In Kiev, the situation remains uncertain, at the end of the night of February 26 to 27. ” The night will again be difficult. The troops [russes] still trying to get into Kyiv”had written on Saturday evening on his Telegram account the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitaly Klitschko, after Russia announced to strengthen its attack. “All units have been ordered to expand the offensive in all directions”said the Russian Ministry of Defense.
But the violence of the Russian intervention on Saturday decided the West to adopt a new set of sanctions, aimed in particular at excluding many Russian banks from the Swift interbank platform, an essential cog in global finance, announced the German government, which chairs currently the G7 forum.
New sanctions: “an economic and financial pariah”
The partial exclusion of Swift “will prevent banks from carrying out most of their global financial transactions, and as a result, Russian exports and imports will be blocked”, underlined the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The measure, which has yet to be approved at EU level by member states, will also be taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Furthermore, the Western partners have decided to further restrict the access of the russian central bank to the capital markets, and “crippling the assets of the Russian Central Bank” in order to prevent Moscow from using it to finance the conflict in Ukraine, in the words of Mme von der Leyen.
Russia is now a “global economic and financial pariah”facing one ruble in ” free fall “, summarized a senior American official on Saturday evening. He added that a working group “will track” the “yachts, jets, luxury cars and luxury homes” from russian oligarchs. The latter, as well as their families, will also no longer be able to obtain the nationality of many Western countries. Westerners had already crossed a threshold on Friday by imposing personal sanctions to the Russian president Vladimir Poutine and its head of diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov.
Germany, whose company Lufthansa has announced to suspend its flights to Russia for seven days, also indicated on Saturday that it was considering close its airspace to Russian companies. The French authorities, for their part, indicated that they had intercepted a Russian merchant vessel in the English Channel of 127 meters suspected of belonging to a company targeted by the sanctions taken by the EU.
Arms deliveries are on the rise. Saturday, Berlin announced the supply to Kiev of a thousand anti-tank rocket launchers and 500 surface-to-air missiles, breaking with its traditional policy of refusing to export lethal weapons to conflict zones. The Netherlands announced delivery of 200 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, the Czech Republic said to send weapons worth 7.6 million euros, and Belgium indicated supplying Kiev with 2,000 machine guns and 3,800 tons of fuel. France announced in turn on Saturday evening, following a Defense Council meeting, to have “decided the additional delivery of defense equipment to the Ukrainian authorities”without further details.
The fighting intensifies, Kiev resists
On the third day of the invasion, fighting took place on Saturday in the capital and many Ukrainian cities.
At least 198 civilians, including three children, were killed and 1,115 people injured since Thursday, according to Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko. Across the country, dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in the fighting, according to the Ukrainian army. It also claims to inflict heavy losses on the Russian army, which gives no information about its balance sheet.
So far, the Russian Defense Ministry has not mentioned an offensive on Kiev, only reporting cruise missile fire on military infrastructure, advances in the East and South.
Russian units have been identified in Borodianki (70 km northwest of Kiev) in Butcha, in the northwestern suburbs of the capital, and in Vyshgorod, in its northern suburbs, the Ukrainian army said on Facebook. Russian forces “continue their attack to block Kiev from the northeast [du pays]but they were arrested by the Ukrainian Armed Forces”she said again.
In Kiev, a ghost town deserted by its inhabitants, fighting opposed Russian and Ukrainian forces on Saturday. the curfew has been extended until 8 a.m. Monday and anyone in the street will be treated as an enemy, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced. The Kiev metro is at a standstill and now serves as aair raid shelter To the population.
Several massive explosions were seen in Kiev overnight from Saturday to Sunday. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said one came from Zhuliany airport, and the mayor of Vasylkiv, 40 km south of the capital, said an oil depot had been hit.
One 30-storey residential building was hit head-on Saturday morning by a missile which did significant damage, without the authorities reporting any immediate casualties. From “sabotage units” of Moscow are in the city, but not yet regular formations of the Russian army, said the mayor.
The Ukrainian army claimed on Saturday morning to have destroyed a column of five military vehicles, including a tank, on the avenue de la Victoire, one of the main arteries of the city. She also claimed to have shot down several Russian aircraft including an Ilyushin Il-76 jumbo jet, information that was impossible to verify immediately.
Moscow “frustrated” by Ukrainian resistance
“Our army controls Kiev and key towns around the capital”assured Volodymyr Zelensky on Facebook, claiming to have “broken the plan” from Moscow. He called on the population to take up arms and swore to stay in Kiev.
In Moscow, the Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, reaffirmed that the Russian army was not carrying out strikes on residential areas, which opposes the findings of several reporters on the spot, who observed homes hit by shots across the country. Russia’s media regulator on Saturday ordered national media to remove any references to civilians killed by the Russian military in Ukraine as well as the terms “invasion”, “offensive” Where ” declaration of war “.
For his part, the head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinkenaddressed himself directly on Saturday on Twitter “to the Russian people”in Russian. “You do not deserve a vain war with your neighbors, friends and families in Ukraine”he wrote in particular.
Washington announced on Saturday the sending of new military aid to Ukraine, amounting to 350 million dollars, while a senior official of the Pentagon told AFP see “signs of a viable Ukrainian resistance”. “We think Russians are growing increasingly frustrated with their loss of momentum over the past 24 hours, especially in northern Ukraine”he added.
“War has returned to Europe” and she “will last”had warned French President Emmanuel Macron Saturday morning in Paris. After meeting in the evening with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in recent months very dependent on the support of the Kremlin, he asked that Belarus “demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from its soil as soon as possible”. With this call, Emmanuel Macron put President Lukashenko “under pressure by reminding him of what Belarus had in common with Ukraine and with Europe”according to the Elysee.
Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday and asked him to deprive Russia, “aggressor country”, of its right to vote in the Security Council. Him and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pointed out in a phone call on Saturday “the need to totally isolate Russia diplomatically and financially”Downing Street announced.
Pope Francis spoke on the telephone with President Zelensky and expressed his “deep sorrow for the tragic events” in Ukraine, announced the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See.
Exodus to the West: 115,000 Ukrainians in Poland
On the road between Kramatorsk and Dnipro, two cities in eastern Ukraine, AFP journalists noted the presence of a large number of Ukrainian military convoys. Checkpoints have been set up at the entrances and exits of each major city in this area.
Poland says 115,000 Ukrainians have crossed the border since Thursday. Nine reception centers have been set up. “We left our house very, very quickly because we were afraid of a massive attack”told AFP Dania, among the refugees.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had previously estimated that more than 116,000 refugees had fled to neighboring countries, such as Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania.