https://assets-decodeurs.lemonde.fr/redacweb/ukraine-cartes-infographie/derniere-maj-ukraine-avancee-russe.png
https://assets-decodeurs.lemonde.fr/redacweb/ukraine-cartes-infographie/derniere-maj-ukraine-avancee-russe.png
30
The situation on the map
Enlarge
The context
The evacuation of civilians in Mariupol, who are more than 160,000 to be stuck in the martyr city, according to the latest estimates, turns to the test of strength between Russia, Ukraine and the West. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the establishment of a local ceasefire, from 10 a.m. Friday, to allow the opening of a humanitarian corridor to Zaporizhia. But Westerners consider Moscow’s commitments insufficient. kyiv, for its part, announced the dispatch of forty-five buses to evacuate civilians from the besieged port.
The refocusing of the Russian war effort on Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces will face a hardened Ukrainian army, suggests a “protracted” conflict, which might last for months, warned the Pentagon on Thursday. Joe Biden, who also calls himself “skeptical” on the partial withdrawal announced by the Russians, considered that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, “seemed to isolate itself”following having “dismissed or placed under house arrest some of his advisers”.
In his nightly video address to the nation, Volodymyr Zelenskyannounced on Friday that it had sacked two generalsaccused of “treachery”. He also said that following the withdrawal of Russian troops from the north and center of the country the situation was tense in the south and in the east, where Russian forces are preparing for new powerful attacks.
The Russians have abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which they had occupied since the beginning of the war, taking along members of the Ukrainian national guard, taken in “hostage” , according to Kyiv. The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is today in Kaliningrad, Russia, to discuss the nuclear safety in Ukraine with senior Russian officials.
From 1is April, buyers of russian country gas “Friendly” will have to have accounts in rubles, otherwise Russia will not deliver them, Mr. Putin announced on Thursday. Germany and France “prepare” to a potential stoppage of Russian gas imports, the Europeans refusing the payment in rubles demanded by Moscow, reacted the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. European countries will continue to pay for Russian gas in euros and dollars, as is “written in contracts”assured the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Oil producers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced, unsurprisingly, a further modest opening of their black gold floodgates, ignoring calls to ease the pressure on prices accentuated by the war. The President of the United States, faced with record inflation undermining his popularity, ordered to draw 1 million barrels a day from strategic oil reserves for six months.
