Fighting is still raging between Russians and Ukrainians in Bakhmout, eastern Ukraine.
Intense fighting pitted Russians and Ukrainians against each other on Monday March 13 for control of central Bakhmout, a city in eastern Ukraine where the longest and bloodiest battle since the start of the Russian invasion is taking place. . On the same day, Russia offered to extend the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports, which expires on March 18, for only 60 days, an offer criticized by Kiev which sees it as a questioning of the initial agreement.
Franceinfo returns to the highlights of the day on the front of the war in Ukraine.
Fierce fighting in Bakhmout
The bloody battle of Bakhmout is still ongoing, in eastern Ukraine. “Assault detachments (of the Russian paramilitary group) Wagner attack from several places, trying to break through the defense of our troops and advance towards the central quarters” of Bakhmut, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Monday.
“The closer we are to the city center, the harder the fighting, the more artillery there is”, Evguéni Prigojine, Wagner’s boss, echoed him. His men are on the front line in the attacks that the Russians have been launching since last summer to try to take this city which has become a symbol of the fierce resistance of the Ukrainians who hope for their part to exhaust the attackers there in order to be able to trigger a massive counter-offensive.
This city, which had 70,000 inhabitants before the February 2022 invasion, has for months been the epicenter of fighting on the eastern front, even if its strategic importance is disputed by experts and if its defense also involves a large number of deaths and wounded in the ranks of the Ukrainian forces.
Russian-Ukrainian divisions over the grain deal
Internationally, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Verchinin said after talks in Geneva that Moscow “does not oppose a new extension” of the agreement on Ukrainian cereals concluded last July for 120 days between the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. “But only for 60 days”he said, pointing out that “Our future position will be determined by tangible progress in normalizing our agricultural exports, not in words but in deeds”.
According to kyiv, this is a questioning of the initial agreement. “The ‘Black Sea Grain Initiative’ agreement involves at least 120 days of extension, so Russia’s position to extend it by only 60 days contradicts the document signed by Turkey and the UN”tweeted Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
Towards the prosecution of Russians for war crimes?
For its part, the International Criminal Court (ICC) wants to prosecute Russians for war crimes in Ukraine, wrote Monday the New York Times, citing the first two cases: that of children transferred to Russia and that of deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure. However, the office of the prosecutor of this tribunal, which sits in The Hague, has indicated that it will not “no comment”.
According to the American newspaper, the first case concerns the abduction of Ukrainian children who were then destined for adoption or were sent from re-education camps. The second relates to accusations that the Russian military intentionally fired missiles at non-military installations, such as power stations.
The Wagner group accused of promoting illegal migration to Europe
As for Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, he accused the Wagner group on Monday of encouraging illegal migration to Europe to punish countries supporting Ukraine. “The exponential increase in the phenomenon of migration from the African coasts is also part, to a significant extent, of a clear strategy of hybrid warfare that the Wagner group (…) is implementing by using its significant weight in several African countries”he said.