by Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets
LVIV, Ukraine, March 11 (Reuters) – Russian forces are reorganizing north of kyiv after their blitzkrieg offensive against the Ukrainian capital failed, satellite images show, and the United Kingdom estimated on Friday that Moscow could launch a new attack in the coming days as the European Union and the United States continue to organize their response.
As heavy Russian shelling continues to target several towns in eastern Ukraine, including Kharkiv and Mariupol, Ukrainian authorities have accused the Russian military of hitting a psychiatric hospital in the southern town of Izium -east of Kharkiv.
The 330 patients who had taken refuge in the basement of the hospital were not injured, said the emergency services, while the governor of the Kharkiv region denounced a “brutal attack against civilians” and a new “war crime”, two days after the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol.
Moscow did not comment but President Vladimir Putin paved the way for an escalation of the conflict in Donbass on Friday.
While tirelessly repeating that what he presents as a “special military operation” aimed at denazifying Ukraine is taking place “according to plan”, the Russian president gave the green light to the dispatch of 16,000 “volunteers” from the Middle East in the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
“When you see that there are people who want to help people who live in Donbass on their own, not for money, then we have to give them what they want and help them reach the area of fight,” Vladimir Putin said during a meeting of his security council in Moscow, without further details.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said shortly after that Moscow had started deploying Syrian mercenaries to Ukraine.
The Russian president also asked his Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, that anti-tank missiles delivered by Western countries to the Ukrainian army be distributed to separatist fighters in Donbass when they fall into the hands of the Russian army.
TROOP MOVEMENTS NORTH OF kyiv
Calling on the Russian population to unite around their leader, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said for his part that “a real Russian is never ashamed of being Russian” and that people who oppose the war in Ukraine “are not real Russians”.
If Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday of “positive inflections” in diplomatic discussions with Ukraine, of which he notably demands “neutrality” and recognition of the annexation of Crimea by Russia, satellite images broadcast by the private company American Maxar show that Moscow has probably not given up on a large-scale offensive against the Ukrainian capital.
These images show significant movements of armored vehicles in several towns on the northwestern outskirts of kyiv, around Hostomel airport, the target of a Russian army airborne operation on the first day of the invasion , February 24.
Other Russian units have redeployed in the Lubyanka sector, north of kyiv, where multiple rocket launchers have been positioned for a possible bombardment of the capital, according to Maxar.
“Russia is probably repositioning its forces for a resumption of the offensive in the coming days,” said the British Ministry of Defense. “This will probably include operations against Kyiv.”
The progress of the Russian troops remains however slowed down by the logistical difficulties and the fierce resistance of the Ukrainians, according to the British intelligence services.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the Russian army continues to suffer heavy losses during its attacks and has been put in an “unfavorable position” in the Poliski region, close to the border with Belarus and the main column of Russian armored vehicles coming from this country in the direction of kyiv.
As the conflict continues to rage, Russia has announced for the seventh consecutive day the opening of a “humanitarian corridor” intended to allow the hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Mariupol to leave the city deprived of water, heating and electricity.
THE WESTERN RESPONSE CONTINUES TO ORGANIZE
The Ukrainian authorities have said they are ready to attempt another evacuation, the previous ones having according to them been prevented by fire from the Russian army – which in return accused the Ukrainian forces of violating the ceasefire.
“We hope that (the Mariupol humanitarian corridor) will work today,” Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said in a televised statement.
At the other end of the country, Ukrainians continue to massively cross the borders with Poland, Romania and Moldova. According to the latest count from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), released on Friday, more than 2.5 million Ukrainians have already fled their country.
In this context, the leaders of the European Union meeting in Versailles since Thursday were to announce on Friday new measures to support Ukraine and to stop sourcing Russian hydrocarbons.
The twenty-seven heads of state and government, meeting at the initiative of the French presidency of the EU, continued to discuss Friday morning the timetable and the means to reduce their dependence on Russian gas and oil. The result of these exchanges is expected at the beginning of the afternoon.
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce soon after that the United States and its G7 allies and the EU will strip Russia of its “preferred trading partner” status, a move that paves the way for the imposition of tariffs. customs on many Russian products, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The United States Senate on Thursday passed a bill releasing $13.6 billion to finance the purchase of ammunition and military equipment for the Ukrainian army, as well as humanitarian support for its population.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, indicated for his part on Friday that the European Commission intended to double its military aid to Ukraine and had asked the leaders of the Twenty-Seven meeting in Versailles to approve the release of 500 million euros. additional euros. The EU already supplies kyiv with defensive weapons, including anti-tank missiles. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets, with Reuters bureaus, French version Tangi Salaün, editing by Sophie Louet)