Kiev tries to resist the Russians

(Kiev) Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian soldiers in the capital Kiev on Friday, the second day of an invasion launched by Vladimir Putin who, sweeping away new Western sanctions, called on the Ukrainian army to take power.

As a result of this conflict, which could be the most serious in Europe since 1945 – with already some 100,000 displaced, according to the UN – the Europeans have announced new sanctions against the Russian leaders.

But the master of the Kremlin seemed determined to continue his offensive and achieve regime change in Ukraine, calling members of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team on Friday “drug addicts” and “neo-Nazis”.

“Take power in your hands,” he said to the Ukrainian military. “It seems to me that it will be easier to negotiate between you and me,” he added.

As a sign of defiance, President Zelensky posted a video on social media in which he appears in the street, claiming to be still in Kiev and determined to “defend” Ukraine.

Previously, the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov had called for the surrender of the Ukrainian army, a precondition for “negotiations”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Vladimir Putin was ready to send a delegation to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, “for negotiations with a Ukrainian delegation”.

But the Ukrainian forces seemed determined to confront the Russian troops, the first units of which entered the northern districts of Kiev on Friday, causing the first deaths there.

Kyiv, ghost town

In the residential area of ​​Oblon, AFP saw a civilian dead on a sidewalk and paramedics rescuing another, prisoner of the wreckage of a car crushed by an armored vehicle.

Residents said they saw two bodies that appeared to be those of killed Russian soldiers, but AFP could not confirm this information.

The Ukrainian soldiers also said they were fighting conger Russian armor in two localities between 40 and 80 km north of Kiev. Russian troops were also approaching the capital from the northeast and east, according to the Ukrainian military.

After many people fled on Thursday, central Kiev, a metropolis that normally has some three million people and is now under curfew, looked like a ghost town.

Armed and armored men were positioned at the main crossroads near government buildings. Rare passers-by stopped to exchange the latest news, while sirens and explosions sounded under a cloudy sky.

“Last night they started shelling civilian neighborhoods. It reminds us of (the Nazi offensive) of 1941,” Zelensky said in the morning, speaking the phrase in Russian, a sign that it was meant for Russians.

He praised the “heroism” of the population in the face of an invasion which, according to a report dating from midday Thursday, left at least 137 dead and 316 injured on the Ukrainian side. And assured that the soldiers were doing “their possible” to defend the country.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has asked civilians in Kyiv to “inform it of enemy movements: make Molotov cocktails, neutralize the occupier!” “.

He also claimed, without any evidence, that 2,800 Russian soldiers had been killed. The Russian authorities have so far given no indication of the losses they may have suffered.

New sanctions

Mr Zelensky criticized the Europeans for being too slow to support Ukraine. He called on those with “combat experience” to come and fight with the Ukrainians.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a member of NATO, also criticized the EU and the Atlantic Alliance for their inaction.

This organization, whose leaders met Friday by videoconference, has repeated in recent days that it will not send troops to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden, on the other hand, has warned that no “inch of NATO territory” will be ceded and the Pentagon will send some 7,000 more troops to Germany.

For now, the Western camp is focused on toughening sanctions against Russia and has already announced measures to restrict access to international financial markets for its financial institutions such as its access to technology.

Joe Biden has promised to make Putin “a pariah on the international stage”.

“Russian leaders will face unprecedented isolation,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

But the Twenty-Seven did not go so far as to exclude Russia from the Swift international banking exchange system and President Zelensky called on the Europeans to go further.

Under increasing pressure, Paris and Berlin announced on Friday a new set of European sanctions targeting “the most senior Russian leaders”, including MM. Putin and Lavrov.

Countries like Austria, initially opposed to Russia’s exclusion from the Swift system, now seemed ready to take a step considered “an economic nuclear weapon”.

Other retaliatory measures: Russia has been suspended from participating in Council of Europe bodies.

She was also excluded from the very popular Eurovision Song Contest. And the International Olympic Committee has urged all international sports federations to cancel or relocate any event planned in Russia or its Belarusian ally.

After soaring on Thursday, commodity prices remained very high, with a barrel of Brent oil above $100 even though US WTI had returned to around $95.

Russia and Ukraine are key exporters of oil, gas, wheat and other raw materials.

The world’s major stock markets were recovering after their plunge on Thursday, but the market remained volatile.

Influx of refugees

The Russian invasion has thrown thousands of Ukrainians on the roads, who are flocking to the EU’s borders – notably in Poland, Hungary and Romania.

About 100,000 people have already fled their homes and more than 50,000 have left their country in 48 hours, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced on Friday.

Kristian Szavla, 28, who arrived from western Ukraine, was one of the first to cross into Hungary.

“We don’t want to experience what our friends and compatriots are going through in the east of the country, waking up to the sounds of sirens with each Russian bombardment,” said this man, who left with a wife and child.

The Russian offensive began at dawn on Thursday, after Vladimir Putin recognized Monday evening the independence of Ukrainian separatist territories in Donbass, sponsored by Moscow since 2014.

In an attempt to justify sending the Russian army against its Ukrainian neighbors, the master of the Kremlin reiterated his unfounded accusations of “genocide” orchestrated by Kiev in the separatist “republics” of Donbass and denounced the “aggressive” policy of the NATO.

After banning anti-war rallies, Russia announced on Friday “limiting access” to Facebook, accused of censoring Russian media.

In this context, the Security Council of the United Nations was to vote Friday evening on a draft resolution presented by the United States and Albania condemning the invasion and asking Moscow for the immediate withdrawal of its troops.

The text was however condemned in advance, Russia having a right of veto in this instance.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has close relations with Putin, spoke on the phone with the master of the Kremlin.

China, which also has a right of veto, “supports Russia in the settlement (of the conflict) through negotiations with Ukraine”, then reported the public television CCTV.

Although suffering from “acute” knee pain, Pope Francis, 85, went to the Russian Embassy in Rome on Friday to express his “concern”.