The essential
- Westerners have been worried for weeks regarding the risks of an attack on Ukraine by Russia, which has massed more than 100,000 soldiers on the borders of this country. Moscow repeated that it had initiated the withdrawal of its troops, without convincing.
- A new episode of tension has arisen with bombings in eastern Ukraine, of which the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists mutually accuse each other. One soldier is believed to have died, Kiev said.
- Joe Biden said on Friday he was “convinced” that Russia might attack Ukraine and its capital Kiev, “in the coming days”.
- Emmanuel Macron called on Friday in Brussels for the “cessation of military acts” in eastern Ukraine. He is due to speak on the phone Sunday with Vladimir Putin. On Saturday, the G7 foreign ministers are to meet in Munich to discuss the crisis.
Follow the day’s events live:
11:24 a.m. Charges of genocide that do not hold water? For German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the accusations made by Vladimir Putin, according to which an alleged “genocide” would be perpetrated once morest the civilians of the pro-Russian separatist Ukrainian territories, are “ridiculous”.
10h44. Russia will have “more NATO”, if it seeks “less NATO”. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg reaffirms alliance members’ ‘unwavering’ commitment to protecting each other, warning Russia it will only get ‘more NATO’ if it seeks ‘less NATO’ at its borders. “Moscow is trying to roll back history and recreate its sphere of influence,” accuses Jens Stoltenberg during a speech at the Munich security conference, but “we are all NATO allies, we don’t let us be one and we will always do what is necessary to protect and defend each other.
10:34 a.m. The state of emergency in a Russian region bordering Ukraine. “Given the increase in people arriving, it seems appropriate to us to introduce a state of emergency”, declared the governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, quoted by the Russian press agencies.
10:27 a.m. “Together we will achieve the desired and necessary victory. We will protect Donbass and all the Russian people,” said the head of the “Republic” of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin. According to him, the forces of his region thwarted attacks fomented by Kiev.
10:09 a.m. “I call on my fellow reservists to present themselves to the military conscription offices”. The leaders of the pro-Russian separatists proclaim the “general mobilization”. Today I signed the decree of general mobilization”, announces the head of the “republic” of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, in a video declaration. A few minutes later, Leonid Passechnik, the leader of the “republic” of Lugansk, the other breakaway region in eastern Ukraine, signed a similar decree calling for the mobilization of men aged 18 to 55 to prepare, according to him, to “repel an attack”.
10:06. Vladimir Putin’s Saturday. The Russian president is now overseeing large-scale military maneuvers, including the firing of ballistic and cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear charges. These exercises will mobilize forces from the Southern Military District, the Aerospace Forces, the Northern and Black Sea Fleets as well as the “Strategic Forces”. The latter are equipped with missiles with intercontinental range, strategic bombers, submarines, surface ships and naval aviation carrying conventional missiles. According to the Kremlin spokesman, this is a “regular training process”.
9:59. Russia is carrying out “a blatant attempt to rewrite the rules of the international order”. These are the words of Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who denounces an alliance between China and Russia to impose “the law of the strongest”. This maneuver might cost Russia “a prosperous future”, believes the European leader.
9:55 a.m. Kiev’s appeal for financial and military aid. The Ukrainian president will meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US Vice President Kamala Harris in Munich, according to the presidency. “Volodymyr Zelensky expects concrete agreements regarding the supply of our country with additional military and financial support”, according to the same source.
9:51 a.m. The situation “remains fully under control”, indicates the Ukrainian presidency, which explains that the crisis does not modify the program of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter therefore maintains his planned trip to the Munich conference on Saturday, indicates his cabinet. The head of state must return to Kiev the same day.
9h45. One soldier killed, serious ceasefire violations. The Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russian separatists on Saturday accused each other of serious violations of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian army reported 66 exchanges of mortar fire, 82 and 110 mm caliber, on the towns of the front until 07:00, a particularly high number.
At least one Ukrainian soldier was killed by shrapnel. The Ukrainian armed forces, however, said in a statement that they “control the situation” and “continue their mission to repel the armed aggression of Russia”.
9:40 a.m. Macron will speak by telephone with Putin. French President Emmanuel Macron will speak by telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday and on Saturday with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, to try ” once more to avoid the worst” in Ukraine, the Elysee Palace said on Friday evening. We must “try everything, do everything so that the worst does not happen”, hammered the French presidency, evoking a “risk of a Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory under the control of the government” of Kiev, and not only of the pro-Russian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.
9:30 a.m. Joe Biden “convinced” of an upcoming attack. The American president said on Friday he was “convinced” that Vladimir Putin had “made the decision” to invade Ukraine, adding however that it was “not too late” for diplomacy. “We have reason to believe that Russian forces intend to attack Ukraine (…) in the coming days,” said the American president in a speech from the White House. “I am convinced that he made the decision. We have reason to think so”. “We think they will target Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people,” he added.
9:20 a.m. American alarmists. Across the Atlantic, alarmist speeches follow one another and it seems inevitable that a Russian invasion of this former Soviet Republic, divided between pro-Westerns and pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. US intelligence sounded the alarm early this year that Russia was stepping up preparations for a full-scale invasion.
9:10 a.m. Memory of Crimea, in 2014. The memory of the annexation of Crimea by Russia, taken over from Ukraine in just one month during a military operation in 2014, is in everyone’s mind.
9 hours. A long-simmering crisis. The Ukrainian crisis has been at the heart of all discussions for weeks between Russia and the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said it clearly: he wants to bring Ukraine, Russia’s “little sister” according to him, into the Russian fold, keeping it away from NATO, the Atlantic Alliance dominated by the Americans. Even beyond Ukraine, he wants a commitment from NATO to stop any enlargement to the east.
