Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: the point of this Saturday, April 16, 2022 on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Moscow is targeting a military factory in kyiv. A military equipment factory manufacturing tanks in particular was targeted on Saturday morning by a bombardment in the suburbs of kyiv, noted an AFP journalist. This bombing, claimed by Moscow, comes the day after Russian forces warned that they were going to intensify their attacks on the Ukrainian capital. “High-precision, long-range air-to-surface weapons destroyed production buildings of an arms factory in kyiv,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram. At the scene, a large number of soldiers and police were present, preventing access to the complex, from which smoke was billowing. The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, indicated on Facebook that he had no information on the potential victims at this stage. On Friday, a Russian strike hit a factory in the kyiv region manufacturing Neptune missiles that the Ukrainian military claimed it used to hit the Russian cruiser Moskva.
Moscow warns Washington of “consequences”. Russia sent a formal complaint to the United States this week warning the US government of “unforeseeable consequences” following its sharply increased military aid to Ukraine, according to press reports. According to this diplomatic note, Moscow warns the United States and NATO against sending “more sensitive” weapons to Ukraine, judging that such military equipment put “fuel on the fire” and could provoke “unforeseeable consequences,” reported the Washington Post. The warning came as US President Joe Biden pledged $800 million worth of new military aid to Ukraine, including helicopters and armored personnel carriers.
Zelensky underlines the Russian nuclear risk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that “the whole world” should be “worried” about the risk that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, cornered by his military setbacks in Ukraine, might resort to a tactical nuclear weapon, echoing the warning the day before the director of the CIA. US foreign intelligence boss William Burns said the threat posed by the potential use of tactical or ‘low-power’ nuclear weapons by President Vladimir Putin should not be “taken lightly if he were to”. sink into despair” in the face of the failures of his army.
Strikes and Evacuations. On the night of Friday to Saturday, the mayor of the city of Aleksandria, about 300 km southeast of kyiv, said on Facebook that a Russian missile had hit the airport of his city. He said that the rescue teams were at work but without immediately claiming any victims. Ten people were killed, including a seven-month-old infant, and 35 others injured in Russian fire on buses evacuating residents of the Kharkiv region (northeast), local authorities announced on Friday. In southeastern Ukraine, nearly 2,900 civilians were evacuated Friday from besieged Mariupol and Berdyansk to Zaporozhye, according to kyiv. For his part, the spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense affirmed on Friday that Russian artillery had caused the death of about thirty “Polish mercenaries” in the north-east of Ukraine, which risks reinforcing the already high tensions between Moscow and Warsaw.
New victims. At least seven people were killed and 34 others injured in Russian shelling of a residential area in Kharkiv, the major city in northeastern Ukraine, the regional governor announced on Friday. Almost all of those found dead in Boutcha, near kyiv, were shot and killed, the local police chief said. The inhabitants themselves buried victims during the occupation of this city by the Russian army, which lasted almost a month. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday that Russian artillery killed around 30 ‘Polish mercenaries’ in northeastern Ukraine, risking heightened tensions between Moscow and Warsaw.
Five million refugees. More than five million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This is the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
Moscow expels 18 EU representatives. Moscow announced Friday the expulsion of eighteen diplomats from the representation of the European Union in Russia, in retaliation for a similar measure taken by Brussels following the launch by the Kremlin of the offensive in Ukraine. The European Union deemed this expulsion “unjustified”, believing that it would only “aggravate” Moscow’s international isolation. North Macedonia expelled six Russian diplomats accused of breaking diplomatic rules.
NATO: Finnish candidacy “very likely”. Finland is “very likely” to apply for NATO membership as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finnish European Affairs Minister Tytti Tuppurainen said on Friday. Russian diplomacy warned Finland, as well as Sweden, that such a measure would have consequences for these countries and for European security.
Complexity of an embargo on Russian oil. The European Union is preparing to stop buying oil from Russia to sanction it over the war in Ukraine, but the measure is “complex” and will take “several months”, sources told AFP on Friday. Europeans. “The Commission is considering the options,” said an EU official involved in the talks.
RFI website blocked in Russia. Russia has blocked the website of French radio RFI, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian, in the midst of a crackdown on critics of the offensive in Ukraine.
Help from Berlin to buy military equipment. Germany plans to grant more than one billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, a government spokesman told AFP on Friday. The money will be used by Ukraine to finance the acquisition of military equipment.