(Kyiv) Anti-aircraft defense is again at work on Friday at dawn in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine, targets for several days of intense bombardment by Russian forces.
At the same time, on the sidelines of a G7 Summit in Japan, the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU) and the United States announced new sanctions targeting the Russian economy, and in particular the diamond sector, in order to restrict its ability to finance the war.
Air-raid sirens sounded overnight from Thursday to Friday in Kyiv and other cities across the country, where military officials and media reported explosions including in Lviv and Rivne, in the west, or even in Kherson, in the south.
“Air defense is at work in Kyiv airspace. Stay in the shelters until it’s all over! Urged on Telegram the head of the civil and military administration of the capital, Serhiï Popko. His counterpart in the Kryvyi Rih region (south), Oleksandr Vilkul, made a similar call and reported “explosions”.
The previous night, Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities had been targeted by a wave of Russian missile strikes. The Ukrainian military claimed to have shot down almost all of the projectiles. Conversely, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it had “hit” and “destroyed” all the targets of its night raids.
The civil and military administration of Kyiv judged that the Russian attacks carried out since the beginning of May were “unprecedented by their power, their intensity and their variety”.
“Diamonds Not Forever”
In Hiroshima (Japan), where a G7 Summit opens on Friday, the United Kingdom, the EU and the United States announced new sanctions against Russia.
Those in London target British imports of Russian aluminum, diamonds, copper and nickel, and those in Washington will prevent ‘about 70 entities in Russia and other countries from receiving US exported goods’, official says American.
D’autres membres du G7-qui réunit États-Unis, Japon, Allemagne, France, Royaume-Uni, Italie et Canada-se préparent également à « mettre en place de nouvelles sanctions et barrières à l’exportation », a ajouté le responsable américain.
L’UE va elle aussi « limiter le commerce des diamants russes », qui rapportent chaque année plusieurs milliards de dollars à Moscou, a annoncé le président du Conseil européen Charles Michel à Hiroshima.
« Les diamants russes ne sont pas éternels », a-t-il ironisé.
Sur le front des combats, le chef du groupe paramilitaire russe Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, a jugé improbable une prise dans les prochains jours de la ville de Bakhmout, dans l’est de l’Ukraine.
« Il est improbable que Bakhmout soit complètement prise demain ou après-demain », a déclaré Evguéni Prigojine sur Telegram dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi, en faisant état de violents combats dans la banlieue sud-ouest de la ville.
« Finir le travail »
« Bakhmout n’a pas encore été prise. Il y a une banlieue nommée “Samolet”. C’est une forteresse imprenable formée par des rangées de barres d’immeubles […] The toughest battles are going on there right now,” the Wagner chief said.
“An important request therefore: happiness loves silence. Let us finish the job,” he added.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had regained 20 km2 on the outskirts of Bakhmout, while acknowledging that Russian forces continued to advance into the town itself, destroyed by months of fighting.
The battle for this city in Donbass is the bloodiest and longest since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Observers doubt the strategic significance of Bakhmout’s conquest for Russia, but it would allow Moscow to post victory after several humiliating setbacks.
On the spot, the Wagner group is supported by the regular Russian army, although Evguéni Prigojine regularly accuses the military hierarchy of not giving enough ammunition to his men to be able to conquer the city.
Ukraine also celebrated Thursday the Day of the “vychyvanka”, these traditional embroidered loose shirts that have become a symbol of national unity against the Russian invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky praised on Telegram “the strength of our culture” in the face of “totalitarian regimes”, celebrating on the occasion the 79e anniversary of the beginning of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim minority, by the Soviet authorities.