Ukrainian volunteer fighters rest in a shelter on the frontline in the Donetsk region on August 22, 2022 ( AFP / ANATOLII STEPANOV )
Washington has accused Moscow of wanting to “intensify” its bombardment in Ukraine, where the war enters its seventh month on Wednesday, while Russia has warned there will be “no mercy” after the assassination, which it attributes to the Ukrainian services, of the daughter of an ideologue close to the Kremlin.
France, for its part, has called for nothing to be ceded to Moscow, even if its Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has at the same time discussed with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov an inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) of the site of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporijjia, the largest in Europe, on which the strikes of which the two belligerents accuse each other took place.
This visit, intended to “reduce the risk of a serious nuclear accident in Europe”, could take place “within a few days if the current negotiations are successful”, hoped the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, pointing out “additional damage in the area” after the bombardments of the last few days.
The United States Embassy in kyiv issued an alarmist message in the morning warning that Russia could bomb Ukraine even more “in the coming days” and recommended that American citizens leave the country “now”.
Since the withdrawal of Russian forces from the vicinity of the Ukrainian capital at the end of March, the bulk of the fighting has been concentrated in the east, where Moscow slowly gained ground before the front froze, and in the south, where the Ukrainian troops say they are carrying out a counter-offensive, which is also very slow.
However, Russia continues to regularly target Ukrainian cities with long-range missiles, even though kyiv and its surroundings are rarely hit.
“We must be aware that tomorrow repulsive Russian provocations and brutal strikes are possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his traditional evening video message, referring to Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday.
“And we will of course respond to any manifestation of Russian terrorism,” he added, after meeting during the day with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, whose country supports him unconditionally.
– Call for “unity” –
Map of the situation in Ukraine as of August 23 at 8 a.m. GMT (AFP /)
French President Emmanuel Macron also raised his voice on Tuesday, urging the international community to show “no weakness, no spirit of compromise” in the face of Russia.
The Europeans are ready to support Ukraine’s “combat” “in the long term”, he added to the attention of Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing the summit of the “Crimean platform”, which brings together the main allies of Ukraine and which already existed before the February 24 invasion.
Ukrainian volunteers prepare a mortar on the frontline in the Donetsk region on August 22, 2022 (AFP/ANATOLII STEPANOV)
In their messages, other Western leaders also continued to strongly condemn the Russian offensive.
“We will never recognize any attempt to change the status of any part of Ukraine whatsoever,” insisted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country will deliver new weapons to kyiv for around 500 million euros.
“We must continue to provide Ukraine with all the necessary aid (economic, military, etc.) until Russia ends this war and withdraws its troops from all over Ukraine,” added the Prime Minister. British Boris Johnson.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is counting on the “reluctance” of Europeans to bear the consequences of the war and the unity of the Member States must be “maintained from day to day”, underlined in this context the head of diplomacy of the EU, Josep Borrell, during an interview with AFP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (d) and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda inaugurate the Alley of Bravery in kyiv (AFP / Dimitar DILKOFF)
The UN expressed its concern on Tuesday about the possible trials of Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner in Mariupol (south-east), a port city conquered in May by Russian forces, noting that “international humanitarian law prohibits the creation of tribunals solely intended to try” such detainees.
– “She does not interest us” –
In Russia, several hundred people gathered in Moscow on Tuesday for the funeral of Daria Douguina, the daughter of an ultranationalist ideologue and writer close to the Kremlin, killed on Saturday evening in the explosion of her car.
Ukrainian soldiers in an underground shelter near the front line on August 20, 2022 in southern Ukraine (AFP / BULENT KILIC)
Daria Douguina, a 29-year-old journalist and political scientist, was like her father, Alexandre
Dougin
fiercely in favor of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“It was a barbaric crime for which there can be no forgiveness (…) There can be no mercy for the organizers, the sponsors and the performers”, reacted the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.
Russian ultranationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin in front of the coffin and portrait of his daughter Daria, killed in an attack, on August 23, 2022 during a farewell ceremony in Moscow (AFP / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
“She died at the front for the nation, for Russia. The front is here,” said Mr. Dougin in a trembling voice, his eyes darkened.
The FSB (Russian State Security) said on Monday that the attack was planned and carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services.
kyiv has denied these allegations en bloc and in return accused Russia of having committed this crime in an attempt to remobilize a public opinion less and less favorable to the war.
“It is certainly not our responsibility. She is not a citizen of our country. She does not interest us,” President Zelensky replied dryly on Tuesday.