A three-day unilateral Russian ceasefire is due to come into effect Thursday morning around the Mariupol steelworks, the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in this strategic port city, but fighting continues in the rest of Ukraine.
“The Russian armed forces will open a humanitarian corridor from 08:00 to 18:00 Moscow time (05:00 to 15:00 GMT) on May 5, 6 and 7 from the site of the Azovstal metallurgical plant to evacuate civilians,” it said on Wednesday. evening the Ministry of Defense in a press release.
“During this period, the Russian armed forces and the units of the People’s Republic of Donetsk (unilaterally proclaimed by the pro-Russian separatists, editor’s note) will cease fire and hostilities unilaterally”, he continued, assuring that the civilians having found refuge in the factory would be allowed to go to Russia or the territories controlled by kyiv.
The capture of this city would be an important victory for the Russians because it would allow them to consolidate their coastal territorial gains along the Sea of Azov by linking the Donbass region, partly controlled by their supporters, to the Crimea that Moscow has annexed in 2014.
Hundreds of people – Ukrainian fighters and civilians – have been living since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 in underground galleries dating from the Second World War running under the site of Azovstal heavily bombarded by Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video message that 344 people were evacuated Wednesday from Mariupol and its surroundings to Zaprorijjia, a Ukrainian-held town some 230 km away.
“There are still civilians. Women, children,” he said.
The UN participated Sunday in the organization of the evacuation of a hundred civilians trapped in Azovstal.
“There was a time when we lost hope, we thought everyone had forgotten about us,” said one of the evacuees, Anna Zaitseva, with her six-month-old baby, Sviatoslav, in her arms.
Mr. Zelensky called on Wednesday during a telephone interview with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to help “save” the wounded in these ruined facilities.
A Security Council meeting devoted to Ukraine is scheduled for Thursday evening in New York.
– Embargo on black gold –
For its part, the European Commission on Wednesday proposed a gradual embargo by the European Union on oil imported from Russia.
If the Member States of the European Union give – unanimously – the green light, “we will gradually abandon Russian deliveries of crude oil within six months and those of refined products by the end of the year” , Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Strasbourg.
According to European officials, the Commission’s draft provides for a temporary exemption for Hungary and Slovakia, two landlocked countries totally dependent on deliveries through the “Druzhba” pipeline, which will be able to continue their purchases from Russia in 2023 However, Budapest refused to accept this project as it stands, drawing the wrath of the Ukrainian government.
“If a country opposes an embargo on Russian oil, it means one thing: this country is on the side of the Russians and it shares the responsibility for everything that is done by Russia in Ukraine”, accused the Ukrainian minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kouleba.
Oil prices soared under the effect of this embargo project: the benchmark contract for the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, with expiry in July, gained 4.92% to end at 110 .14 dollars, its highest level for two and a half weeks. A barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery rose 5.27% to 107.81 dollars.
– Deadly Strikes –
On the ground of military operations, Russian forces continued their offensive in the east on Wednesday, while hitting numerous targets in the west, from Lviv to the hitherto unspoiled mountainous region of Transcarpathia, not far from the Hungarian border. .
A Russian strike left two dead and eleven wounded, all civilians, in the village of Chandrygolove, lamented the governor of the Donetsk region Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Others caused one death and one injured, a child, around Kharkiv.
In the large industrial city of Dnipro, AFP journalists heard a very loud explosion preceded by the sound of planes.
“Another strike on the railway infrastructure in Dnipro. No casualties,” Ukrainian Railways CEO Olexander Kamyshin said.
In the south, explosions took place in Mykolaiv, local authorities said.
On the northern borders of Ukraine, Belarus – an ally of Moscow – began Wednesday “surprise” military maneuvers supposed to test the reaction capacities of its army, said its Ministry of Defense.
And Moscow announced in the evening that its army had simulated the firing of nuclear-capable missiles in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad located between Poland and Lithuania, two member countries of the EU. More than 100 soldiers participated in these exercises.
The combat units also practiced “operations under conditions of radiation and chemical contamination”, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russia placed its nuclear forces on high alert shortly after sending troops to Ukraine on February 24.
– New penalties –
For its sixth package of sanctions against Russia presented on Wednesday, the European Union has also proposed to exclude three additional Russian banks – including Sberbank, the largest Russian establishment – from the Swift international financial system.
US President Joe Biden said for his part on Wednesday that he would discuss this week with the other G7 countries possible “additional” sanctions against Moscow.
The European Commission also recommends sanctioning the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who has multiplied his sermons supporting the military intervention in Ukraine.
From Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, the President of the European Council Charles Michel announced that the Europeans planned “this year to considerably increase (their) support for Moldova by delivering additional military equipment to its armed forces”.
And this a few days after attacks in the pro-Russian Moldavian separatist territory of Transdniestria and after remarks at the end of April by Russian general Rustam Minnekayev according to which the capture of southern Ukraine would allow the Russians to have direct access to this region.
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