On the one hand satisfaction, on the other consternation. Russia rejoiced on Thursday to have “successfully” achieved all the objectives it had set itself on the first day of its brutal invasion of Ukraine, launched overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, which would have caused the death of more than 137 Ukrainians, civilians and soldiers alike. In the early morning, several media present in Kiev reported a resumption of explosions in the capital.
A declaration of war strongly denounced by the West, which has reinforced all day its arsenal of economic sanctions targeting Russia and aimed at making Vladimir Putin “a pariah on the international scene”, summed up the American President, Joe Biden, from the White House, while once again rejecting the idea of sending American soldiers to support the Ukrainian army against Russia.
In the wake of sanctions announced earlier this week by a common front of Western countries, including Canada, these new measures now compromise access to international financial markets and dollar transactions for ten of Russia’s largest financial institutions, including the country’s two largest banks, Sberbank and VTB Bank, have so far been spared.
The United States has also extended the list of Russian oligarchs, large fortunes close to Vladimir Putin, whose portfolio will be targeted, in retaliation.
A decision also taken by Canada, which announced Thursday that it had put “58 Russian people and entities” in its sights in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions target “members of the Russian elite”, “big Russian banks” and “members of the Russian Security Council”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference.
Ottawa also suspended licenses to export Canadian goods to Russia in the aerospace, mining and information technology sectors citing “an immense threat [pour] security and peace in the world,” said Mr. Trudeau.
In the morning, the leaders of the member countries of the G7, of which Canada is a member, met by telephone to establish a concerted response against Russia. Later in the day, it was the heads of state and government of the 27 members of the European Union (EU) who approved a new set of sanctions with “massive consequences” for Russia, according to their statement. They also plan to expand the list of people deprived of access to EU territory and whose assets will be frozen.
Vladimir Putin “will never be able to wash his hands of the blood of Ukraine”, declared the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, as he also unveiled a new set of economic sanctions qualified as “larger and more severe than Russia has never seen”. Among them, the ban on the Russian airline Aeroflot, a member of the international SkyTeam alliance with Air France-KLM, from serving the United Kingdom and the freezing of the assets of the Russian public banking giant VTB on British soil.
The sanctions also affect Belarus, accused by the international community of collaborating with Russia in the invasion of Ukraine. The illegitimate regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko, in the pay of Moscow, opened its territory to the Kremlin army which, from there, undertook part of the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday by the northern flank of the country, in direction of the capital Kiev.
“Decapitate” the government
According to an American military official, quoted anonymously by Agence France-Presse, the Russian offensive aims to quickly “decapitate” the government of Volodymyr Zelensky to “install their own method of governance”, he indicated, stressing that Thursday’s troop movements were only the “initial phase” of the ongoing project.
Russia has so far advanced into Ukrainian territory along three axes: south from Crimea to the city of Kherson, over the Dnieper, north from Belarus to Kiev, along two routes to the northeast and northwest of the Ukrainian capital, and east from the Russian city of Belgorod to the major industrial city of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest metropolis, the Pentagon assessed.
Gunfire was also heard in the Black Sea region of Odessa, where authorities said 18 residents of a village were killed in strikes. The Ukrainian coastline offers a very weak line of defense in the ongoing conflict.
Russia also took control of the Chernobyl power plant, site of the worst nuclear accident in history in 1986. the nuclear fuel “is unknown” and “it is impossible to say whether the plant is safe”, said a Ukrainian official, judging that this was one of “the most serious threats for Europe” .
“No one could predict what is happening. It is unimaginable and horrible at the same time for this young democracy, summarized in an interview with Homework the former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine, G. Daniel Caron. The contribution of the West, its support, in the construction of this country and in its reforms is very important. This war will block its development for several years. »
At the end of the day, French President Emmanuel Macron “demanded an immediate end” to the Russian offensive in Ukraine and reminded his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that he “exposed himself to massive sanctions”, during a telephone call between the two men, indicated a source within the Élysée. This is the first known telephone contact between Mr. Putin and a Western leader since the start of this wanton war launched against Ukraine.
“In the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia!” implored UN Secretary General António Guterres, publicly addressing Mr. Putin.
The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, spoke of an “attempt to violently shift the borders in Europe, or even perhaps to wipe an entire country off the world map”. “We are experiencing the beginning of a war such as there has not been for more than 75 years in Europe”, he added.
No discussion is planned between the head of the Kremlin and the American president, who on Thursday indicated that there was “a complete breakdown at the moment in American-Russian relations”, without however mentioning the start of a new war. cold between the two countries. But “it’s going to be a cold day for Russia,” Biden said, referring to Moscow’s unanimous condemnation of Ukraine’s attack. “You don’t see a lot of people coming to his defense,” he added.
With Agence France-Presse