Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: the point on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
DIRECT RTL INFO
09:50 a.m. – A military factory targeted by a bombardment in kyiv
A military factory manufacturing tanks in particular was targeted on Saturday morning by a bombardment in the suburbs of kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, noted an AFP journalist. A large number of soldiers and police were present on the spot, preventing access to the complex, from which smoke was billowing. The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, indicated on Facebook that he had no information on the potential victims at this stage.
08:25 – British commandos on a training mission in Ukraine, according to The Times
British commandos have been training Ukrainian soldiers near kyiv in recent weeks. According to The Times, members of the SAS special forces taught the Ukrainians the use of anti-tank weapons sent to them by the United Kingdom. The newspaper relies on statements by Ukrainian officers.
07:45 – More than 80,000 explosives defused in Ukraine since the start of the war
Ukrainian deminers have removed more than 80,000 explosives since the start of the Russian attack on their country on February 24. Every day, they dismantle four to five thousand of them, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal said on Friday evening. These include unexploded grenades and mines, as well as explosives left by retreating Russian soldiers in homes and cars, and even on the bodies of deceased people.
07:00 – Russia strikes after Moskva sinking, Zelensky calls for more weapons
Russia bombed a Ukrainian missile manufacturer after losing the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the war would be much shorter if he received the required weapons. The 186-meter-long missile ship, the Moskva, was hit by two Ukrainian missiles, the Pentagon said. A Ukrainian military official also claimed that, contrary to what Russia said, its crew – around 500 men according to available data – could not be saved.
Russia, according to which this building was “badly damaged” by fire and sank while being towed, maintained that the crew had been evacuated. “We are fully aware that we will not be forgiven“the destruction of the Moskva and therefore this blow to the”imperial ambitionsfrom Moscow, added spokeswoman for the Southern Ukrainian Military Command, Natalia Goumenyuk.We are aware that the attacks against us will intensify, that the enemy will take revenge, that there will be missile attacks and artillery bombardments“, she continued, reporting strikes in the south, in particular on the city of Mykolaiv, near Odessa.
The loss of the Moskva is important because it “provided air cover for the other vessels during their operations, in particular the bombardment of the coast and the landing maneuvers”, explained on this subject the spokesman of the regional military administration of Odessa Sergei Brachuk.
kyiv fears a nuclear attack
Mr Zelensky ruled on Friday that “the whole world“should be “worried” about the risk that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, cornered by his military setbacks in Ukraine, might resort to a tactical nuclear weapon. the day before that such a threat should not be “taken lightly.” In this context, Berlin announced on Friday that it was ready to release more than one billion euros in military aid for Ukraine.
The German government is seeking in this way to respond to the growing criticism from the Ukrainian authorities, but also from some of its partners in the European Union such as Poland or the Baltic States, on its apparent lack of support in terms of armaments for kyiv, even its complacency with regard to Moscow. In a video message, President Zelensky said to Westerners: “You can make the war much shorter. The faster and more of the weapons we have requested, the stronger our position and the sooner peace will come”.
On the ground, Russia had set the tone on Friday morning. “The number and scale of missile strikes on Kyiv sites will increase in response to all terrorist-type attacks and sabotage carried out on Russian territory by the nationalist regime in Kyiv,” warned the Russian Defense Ministry.
An arms factory in the kyiv region was hit by a Russian strike, AFP journalists noted on Friday. The Vizar factory manufactures the Neptune anti-ship missiles, with which the Ukrainians say they fired at the Moskva. The Russians carried out three strikes Friday on the kyiv region, noted its governor Alexander Pavliuk, without specifying whether this included that on this factory in Vyshnevé.
An official of the Russian National Defense Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, said in a statement that the authorities in kyiv were preparing a “new monstrous provocation” to accuse the Russian armed forces of having committed war crimes.
Moscow has repeatedly blamed kyiv for deadly strikes against Ukrainian civilians such as in Kramatorsk or Mariupol.
According to him, Ukrainian troops are preparing to hit civilians gathered at Lozova station with a Tochka-U missile to flee the fighting in the Kharkiv region (east).
Targeted cars
Russia has so far claimed that the cruiser Moskva suffered a fire and explosions of its own ammunition on Wednesday, the day before it sank. She also announced Thursday that Ukraine had bombed Russian border villages, in particular with combat helicopters. kyiv denied it and in return accused the Russian secret services of carrying out “terrorist attacks” on the other side of the border.
In Boutcha, a town near kyiv that has become the symbol of atrocities attributed to Russian forces, 95% of those found dead were shot and killed, denounced Friday the chief of police in the capital region Andriï Nebitov.
According to the mayor of Boutcha Anatoli Fedoruk, more than 400 corpses have been discovered there since the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said nearly 2,900 civilians were evacuated Friday from Mariupol and Berdyansk to Zaporozhye.
Strikes in the Donbass
In the largest region of Donbass, that of Donetsk, where “fighting is taking place on the entire front line”, three people were killed and seven injured, the Ukrainian presidency said.
The other region of this mining basin, that of Lugansk, was the scene of 24 bombings which left two dead and two wounded, according to the same source.
On the night of Friday to Saturday, the mayor of the city of Aleksandria, about 300 km southeast of kyiv, said on Facebook that a Russian missile had hit the airport of his city. He said that the rescue teams were at work but without immediately claiming any victims.
Russia, whose announced massive offensive in the Donbass has still not started, is however struggling to take complete control of Mariupol.
It is in this strategic port city in the south-east that the heaviest human toll of the war could be recorded at this stage. The Ukrainian authorities spoke of some 20,000 dead.
This martyr city, where AFP was able to go on the occasion of a press trip organized this week by the Russian army, suffered a deluge of fire, which devastated the infrastructure and homes of the half-million of people who lived there when Vladimir Putin launched his offensive against Ukraine on February 24.
Today, after more than forty days, the fighting is confined to the vast industrial zone near the seaside, as Russian forces and Donetsk rebels have gradually tightened their grip.
The Executive Director of the World Food Program David Beasley on Friday called for access to conflict zones and besieged cities where some are “starving”, following a visit to Ukraine.
More than five million people have fled the country since February 24, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“War is everywhere,” lamented Friday on Rai, Italian public radio and television, Pope Francis, who had unsuccessfully asked for an Easter truce in Ukraine.