Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: update on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The Appeal of Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a strong call for citizens around the world to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of his country, a month to the day after its start and hours before a series of summits in Brussels Thursday between Western leaders . “Go ahead with Ukrainian symbols to defend Ukraine, to defend freedom, to defend life!” Said Mr. Zelensky overnight from Wednesday to Thursday via a video message in English. “Meet in the squares, in the street, show yourself and make yourself heard!” “Speak out, demonstrate from your offices, your homes, your schools and your universities, demonstrate in the name of peace!” Hammered the president. “The world must stop the war”. He also addressed the Russians: “If you can, leave Russia and don’t pay your taxes for this war,” he said.
To read: Volodymyr Zelensky at the National Assembly: “A moving, very symbolic, important speech”
Joe Biden in Brussels
As the Russian invasion enters its second month, three summits – NATO, G7 and the European Union – await Western heads of state and government in a single day in Brussels. According to the White House, it will above all be a question of consolidating the arsenal of sanctions already taken, to avoid attempts to circumvent Moscow, and to strengthen NATO’s position in Eastern Europe over the long term. “What we would like to hear is that this shared firmness that we have seen over the last month will last as long as it takes,” said Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to US President Joe Biden, who arrived in the city on Wednesday evening. Belgian capital and who is then due to travel to Poland on Friday.
Washington must also announce Thursday “a set of sanctions that concern both political figures” and “oligarchs”, said Mr. Sullivan. NATO will deploy four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to strengthen its defenses against Russia on its eastern flank, announced its secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
To read: “In Ukraine, no one had anticipated the seriousness of this war”
Arms deliveries
President Zelensky, who is due to speak by videoconference at the Brussels summits, has called on NATO to supply his country with weapons. “Clean our soil from invaders and restore peace to Ukraine,” he implored. Welcoming the “extraordinarily courageous” resistance of the Ukrainians, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had earlier announced the delivery of 6,000 additional anti-tank missiles to kyiv. London has already delivered 4,000 of these weapons to Ukraine.
Sweden and Germany announced for their part the delivery to Ukraine of 5,000 and 2,000 new anti-tank weapons respectively. The Ukrainian forces have already received 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger-type surface-to-air missile launchers taken from the reserves of the Bundeswehr, the German army. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of “committing war crimes in Ukraine”.
“We have seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities,” he said in a statement, stressing that it will be up to the courts to determine the responsibilities. Mr. Zelensky said on Wednesday that nearly 100,000 people were still trapped in the ruins of Mariupol, a large besieged city in the south of the country, “without food, without water, without medicine, under constant bombardment”.
Candles in the hospital
At Mariupol’s Number One Hospital, patients are being treated in basements by candlelight, the city council said.
“Candles remain the main source of light. They try to save fuel as much as possible, so diesel generators are only used for complex operations,” the council said on Telegram, adding that between 600 and 700 residents from the surrounding area also took refuge in this hospital.
The conflict is also deadly for the Russian forces, which have already lost between 7,000 and 15,000 soldiers in Ukraine, according to a senior NATO official, who is based in particular on information from the Ukrainian authorities and Western intelligence services. The Russian invasion “is bogged down despite all the destruction it causes day after day,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
defensive positions
According to Washington, the Russian army’s offensive is stalling, particularly in the vicinity of the capital kyiv. “The Ukrainians managed to push the Russians back 55 km to the east and northeast of kyiv,” a senior Pentagon official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “It’s not that they’re not advancing, it’s that they’re not trying to advance. They’re taking defensive positions,” he added. Failing to succeed in seizing the big cities, the Russian army continues to bombard them in an intense way. The Ukrainian general staff recorded 250 Russian aerial sorties on Wednesday, 60 more than on Tuesday. “The main targets of the enemy remain the military and civilian infrastructure in the oblasts of kyiv, Cherniguiv and Kharkiv,” he said Thursday on his Facebook page.
In kyiv, a new strike on the parking lot of a shopping center left one dead and two injured on Wednesday, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko. Earlier in the day, four people were injured in bombings on buildings. A Russian journalist, Oksana Baulina, was killed Wednesday in a bombardment on kyiv, announced the online media for which she worked, The Insider.
More than 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine since February 24, according to the UN tally released on Wednesday. In total, some ten million people, around a quarter of the country’s population, have been forced from their homes. The UN General Assembly of 193 states is expected to adopt a new resolution on Thursday that will “demand” from Russia an “immediate” end to the war in Ukraine. In the meantime, the embassies of the countries involved in the crisis continue to empty. Russia decided on Wednesday to expel American diplomats, in retaliation for the expulsion by Washington of 12 members of the Russian mission to the UN. Poland has expelled 45 Russian diplomats suspected of spying. And Belarus will expel most Ukrainian diplomats stationed on its territory, accusing kyiv of “unfriendly” actions and “interference” in its affairs.
Russia restricts the internet a little more
In Russia, the media regulator (Roskomnadzor) has restricted access to the News.Google online service, accused of providing access to “false” information on the war. Since the start of the invasion on February 24, the Russian government has considerably tightened its control over the information disseminated on the internet.
Many Russian and foreign media, including the BBC, have been banned from access and American social networks Facebook and Instagram have been declared “extremist” by a Moscow court. Access to Twitter has also been restricted. Last week, Roskomnadzor accused Google and its video service YouTube of “terrorist” activities, a first step towards a possible blockage.