8:17 am: An agreement reached with Russia on an evacuation corridor for civilians from Mariupol
An agreement has been reached with Russia on a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the besieged port of Mariupol, the first such agreement since Saturday, a Ukrainian official said. “We managed to find a preliminary agreement (with the Russians) on a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.
7:23 a.m .: The Finnish Parliament begins the debate on NATO membership
The Finnish Parliament begins this Wednesday to debate joining NATO to better protect itself against possible Russian aggression, with a candidacy now “very likely”. Despite Moscow’s latest warnings of nuclear reinforcements in the Baltic region if Finland or neighboring Sweden join the US-led military alliance, Helsinki intends to make a decision quickly. Divided on the issue for a long time until the invasion of Ukraine, the 200 members of the Eduskunta, the country’s barely 100-year-old parliament, are heading for a clear majority in favor of membership in a probable vote. by summer.
Italy bets on African gas to no longer depend on Russia
Algeria and Egypt before Easter, Congo and Angola this week, Mozambique in May: Italy has embarked on a diplomatic offensive in Africa to get out of its dependence on Russian gas after the invasion of Moscow in Ukraine. While Russia currently supplies the peninsula with 45% of its gas, Prime Minister Mario Draghi wants to change this situation by diversifying its portfolio of suppliers as quickly as possible. “We no longer want to depend on Russian gas, because economic dependence must not become political subjection,” he said in an interview with the daily Il Corriere della Sera on Sunday.
6:10 a.m .: Washington prepares a new military aid package of $ 800 million for Ukraine
The United States is set to approve a new military aid package for Ukraine amounting to $800 million, less than a week after an earlier announcement of a tranche of the same amount, several media reported. Americans. The details of this new package are still being worked out, according to CNN, which cites three senior Biden administration officials.
6 a.m.: Soldiers besieged in Mariupol “may be living (their) last days”, says one of them
“We may be living our last days, even our last hours,” said a commander of Ukrainian soldiers besieged in Mariupol, calling on the international community to carry out their “extraction”, in a message posted on Facebook on Wednesday. “The enemy is ten times more numerous than us”, declared Serguiy Volyna, of the 36th brigade of the national navy, entrenched in the besieged factory of Azovstal in Mariupol (south-eastern Ukraine). “We call on and beg all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the extraction procedure and take us to the territory of a third country,” he added.
The enemy is ten times more numerous than us
5:50 a.m .: Russian billionaire castigates “absurd” Russian war in Ukraine
Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov, founder of the online bank Tinkoff, a big FinTech success of recent years, castigated on Tuesday a “absurd” Russian war in Ukraine and called on the West to help end this “massacre”. “90% of Russians are AGAINST this war,” assured Oleg Tinkov, 54, on Instagram, stressing that he saw “NO beneficiary of this absurd war” where “innocent people and soldiers are dying”.
The first images of the sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva
On Friday, the Moskva, Russian flagship in the Black Sea, sank. According to Moscow, this cruiser, which played a key role in the coordination of Russian ships in the Black Sea, sank following a fire caused by the explosion of ammunition. Ukraine, for its part, claims to have sunk it with missiles. The first images of the sinking ship have been posted on Twitter.
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5:47 a.m .: Ukraine received fighter jets and spare parts to strengthen its air force
Ukraine has received fighter jets and spare parts to strengthen its air force, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday, declining to specify their number, type or origin. “Today they have more fighter jets at their disposal than two weeks ago,” the spokesperson said during a press briefing, noting that the United States facilitated the sending spare parts to Ukrainian territory but did not send planes there.
5:46 am: The latest highlights on the military front
– Russia opened Tuesday with a series of strikes on eastern Ukraine a “new phase” of the war it launched in February. Russian air forces fired “high-precision missiles” and neutralized thirteen Ukrainian army strongholds, his ministry said, calling on the Ukrainians to surrender. Ukrainian local authorities have called on residents to flee this “hell”, despite the absence of humanitarian corridors.
– According to a senior US Defense Department official, Russia has increased its military presence in eastern and southern Ukraine, bringing the total of battalions in the country to 76.
– Kreminna, which had about 18,000 inhabitants before the war and is located about fifty kilometers northeast of Kramatorsk (the capital of Donbass), fell into Russian hands. Fighting is also taking place in Roubijné (15 km east of Kreminna) and Popasna (75 km south), according to the Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region, who mentioned a death toll of 200.
– Russia, which on Tuesday called on the defenders of Mariupol to cease “their senseless resistance” after a first ultimatum on Sunday, also remains determined to seize this strategic port on the Sea of Azov. The authorities fear the death of 20,000 to 22,000 civilians in this city.
– Russia also reported dozens of other missile strikes in southern Ukraine, another front line.
What to remember from Tuesday
- The Russian offensive has begun in eastern Ukraine. “All the villages are bombed without exception, there is no safe place”, in the Lugansk region, “it’s hell” launched Serguiï Gaïdaï, the governor of the region. Russia has confirmed that it carried out dozens of strikes in the east of the country.
- Fighting continues in Mariupol, on the verge of being fully controlled by the Russians. The army called on the Ukrainian defenders to “lay down their arms” and end their “senseless resistance”.
- Russia has multiplied the announcements of expulsions of diplomats from European countries (Belgian, Dutch and Austrian), in retaliation for similar measures taken recently by these countries.
- Seventy-six Ukrainians have been freed in a new prisoner swap with Russia.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on both sides to halt fighting for a four-day “humanitarian pause” on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.
- Westerners have agreed on the need “to increase the international isolation of Moscow”.
- Russia’s gross domestic product is expected to contract by 8.5% this year and Ukraine’s GDP to collapse by 35%, according to the latest IMF economic forecasts.
- Bruno Le Maire claimed that an embargo on Russian oil was necessary, and even in preparation by the government.
5:45 am: Hello everyone, welcome to this live where we will follow the situation around the conflict in Ukraine, this Tuesday, April 19, on the 55th day of the Russian invasion.