Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: the point on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Putin calls for the “liberation” of Mariupol
The Russian president ruled on Thursday that his forces had “successfully” taken control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov, ordering to besiege the last Ukrainian fighters rather than to storm the Azovstal industrial site where they are entrenched.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in addition to some 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers, “regarding a thousand civilians, women and children” and “hundreds of wounded” are also refugees in this factory.
Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol refuse to surrender and demand “security guarantees” from the international community.
Difficult evacuation of civilians
Four civilian evacuation buses have managed to leave Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Thursday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says “all responsibility for the difficult humanitarian situation” in Mariupol lies with the “nationalist” Ukrainian forces present there who use civilians as “human shields” and refuse to use humanitarian corridors opened by the Russian army.
The army of the separatist “republic” of Donetsk said that 127 civilians living in a neighborhood near the Azovstal factory had been evacuated on Wednesday, via these humanitarian corridors.
Bodies of civilians found in Borodianka
The bodies of nine civilians were found on Wednesday in Borodianka, near kyiv, some showing “signs of torture”, police in the Ukrainian capital announced overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
Since the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces three weeks ago from the kyiv region, hundreds of bodies of civilians have been found by the Ukrainian authorities, who denounce with Westerners the “war crimes” of the Russian soldiers who occupied the city. . An accusation formally rejected by Russia.
Spanish Prime Minister in Kyiv
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived Thursday morning with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen in Kyiv where they are both due to meet President Zelensky, the Spanish government announced. Mr. Sanchez intends to convey to him “the unfailing, clear commitment of the European Union” and of Spain “for peace”.
The announcement of this trip by the Spanish leader, in the wake of other European leaders since the Russian invasion of February 24, was made on Tuesday but the Spanish government had not provided the exact date for security reasons.
Transfer to France of Ukrainians
A first charter with 74 Ukrainian refugees on board is due to land in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, on Thursday followingnoon, from Moldova, a country bordering Ukraine that Paris has pledged to help by transferring 2,500 displaced from the conflict to France, AFP learned from the authorities.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced in early March that France would transfer 2,500 Ukrainians who have found refuge in Moldova, as part of an operation coordinated by the European Commission to “volunteer countries”.
Since then, however, Paris has struggled to identify such a number of Ukrainians wanting to join France.
Ukrainian official blames the Red Cross
Lioudmyla Denisova, in charge of human rights at the Ukrainian Parliament, criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday for not cooperating with her country on the fate of Ukrainian refugees in Russia, suspecting it of being “complicit” in “deportations “.
Questioned by AFP, the ICRC “firmly rejected these false accusations”, reassuring once once more that it would not “carry out forced evacuations” and recalling that the organization had “facilitated the voluntary passage of civilians and the wounded in complete safety to other Ukrainian cities”.
