Canada and the European Union (EU) announced on Saturday March 26 the launch of an international fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees. The latter will culminate on April 9 with a “donor conference” organized jointly by Brussels and Ottawa. “The Act for Ukraine campaign seeks to mobilize governments, institutions, artists, businesses”explained the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Franceinfo summarizes what to remember from the developments of the day.
Joe Biden, visiting Poland, calls Vladimir Putin a “butcher”
US President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin “aButcher”Saturday March 26 in Poland, during a meeting with Ukrainian refugees. A little later he assured that the battle “between democracy and autocracy”which was already “a strategic failure” for Moscow, was going to be long. On the second day of his visit, he spoke with two Ukrainian ministers and reaffirmed to his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, that Article 5 of the NATO treaty – stipulating that an attack on a member country is a attack on all – constituted a “sacred duty” for the United States. The Russian people “is not our enemy”he insisted during a speech in Warsaw. “For the love of God, this man must not stay in power”he launched about Putin, the White House specifying a few minutes later that the American president had not called “to regime change in Russia”.
Strikes injure five in Lviv
The city of Lviv, in western Ukraine and relatively spared from the fighting so far, suffered two Russian strikes on Saturday afternoon, leaving at least five wounded, according to the governor of the region. The strikes hit a “industrial facility where fuel is stored, no residential building was affected”announced the mayor of the city, Andriy Sadovy, on Telegram.
The rate of arrival of refugees is slowing down markedly
Nearly 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine, mostly to Poland, since the Russian army invaded on February 24, according to the UN, but the number of arrivals has slowed markedly since then. the beginning of the week. In total, more than ten million people, more than a quarter of the population, had to leave their homes. The UN estimates the number of internally displaced people in Ukraine at almost 6.5 million.
Kyiv mayor waives new curfew
The mayor of kyiv, where the fighting continues, finally gave up imposing a new curfew of 35 hours from Saturday evening, to return to the curfew applying only from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., like all evenings. During the curfew, residents of the capital “can only go out to go to a shelter in the event of an alert siren”he recalled.
Defense minister reappears after two weeks
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose absence had raised questions, made his first public appearance in two weeks, according to images released on Saturday. The Defense Ministry released a video showing the official chairing a meeting on Russia’s arms budget. The images are undated, but the minister refers to a meeting with the finance minister which Russian agencies say took place on Friday, March 25.