The failure of an evacuation of civilians in Mariupol and deadly strikes on Odessa have dispelled any hope of an Easter truce in Ukraine.
Posted yesterday at 11:31 p.m.
This hope faded on Saturday, with a new Russian assault on the Azovstal steel complex, the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance, in Mariupol.
Calls for a ceasefire for the Orthodox Easter this Sunday had multiplied in recent days. This did not prevent Russian forces from disrupting the evacuation of civilians, a deputy mayor of Mariupol said on Saturday.
According to Petro Andryushchenko, around 200 civilians had started gathering to be evacuated from the war-torn port city when they were “scattered” by the Russian military.
“Today is one of the toughest days” since the Russian siege on Mariupol began in early March, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Threatening once again Moscow to end the negotiations if the Ukrainian fighters entrenched in the Azovstal metallurgical complex are killed, Mr. Zelensky said he was “ready” to exchange soldiers to take out “people who find themselves in a situation horrible “. And very poorly documented so far.
In a video published on Saturday and relayed on the French channel TF1, the last battalion of Mariupol broadcast images – probably the first – of dozens of civilians, especially women and children, holed up for weeks in the surrounded complex.
“We want to breathe fresh air,” implores a woman in the video, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified. “We want to see the sun,” says a little girl.
no respite
A sign that Moscow does not intend to offer any respite for the Easter weekend, its offensive has continued elsewhere in Ukraine.
On Saturday morning, the Russian army claimed to have carried out 1,098 strikes with artillery and rockets in the previous 24 hours.
At least eight people were killed in Russian strikes on Odessa, a southern port city so far relatively spared, according to the Ukrainian president. A 3-month-old baby appears in this sad balance sheet.
“The war started when this baby was 1 month old. Can you imagine what is happening? », was indignant Volodymyr Zelensky.
PHOTO SERGEY BOBOK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The Kharkiv region was the target of numerous strikes on Saturday.
In the east of the country, a new priority for the Russian campaign, Ukrainian forces have taken over three villages north of Kharviv, “after long fierce fighting”, announced the governor of the city, Oleg Sinegoubov.
Three people were killed and seven others injured in the strikes, Sinegoubov said. Associated Press journalists also witnessed shelling in populated areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city.
In Donbass, a missile killed six people, said Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai. ” [L’armée russe] literally bombs everything […] all the time, 24 hours [sur 24] “, he wrote on Telegram, urging the population to evacuate.
For its part, Russia said it took control of several towns in eastern Donbass and destroyed 11 Ukrainian military targets overnight, including three artillery depots.
Important visits to Kyiv
Kyiv is expecting an important visit this Sunday: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to visit the Ukrainian capital, the Ukrainian president announced on Saturday.
“Tomorrow, American officials will come to us: I will meet the Secretary of Defense [Llyod Austin] and Antony Blinken,” Mr. Zelensky said. This is the first official US visit to Ukraine since the start of the war.
PHOTO GLEB GARANICH, REUTERS
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
Discussions, Mr. Zelensky said, will focus on the delivery of US weapons to Ukraine, which he would like to be “even heavier and more powerful”.
Next week, Ukraine will host another important player. UN Secretary General António Guterres is due to travel to Kyiv, after making a first stop in Moscow, to meet Vladimir Putin there.
A route that goes badly with the Ukrainian president: “It is quite simply a mistake to go first to Russia, then to Ukraine. There is no justice and no logic in this order. »
New invitation to Putin
As peace negotiations stall, the Ukrainian president called again to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “to end the war”.
Since the start of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian head of state has constantly demanded a one-on-one with the strongman of the Kremlin.
“I think whoever started this war will be able to end it,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday, stressing that he “was not afraid to meet” Mr. Putin, if that led to a peace agreement. between the two countries.
With Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and TF1