Thursday, May 12 was an intense day on the diplomatic front. Russia has threatened Finland with a “military-technical” response after its leaders announced their desire to join NATO “without delay” under the influence of the war in Ukraine, while tension mounted around the deliveries of Russian gas to Europe, disrupted for the second day in a row.
Franceinfo summarizes what to remember from this day.
Finland wants to turn its back on its forced neutrality and join NATO
The President and Prime Minister of Finland, Sauli Niinistö and Sanna Marin, said they were in favor of joining “without delay” to NATO. A real revolution for this Nordic country, which shares 1,300 km of border with Russia and was long forced into a kind of forced neutrality by Moscow.
If membership materializes, Russia will be “obligated to take reciprocal military-technical and other measures to end threats to its national security”replied the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement, calling on Helsinki to “Be aware of your responsibilities”.
On the Western side, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron assured Finland of their support, as did key elected officials from the US Senate. If she applied, “it will be warmly welcomed into NATO and the accession process will go smoothly and quickly”enthused Jens Stoltenberg.
Russian gas supply collapses in Germany
Germany, one of the main European customers of Russian gas, saw its deliveries via Ukraine drop by almost 40% in two days, according to operators. The Russian gas giant Gazprom confirmed on Wednesday that the volumes delivered to Europe by Ukrainian territory would drop by nearly 30% on Thursday, after 18% the day before.
Moscow and kyiv blame each other for these declines. kyiv has said since Tuesday that it can no longer guarantee deliveries via the Sokhranivka facilities in the Luhansk region, due to the presence of the Russian armed forces, and has asked Gazprom to increase volumes via another transit point, Sudja. .
But Moscow ensures that the transit can be done perfectly via Sokhranivka, and that redirecting the flow towards Soudja is impossible.
While the cuts were offset on the German side by gas from Norway and the Netherlands, Gazprom seemed ready to further reduce its European deliveries on Thursday by announcing that it would no longer use a key gas pipeline passing through Poland, the Yamal-EuroPol. German Energy Minister Robert Habeck accused Russia of using energy “like a weapon”.
UN launches investigation into Russian abuses
In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council has approved the launch of an investigation into the atrocities blamed on the Russian occupation troops. A resolution adopted by 33 votes for, 2 against (China and Eritrea) and 12 abstentions (including India, Senegal and Cameroon), asked a special commission formed in early March on Ukraine to carry out a “investigation” on serious human rights violations attributed to Russian forces in the Kyiv, Cherniguiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions in late February and March 2022. With the intention of “hold those responsible accountable”.
This investigation should be added to the investigations of the International Criminal Court and the Ukrainian authorities already underway.
The offensive continues in the Donbass
On the ground, fighting continues in the east and south of the country. The Russian army is continuing its offensive in the Donbass, where it is making only slow progress, and is trying in particular to take “total control” localities of Rubizhne and Severodonetsk, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
Russian airstrikes also killed at least three people and injured 12 overnight from Wednesday to Thursday near Cherniguiv in northeastern Ukraine, local officials said.
At kyiv station, the return of Ukrainians who have gone abroad has multiplied since May 9, when Ukraine feared a military action by Russia for the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
More than six million Ukrainians have taken refuge abroad
More than six million Ukrainians have fled their country since the beginning of the invasion by the Russian army on February 24, announced the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) in Geneva. As of May 11, 6,029,705 Ukrainians had sought refuge first in neighboring countries before often continuing their odyssey, according to the dedicated UNHCR website. Poland hosts by far the largest number of refugees (3,272,943 as of May 11).
Women and children represent 90% of these refugees, men aged 18 to 60, likely to be mobilized, not having the right to leave. The daily flow of refugees has considerably reduced since the outbreak of hostilities.