Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are due to continue on Tuesday, a glimmer of hope emerging in recent days but in contrast to the expansion of the Russian operation throughout Ukraine.
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At least three strong explosions were heard Tuesday morning in the center of Kyiv by several AFP journalists, one of them having seen a column of smoke rising in the distance. The Ukrainian capital is under curfew until 05:00 GMT.
Detonations are sometimes caused by air defense weapons.
On the twentieth day of war following the Russian invasion launched on February 24, the fourth session of negotiations to try to find a solution to this crisis must resume after a “technical break” announced at the end of the afternoon on Monday by the head of the Ukrainian negotiators, Mykhaïlo Podoliak.
This time, the discussions are taking place by videoconference after three face-to-face rounds in neighboring Belarus and then a meeting Thursday in Turkey of the heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted on Saturday a new, “fundamentally different” approach from Moscow in the negotiations.
During the night of Monday to Tuesday, he claimed via a video posted on his Facebook page that the Russians had “already begun to understand that they will not achieve anything through war”. “I was told that (the ongoing talks) were pretty good,” said the head of state, who does not participate directly in the discussions. “But let’s wait and see.”
For his part, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday of “advances” during these various negotiations while the Russian army increased its action on Ukrainian soil, including in regions hitherto spared.
“The enemy continues its offensive against our state. (…) The occupying forces continue to carry out strikes with missiles and bombs, artillery and tanks on infrastructure and civilian neighborhoods”, denounced the general staff of the Ukrainian army overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
The Kremlin on Monday raised “the possibility of taking under total control (the) large cities which are already surrounded”.
The fighting has thus intensified in recent days around Kyiv, which is almost completely surrounded. More than half of its three million inhabitants have fled. The capital is “under siege”, according to an adviser to the Ukrainian president.
Mariupol, an issue
“According to available information, the enemy plans to reinforce the regrouping of (its) troops (…) in the direction of Kharkiv”, the second city of Ukraine, added the staff of the Ukrainian army in its statement, stating that the Russian army was also trying “to capture Mariupol”.
“Ukrainian soldiers have managed to repel the invaders” from this strategic port city in the south-east which is besieged by the Russian army, he said.
According to him, the Russian side lost in its offensive about 150 soldiers, two tanks, seven infantry fighting vehicles, and “beat a retreat”.
A humanitarian aid convoy, which has been trying to reach the city for days, was again blocked on Monday by Russian soldiers in Berdyansk, 85 km from Mariupol, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Some 400,000 residents of Mariupol live holed up in basements, deprived of water, electricity, heat and food. More than 2,187 civilians have died there since February 24, according to the municipality.
Russian naval forces have “established a remote blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast”, the British Ministry of Defense said on Monday.
More than 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion, according to a count released Monday by the UN, which also lists around 2 million internally displaced people.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned of the repercussions of this war, which could result in “a hurricane of famines” in many countries.
In addition to the continuation of the talks, Tuesday should also mark the entry into force of the fourth package of sanctions decided on Monday afternoon in Brussels by the ambassadors of the 27 Member States of the European Union. They should be published on Tuesday in the Official Journal of the European Union, thus becoming immediately applicable.
yacht blocked
The previous ones already target 862 people and 53 Russian entities. Appearing on this blacklist leads to a ban on entering EU soil and allows the seizure of assets.
A Russian oligarch’s yacht worth nearly 128 million euros, for example, was immobilized on Monday in Barcelona (Spain) as part of these sanctions, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced in the evening. “And more are to come,” he warned, without further details.
According to the Spanish daily El Pais, it is the yacht Valérie, which would be linked to Sergei Chemezov, boss of the Russian defense industry conglomerate Rostec, and ally of Mr. Putin.
Previous international sanctions have already frozen some $300 billion in Russian reserves abroad.
Russia on Monday accused the West of wanting to provoke an artificial default through its sanctions freezing Moscow’s assets abroad.
The Kremlin could struggle to meet several foreign currency debt payment deadlines during March-April, rekindling memories of the humiliating 1998 default.
Moscow is also targeted by various appeals. The Ukrainian request for its exclusion from the Council of Europe, an organization for the defense of human rights, must be examined on Thursday.
For its part, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) indicated on Monday that it would deliver its verdict on Wednesday in the procedure launched by Kyiv, which asks the Court to order Moscow to stop its invasion of Ukraine.
The slight wind of optimism surrounding the talks allowed oil prices to retreat on Monday, the barrel of WTI – reference in the United States – ending at 103.01 dollars after having exceeded 130 dollars last week.
And it fell more than 5% on Tuesday to $97.13, this time amid concerns of a slowing Chinese economy due to drastic measures announced by Beijing in the face of a surge in Covid-19 cases. in the country.