The European Union has announced a new series of measures to come to the aid of Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, notably promising the delivery of arms. A first.
Vladimir Putin’s alert to his country’s nuclear deterrent forces sparked global outcry on Sunday, including the EU’s promise to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, which is fiercely resisting on the fourth day. of a Russian invasion.
After intense fighting, particularly in Kharkiv (1.4 million inhabitants), Ukraine’s second largest city in the north-east of the country, of which the Ukrainian forces declared that they had regained control this Sunday after the entry of Russian armored vehicles into overnight, the fragile hope of a truce was born after the announcement of Russian-Ukrainian talks on the Belarusian border.
But Vladimir Putin, whose forces have come up against Ukrainian resistance and Western mobilization since Thursday, ordered in a filmed meeting with his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to “put the deterrent forces of the Russian army in special alert regime”, which concerns the nuclear forces, invoking “the belligerent declarations of NATO” and the “illegitimate” sanctions imposed on Russia.
The United States immediately denounced an “unacceptable” escalation, accusing Vladimir Putin of “fabricating threats that do not exist in order to justify the continuation of aggression”. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denounced Moscow’s “irresponsible” attitude.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht accused the Russian head of state of having “gone a step further” because “the rapid invasion of Ukraine was stopped by courageous and determined actions of Ukraine “.
“What’s really happening is that they may be defending themselves with more effect, more resistance, than the Kremlin imagined,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Closure of airspaces
In response, the G7 countries urged Russia on Sunday evening to “immediately put an end to attacks against Ukraine”, threatening it with new sanctions after those, already considerable, which were adopted this week.
The EU announced on Sunday to close all of its airspace to Russian planes, to release 450 million euros to finance arms deliveries to Ukraine, and to ban the Russian media RT and Sputnik and their “lies”.
But also, considerable development and potential source of escalation with Moscow which threatened any country coming to the aid of Ukraine, the EU announced on Sunday evening that it intended to provide combat aircraft to the Ukrainian forces.
Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the formation of an international “anti-war coalition” to support Ukraine and called on foreigners to come and fight “against Russian war criminals” in an “International Legion” in the making.
The first country to react to this call, Denmark said it did not see it as a “legal obstacle”. “It’s a choice anyone can make,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.
The European Union also confirmed on Sunday that it had agreed with the G7 powers to block transactions by the Russian Central Bank. As for the eviction of Russian banks from the Swift international interbank messaging system, an essential cog in global finance, announced on Saturday, the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell announced that the EU “will continue to work on it” with its partners around the world.
Brussels will also ban Russian state media in foreign languages RT and Sputnik from the EU, which “will no longer be able to broadcast their lies to justify Putin’s war and sow division in our Union”, said Ms von der Leyen. . Finally the EU will take new sanctions against Belarus by banning exports from the “most important economic sectors” of the Minsk regime, “accomplice” of the Russian invasion.
Regarding the hypothetical talks, the Ukrainian presidency did not specify the date, Russia initially affirming that they would take place on Sunday. According to Kiev, the meeting was to take place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, “in the region of the Pripyat river”, near Chernobyl. Moscow mentioned the region of Gomel, on the other side of the border of Belarus, a country which serves as a rear base for its soldiers.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba, however, warned that his country will not “capitulate”. “I don’t really believe in a result”, but “we have to try,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video.
368,000 refugees
On the ground, the flood of refugees fleeing Ukraine is swelling. Since Thursday, some 368,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries and their number “continues to increase”, announced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The EU said it expected more than 7 million people displaced.
Ukraine reported some 200 civilians killed and dozens of military personnel killed in action, but did not release an exact toll on Sunday.
The UN recorded Saturday at least 64 dead among civilians and hundreds of thousands of people without water or electricity.
The Russian army, for its part, for the first time on Sunday recognized human losses, without quantifying them. Ukraine says more than 4,300 Russian soldiers have been killed.
The UN Security Council adopted on Sunday, at the request of the West, a resolution convening Monday “in an emergency special session” the General Assembly of the United Nations so that its 193 members decide on the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia.