which borders the Crimean peninsula, has around one million inhabitants. The western border of the province is about 100 kilometers from the main Ukrainian port of Odessa.
09:45 on 03/15/2022British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged Western countries to end their "addiction" to Russian hydrocarbons, shortly before a visit to Saudi Arabia.
In an op-ed in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said Western leaders made a 'terrible mistake' by letting Russian President Vladimir Putin 'off the hook' after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and by becoming "more dependent" on Russian gas and oil.
"When he finally launched his cruel war in Ukraine, he knew the world would have a hard time punishing him. He knew he had created an addiction," continued the conservative leader. "The world cannot be subjected to this continuous blackmail", underlined Mr. Johnson calling for "an end now" to this addiction.
Read also: Are banks financing fossil fuels too much? “Three pseudo-responsible funds out of four are climaticidal”
09:43 on 15/03/2022The Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers travel to Kyiv, as representatives of the European Council, to affirm the EU's "unequivocal support" for Ukraine, the Polish government announced in a statement.
MM. Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa "are going to Kiev today as representatives of the European Council, to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Chmygal", according to this official text. The purpose of this visit is "to reaffirm the unequivocal support of the whole of the European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a comprehensive package of measures in support of the state and to Ukrainian society," said the press release published on the Polish government's website.
09:40 on 03/15/2022The death toll from the Russian attack on a Ukrainian TV tower near the northwestern town of Rivne has risen to 19, regional governor reports . He had previously given a toll of 9 dead and 9 wounded. The tower had been hit by two rockets on Monday.
Information about the attack in northwestern Ukraine could not be independently verified.
09:32 on 03/15/2022Given the scale of the influx of Ukrainian refugees, Senior Official Sophie Lavaux, in charge of Brussels Prevention and Security, has triggered the provincial crisis phase for the Region of Brussels-capital. This decision, taken in consultation with the Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort, follows the information and opinions issued by the 19 mayors of the Brussels municipalities meeting on Monday in the Regional Security Council (CoReS).
In concrete terms, provincial crisis management means that a Coordination Committee involving "the five disciplines" - relief operations; medical, health and psychosocial relief; policing duties; logistical support; information to the population and support for the administrative authority - is set up in consultation with the local authorities.
Also read:
Ukrainian refugees: a new registration center at Heysel08:33 on 15/03/2022China refuses to be affected by Western sanctions against Russia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said, according to remarks reported Tuesday by the new China agency.
"China is not a party to the (Ukrainian) crisis and even less wants to be affected by the sanctions," Wang said in a telephone interview with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares.
08:05 on 03/15/2022A strike on a residential building caused the death of at least two people in Kiev, said the emergency services which reported shootings in several places of the Ukrainian capital, which the Russian army seek to encircle.
On Facebook, the Ukrainian emergency services reported that a "strike" had targeted a 15-story building in the Svyatoshin district in western Kyiv, causing a major fire. "Two dead bodies were found on the spot," said the rescuers, adding that they were able to save 27 people.
07:18 on 03/15/2022Shots hit at least two residential areas in Kiev, according to the emergency services, injuring one person, as fighting intensifies around the Ukrainian capital as the Russian army tries to circle.
Ukrainian emergency services posted on Facebook that a strike hit a nine-story building.
The explosion blew all the windows of the building and those nearby, according to an AFP journalist on the spot. In the early morning, several people were throwing debris out of the windows from the ravaged apartments of the building.
At least three powerful explosions were heard by several AFP journalists from central kyiv on Tuesday morning.
06:48 on 03/15/2022The Chinese foreign minister assures that his country is not a party to the war in Ukraine after the invasion of Russia.
He added that his government "does not want sanctions affecting China", during a telephone interview with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares.
Beijing rejects the very principle of these sanctions and "China has the right to preserve its rights and interests", continues the document. The head of Chinese diplomacy described the Ukrainian conflict as "a product of the accumulation and intensification of contradictions in European security over the years".
06:33 on 03/15/2022At least two or three powerful explosions were heard by several journalists in the center of kyiv, without their origin being immediately known.
Several journalists from Agence France Presse (AFP) reported three explosions, and Reuters also mentioned two explosions at dawn. An AFP journalist also saw a column of smoke rising away, but was unable to get there due to a night curfew in effect until 6:00 a.m. HB. Detonations are sometimes caused by air defense weapons.
06:28 on 03/15/2022Only seven of the ten humanitarian corridors set up to evacuate civilians from disputed Ukrainian territories are functioning, assure the Ukrainian authorities.
About 4,000 people have been safely transported, according to Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, speaking in a dispatch from the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN. Half of them came from the kyiv capital region. Evacuations from the resort town of Mariupol have largely failed. An aid convoy with water and medicine en route to the besieged city was also blocked, she said.
06:24 on 03/15/2022"We are working with our partners on new punitive measures against the Russian state", assured Zelensky in a video message. "Everyone is responsible for war. Anyone destroying democracy. Anyone responsible for repression against the people," he added. The Russian army is responsible for war crimes, for “deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe” in Ukrainian cities, Mr. Zelensky continued, from the presidential office in Kiev, wearing a combat uniform.
23:01 on 03/14/2022The Ukrainian government remains functional, the banking system stable and the debt sustainable in the short term, but the war provoked by Russia plunges Ukraine into an unprecedented recession. The conflict also jeopardizes global food security, the IMF warned on Monday.Read here
22:00 on 03/14/2022A woman burst into Russia's most-watched newscast on Monday night with a sign criticizing the military offensive in Ukraine, a rare scene in a country where information is strictly controlled. The protesters' rights NGO OVD-Info, which presents the woman as Marina Ovsiannikova, an employee of the channel, reported that she had been arrested and taken to the police station. Imperturbable, the presenter continues to speak for a few seconds while the protester chants "no to war", then the channel rushes the broadcast of a report on hospitals, ending the live broadcast on the set.
Apparently, some brave girl has just interrupted Russian propaganda TV with simple words “Stop the war!” For 3 seconds they broadcast truth.#NoToWar #нетвойне #StandWithUkraine #FreeIvanFedorov #PutinIsaWarCriminal #РоссияСмотри pic.twitter.com/9ek280jEKQ
-- olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) March 14, 2022 9:35 PM on 03/14/2022UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday of the risk of a Russian war in Ukraine which could lead to "a hurricane of famine" in many countries, the Organization urgently releasing 40 million dollars to come to the aid of the most vulnerable Ukrainians.
"Ukraine is on fire" and "the country is being decimated before the eyes of the world," he told media in New York. Due to the blockage of agricultural production in Ukraine and Russia, the war should, in its repercussions, hit "the poorest hardest and sow the seeds of political instability and unrest throughout the world", underlined Antonio Guterres . “This war goes far beyond Ukraine,” he also said.
21:04 on 03/14/2022Belgium, which has already registered 6,048 refugees from Ukraine since March 3, opened a new registration center on Monday to manage the growing influx, which could reach up to to 200,000 exiles. The first center, in a former Brussels hospital, was quickly overwhelmed, prompting the authorities to opt for a larger site in Heisel. Some 230 employees are responsible for welcoming refugees there, granting them temporary protection status and finding accommodation if necessary. "We see that there are now more than a thousand people in front of the door again, the number continues to increase", noted the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi. The center has the capacity to manage "between 1,000 and 1,500" files per day.
20:58 on 03/14/2022A journalist for the American channel Fox News was injured while working near the Ukrainian capital, kyiv. This was announced Monday in a Fox News live broadcast. Benjamin Hall, who has previously reported from Syria and Libya, among other places, is believed to be in hospital.
UPDATE: Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was wounded outside of Kyiv in Ukraine, @johnrobertsFox reported.
"This is a stark reminder for all journalists who are putting their lives on the line every day to deliver the news from the war zone." https://t.co/PwF0rX2hAt pic.twitter.com/2IBnHjUb4j
The United States considers "deeply concerned" the position of "China's alignment with Russia" in the face of the war in Ukraine, a senior White House official said Monday after a high-level meeting in Rome. The discussion led by US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party's top diplomat, lasted seven hours, she said, calling it "intense". and "very frank" but in no way lowered the tension.
20:29 on 03/14/2022The European Union is expected to announce a fourth set of sanctions, to extend them to new Russian oligarchs, including billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of English football club Chelsea, said diplomats to AFP. Previously, 862 people and 53 Russian entities were already on this blacklist which prohibits entry into EU territory and allows the seizure of their assets. While previous sanctions have already frozen some $300 billion in reserves Russia holds abroad, Moscow has accused the West of wanting to provoke an "artificial" default by Russia.
🔴#Ukraine | Approval by COREPER II of a 4th sanctions package in consultation with our international partners, which targets individuals and entities involved in the aggression against Ukraine, as well as several sectors of the Russian economy.⤵️1/3 #PFUE2022
-- French Presidency of the Council of the EU 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@Europe2022FR) March 14, 2022 20:22 on 14/03/2022The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has indicated that it will deliver its verdict Wednesday in the procedure launched by Kiev, which asks the highest court of the UN to order Moscow to stop its invasion of Ukraine. “A public sitting will take place at 4:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) at the Peace Palace, The Hague, during which the President of the Court, Judge Joan E. Donoghue, will read the Order,” said the ICJ in a press release. Ukraine is asking the UN's highest court for urgent action ordering Russia to stop its invasion, before deciding on the merits of the case, which could take years.
20:02 on 03/14/2022The Buildings Agency is making its unoccupied real estate assets available to municipalities to help them accommodate Ukrainian refugees, Secretary of State Mathieu Michel announced on Monday. In the short term, to alleviate the emergency, the Régie, in charge of the federal real estate heritage, can mobilize around fifty housing units available for the cities and municipalities concerned. It can also make certain administrative buildings available. But these are hardly, if at all, suitable for residential accommodation, said the Secretary of State.
19:59 on 03/14/2022The deadly weekend strike against the Ukrainian military base in Yavoriv, near Poland, was carried out with missiles fired from Russian airspace. It was an airstrike by air-to-ground cruise missiles fired by Russian long-range bombers from Russian airspace, not from Ukrainian airspace. no-fly zone is an example of what a no-fly zone would have no effect on," he added, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again urged NATO on Monday to establish a no-fly zone over his country.
19:54 on 03/14/2022"We have set up 26 humanitarian corridors. Thanks to them, buses have been able to evacuate a very large number of people. We can say that it is about 150,000 people," said deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
These humanitarian corridors have been established in the regions of Kiev, Sumy (350 km northeast of the capital), Kharkiv, in the northeast of the country, and Zaporozhye (east), according to Mr. Tymoshenko. Similarly, in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, two pro-Russian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, corridors have helped civilians flee the fighting, he said.
In Mariupol, a strategic port besieged by Russian troops, some 160 cars were able to leave the city on Monday via a humanitarian corridor in the direction of Zaporozhye, according to the municipality of this city in southeastern Ukraine.
19:43 on 03/14/2022Flanders wishes to have by the end of the week, in collaboration with the local authorities, 6,000 reception places for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the invasion of their country by Russia, said Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon on Monday. This number should increase to 18,000 by the end of the month, added Mr. Jambon (N-VA) during a press conference in Brussels. These are mainly places in (empty) nursing homes, convents and vaccination centres.
07:30 PM on 03/14/2022Russian authorities claimed on Monday that 23 people were killed by a Ukrainian missile in the pro-Russian separatist city of Donetsk, accusing kyiv of a "war crime". According to Mr. Konashenkov, the Ukrainian army fired a "Tochka-U" missile against a residential area in Donetsk, a large industrial city and self-proclaimed "capital" of the eponymous pro-Russian separatist territory. The Ukrainian army has strongly denied having fired a missile against Donetsk.
19:16 on 03/14/2022Sauli Niinistö, frequent interlocutor of Vladimir Putin in recent years, spoke again last Friday with the Russian president. "Putin has his list, we all know it", said said the head of state of the Nordic country in an extract from this interview broadcast by CNN International. "But it seems that changing the government in Ukraine is no longer on the list," he said. "He was very clear when I asked him: + did you waive this requirement? And he said to me: + I never demanded it", related Mr. Niinistö. Mr. Putin's real objectives in this war remain one of the great unknowns of diplomatic discussions. Finland, a neighbor of Russia, traditionally plays a role of dialogue between the West and Moscow. On Friday, Mr. Niinistö also spoke with Mr. Zelensky.
6:49 PM on 03/14/2022The fact that Russian nuclear forces are on high alert is "a horrible development", he said in New York on Monday. "The prospect of a nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now among the possibilities," added Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The UN Secretary General pointed the finger at Russia. "The overwhelming majority of civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure were caused by Russian armed forces," he said. Mr Guterres does not favor a no-fly zone over Ukraine as it would lead to an escalation into global conflict, he said.
18:29 on 03/14/2022German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed Monday in Ankara the need for an early ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and the will to continue their military cooperation with Kyiv. It was the first meeting between the two leaders, whose countries are both members of NATO, since the arrival at the German chancellery of the successor to Angela Merkel (2005-2021), with which Mr. Erdogan had a special relationship.
18:23 on 03/14/2022Nine people were killed and nine injured on Monday in a Russian military strike on a TV tower near the western Ukrainian town of Rivne, local authorities announced.
17:44 on 03/14/2022Russian gas deliveries to Europe continue despite the conflict in Ukraine and sanctions, according to operator data, with the Russian group Gazprom making it a point of honor to point out that its transit obligations through Ukraine have been fulfilled. In Mallnow, an arrival point in Germany of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, deliveries - disrupted for a few days after Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24 - have only increased since and have reached their highest level in recent days. high levels since that date.
17:42 on 03/14/2022The new registration center for refugees from Ukraine set up in Heysel Palace 8 in Brussels has been operational since Monday morning. The Heysel center replaces the structure set up at the former Bordet Institute, which was quickly overwhelmed by the influx of refugees. From dawn, hundreds of people crowded in front of the gates that delimit access to this center in which some 230 agents from Fedasil and the Foreigners Office are busy.Read here
17:38 on 03/14/2022Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal on Monday called on the Council of Europe for the "immediate expulsion" of Russia from this pan-European human rights organization, which would be a first in its history. Early Tuesday evening, at the end of a day of debate, parliamentarians are expected to adopt a text recommending that the Committee of Ministers "to invite the Russian Federation to withdraw from the Council of Europe", which would lead to leave the country of the international organization. The Committee of Ministers of the organization, its "executive" where sit the ambassadors of its member states, must meet Thursday morning to decide.
16:56 on 03/14/2022Some 110 people have contacted the Ukrainian embassy in Brussels to express their desire to join the "international territorial defense legion", created at the end of February by the Ukrainian president, announced Monday at Belga embassy services. Nearly 18 people, of different nationalities, have already joined Ukraine to lend a hand to the army.
"We interviewed fifty people," said Vladyslava Litiaga, second secretary at the embassy. The primary objective of these interviews is to ensure that the volunteers have "military combat experience" and have "a clean criminal record". The embassy claims to "do the maximum" to scrupulously analyze the profile of each person sent to the field. "We carefully scan the candidates' Facebook profiles to detect signs of possible radicalization," the diplomatic services said. In addition, lawyers from various Ukrainian consulates would also have ensured the legality of sending foreign nationals to the side of the Ukrainian army.
Also read: Women and children first? It is men who are most vulnerable in times of war
The Belgian authorities meanwhile assured last week that "the departure of these volunteers to join the Ukrainian army does not in itself constitute an offence, not even according to the Belgian law relating to mercenaries". The Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne, however specified that the profiles of these "volunteers" would be subject to monitoring by the State Security services.
16:56 on 03/14/2022Some 110 people have contacted the Ukrainian embassy in Brussels to express their desire to join the "international territorial defense legion", created at the end of February by the Ukrainian president, announced Monday at Belga embassy services. Nearly 18 people, of different nationalities, have already joined Ukraine to lend a hand to the army.
"We interviewed fifty people," said Vladyslava Litiaga, second secretary at the embassy. The primary objective of these interviews is to ensure that the volunteers have "military combat experience" and have "a clean criminal record". The embassy claims to "do the maximum" to scrupulously analyze the profile of each person sent to the field. "We carefully scan the candidates' Facebook profiles to detect signs of possible radicalization," the diplomatic services said. In addition, lawyers from various Ukrainian consulates would also have ensured the legality of sending foreign nationals to the side of the Ukrainian army.
Also read: Women and children first? It is men who are most vulnerable in times of war
The Belgian authorities meanwhile assured last week that "the departure of these volunteers to join the Ukrainian army does not in itself constitute an offence, not even according to the Belgian law relating to mercenaries". The Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne, however specified that the profiles of these "volunteers" would be subject to monitoring by the State Security services.
16:50 on 03/14/2022Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal asked the Council of Europe on Monday for the "immediate expulsion" of Russia from this pan-European human rights organization.
"We ask to take a decision on the immediate expulsion of Russia from the Council of Europe", launched the head of the Ukrainian government, speaking by videoconference from Kyiv during an extraordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) based in Strasbourg.
16:43 on 03/14/2022Ukraine's economy could shrink by up to 35% if war drags on, and Russia-induced conflict endangers global food security, says Monday the IMF in a report on the Ukrainian economic situation.
"At the very least", Ukrainian GDP will contract by around 10% in 2022 assuming a "rapid resolution" of the conflict, estimates the International Monetary Fund. But if this conflict lasts, the recession will be much more marked, of the order of 25 to 35%, he warns. In the short term, the viability of the debt "does not seem to be threatened", also estimates the Fund, which reports a government for the time being functional.
16:29 on 03/14/2022The European Union has decided to sanction new Russian oligarchs, including billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of English football club Chelsea, in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, diplomats told AFP on Monday.
These measures are part of a fourth round of EU sanctions against Moscow to be announced in the afternoon. Before this extension, 862 people and 53 Russian entities were already on this blacklist which prohibits entry into EU territory and allows the seizure of their property.
15:54 on 03/14/2022The war waged by Russia in Ukraine today translates into "a tactical and strategic failure", Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs told the UN Security Council on Monday. foreign countries, Zbigniew Rau, whose country chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2022.
As a result, Russia has changed its approach since the Feb. 24 invasion and “attacked civilian structures,” he added. It is about "State terrorism" and its authors "will be judged", launched the Minister "Russia's aggression endangers the OSCE, calls into question its organization and its future", he he also denounced, indicating that he would soon go to Moldova and the Balkans in particular in order to mobilize in favor of a peaceful solution to the crisis and the renewal of this body specialized in dialogue and cooperation.
15:49 on 03/14/2022(Too) public European aid, the advance of the Russian army and Ukrainian resistance, Vladimir Putin's nuclear rhetoric: after nearly 20 days of war in Ukraine, Le Vif takes stock with Tanguy Struye (UCLouvain), specialist in Russia and international relations.
His analysis can be read here.
3:29 PM on 03/14/2022The fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Tuesday after a "technical break", a Kyiv negotiator reported.
“We are taking a technical break in the negotiations until tomorrow” to allow “additional work by the sub-working groups and the clarification” of certain terms, declared on Twitter Mykhaïlo Podoliak, a negotiator and adviser to the president. Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky. These discussions, described as "difficult" by Mr. Zelensky, had started earlier Monday by videoconference.
This is the fourth round of talks. The previous three were held on the Ukrainian-Belarusian and Polish-Belarusian borders.
A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow. For additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions. Negotiations continue...
-- ??????? ??????? (@Podolyak_M) March 14, 2022 3:28 PM on 03/14/2022The talks between Ukraine and Russia, which started on Monday, are difficult. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky in a video address. “We must stand firm and fight to win, to achieve a peace that Ukrainians deserve, an honest peace with guarantees of security for our state, for our people. And to put them in writing during negotiations, difficult negotiations."
“A videoconference between the (Ukrainian and Russian) delegations has already started today. It is continuing. Everyone is waiting for news. We will come back in the evening,” he added.
"Complicated"
Before Mr. Zelensky, one of his negotiators, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, who takes part in the negotiations, had indicated that "communication (with Moscow) remains established even if it is complicated".
#Zelensky March 14th
1/ "Russia continues to destroy our infrastructure, continues to beat our cities. But we will rebuild every street in every city. Every house, apartment of every Ukrainian. Now that the occupier is still on our land, we must beat him as best we can." pic.twitter.com/C7oN3INroI
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki proposed this Monday in Warsaw that the assets of the Russian state and oligarchs frozen in the West be permanently confiscated and intended for a fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine. "The brutal aggressor having attacked a country must pay the highest price that can be imposed in a democracy and within the framework of the peaceful coexistence of nations," Morawiecki said.
Learn more here.
15:00 on 03/14/2022At least 630 civilians have been killed since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, according to a UN census carried out until Sunday evening. More than 1,100 people were also injured, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in Geneva on Monday.
The UN only relays the number of victims it has been able to authenticate and admits that the total is probably much higher. The Ukrainian authorities speak of several thousand civilians killed. Among the victims are several dozen children.
2:30 PM on 03/14/2022People remove rubble resulting from a shelling in a residential area on March 14, 2022 in the Obolon district of Kyiv, Ukraine. Russian forces continue to attempt to encircle the Ukrainian capital, although they have faced stiff resistance and logistical challenges since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last month. Russian troops are advancing from the northwest and northeast of the city. (Photo by Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)
2:30 PM on 03/14/2022Some 160 cars were able to exit Monday through a humanitarian corridor from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, besieged for days by Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces, the municipality said. The city council of Mariupol does not specify how many people were able to flee the city where the conditions are catastrophic after days of bombardments and siege.
14:00 on 03/14/202213:00 on 03/14/2022The Russian army does not rule out launching assaults to take full control of major Ukrainian cities, the Kremlin has warned, many centers urban areas of the country being surrounded by Russian forces.
“The Ministry of Defense, to ensure maximum security for the civilian population, does not exclude the possibility of taking full control of the large cities which are already surrounded,” said the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, assuring that President Vladimir Putin had so far not ordered to carry out an assault.
Russian decision
Mr. Peskov also rejected comments by Western officials saying that Vladimir Putin was "disappointed that his soldiers are not advancing far enough". According to him, the Russian president had so far ordered "the Ministry of Defense not to launch a rapid assault on major urban centers, including kyiv" in order to avoid heavy civilian casualties.
12:40 PM on 03/14/2022Ukraine on Monday accused the Russian army of again cutting off the power supply to the Chernobyl nuclear site, located north of Kiev and under Moscow's control since the first days of the invasion of the country.
The Ukrainian authorities had indicated the day before that they had restored the power supply to the old power plant, which still needs energy to ensure the safety of the fuel assemblies stored on site. “But before the power was fully restored, the occupation forces damaged it again,” Ukrainian site operator Ukrenergo posted on Facebook on Monday.
12:30 PM on 03/14/2022The number of refugees from Ukraine has reached more than 2.8 million, according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Read also: How to help Ukraine from Belgium? Practical Guide
Most people go to Poland. The number of refugees who have crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border is approaching 1.8 million, according to Polish border guards, including just over 82,000 people for Sunday alone. It is unclear how many of these people remain in Poland and how many go to other countries.
12:00 PM on 03/14/2022Russia has requested economic and military assistance from China to wage war in Ukraine and circumvent Western sanctions, the New York Times claimed, in an article denounced by Beijing .
According to the American daily, which cited unnamed officials on Sunday, Russia has asked China to provide it with military equipment for the war, and economic aid to help it overcome international sanctions. These officials did not specify the exact nature of the assistance requested, or whether China had responded.
Beijing reacted angrily to the reports, but did not specifically deny them.
Read more about the New York Times revelations here.
10:50 AM on 03/14/2022For the first time since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has openly acknowledged that the invasion is not going as planned. "I would like to say that everything is not going as fast as we would like," said the head of the Russian National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, on Sunday evening. Until now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has always maintained that the invasion is going entirely according to plan.
Zolotov referred to "Nazis" hiding in schools, kindergartens, and homes behind peaceful citizens, including women and children. Nevertheless, Zolotov is confident that Russia will prevail.
10:40 am on 03/14/2022Ukraine said on Monday that it would demand an immediate truce and the withdrawal of Russian forces during a new session of negotiations with Moscow scheduled by videoconference later in the day, near three weeks after the start of the invasion.
"Our positions have not changed: peace, an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of all Russian troops, and only then can we talk about our neighborly relations and our political differences", said Mykhailo Podoliak, a negotiator and adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video on Twitter.
Negotiations. 4th round. On peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops & security guarantees. Hard discussion. Although Russia realizes the nonsense of its aggressive actions, it still has a delusion that 19 days of violence against 🇺🇦 peaceful cities is the right strategy pic.twitter.com/BhFLgBSKiu
-- Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 14, 2022 09:30 AM on 03/14/2022The photo has gone around the world: a pregnant woman evacuated on a stretcher after the Russian bombardment of a maternity hospital in Mariupol . Today, the Associated Press (AP) news agency announced her death, along with that of her baby. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also reported the woman's death.
After the shelling of Mariupol, the woman was transferred to another hospital, where doctors tried to keep her alive. The baby was delivered by caesarean section but showed no "signs of life", surgeon Timur Marin was quoted by AP as saying. The mother did not survive either, after more than half an hour of resuscitation.
08:30 on 03/14/2022To reread the events that have taken place since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, click here.
