DIRECT. War in Ukraine: Putin orders to facilitate the sending of “volunteer” fighters

The Russian prosecutor’s office on Friday ordered a “strict control” of foreign companies announcing the suspension of their activities in the country due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

“Prosecutors will establish strict control over compliance with labor legislation, conditions of employment contracts, payment of wages, performance of contractual obligations towards contractors and towards the Russian Federation”, announced the Attorney General in a statement.

The Russian president orders to facilitate the sending of “volunteer” fighters to Ukraine in response to the routing, according to him, of “mercenaries” by the West.

“If you see that people want to go there voluntarily, moreover not for money, and help those who live in the Donbass (eastern Ukraine)so we have to go to meet them and help them reach the combat zone,” said Vladimir Putin, in response to a proposal from his Minister of Defense.

According to information relayed by the agency Reutersthe World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-risk pathogens harbored in the country’s public health laboratories, in order to avoid “any potential spillage” of this or that disease into the population at following a bombardment.

Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, qualified for the second round of the WTA 1000 in Indian Wells on Thursday, criticized the lack of support and empathy from Russian players, citing the war in her country. “It’s very disappointing that no Russian player has come to me to tell me that they are sorry to see what their country is inflicting on mine. There are more Ukrainian civilians who died than soldiers, and among them children… it’s terrible, ”laments the 19-year-old player. “It’s not about politics, it’s about human beings. It hurts me, it hurts me when I get here on the site, when I see these players, when I hear them say that their main problem is not being able to transfer their money or things like that, this is unacceptable. »

“The Russians have underestimated things but we must not kid ourselves: they are progressing”, analyzes this morning Vladimir Fedorovski, former Russian diplomat and writer, author of “Putin and Ukraine, the hidden faces” (ed. Balland ), who says he fears a “Lebanonization of Ukraine”.

“We must now do everything” to do without Russian gas and oil, said this morning Thierry Breton, European Commissioner in charge of the internal market and technological sovereignty, on the second and last day of the Versailles summit which brings together the leaders of the EU. “Yes, we are totally working to get rid of Russia as a supplier of hydrocarbons,” he continues. “We have to prepare for next winter and the year 2023. We are ready to take solutions that come out of everyday life. »

Faced with the disorders that this energy crisis will produce, “the (European) Commission will be very accommodating to help with a toolbox available to States to help individuals and businesses”, assures Thierry Breton.

While the West has isolated Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine and Khartoum since the October military putsch, Russia and Sudan are constantly drawing closer.

On the eve of Vladimir Putin’s outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, a Sudanese delegation began eight days of high-level meetings in Russia on February 23.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced that “the military airfields of Lutsk (northwestern Ukraine) and Ivano-Frankivsk (city in western Ukraine), have been taken out of service”. Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and six others injured in the shelling of Lutsk. “Explosions on the side of the airport. Everyone safe! Do not post any photos, addresses or contact details! “, had warned earlier on Facebook Ilhor Polishchuk, the mayor of the city of Lutsk. The municipal heating services, Lutskteplo, also announced on Facebook interruptions “due to the explosions”.

They may have the conflict – and its repercussions on purchasing power – constantly in mind, the inhabitants of Reims (Marne) and Meung-sur-Loire (Loiret), will not change their vote because of the conflict . Our report.

The Kazakh national carrier Air Astana and the Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines have announced that they will temporarily suspend their flights to Russia, following the sanctions imposed on Moscow after its military intervention in Ukraine. According to press releases published on their sites, the two companies took this decision because, in particular, of uncertainties on the insurance of the apparatuses bound for Russia.

Ukrainian emergency services claim that civilian areas were affected by this Russian attack perpetrated on this city of almost a million inhabitants, so far spared by the Russian forces. Early in the morning, “there were three airstrikes in the city, hitting a kindergarten, an apartment building and a two-story shoe factory where a fire then broke out. One person died,” say Ukrainian relief.

The UN Security Council will meet this afternoon urgently on the alleged manufacture of biological weapons in Ukraine, at the request of Moscow whose credibility in the field of chemical weapons has been called into question by Washington and London during a session on Syria. If you want to fully understand the Russian accusations, the article to read is here.

The heads of state and government of the EU, meeting at a summit in Versailles, yesterday ruled out any rapid accession of Ukraine to the European Union, while opening the door to closer ties. President Zelinski, however, filed an urgent request to this effect last week.

The US Congress adopted a new federal budget on Thursday which includes a staggering envelope of nearly $14 billion for the Ukrainian crisis.

According to The Independent, charities and aid organizations exporting donated goods to Ukraine can now bypass electronic customs declarations, in place since Brexit, which have been blamed for delaying lorries trying to reach Europe. Other customs formalities, which blocked some trucks full of aid at the British border for several days, have also been lifted.

Major banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase announced on Thursday that they were in the process of shedding their Russian operations, becoming the first major Wall Street establishments to distance themselves from Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine. Disney and Kimberly-Clark have also announced that they will limit their activities in Russia after Apple, ExxonMobil or McDonald’s.

Ukraine and Russia are ” ready » to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Rafael Grossi, the agency’s director general, on Thursday. The objective: to guarantee the security of Ukrainian nuclear sites, compromised by the war.

Find throughout this Friday, March 11 the evolution of the news on the front of the war in Ukraine.