(Paris) Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: update on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Posted at 7:36
Boutcha: Moscow “categorically” rejects the accusations
Russia “categorically” denies all accusations related to the discovery of a large number of civilian corpses in Boutcha, near Kyiv, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the lifeless bodies of 410 civilians were found in these territories of the Kyiv region recently retaken from Russian troops, which provoked strong international reactions incriminating Moscow.
“We categorically reject all charges,” Peskov told reporters, assuring that Russian Defense Ministry experts had found signs of “video falsifications” and “fakes” in the images presented by the Ukrainian authorities. as evidence of a massacre of which they accuse Russia.
Russia had previously called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to rule on the “hateful provocations” committed according to it by Ukraine in Boutcha.
EU ’emergency’ meeting on new sanctions
The European Union is “urgently” discussing new sanctions against Moscow, demanded in particular by France and Germany, after the discovery of a large number of civilian bodies in the Kyiv region, the high representative of EU Josep Borrell. Unanimity between the 27 is necessary for the adoption of new measures.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on French radio of individual sanctions and measures on “coal and oil”, but did not mention gas purchases, a subject of division between Europeans.
According to him, there are “very clear indications of war crimes today” and “it is more or less established that it was the Russian army” which was in this small town.
Accusations of “genocide” and requests for an international investigation
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on Monday for the creation of an international commission of inquiry into “the genocide” committed according to him by the Russian army in Boutcha.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that those who perpetrated these war crimes do not go unpunished and can appear before the courts, in this specific case before the International Criminal Court, to answer for these alleged cases of crimes against humanity. , war crimes and, why not say it also, genocide”, also declared the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The head of Japanese diplomacy Yoshimasa Hayashi denounced “exceptionally cruel acts of violence” near Kyiv, during a visit to Warsaw.
Zelensky on video at the Grammy Awards
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intervened on Sunday via a recorded speech during the 64and edition of the Grammy Awards, the equivalent of the Oscars for American music, to ask for support from his country.
” The war. What is the exact opposite of music? The silence of cities in ruins and people killed, ”he launched before a performance by John Legend, joined on stage by Ukrainian artists. “Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way you can, all but silence. And after that will come peace,” Mr. Zelensky continued.
Reopening of the Greek Consulate in Odessa
The Greek consulate in Odessa (southwestern Ukraine) reopened on Monday, Consul Dimitrios Dohtsis announced from this Ukrainian port located in the Black Sea, bombarded the day before by Russian forces.
The head of Greek diplomacy Nikos Dendias handed over humanitarian aid on Sunday to the local authorities of the city, around which lives a Greek community of around 2,500 people.
Czech reinforcements to the NATO Battlegroup in Slovakia
Two hundred and fifty Czech paratroopers left on Monday for Slovakia, a country neighboring war-torn Ukraine, to form a NATO battlegroup there, the defense ministry said in Prague.
The battle group, which the Czechs will command, will include up to 2,100 soldiers from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.