- After three weeks of Moscow’s offensive and an advance on several fronts, the lines have stabilized, and all eyes are on Friday, March 18, towards Mariupol, a strategic city in Ukraine besieged by Russian forces, and Lviv.
- The head of the Russian delegation to talks with Kyiv announced on Friday that it had observed a ” reconciliation “ positions on the question of a “Status of neutrality of Ukraine and its non-membership of NATO”. Ukraine estimated on Wednesday that “deep contradictions” persisted in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, but that a “compromise” was still possible.
- The American President, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have completed their hour and 50 minute interview Friday. The United States said on Thursday that China would face retaliation if it were to “support Russian aggression”. Russia gave up on Thursday evening to hold a vote in the Security Council on a resolution, for lack of support from its closest allies.
- Russian “missiles” destroyed an aircraft repair factory in the district of Lviv airport, in western Ukraine, near the Polish border, according to the town hall. There would be no casualties. Already on Sunday, the Russian army had bombed a Ukrainian military base in this region.
- The Russian military and its separatist allies are now fighting in the mariupol city centera strategic Ukrainian port under siege in the south-east of the country, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday.
- The shelling continues at Kyiv and Kharkiv, the second largest city in the country, where at least 500 people have been killed since the start of the war. But the capital slowly came back to life on Thursday after the lifting of a curfew imposed since Tuesday evening. It has been emptied of at least half of its 3.5 million inhabitants. More than 3 million Ukrainians have taken the road to exile, mostly to Poland, sometimes only a stage in their exodus.
- The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, must meet with his French counterpartEmmanuel Macron, this Friday around 5 p.m. (Paris time).
- Volodymyr Zelensky implored Westerners on Thursday to help “stop this war”, when a Russian strike killed at least twenty-seven people in the east of the country. For him, “a people is being destroyed in Europe”he added, applauded by the deputies of the Bundestag, in Berlin.
Read all our articles, analyzes and reports on the war in Ukraine:
Live March 17 can be found here.
Report. Today, Mariupol is an open hell
To analyse. Russia takes first step towards default
Your questions. The answers of the “World” to your most frequently asked questions
Story. Questioned by Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden increases military support for kyiv
History of a concept. Siege warfare, a weapon to terrorize civilians
Chronic. “Countries considering falling out with the Western alliance may be inclined to hold fewer reserves”
