War in Ukraine | Civilians trapped in Mariupol, noose tightens around Kyiv

(Kyiv) The population was trapped on Sunday in the besieged port of Mariupol, in southern Ukraine, where a second humanitarian evacuation attempt failed, and in the Kyiv region where the Russian army is tightening its grip , forcing civilians to flee to join the more than 1.5 million refugees already outside the borders.

At 11^and day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while the images of destruction recall those of Aleppo during the war in Syria or Grozny during that of Chechnya, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi estimated that It was ‘the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War’.

For the second consecutive day, the population had to give up leaving the port city of Mariupol, on the Sea of ​​Azov, which is experiencing a “humanitarian blockade”, according to its mayor Vadim Boïtchenko.

“Amid devastating scenes of human suffering, a second attempt today to begin evacuating some 200,000 people from the city has been halted,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

This was to allow an evacuation to Zaporozhya, about three hours away. But “we were unable to use the humanitarian corridor because of the Russian bombardments,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has put the failure of the evacuations on the account of “Ukrainian nationalists”, who according to him, prevented that scheduled for Saturday from Mariupol and Volnovakha, a nearby city.

In the end, very few people were able to leave Mariupol. But a family who joined Dnipro (center) on Saturday said, on condition of anonymity, having remained sheltered in a cellar “seven days without heating, electricity, internet”, lacking water and food. On the road, she testified, “there were dead bodies everywhere, Russians and Ukrainians.”

The fall of Mariupol would be a turning point in the Russian invasion, launched on February 24.

It would allow the junction between Russian troops coming from annexed Crimea, which have already taken the key ports of Berdiansk and Kherson, and those from Donbass. These consolidated forces could then move up towards central and northern Ukraine.

And on the Black Sea, it is now Odessa that worries Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who accuses Russia of “preparing to bombard” this port of nearly a million inhabitants near the Moldovan border.

Kyiv in sight

At the same time, Russian soldiers are closing in on Kyiv.

Intense fighting took place on the outskirts of the capital, according to the Ukrainian regional administration, in particular around the road leading to Zhytomyr (150 km west of Kyiv), as well as in Cherniguiv (150 km north of the capital), pounded for several days by the Russian air force.

In the western suburbs of Kyiv, in Irpin, “from morning to evening, all the neighboring buildings were hit, a tank entered. It was scary, we were scared. Before that, we didn’t think we were going to leave,” testified Tetiana Vozniuchenko, 52.

200 km southwest of the capital, Vinnytsia airport was “completely destroyed” by Russian strikes, according to Mr Zelensky. In the morning, Moscow announced that it had destroyed the Starokonstantinov military airfield, 130 km to the northeast.

As for Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine 50 km from the Russian border (east), it remained the target of intense bombardments which hit a television tower, according to regional governor Oleg Synegubov.

“The enemy’s plan is to encircle key cities” and “to create a humanitarian catastrophe,” Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Facebook. The Russians are now trying to block Ukrainian access to the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, he added.

The exodus continues

Faced with the worsening of the situation, the exodus intensified. “More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed (the border) to neighboring countries in 10 days,” said Grandi, who expects the flow to increase further as the days go by. to come.

In the train stations of Ukrainian towns threatened by the Russian army, the crush reigned, women and children seeking to leave after heartbreaking goodbyes with their husbands and fathers remaining to fight.

“We send our wives and children to Lviv, maybe further, and we stay here […] It’s a horrible situation,” Andrey Kyrychenko, a 40-year-old bricklayer, told Dnipro.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denied on Sunday “that his army is targeting civilians”, during an interview with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) “has authenticated several attacks on health care in Ukraine, causing several deaths and injuries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Moscow had mentioned Wednesday the death of 498 Russian soldiers and 2870 dead on the Ukrainian side. Kyiv reported Sunday more than 11,000 Russian soldiers killed, without revealing its own military losses. Figures impossible to verify independently.

For its part, the UN has confirmed the death of 351 civilians and more than 700 injured, a toll which is “probably much higher because the verifications are in progress”.

Diplomatic efforts

On the diplomatic front, efforts are continuing without success at this stage, before a new round of negotiations between Russians and Ukrainians scheduled for Monday.

After the March 4 bombing of the Zaporozhya nuclear power plant, the largest in Ukraine and Europe, which raised fears of a catastrophe and heightened the concern of Western countries, the Russian President assured his French counterpart that it was “not his intention” to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Those of Zaporozhye and Chernobyl are occupied by Russian forces.

But during this exchange, Mr. Macron found the Russian president “very determined to achieve his objectives”, including “what he calls the ‘denazification’ and neutralization of Ukraine”, as well as the recognition of the independence of Crimea and Donbass, indicated the French presidency.

Mr. Putin has already warned that if Ukraine does not comply with these demands, it could lose its “statehood”.

The Kremlin also multiplies messages to Westerners.

Mr Putin warned on Saturday that the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine – requested by Kyiv, but refused by NATO – would be considered “as participation in the armed conflict”.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday warned neighboring countries of Ukraine against hosting fighter jets from Kyiv which would then be used against Moscow forces, blaming Romania by name. This could be considered “as an involvement of these countries in an armed conflict”, said its spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

Effects of the war in Russia

In Russia, the Kremlin continues to impose silence. At least 2,500 people demonstrating against the military intervention in Ukraine were arrested on Sunday in around 50 cities in Russia, said the NGO OVD-Info, which specializes in monitoring demonstrations.

The BBC said its international news channel, BBC World News, had stopped broadcasting in that country after the Russian authorities cracked down on the media.

But the effects of war and sanctions are beginning to reach the Russian middle class.

Foreign companies continue to leave Russia in droves. Latest: American Express announced on Sunday the suspension of its operations in Russia, following in the footsteps of the American credit card giants Visa and Mastercard.

American Express cards issued worldwide will no longer work at merchants or ATMs in Russia and cards issued in Russia by Russian banks will no longer work outside the country.

The PayPal payment system has also suspended its services in Russia.

The ruble collapsed after international sanctions were imposed on Moscow and some of Russia’s biggest banks were cut off from the Swift international interbank system.

The Russian authorities now fear the emergence of a food black market. Supermarket chains have imposed restrictions on the quantities sold to each individual.