Three months into its invasion and after failing to take kyiv and Kharkiv to the north, Russia has redeployed its forces, which are focusing their efforts on eastern Ukraine already partly in the hands of pro-Russian separatists since 2014. What to remember from the situation this Monday.
The essential
The situation on the military front
Shelling intensifies in Donbass
The situation is “Harder and harder” for the Ukrainians in the Donbass where Moscow is bombing Severodonetsk “Round the clock” according to Serguiï Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region, whom AFP was able to reach via Telegram messaging. According to him, “all Russian forces are concentrated in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions” units withdrawn from the Kharkiv region (north-east), attackers from the siege of Mariupol (south-east), militias from the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, Chechen forces and troops mobilized as reinforcements from Siberia and the Russian Far East. “They use the scorched earth tactics, they deliberately destroy the city” with aerial bombardments, multiple rocket launchers, mortars or tanks firing at buildings, he added.
The Ukrainian army announced on Facebook on Sunday at least seven civilians killed and eight others injured in bombings in 45 municipalities in the Donetsk region. The fate of Severodonetsk resembles that of Mariupol, which today presents an apocalyptic landscape after several weeks of siege. Several neighborhoods are nothing but a tangle of sheet metal and debris, bars of buildings ripped open by missiles and shells. Hundreds of thousands of residents fled.
Verdict of the first war crimes trial against a Russian soldier
In kyiv, the verdict in the first war crimes trial is due on Monday. A 21-year-old Russian soldier is accused of killing a 62-year-old civilian who was pushing his bike while on the phone. During the trial last week, Vadim Chichimarine said to himself “Sincerely sorry” and has “request forgiveness” to the widow of the victim, justifying his act by the “orders” received at that time. The prosecutor requested life imprisonment.
More than 12,000 war crimes investigations
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the country has opened more than 12,000 war crimes investigations since the start of the Russian invasion.
The diplomatic situation and international reactions
Polish President Andrzej Duda received a standing ovation in kyiv
The first head of state to address the Ukrainian Parliament since the Russian invasion on February 24, Polish President Andrzej Duda brought his support for Ukraine’s application to join the European Union. Appreciated several times, Andrzej Duda promised that he would not relax his efforts “as long as Ukraine is not a member of the European Union”, opposing President Emmanuel Macron and his proposal for a “European Political Community”, as well as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposed to granting Ukraine a “shortcut“in joining the EU.
“We must respect” the peoples who “shed their blood” to belong in Europe, he added, supporting his Ukrainian counterpart on the eve of a much-anticipated speech by Volodymyr Zelensky to the world’s political and economic elites gathered in Davos.
Volodymyr Zelensky in front of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos
The Ukrainian president is indeed continuing his videoconference tour with world leaders. Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak on Monday before the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is meeting again in Switzerland after two years of suspension due to the pandemic. He should take advantage of this platform to call for more aid, financial and military. If this intervention will be on screen, several Ukrainian leaders will be present in the Davos station, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kouleba or the mayor of kyiv Vitali Klitschko.
These Ukrainians will not meet Russians, excluded from the WEF. There “russian house“usually open in the city during the Forum will be replaced by a”Russian war crimes housewhere various support events with Ukrainian personalities will be organized.
New negotiations?
The Russians say they are ready to return to the negotiating table, making bear the responsibility for the cessation of talks on Kyiv. “For our part, we are ready to continue the dialogue”, Vladimir Medinski, Kremlin adviser in charge of negotiations with kyiv, said on Sunday in an interview with Belarusian television. “The freezing of the talks was entirely an initiative of Ukraine,” he added, believing that the ball was “in their camp”.
The two belligerents had started discussions after Moscow’s failure to take kyiv. However, these had fizzled out, despite several meetings in Turkey.