Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: the point on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Putin is committing ‘genocide’, says Biden
Joe Biden confirmed Tuesday accusing his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of “genocide” in Ukraine, a few hours after using this word for the first time to describe the situation in the country invaded by Moscow.
Until then, the American administration had not pronounced this word, used by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “It’s increasingly clear that Putin is just trying to erase the very idea of being a Ukrainian,” Biden told reporters during a trip to Iowa.
Zelensky proposes a prisoner exchange
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered Tuesday night in Moscow to “exchange” Ukrainian MP and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and recently arrested, for Ukrainians in captivity in Russia. Ukrainian authorities had earlier in the day announced the arrest of this 67-year-old Ukrainian who had been on the run since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Viktor Medvedchuk, 12th fortune in Ukraine in 2021 with 620 million dollars according to Forbes magazine, is known for his links with Russian President Vladimir Putin who is, according to the person concerned, the godfather of one of his daughters.
The Boutcha massacre, “a fake” according to Putin
The massacre of suspected civilians in the city of Boutcha, near kyiv, is “a fake”, said Tuesday Vladimir Putin, whose country denies any abuse in Ukraine.
The Russian president assured during a press conference in a cosmodrome in the Far East that the offensive in Ukraine continued “calmly” by minimizing the losses, refusing to set a timetable. He again justified the offensive by the need to “ensure the security of Russia” against a Ukraine which “has begun to be transformed into an anti-Russian stronghold, to cultivate nationalism, neo-Nazism”.
Zelensky denounces “hundreds of rapes”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday denounced “hundreds of cases of rape” observed in areas previously occupied by the Russian army, “including young underage girls and very small children”.
The noose is tightening on Mariupol
In Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov besieged for more than 40 days, Russian forces are tightening their grip on Ukrainian soldiers “surrounded and blocked” in the city where “tens of thousands” of people have died and where ” 90% of the houses” were destroyed, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak.
Washington accuses Moscow of considering the use of “chemical agents” in Mariupol
The United States reported on Tuesday, through the voice of the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken, “credible information” on the possibility that Russia will use “chemical agents” in its offensive to take Mariupol.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Tuesday expressed concern over allegations of chemical weapons use in Mariupol.
German president persona non grata in Kyiv
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, criticized for his relations maintained in recent years with Russia, said on Tuesday that he had considered visiting Ukraine with other heads of state but had been rejected by from Kyiv.
70% of inflation in the United States in March caused by Putin, according to Biden
Joe Biden on Tuesday lamented the additional inflationary spike caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which caused US gasoline prices to jump by more than 18% between February and March. According to the American president, “70% of the rise in prices in March comes from Putin’s gas price hike”
More than 4.6 million refugees
More than 4.6 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin on February 24, according to UNHCR figures on Tuesday. According to the Ukrainian Border Guard Service, more than 870,000 Ukrainians have returned home since the start of the war, including women and children.