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9:45 a.m. > Russia fears that it will soon run out of drugs
Russian pharmacies are already running out of insulin and other products for the treatment of diabetes made abroad, the Russian daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday, describing a shortage of raw materials for the manufacture of drugs.
The Russian Federal Agency for Medical Supervision (Roszdravnadzor) and the Pharmacy Association attribute the insulin shortages to “urgent consumer demand”, while noting that most diabetic medicines are produced in Russia and that there no need to worry, quotes Kommersant.
Patients interviewed by the media explain in turn that this rush is due to the fact that the other medical devices used by diabetics are produced abroad, therefore expecting either a shortage or high inflation and therefore buying in anticipation.
Although Western sanctions do not target the pharmaceutical industry, Kommersant predicts that Russian companies might be left without imported raw materials and components.
According to the economic daily, Europe has almost stopped deliveries. Imports from China and India, which account for almost 80% of imported pharmaceutical raw materials, would be delayed due to severely disrupted supply chains.
Local stocks are expected to last three to six months.
9:20 a.m. > Russian-Ukrainian agreement on a series of “corridors” for the evacuation of civilians for this Wednesday
Russians and Ukrainians agreed Wednesday morning to respect ceasefires around a series of humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced.
According to her, Moscow has confirmed its agreement to respect a truce from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Belgium) around six areas hit by the fighting: corridors have been defined in particular to evacuate civilians from Energodar to Zaporozhye (south) , from Izioum to Lozova (east) and from Sumy to Poltava (north-east), where a corridor had already allowed the evacuation of thousands of civilians on Tuesday.
Several corridors must also be established to evacuate civilians to Kiev from several violently bombarded towns to the west of the capital, including Boutcha, Irpin and Gostomel.
8:49 a.m. > Sammy Mahdi wants to move to the federal crisis management phase
Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi (CD&V) asks the government to move on to the federal phase of crisis management in the face of the arrival of Ukrainian refugees on Belgian soil, he said on Wednesday on Radio 1 (VRT).
Mr. Mahdi is particularly concerned regarding the availability of reception places for thousands of Ukrainians. Even if the initiatives are multiplying, Mr. Mahdi estimates that this accommodation will constitute a “huge challenge”. In particular, he would like the provinces to be able to offer large reception facilities.
Faced with the massive arrival of refugees at the registration center set up at the former Bordet hospital in Brussels, Mr. Mahdi hopes that the capacity for registering refugees can be increased by next week.
He is also in contact with the mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, to possibly be able to use the Heysel for this purpose, he further specified.
8:32 a.m. > At least 10 dead in shootings on Severodonestk, according to a local official
At least 10 people died in Russian fire on Tuesday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, the head of the Lugansk administrative region said in a statement on Telegram on Wednesday.
According to him, Serguïi Gaïdaï, the Russian army opened fire on residential houses and other buildings. The press release did not immediately specify whether it was artillery fire. This region has been the scene of heavy fighting for several days.
6:48 a.m. > Putin’s nuclear “blackmail” is “extremely dangerous”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is exercising nuclear “blackmail” to prevent the world from helping Ukraine, an “extremely dangerous” exercise, the head of ICAN, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, denounced on Tuesday.
“I think this is one of the scariest times in terms of nuclear weapons,” Beatrice Fihn, who heads the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), told AFP.
For this 40-year-old Swedish woman, the level of nuclear threat has never been so high and she admits that “it is incredibly worrying and heavy”.
Only a few days following launching his troops once morest Ukraine on February 24, the Russian president put all the components of the deterrent force on alert.
5:41 a.m. > Thousands of civilians evacuated to Sumy, new truce on Wednesday
Thousands of civilians were able to flee the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, where Russian forces promised a new truce on Wednesday, nearly two weeks following their invasion of the country, which has already killed hundreds deaths and millions of refugees.
More than 5,000 people have been evacuated so far from the city of Sumy, located 350 km northeast of Kiev, said Wednesday the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quoted by Ukrainian media. .
About sixty buses, in two convoys, managed to secure these civilians, women, children and the elderly for the most part, he had already indicated on Tuesday without giving figures.
The Ukrainian authorities had announced the establishment of a humanitarian corridor on Tuesday morning to evacuate civilians from Sumy, a city of more than 250,000 inhabitants located near the Russian border and the scene of heavy fighting for several days.
“But this is only one percent of what we have to do, of what is expected by my people, by the Ukrainians who are stuck” in the combat zones, judged the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in a message Tuesday night video.
On Wednesday, a new truce must come into effect to allow the evacuation of other civilians, assured the Russian army.
3:21 > Washington fears that Moscow will seize “biological research” structures in Ukraine
The United States said on Tuesday it feared that Russian forces might “take control” of “biological research” structures in Ukraine and seize sensitive materials.
“Ukraine has biological research facilities, and we are actually now quite worried regarding the possibility of Russian forces trying to take control of them,” said the number three of the American diplomacy, Victoria Nuland, during a parliamentary hearing.
“So we are working with the Ukrainians on ways to prevent these research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces if they were to approach them,” she added.
A Republican senator, Marco Rubio, pointed out that “Russian propaganda” had reported an alleged Ukrainian “plan” to use “biological weapons in the country with the coordination of NATO”.
“If there was an incident or an attack involving a biological or chemical weapon in Ukraine, would it be 100% clear to you that it would be the Russians who would be the perpetrators?” Asked this elected official. American.
“There is no doubt in my mind”, “and it is a classic Russian technique to accuse others of what they plan to do themselves”, replied Victoria Nuland.
1H48 > Russia warns of global consequences to the American embargo
Moscow has denounced the decision of the United States to impose an embargo on imports of Russian oil on its soil, threatening that the step will have consequences on a global scale.
“American sanctions to put pressure on Russia have long exceeded all political and economic reasonableness limits,” reacted the Russian Embassy in Washington.
“As usual, the United States does not reflect on the fact that restrictions are always a double-edged sword.”
“The release of our resources will cause significant fluctuations in global energy markets. This will have a negative impact on the interests of businesses and consumers, first and foremost in the United States itself,” the statement from Russian diplomacy continues.
12:48 a.m. > The risk of a Russian default is “imminent”, according to the Fitch agency
The rating agency Fitch once more lowered its rating on Russia’s debt on Tuesday, a decision meaning that the risk of a sovereign default is in its eyes “imminent”.
Fitch, like the other major agencies, had already placed the country’s long-term debt rating in the category of countries at risk of not being able to repay their debt in early March, but decided to downgrade it further in view of “developments which further undermined Russia’s willingness to repay public debt.”
00:29 > The situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is “deteriorating”
The former Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Chernobyl has been increasingly cut off from the rest of the world since it was seized by Russian units, assures the International Atomic Energy Agency (AEIA).
The agency says that 210 technicians and local employees in charge of security have worked non-stop for two weeks, because there has been no change of teams since the Russian takeover. Employees receive water and food but their situation is deteriorating.
In addition, the Viennese agency claims to no longer be in contact with its monitoring equipment, which ensures that all nuclear materials remain in place at Chernobyl.
“I am very concerned regarding the difficult and stressful situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as well as regarding the potential risks related to nuclear security,” said IAEA Director Rafael Grossi.
Chernobyl was the scene of a major nuclear accident in 1986 and was the first Ukrainian site to fall into the hands of Russian soldiers on February 24.
From Geneva in Switzerland, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) also indicated on Tuesday that it would cease all new collaboration with the Russian Federation and its institutes. Moscow’s observer status with CERN is also suspended.
