As the United States pledged massive military aid to Ukraine, around 20 civilians were killed by Russian fire outside a store, in a market and inside an apartment building in the north and fleeing Mariupol in southern Ukraine, on the 21st day of the Russian invasion. Ten people queuing to buy bread in Cherniguiv, 150 km north of kyiv, died in the morning when soldiers opened fire on them in a “premeditated” manner, announced the general prosecutor’s office. In this same city, which suffered numerous air raids, five bodies, including those of three children, were found under the rubble of a collective dwelling, said the rescuers.
The main information to remember:
– recorded deadly strikes
– talks still deadlocked
– a city that welcomes refugees from Mariupol targeted
deadly strikes
Several deadly strikes were recorded Wednesday in Ukraine. Ten people queuing to buy bread in Cherniguiv, 150 km north of kyiv, died in the morning when soldiers opened fire on them in a “premeditated” manner, announced the general prosecutor’s office. In this same city, which suffered numerous air raids, five bodies, including those of three children, were found under the rubble of a collective dwelling, said the rescuers.
Three other people lost their lives and five were injured in a market in a fire caused by a bombardment in Kharkiv, in the northeast of the country. In the afternoon, the firing of Grad rockets on a convoy of civilians leaving the besieged and constantly shelled port city of Mariupol left an undetermined number of dead and wounded, including a seriously injured child, d after the Ukrainian army. A theater which housed “hundreds” of civilians “was destroyed there in the explosion of a bomb dropped by a Russian plane, added the town hall.
The city of Zaporozhye targeted for the first time
The city of Zaporozhye, largely spared so far and refuge for people evacuated from Mariupol, was targeted for the first time since the start of the conflict, the station having been hit on Wednesday by at least one missile. It is in this region that the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located, which the Russians have occupied since March 4. “I buried my son today. He was a pilot”, whose plane was shot down during a combat mission, told his side, head down, Anatoly, in Ochakiv, on the shores of the sea Black. In total, at least 500 people have been killed since the start of the war in Kharkiv, the second city of Ukraine, in the northeast, relentlessly bombarded.
Thick columns of black smoke seen in kyiv
Explosions were also heard again at dawn in kyiv where thick columns of black smoke rose. The capital, emptied of more than half of its 3.5 million inhabitants, has been under curfew since 8 p.m. Tuesday (6 p.m. GMT) and until 7 a.m. Thursday, after several missiles hit buildings in housing Monday and Tuesday.
“If necessary, we will take up arms and defend the city,” said Edouard Dementchouk, a fifty-year-old employee of a private security company. As a result of the conflict, more than three million Ukrainians – almost half of them children – have already taken the road to exile, the vast majority to Poland.
Military attacks on the health system
The World Health Organization claimed to have never seen so many military attacks on the health system as currently in Ukraine. “The health system has become a target (…). It is starting to be part of the strategy and tactics of war. It is totally unacceptable, it is contrary to international humanitarian law”, lamented the chief. WHO Emergency Department, Michael Ryan.
It is in this context that the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the United Nations, on Wednesday ordered Moscow to immediately halt its military operations in Ukraine, saying it was “deeply concerned” by the extent fights ; and that the Council of Europe, guarantor of the rule of law on this continent, officially excluded Russia, while the European Court of Human Rights suspended the examination of all applications concerning Russia.
Looking for a compromise
The offensive and the determination of the two camps did not prevent the continuation of parallel talks, relaunched Monday by videoconference at the level of the delegations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that negotiators were now discussing “a compromise”, which would make Ukraine a neutral country, on the model of Sweden and Austria. “There are very concrete formulas which, I think, are close to an agreement”, also underlined the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.
Without denying discussions on neutrality, the Ukrainian chief negotiator Mykhaïlo Podoliak rejected “a Swedish or Austrian model” and insisted on “absolute security guarantees” vis-à-vis Russia, with a commitment to intervene alongside Russia. Ukraine in case of aggression. “Ukraine is now in a state of direct war with Russia. Therefore, the model can only be + Ukrainian +”, declared Mykhaïlo Podoliak on his Telegram account.
President Zelensky had estimated on Tuesday night that the positions of the two camps were now “more realistic”, while considering that it would take “still time for the decisions to be in the interest of Ukraine”. He had previously said he was ready to renounce any membership of his country in NATO, a casus belli for Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky did not hide that he also hoped to get a meeting with Vladimir Putin. At the end of a conversation, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill for their part expressed “the hope of quickly arriving at a just peace”. The head of the Catholic Church called on that of the Russian Orthodox Church to avoid “the language of politics”, according to the Vatican.
Those political foreigners who visited kyiv
Turkey, a member of NATO but having refused to join in the sanctions against Moscow, for its part continued its mediation efforts. Its Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu was in Moscow on Wednesday and was due to travel to Ukraine on Thursday. He will succeed the Polish, Czech and Slovenian Prime Ministers, Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa, who went to kyiv on Tuesday.
At the same time, Poland has called for the establishment of a NATO “peace mission”, “protected by the armed forces” to help Ukraine. The subject could be discussed during the extraordinary NATO summit scheduled for March 24 in Brussels, where Joe Biden will be present. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin promised financial aid to individuals and businesses, comparing the sanctions to a “Blitzkrieg” against Russia. The Russian authorities continue in parallel to repress any opposition to the war.
A refugee child every second
The number of people who have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion by the Russian army has reached three million, said a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration in Geneva. Almost every second that passes, a child in Ukraine becomes a refugee, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A total of 97 children have been killed since the start of the war, according to President Zelensky.
Biden in Brussels for EU and NATO summits
US President Joe Biden will take part in the next meeting of European Union heads of state and government in Brussels on March 24, as well as an extraordinary NATO summit on the same day devoted to the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia, announced Brussels and Washington.
On Tuesday evening, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski argued in kyiv that a NATO “peace mission”, “protected by the armed forces” to help Ukraine was necessary.
Russia recruits thousands of Syrians
Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from the Syrian army and allied militias ready to be deployed in Ukraine, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
30 Russian-speaking media blocked
The Russian telecoms policeman Roskomnadzor has blocked the sites of at least 30 additional media. The sites of investigative media Bellingcat, Russian local media, as well as Russian-language media based in Israel and Ukraine were inaccessible in Russia without a virtual private network (VPN).
Penalties
The European Union has banned the export to Russia of its luxury sedans, champagne, jewelry and other items prized by elites who support Vladimir Putin. London has imposed punitive vodka tariffs and asset freezes against more than 370 individuals and entities, including some 50 oligarchs.
For its part, Russia has decided to leave the Council of Europe, accusing NATO and the EU of having made it an instrument in the service of “their military-political and economic expansion in the East”. She announced sanctions against President Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several members of their governments.
Putin claims success
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Wednesday that his military operation in Ukraine was a “success”, saying that Moscow would not let this country become a “bridgehead” for “aggressive actions” against Russia. Furthermore, kyiv has rejected the proposal for a neutral status for Ukraine on the Swedish or Austrian model.