The face-to-face meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers takes place this Thursday, March 10 in Turkey. It is the first since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago. The agreement reached on Wednesday on a ceasefire has made it possible to evacuate at least 35,000 civilians from several Ukrainian cities.
►At least 35,000 civilians evacuated on Wednesday
At least 35,000 civilians were evacuated Wednesday from several besieged Ukrainian towns, Volodymyr Zelensky said. The President of Ukraine said that residents of the cities of Sumy, Enerhodar and areas near the capital Kiev were able to be evacuated through three humanitarian corridors. He said he hoped evacuations would continue on Thursday, with the opening of three other humanitarian corridors from the towns of Mariupol, besieged for nine days, Volnovakha (southeast) and Izium (east).
→ REREAD. War in Ukraine Day 14: 17 injured in Russian shelling of children’s hospital
► 1,207 civilians killed in Mariupol in nine days, according to the town hall
A facility housing a pediatric hospital and a maternity hospital in Mariupol, a besieged port in southeastern Ukraine, was destroyed on Wednesday by Russian bombing, leaving 17 confirmed injured among hospital staff according to an initial report. Volodymyr Zelensky condemned a ” war crime “. The nine-day Russian siege on the strategic port in southern Ukraine has left a total of 1,207 civilians dead, the town hall said on Telegram on Wednesday.
In a local midnight situation update, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces were continuing their “offensive operation” to encircle Kiev, while attacking on other fronts the towns of Izioum, Petrovske, Hrouchouvakha, Sumy, Okhtyrka, or in the regions of Donetsk and Zaparojie. The tank columns would only be about fifteen kilometers from the capital, near Brovary.
► First meeting between the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy
Turkey is hosting the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers on Thursday for their first face-to-face since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba will be received by Turkish Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu in Antalya.
On Wednesday, Dmytro Kuleba assured in a video on Facebook that he would do everything to ensure that “talks (be) as effective as possible” while confident of having “limited expectations”. “I don’t have high hopes but we will do everything to get the most out of it”he said, claiming that “everything will depend on the instructions that Lavrov will have received before these discussions”.
The talks come as Russia on Wednesday reported “progress” in its discussions with Ukraine on the border with Belarus, according to the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy.
► The EU at a crisis summit in Versailles to assert itself in the face of war
The Heads of State and Government of the European Union will try Thursday and Friday in Versailles to lay the foundations of a more sovereign Europe after the shock of the Russian invasion in Ukraine which exposed its weaknesses. The war started by Vladimir Putin underlined the lack of European military capabilities, the 27 member states having drastically reduced their budgets since the end of the cold war.
→ ANALYSIS. The war in Ukraine forces Europe to review its defense doctrine
► Financial assistance
The elected Americans of the House of Representatives adopted Wednesday evening a new American federal budget which includes an envelope of nearly 14 billion dollars for the Ukrainian crisis. The text, which includes an economic and humanitarian component, but also deliveries of arms and ammunition for Kiev, must now be voted on in the Senate. The IMF on Wednesday also approved emergency assistance amounting to 1.4 billion dollars for Ukraine.