Posted at 11:45 p.m.
Ceasefire in Mariupol
In Mariupol, a strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine, more than 160,000 civilians remain stranded under bombs. The Russian Defense Ministry announced a local ceasefire on Wednesday evening, starting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, to allow their evacuation. The objective: to open a humanitarian corridor to the Ukrainian city of Zaporijjia via the port of Berdiansk, under Russian control. Earlier in the day, Russian forces allegedly “deliberately bombed an International Committee of the Red Cross building”, according to a Ukrainian official.
Bombings
In northern Ukraine, the city of Chernihiv was shelled “all night long”, the governor of the region of the same name announced on Wednesday. In Irpin, a suburb of the capital, at least 200 people have died since the start of the conflict, but the city is now “100% controlled by the Ukrainian army”, according to the mayor. In the east of the country, authorities accused Russian forces of firing phosphorus shells at the small town of Marinka on Wednesday. In addition, Russian troops have begun to withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear site, which they took control of on the first day of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday.
PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A Ukrainian mother with her baby and her dog waiting for a bus to Moldova
More than 4 million refugees
In five weeks, more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled their country, an unprecedented flow of refugees since the Second World War, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. More than 10 million people, more than a quarter of the population, have had to leave their homes to another country or find refuge elsewhere in Ukraine.
Nothing “promising” in the talks
On the talks between Russia and Ukraine, the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, said he could not “report anything very promising or any breakthrough”. “For the time being, we cannot speak of progress and we are not going to do it,” he insisted on Wednesday, specifying that there was “no progress” either concerning the organization of a possible meeting between the Russian president and his Ukrainian counterpart.
PHOTO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ramzan Kadyrov, President of Chechnya
No concessions
The President of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Wednesday that Moscow would make no concessions in its war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin negotiator was wrong, Reuters news agency reported. He spoke after Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator, said on Tuesday that Moscow was taking steps to de-escalate the conflict.
The United States increases its aid
The White House has pledged an additional $500 million in direct aid to Ukraine, which will be added to the $2 billion in humanitarian and security assistance given in the past month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pressured the Biden administration and other Western allies to provide military jets to Ukraine. So far, the United States and other NATO countries have not done so, fearing that Russia will expand the war beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Friendship reaffirmed
Russia and China on Wednesday reaffirmed their “unbounded” friendship with the United States. Faced with the West, which has taken unprecedented sanctions against it, Russia can only count on Chinese power to escape total economic isolation. The Western powers, however, warned Beijing against any support for the regime of Vladimir Putin which would allow Moscow to mitigate the effect of the sanctions. Since February 24, Beijing has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.
PHOTO REUTERS
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
The fear of the truth
Vladimir Putin is ill-informed about the course of the war in Ukraine, because his advisers are afraid to reveal to him the military and economic losses suffered by Russia, a senior American official said on Wednesday. Intelligence findings indicate that Mr Putin is aware of the situation from the information reaching him and that there is now ongoing tension between him and senior Russian military officials.
A contingency plan in the event of a Russian cut
Germany and Austria are preparing for the risk of a stoppage of Russian gas deliveries which would lead to possible shortages, and on Wednesday activated an alert system to manage their supply as closely as possible. This is for Austria to “guarantee a rapid reaction” in the event of a stoppage of deliveries. In Germany, a “crisis unit” is now in place.
South Ossetia separatists plan to join Russia
The head of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian territory in the Caucasus that seceded from Georgia, planned on Wednesday to organize a popular consultation for this territory to be attached to Russia. “Of course, we have to ask the people for their opinion,” said Anatoly Bibilov, live on a Russian television channel. The independence of South Ossetia was recognized in August 2008 by Russia.
With Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press