The international community on Friday condemned a military strike by the Russian army that killed a journalist and injured several people. Meanwhile, hundreds of civilians are plunged into despair in Mariupol and fighting continues in the east of the country, where the Russian army is struggling to gain ground.
Moscow confirmed on Friday that it had used a “high precision” missile the day before to attack a military factory in kyiv. The blast also damaged a residential building, resulting in the death of a 54-year-old Ukrainian journalist, Vira Hyrych, who had worked since 2018 for US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Ten people were also injured in the attack, according to Ukrainian emergency services.
This attack, which occurred weeks after Moscow’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian capital, was interpreted by the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, as “a middle finger” towards Mr. Guterres, on a diplomatic visit Thursday in the capital.
Several diplomats, notably from France and Germany, also condemned the attack on Friday, as did the United States. “It’s hard to look at certain images and imagine that a serious leader could do that,” US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said on Friday, referring to atrocities attributed to Russian forces. He then accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “depravity” and “cruelty”.
The European Union (EU) is also planning to mark an important step in its economic sanctions against Russia by approving an embargo on Russian oil as of next week. The information was reported on Friday by the New York Times, which anonymously quotes senior figures from EU member states. The 27 are also preparing to sanction Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, which has been spared so far, reports the American daily.
Indonesia, for its part, has once again refused to exclude Russia from the G20 summit scheduled for November in Bali, despite repeated requests from the West to do so. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, however, announced on Friday that he had invited his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, even though Ukraine is not a member of the G20.
Terror in Mariupol
The Ukrainian presidency announced on Friday that an “operation” to evacuate civilians holed up in the Azovstal factory, besieged by Russian troops, in Mariupol is “envisaged” on this site, but the challenge is daunting, at the when the rest of the city is controlled by Russia, which has heavily bombed it in recent weeks. The UN also said during the day that it was negotiating with kyiv and Moscow to create a humanitarian corridor in this sector.
“I cannot confirm the exact details of the operation to ensure it is safe for our people and for the civilians stranded in Mariupol,” Saviano Abreu, spokesman for the humanitarian office, said on Friday. of ONU.
According to local authorities, some 2,000 fighters and 1,000 civilians are stuck in this huge metallurgical plant, in which a Russian attack on a makeshift hospital would have injured hundreds, according to the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, who spoke on Ukrainian television on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Russian offensive in the Donbass, which is progressing “slowly and unevenly” due to resistance from the Ukrainian military, has fallen behind schedule, a senior Pentagon official said. “We believe they have fallen behind what they hoped to achieve in Donbass,” the senior official told reporters, requesting anonymity.
One American killed, two Britons ‘captured’
Willy Joseph Cancel, a 22-year-old American and former marine, was killed in Ukraine, where he had left in mid-March to fight Russian forces, according to members of his family who confided in the American network CNN on Saturday. US President Joe Biden said he was saddened on Friday as the White House urged US citizens “not to travel” to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, two British volunteers were “captured” by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, UK-based non-profit organization Presidium Network said on Friday.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace announced on Friday that around 8,000 British soldiers will take part in exercises in Eastern Europe this summer alongside NATO soldiers, in a “show of solidarity and of strength”.
Dozens of tanks and 120 armored fighting vehicles will be deployed from Finland to North Macedonia under the long-planned project and boosted since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
With Agence France-Presse