a series of explosions were heard in Odessa on Sunday morning

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09:22 : A France 2 team was able to access the center of Mariupol and reports, with supporting images, how devastated the city is. “The residents still there are desperate. They bury their relatives or their neighbors at the foot of their building. The children say that they have become accustomed to incessant shooting”reports journalist Alexandra Dalsbaek on Twitter.

09:16 : Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, researcher at the Delors Institute believes that accelerating the energy transition is “fundamental for the economy”. “It makes more sense to renovate houses than to finance gas purchases for five years. As long as we depend on gas, we depend on many things that we do not control.”The article can be found here.

09:12 : We will therefore have to accelerate the energy transition, European countries have no choice, according to Nicolas Goldberg, gas specialist: “Whether or not, we are going to have to save energy and massively develop renewable energies to be independent of Russia”.

09:08 : If the question of dependence on Russian hydrocarbons is so pressing, it is because Moscow is by far the leading supplier of gas to the European Union, at 44%, but also of oil, at 25%. A proportion not easy to cut at once.

09:03 : While the European Union (EU) is 44% dependent on Russian gas, will the crisis be an opportunity to review the energy future of European countries and to invest in renewable energies for the countries of the EU dependent on Russian gas? Researchers I interviewed in this article want to believe it

Nearly 40% of the gas imported from the European Union comes from Russia.  Until when ?  (ELLEN LOZON / FRANCEINFO)
(ELLEN LOZON / FRANCEINFO)

08:32 : A series of explosions was heard this morning in Odessa, the main port of Ukraine, on the Black Sea, in the south-west of the country, noted an AFP journalist. The explosions, which occurred around 6 a.m., sent up at least three columns of black smoke and visible flames, apparently in an industrial area.

08:18 : The negotiator also said that if a meeting between Ukrainian Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin should finally take place, this one will take place “very probably” in Turkey. “We don’t know the date or the place, but we think the place will most likely be Ankara or Istanbul”noted David Arakhamia.

08:17 : Ukraine’s chief negotiator in the peace talks with Russia, David Arakhamia, therefore claimed that Moscow had accepted “orally” the main Ukrainian proposals. “The Russian Federation has given an official response to all positions [ukrainiennes]namely that it accepts them, except with regard to the question of the Crimea”, annexed by Moscow in 2014, assured the person concerned. He added that if there was “no official confirmation in writing”the Russian side having accepted it “orally”.

08:07 : Let’s start with a point on the news:

Ukraine’s chief negotiator in the peace talks with Russia says Moscow has “verbally” accepted his country’s main proposals. A meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Putin in Turkey is even mentioned.

On the ground, Russian forces are withdrawing from key towns near the capital and Cherniguiv in northern Ukraine to redeploy to the east and south. A series of explosions were heard this morning in Odessa, Ukraine’s main port.

This is the final pprint one week from the first round. After Emmanuel Macron, the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is today gathering his troops in Toulouse and the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse hers in Paris.

Three departments, Loire, Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme, are still placed on orange alert for snow and ice by Météo France.

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