Ukraine accused the Russian army on Thursday of preventing the opening of humanitarian corridors and the evacuation of civilians from several cities it besieges, and the first meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries did not gave no results.
The war in Ukraine has entered its third week without the Kremlin achieving any of its main objectives despite thousands dead, more than two million refugees and hundreds of thousands holed up in towns targeted by artillery and the Russian Air Force.
The governor of the Izium region in the east of the country said that the Russian army on Thursday prevented the evacuation of civilians from territories it took control of.
Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said no civilians had been able to leave Mariupol, a major port city in the south of the country, which had been besieged for ten days, as Russian forces had not respected a temporary ceasefire. supposed to allow evacuations.
Incessant shelling in Mariupol
According to the local authorities, the bombardments on Mariupol are incessant. On Wednesday, they announced the destruction of a maternity hospital, an act considered a possible war crime by Kiev and its Western allies.
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The Russian Defense Minister claimed that the army had not carried out any airstrikes in this area and spoke of a “provocation” staged by Ukraine.
After his meeting with his Russian counterpart, in Antalya, Turkey, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kouleba regretted that Sergei Lavrov had refused to commit to a ceasefire allowing the delivery of aid to civilians in Mariupol and to evacuate part of it.
“I made a simple proposal to Minister Lavro v: I can call Ukrainian ministers, authorities, the president and give you 100% security assurances for humanitarian corridors,” he said. ‘I asked him: ‘can you do the same?’ and he didn’t answer.”
At the same time, a few meters away, Sergey Lavrov explained that the Russian operation was progressing as planned, repeated that Ukraine posed a threat to his country and stressed that a ceasefire was not in the offing. agenda for Thursday’s discussions.
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“They want to completely erase our city”
The Russian air force on Thursday targeted the routes that convoys could take, Petro Andrushenko, a city councilor in Mariupol, told Reuters by telephone.
“We try, we try again and we try again, but I’m not sure if it’s possible today or any other day,” he said. “The airstrikes began in the early morning. Strike after strike. The entire historic center is bombarded,” he added.
“They want to completely wipe out our city, wipe out our population, they want to prevent any evacuations.”
Sergei Lavrov accused Western countries of aggravating the situation by arming Ukraine. Asked about the risk of the conflict leading to a nuclear war, he replied: “I don’t want to believe and I don’t believe that a nuclear war could break out.”
Slow progress
While Russian forces continue to advance in southern Ukraine, they have so far taken no major cities in the north and east of the country. Western countries believe the blitzkrieg tactic on the capital Kyiv failed in the early days of the conflict and Moscow now favors longer but much deadlier attacks.
The British Ministry of Defense said on Thursday that the large Russian army column spotted northwest of Kiev had made little progress for a week and continued to suffer losses, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be forced to send reinforcements to Ukraine.
According to Kiev, the conflict has already made more than 100 billion dollars (91 billion euros) according to an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.
London targets the oligarchs
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the sanctions imposed on his country will eventually turn against Western countries which, according to him, “are trying to blame us for their mistakes”. “Ultimately, this will lead to strengthening our independence, our self-sufficiency and our sovereignty,” he added during a ministerial meeting broadcast on television. London has also detailed new sanctions against Russian oligarchs, including the best known in the United Kingdom, Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club.
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For its part, Russia announced the suspension until the end of the year of exports from several sectors, including agriculture and the automobile, in response to Western sanctions.
European Summit in Versailles
The Heads of State and Government of the European Union are meeting in Versailles on Thursday and Friday but their discussions should above all focus on the means of reducing their dependence on Russian oil and gas and on their common defense strategy. in light of the conflict in Ukraine.
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According to the draft conclusions of the summit, which Reuters was able to consult, the 27 should take note of the need to increase military spending to “reflect the new geopolitical situation”, but without going so far as to mention the possibility of financing in common of this extra effort. As for Ukraine’s accession to the Union, demanded by Kiev, it “will take time”, warned the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, stressing that the priority remained the supply military and humanitarian support.