LYSSYTCHANSK | Pro-Russian separatist authorities on Thursday announced the death sentences of two Britons and a Moroccan who fought alongside the Ukrainians, amid an increasingly bloody battle for the key city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.
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“The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic sentenced Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun to death, accused of taking part in the fighting as mercenaries,” the official Russian news agency TASS reported.
Although the three men – taken prisoner in the Mariupol region, according to the Russians – will appeal, according to TASS, the United Kingdom said it was “gravely concerned” by this announcement.
“We are obviously seriously concerned. We repeat that POWs should not be exploited for political reasons,” said a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Four foreign volunteer soldiers, including a Frenchman, were killed fighting the Russian invasion in Ukraine, according to the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine (LIDU), the official organization of foreign volunteer fighters.
Russia, which frequently denounces the presence of these mercenaries, claimed this week to have killed “hundreds” of foreign fighters since the start of its invasion on February 24, and to stem the flow of new arrivals.
The exact number of these foreigners is not known. In early March, shortly following the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that 16,000 foreigners had volunteered, an unverifiable figure from independent sources.
100 dead and 500 injured Ukrainians per day
This announcement comes as the Russians and separatists struggle to take full control of the city of Severodonetsk, which has been shelled for several weeks.
This is one of the “most difficult battles” since the start of the war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday evening. “In many ways, the fate of our Donbass is decided there,” he added.
Taking this city would open up the road to another major city in the Donbass, Kramatorsk, in Moscow and would mark an important step in conquering the entirety of this region bordering Russia, partly held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Ukraine might, however, retake Severodonetsk “in two, three days”, as soon as it has “long-range” Western artillery weapons, assured Thursday Serguiï Gaïdaï, governor of Lugansk, one of the two regions of the Donbass.
The Ukrainians are constantly asking their Western allies for more powerful weapons than the lesser ones they have.
The delivery of multiple rocket launcher systems, with a range of regarding 80 km, slightly greater than the Russian systems, has been announced by Washington and London, but it is unclear when the Ukrainians will be able to start using them.
While waiting for these weapons, Kyiv deplores every day “up to 100 soldiers” killed and “500 injured” in the fighting with the Russian army, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov said on Thursday.
Last week, Severodonetsk seemed on the verge of falling to the Russian army, but Ukrainian troops fought back, despite being outnumbered. Russian forces have since regained ground and controlled “a major part” of the city on Wednesday evening, according to the Ukrainian governor.
Lysytchansk, a neighboring town of Severodonetsk, remains fully controlled by the Ukrainian army, but is also under “powerful” bombardment, Governor Gaidai said, accusing Russian forces of “deliberately” targeting hospitals and drug distribution centers. ‘humanitarian aid.
The Russians are also intensely bombarding the Donetsk region, the other part of the Donbass, “all along the front line”, including attacks on the cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmout, according to kyiv, which recorded four dead and 11 injured in the last 24 hours.
According to a Western military expert, although it is “probable” that the Russians will eventually take Severodonetsk, “it is clear that the Russian offensive continues to encounter many problems at all levels”.
“Wave of Misery”
More than 100 days following the Russian offensive, the consequences of the war continue to worsen in the world, both in terms of finance and food and energy, affecting 1.6 billion people, alerted Wednesday the Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres.
“For people around the world, war threatens to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and misery, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake,” Mr. Guterres warned, “There is only one way stop this brewing storm: the Russian invasion of Ukraine must stop”.
The blocking of Ukrainian ports by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, starting with that of Odessa, the country’s main port, paralyzes its grain exports, particularly wheat, of which it was before the war on the way to becoming the third largest exporter. global.
African and Middle Eastern countries are the first to be affected and fear serious food crises.
President Zelensky on Thursday called for Russia’s exclusion from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). “What would Russia’s place be there if it causes famine for at least 400 million people, or even more than a billion?”, He launched in a videoconference speech before an OECD ministerial meeting. .
When questioned, the FAO did not immediately react to this call. Under the effect of the war, food crises have worsened, with the expected consequence in 2022 of an increase in the bill for importing countries, due to the soaring prices of cereals and fertilizers, she however warned. in a report released Thursday.
With Moscow blaming Westerners for the shortage because of their sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss “safe sea corridors” that would allow to resume grain transport in the Black Sea.
However, no concrete proposal was announced following their discussions.
Rampant inflation
The rise in prices is also hitting Russia hard, where inflation had risen sharply in April to hit a 20-year record. Despite a decline in May, it reached 17.1% over one year, according to official data.
The Institute of International Finance (IFF) forecasts a contraction of the Russian economy by 15% this year and another 3% in 2023. For Ukraine, the Gross Domestic Product has already fallen by 15.1% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year, according to data published Thursday by the Ukrainian statistics service.
The war has caused thousands of deaths: at least 4,200 civilians, according to the latest UN assessment, which estimates the real figures “considerably higher”, and thousands of soldiers, even if the belligerents very rarely communicate on their losses.
The conflict has led some 6.5 million Ukrainians to flee their country. Nearly 5 million have been registered as refugees across Europe since February 24, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday.