Washington announced on Friday new military aid to Ukraine where the Russian offensive knows no truce, including, according to kyiv, in Mariupol where around fifty civilians might however be evacuated.
And this despite the unanimous adoption by the UN Security Council on Friday of a declaration calling for peace in this country, which enters its 72nd day of war on Saturday.
The United States for its part announced on Friday a new military aid of 150 million dollars to Ukraine, consisting in particular of artillery ammunition and radars, but warned that the funds allocated to the weapons for kyiv were now “virtually exhausted”.
This aid, well below previous shipments of American weapons, includes in particular 25,000 155 mm shells, counter-battery radars to detect Russian artillery fire and communications jamming devices.
“Congress must quickly release the envelope needed to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table,” President Joe Biden said in a statement regarding the colossal $ 33 billion budget extension requested. in the US Congress.
In its first show of unity since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the United Nations Security Council – where Russia, a permanent member, has the right of veto – gave its “strong support” to “seek a peaceful solution” in that country.
In this declaration drawn up by Norway and Mexico, the Council recalls that “all Member States have undertaken, under the Charter of the United Nations, the obligation to settle their international disputes by peaceful means”.
– “Firm support” –
The main body of the UN, which also expresses its “deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine”, gives in this respect “firm support” to the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres “in the search for a peaceful solution” to this conflict.
On the ground, however, the fighting continues to rage. On Friday evening, two rocket attacks hit Odessa, the major Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, without however causing any casualties, announced the Southern Command of the Ukrainian forces.
And Ukrainian officials are worried regarding increased bombing as May 9 approaches, when Russia celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
“Please do not ignore air alerts and go to shelters immediately, the risk of bombardments is very likely in all regions of Ukraine,” Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitshko warned on Friday, warning his fellow citizens that no commemoration of May 9 would take place in the Ukrainian capital.
In Mariupol, a port city besieged by Russian troops for weeks, fifty more civilians were able to leave Friday thanks to a new humanitarian convoy the immense Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of resistance of the Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, announced the Deputy Prime Minister Ukrainian Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and the Russian Defense Ministry.
They are women, children and the elderly, she said, adding that evacuations would continue on Saturday, which Moscow later confirmed. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that eleven children had been evacuated.
These operations, which are taking place under the aegis of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), began last weekend and allowed, according to kyiv, nearly 500 civilians to flee.
– “Already devastated” –
In Mariupol, “people are evacuated as much as we can”, exclaimed during a videoconference intervention organized by the Chatham House think tank in London, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“You have to understand that Mariupol will never fall (…), it is already devastated, there is no longer any structure, everything has been completely destroyed,” he said once more.
“The enemy is trying to finish off the defenders of Azovstal, he is trying to do this before May 9 to give Vladimir Putin a gift,” said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Mr. Zelensky.
And if that were the case, if the Russian forces sought to “destroy” the last fighters or civilians of Mariupol, kyiv would be forced to break off any peace negotiations, the Ukrainian president warned once more.
The Azov regiment, which defends the steelworks, accused the Russian military of having targeted “with an anti-tank guided missile” one of its cars involved in the operation to evacuate civilians, killing a soldier and injuring six.
In the morning, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense had affirmed that the Russian units had, “in certain areas, with the support of the air force, resumed operations aimed at taking control of the factory” Azovstal, where they live entrenched in immense underground galleries civilians and combatants.
The complete conquest of Mariupol, a city in the south-east which had nearly 500,000 inhabitants before the war and which was devastated by two months of Russian siege and bombardment, would be important for Russia as May 9 approaches.
Moscow has so far only been able to claim complete control of one major city, Kherson.
It is located in the south where, launched a senior Russian parliamentary official, Andrei Turtchak, Russia will remain “forever”.
– “Almost surrounded” –
In the east, Severodonetsk, one of the main cities of the Donbass still in the hands of the Ukrainians, is “virtually surrounded”, recognized its mayor on Friday.
“Bombings every day, every day, morning, followingnoon and evening. There has not been a day without bombardment, not a day,” Olga Babitch told AFP following leaving her village and reaching Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine.
On the Western sanctions front, Hungary persevered on Friday in its blocking of the European embargo project on the import of Russian oil and difficult negotiations were underway between the 27 EU member states to find an agreement this weekend, several diplomatic sources told AFP.
In addition, Germany, which will provide seven armored howitzers to the Ukrainians, announced that the leaders of the great powers of the G7 would have a virtual meeting on Sunday devoted to the war in Ukraine in which President Zelensky must participate.
Because the consequences in the rest of the world are beginning to be felt.
Africa is facing an “unprecedented” crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including soaring food and fuel prices, officials from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) warned on Friday. ).
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