The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of wanting to intensify its bombardments in the country. France has called for having “no weakness” once morest Moscow in this conflict which will enter its seventh month on Wednesday.
The tone also rose in Russia, where the head of diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, declared that there would be “no mercy” for the murderers of the daughter of a pro-Kremlin ideologue killed on Saturday by the Ukrainians according to the Russian security services.
The US Embassy in Ukraine warned on Tuesday that Russia might strike “in the coming days” civilian infrastructure and government buildings. She called on American citizens to “leave Ukraine now”. In Bern, the FDFA reiterates its recommendation to the Swiss to leave the country.
The FDFA is monitoring the situation
“The State Department has information that Russia is intensifying its efforts to launch strikes once morest civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine in the coming days,” the embassy said in a message posted on its website, without further details on the places potentially concerned.
Questioned by Keystone-ATS, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) claims to be closely monitoring the situation on site. Travel to Ukraine remains discouraged. As it had already done from the start of the conflict, the FDFA recommends that people of Swiss nationality present in Ukraine leave the country by their own means, if this seems possible and safe. Otherwise, it is recommended to stay “in a safe place”.
Since the withdrawal of Russian forces from around kyiv in late March, the bulk of the fighting has been concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow slowly gained ground before the front froze, and in the south , where the Ukrainian troops say they are carrying out a counter-offensive, which is also very slow.
Russia, however, continues to regularly target Ukrainian cities with long-range missiles, though rarely targeting the capital Kyiv and its surroundings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his part estimated on Tuesday that there was “every day” a threat of new Russian strikes on kyiv. “We know that they are primarily targeting infrastructure or government buildings, but nothing has fundamentally changed since February 24,” the first day of the invasion, he told a press conference. . “This is what Russia does all the time,” added Mr. Zelensky while promising a “powerful response” in the event of strikes.
“No Weakness”
The Ukrainian president was to meet during the day with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, who arrived in kyiv in the morning as part of the “Crimean platform”, an initiative bringing together the main states supporting Ukraine and which already existed before the invasion of the country by Russia on February 24.
Mr. Duda intends to continue to help kyiv, including politically by helping to “persuade other countries” to support the Ukrainians, and called for tougher sanctions once morest Moscow, explained his services.
French President Emmanuel Macron raised his voice on Tuesday by urging the international community to show “no weakness, no spirit of compromise” in the face of Russia”, in a video message to the “Crimea platform” summit. The Europeans are ready to support Ukraine’s “combat” “over the long term”, he added to the attention of President Zelensky.
In their summit addresses, other Western leaders continued to strongly condemn the Russian invasion. “We will never recognize any attempt to change the status of any part of Ukraine,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “We must continue to provide Ukraine with all necessary (economic, military, etc.) aid until Russia ends this war and withdraws its troops from all over Ukraine,” the Prime Minister added. British Minister Boris Johnson.
Vladimir Putin is counting on the “reluctance” of Europeans to bear the consequences of the war unleashed by Moscow in Ukraine and the unity of the Member States needs to be “maintained from day to day”, underlined the head of diplomacy of the EU, Josep Borrell, in an interview with AFP.
“No mercy”
In Russia, several hundred people gathered in Moscow on Tuesday for the funeral of Daria Douguina, the daughter of a pro-Kremlin ultranationalist ideologue and writer, killed on Saturday evening in the explosion of her car. Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old journalist and political scientist, was like her father, Alexander Dugin, a fierce supporter of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“It was a barbaric crime for which there can be no forgiveness (…). There can be no mercy for the organizers, the sponsors and the performers”, reacted the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov.
The Russian security services (FSB) said on Monday that the attack was planned and carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services. As of Saturday, Russian media had accused kyiv, believing that the target of the attack was in fact Alexander Dougin.
Ukraine has denied it in its entirety, and in return accused Russia of having committed this crime in an attempt to remobilize public opinion, according to it, which is less and less favorable to the war.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
