© KEYSTONE/AP/Evgeniy Maloletka
The strategic port of Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine, is “under blockade” and undergoing “ruthless attacks” by Russian forces, the mayor of the city said on Saturday, on the tenth day of the invasion.
Mariupol, a city of some 450,000 inhabitants on the Sea of Azov, is “under blockade” and has suffered “ruthless attacks” for five days, Mayor Vadim Boitchenko wrote on Telegram. “Our priority is to establish a ceasefire so that we can restore vital infrastructure and set up a humanitarian corridor to bring food and medicine into the city,” he added. .
Control of Mariupol is strategic for Russia, because it would allow it to ensure territorial continuity between its forces from Crimea and those from the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donbass.
The Russian army has occupied the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine since Friday, where artillery strikes, according to the Ukrainians, caused a fire – which Moscow denies being the cause.
This attack once morest the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which has six reactors, shocked the international community. It constitutes “an immense threat for all of Europe and the world”, reacted Friday to the UN Security Council the American ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“Six Chernobyl”
“We survived a night that might have ended history. History of Ukraine. History of Europe”: an explosion at the Zaporozhye power plant in southern Ukraine , would have been the equivalent of “six Chernobyls”, alarmed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is to address the US Senate on Saturday by videoconference.
Moscow has categorically denied attacking the site. This is a “lie”, affirmed the Russian ambassador to the Security Council, Vassili Nebenzia. In Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense implicated “groups of Ukrainian saboteurs, with the participation of mercenaries”.
The G7 countries have announced that they will “impose tough new sanctions in response to Russian aggression”.
No no-fly zone
If he insisted on the need to “end” this conflict, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the Atlantic Alliance might not respond to the request for the creation of a no-fly zone, to avoid getting drawn into the conflict.
“The only way to really enforce something like a no-fly zone is to send NATO planes into Ukrainian airspace and shoot down Russian planes. That might lead to all-out war,” added US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon official announced on Friday that “equipment in the amount of $240 million, including some of the most critical equipment like anti-armor equipment,” had been handed over to Ukrainian forces “in multiple locations.” .
Third round of negotiations
According to Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, a third round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations might be held on Saturday or Sunday. But the chances of achieving progress appear extremely slim, Russian President Vladimir Putin having warned that dialogue with Kiev would only be possible if “all Russian demands” were accepted, including a “neutral and non-nuclear” status for the country. Ukraine and its “compulsory demilitarization”.
“We are waiting for a third round of negotiations in Belarus with the Ukrainian authorities. And we hope that Ukraine will listen to Russia’s position and concerns, which, in particular, is essential for ending military operations,” he said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Sky News Arabia on Friday evening.
The two previous rounds of talks, on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and then on the Polish-Belarusian border, did not lead to a cessation of fighting, but the parties agreed to set up “humanitarian corridors” for the evacuation of civilians.
North of Kiev, fighting continued Friday in Cherniguiv, where Ukraine accused Moscow of bombing a residential area and schools on Thursday, killing 47 according to a new report. Attacks are increasingly violent and seemingly indiscriminate once morest residential areas, such as those in the town of Irpin, AFP journalists have found. The balance sheet is impossible to verify independently.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Gennady Guatilov, said there had been “2,870 casualties on the Ukrainian side and 498 on the Russian side.” Ukraine and Western observers say the record of Russian losses is largely underestimated, with Kiev citing more than 9,000 Russian soldiers killed.
“Rough workmanship”
Vladimir Putin assured that the Russian forces did not bombard Kiev and the big Ukrainian cities, qualifying as “gross fabrication of propaganda” the information on the destruction carried out by Moscow.
In Russia, the Kremlin has tightened its repression of all dissenting voices in the face of the conflict. Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law providing for up to 15 years in prison for anyone publishing “false information”.
The Bloomberg News agency and the BBC (British public broadcasting) have announced that they are temporarily suspending the activity of their journalists, and the American news channel CNN the broadcasting of its programs in Russia.
The list of companies disengaging – at least temporarily – from Russia has grown even longer: the American computer giant Microsoft announced on Friday that it was suspending “new sales” of its products and services in this country and the world’s number one luxury LVMH the temporary closure of 124 stores.
More than 1.2 million refugees have already fled Ukraine, according to the latest UN count, prompting strong mobilization, particularly in bordering countries. The UN Security Council will meet once more urgently on Monday on the humanitarian crisis, diplomats say, as the World Food Program (WFP) warned that food is in short supply in war-affected areas.
