The Russian army is progressing to the east of Ukraine where it is at the gates of Severodonetsk. kyiv, which admits that the situation is “extremely difficult” for its troops following three months of war, criticized NATO for “doing absolutely nothing” once morest the Russian invasion.
Ukraine, which continues to demand that the West provide it more quickly with the heavy weapons it lacks to face the Russian war machine, also called on the international community meeting in Davos to “kill Russian exports”. .
Moscow must stop “earning money and investing it in a war machine that kills, rapes and tortures Ukrainians”, launched Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at the World Economic Forum, while a European embargo on Russian oil is struggling to materialize.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin was filmed, in a white coat, with wounded soldiers on the Ukrainian front. These men “who risk their health, their lives for the population and the children of Donbass (eastern Ukraine, editor’s note), for the good of Russia, all are heroes”, he assured.
In the Donbass specifically, this industrial basin in eastern Ukraine partially under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014, and where Moscow has refocused its offensive following failing to take kyiv and bring down the power of President Volodymr Zelensky, the Russians are trying at all costs to tighten their grip on the Lugansk region.
Very difficult in Severodonetsk
Russian forces have reached the outskirts of Severodonetsk, a city of 100,000 inhabitants where the situation is “very difficult”, the region’s governor announced on Wednesday.
Russian forces are “so close that they can fire mortars” on Severodonetsk, Sergei Gaïdaï said on Telegram, adding that the city was “simply being destroyed”.
He accused the Russian army of bombarding the city using multiple rocket launchers, imprecise and devastating weapons. According to him, the bombs are also targeting the Azot factory where civilians are taking refuge, in a situation reminiscent of the siege of Mariupol, the large port in the south-east practically destroyed by the bombs.
An unnamed representative of the pro-Russian separatists, quoted by Interfax, claimed that Severodonetsk was “surrounded” on three sides and that the only bridge out of it was now under Russian control.
AFP might not verify these claims.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandre Motouzianyk, however, rejected any defeatist interpretation.
“In some areas the Russian forces have temporary tactical successes, it’s no secret. But to say that the Ukrainian troops are retreating is a completely false interpretation,” he told reporters, referring to “defense maneuvers ” in a ” very evolving ” situation.
“Sooner or later, counter-offensives will take place (…). We will liberate our land from the Russian occupiers,” he promised.
“Show me a Nazi”!
The Ukrainian president called for the “support of a united Europe” for this, deploring the lack of cohesion of Westerners in the face of this war which has just entered its fourth month, addressing Wednesday morning by videoconference at the Davos Forum.
It is in particular to defend the Donbass, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists, from an alleged “genocide” fomented by “Nazis”, that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. .
In a village near Kharkiv, in the north of the Donbass, recently liberated from Russian forces, and whose journalists brought there by the Ukrainian soldiers were asked to conceal the name, residents were still surprised at the Russian accusations.
“Show me a Nazi in the village! We have a nation and we are nationalists but we are neither Nazis nor Fascists,” said a 57-year-old farmer, before heading back to safety as shelling began once more to fall.
In the Donbass, the towns on the front line have been emptied of their inhabitants, recalcitrant, often elderly, spending most of their time hiding in cellars.
“Forced granting” of Russian passports
On the southern front, Moscow is busy consolidating its hold on the territories conquered for three months.
In Mariupol, demining and “demilitarization” of the port have been completed and it has begun “to operate on a regular basis”, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
Russia has also announced that it will allow residents of the Zaporijjia and Kherson regions to apply for a Russian passport via “a simplified procedure”.
Ukraine immediately denounced a measure demonstrating Moscow’s desire to carry out a pure and simple annexation of these territories.
“The forced granting of passports to Ukrainians in Kherson and Zaporizhia is further proof of the criminal aim of Russia’s war once morest Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Stop stealing the cereal”!
Increasing its pressure on Russia, the United States announced that it would end an exemption allowing Moscow to pay its debts in dollars. This decision might precipitate Russia into default. Moscow will repay its debt in roubles, the Russian Finance Ministry replied.
European Council President Charles Michel said he remained “confident” of an agreement on an EU embargo on Russian oil by the start of the European Council on Monday, despite the Hungarian blockage.
Faced with the Davos forum, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs asked to achieve by all means to strangle Russia.
“There is another way” to cut off oil revenues, he said. “For example, the vast majority of Russian oil sold on the world market is transported by sea,” he explained, saying that those who continue to do so must “face problems”.
The European Commission has also presented legislative proposals to facilitate the confiscation of the assets of Russian oligarchs on the blacklist, specifying that 10 billion euros of assets of sanctioned personalities had been frozen in the EU.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Wednesday called on Russia to ‘stop stealing’ grain produced by Ukraine and let the country export it, ruling out any lifting of sanctions requested by Moscow to avert a global food crisis .
“Stop stealing grain!”, He launched to the address of Moscow. “We see Russia stealing (Ukrainian) grain for its own consumption,” the British minister said.
Ukraine, a major cereal exporter, is seeing its production blocked due to the fighting, and that of Russia, another cereal power, cannot be sold because of sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors.
Thousands of civilians and soldiers have already perished in this war, without there being any figures. For the city of Mariupol alone, kyiv speaks of 20,000 dead.
More than eight million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, according to the UN. Added to this are 6.5 million who have fled abroad, more than half of them – 3.4 million – to Poland.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp