The toll is growing in Mariupol, according to regional authorities. “We can say that between 20 and 22,000 people died in Mariupol”said Pavlo Kirilenko, the Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region, during an interview with the American television channel CNN on Tuesday April 12. This is double the results announced the day before by the mayor of the city, Vadym Boychenko. Franceinfo takes stock of what to remember from this day on Tuesday, April 11.
kyiv announces the arrest of a Ukrainian deputy close to Putin
Ukrainian MP and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk fled days after Russia began its February 24 invasion of Ukraine. He was wanted in particular for his closeness to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and was arrested in the evening following a “special operation”, announced the Ukrainian authorities. This action was carried out by the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, and praised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his Telegram channel.
More than 870,000 Ukrainians have returned to their country since the start of the war
Currently, “25,000 to 30,000 Ukrainians” return to their country every day, announced in the afternoon the spokesman for the Ukrainian border guards, Andriï Demtchenko. He also specified that among these people were also “women, children and the elderly”. For its part, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), says that more than 4.6 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the start of the invasion on February 24, according to its latest figures.
Ukrainian President accuses Russia of ‘hundreds of rapes’ of Ukrainian civilians
The Ukrainian President denounced “hundreds of rape cases” observed in areas previously occupied by the Russian army, “including underage girls and very small children”. “In the areas liberated from the occupants, (…) almost daily, new mass graves are found”he added, speaking by videoconference to the Lithuanian Parliament.
In this report from France 2 (see the video above), a Ukrainian woman testifies to the horror she suffered. “A young soldier appeared and threatened me with his weapon. (…) He said to me: ‘Undress yourself, or I will kill you’. He started raping me. At that time, four soldiers entered. I thought I was done for, but they kicked him out.” recountshe, still in shock. Her husband was killed trying to save her.
Chemical weapons charges
The question of the use of chemical weapons by Russian forces is still pending. The United Kingdom said it was trying to verify information on the possible use of chemical weapons by Russian forces in Mariupol (southeast of the country), after the Ukrainian regiment Azov claimed that a Russian drone had dropped one “toxic substance” on soldiers and civilians.
The United Kingdom is not the only country to ask questions. across the Atlantic, the US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken announced that “Russian forces could use different riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents” It front of “fighters” and to “Ukrainian civilians”. Finally, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has also expressed concern “by the recent unconfirmed information about the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol”.
Nearly 24 billion euros of Russian assets immobilized by France
Billionaire villas with a view of the Mediterranean in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (Alpes-Maritimes), a luxury hotel in Méribel (Savoie), apartments in the most exclusive districts of Paris… A new list of 33 properties owned by Russian oligarchs, was published in the evening by the French Ministry of Finance. Assets that have been frozen by theFrench State.
This updated list includes in the first place 22.8 billion euros which have been blocked in the French accounts of the Central Bank of Russia, confirming an article in the newspaper The Parisian. Added to this are 178 million euros in various bank assets, details the ministry, as well as four cargo ships, four yachts, six helicopters for a value greater than 60 million euros, and for 7 million euros of works. of art.