Posted at 12:00 a.m.
“A month already. It’s long. It breaks my heart, like that of all Ukrainians, and every person who lives freely on this planet. »
Standing in the Kyiv night, in front of the tall columns that adorn the facade of the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers his message to the camera in Ukrainian and English. After speaking in recent days to Canadian, American, French and Japanese elected officials, among others, Mr. Zelensky turned to citizens around the world who have had their eyes riveted on his country for four weeks.
“The world must stop the war,” he says in this video posted Wednesday evening, a month after the start of the first Russian strikes. This is why, he continues, he asks citizens to take to the streets of cities around the world to protest against the invasion of his country by Russia.
“Show your support. Manifest from your offices, homes, schools and universities. Demonstrate in the name of peace! »
“Go ahead with Ukrainian symbols to defend Ukraine, to defend freedom, to defend life!” “implores the president.
Find yourself in the squares, in the street, show yourself and make yourself heard! Say people matter, freedom matters, peace matters, Ukraine matters.
President Volodymyr Zelensky
Four weeks after the start of the Russian invasion, we draw up a balance sheet with staggering figures. That of the number of civilian victims, still unknown, but which is certainly counted in “thousands of dead and wounded”, according to the United States. That of the number of refugees – 10 million people have fled their homes, including more than 3.6 million who have left the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. And that of soldiers who died in combat, ie at least 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers, and 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers, according to estimates released Wednesday by NATO.
President Zelensky’s appeal comes as three major summits will be held this Thursday in Brussels: the G7 meeting, the European Council summit and the NATO summit. Volodymyr Zelensky will also address the delegations present at this last summit by videoconference.
On Wednesday, several governments announced new arms deliveries to Ukraine. The UK will send an additional 6,000 anti-tank missiles to Kyiv, in addition to the 4,000 already delivered. Sweden and Germany have announced the shipment of 5,000 and 2,000 anti-tank weapons respectively. The Ukrainian forces have already received 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger-type surface-to-air missile launchers taken from the reserves of the Bundeswehr, the German army.
War crimes, according to the United States
Following US President Joe Biden’s statements last week calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, revealed that his country had detailed information confirming that “members of the Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine”.
PHOTO KEVIN LAMARQUE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State
We have seen many credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities.
Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State
The head of American diplomacy cited in particular the destruction of “residential buildings, schools, hospitals, essential installations, civilian vehicles, shopping centers and ambulances”, which caused “thousands of dead and wounded”.
Blinken said it will be up to the courts to determine Russia’s legal responsibilities. One of these bodies will probably be the International Criminal Court (ICC), notes Bruno Gélinas-Faucher, professor of law at the Université de Moncton. On March 3, the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced the opening of an investigation into the situation in Ukraine.
“The ICC prosecutor is doing his own investigation and he will have to come to his own conclusions about the commission of war crimes before filing charges,” he said. But Mr. Blinken’s statement suggests that the United States will agree to hand over evidence to the ICC prosecutor. “This is also a commitment that the United Kingdom has already made,” said Mr. Gélinas-Faucher. The United States, he points out, has greater investigative and intelligence resources than the ICC prosecutor.
The United States, like Russia for that matter, does not recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court, established in The Hague, in the Netherlands. In this context, the transmission of information from the Americans to the ICC “would be quite remarkable in itself,” said Mr. Gélinas-Faucher.
Bombs in Kyiv, Siege in Mariupol
Since Tuesday, the Russian military has retreated more than 30 km east of Kyiv and started establishing defensive positions on several fronts in Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.
In Mariupol, “nearly 100,000 people in inhumane conditions” are still trapped in the ruins of the city, “under total siege, without food, without water, without medicine, under constant shelling,” Volodymyr warned on Wednesday. Zelensky.
PHOTO ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO, REUTERS
Residents of the besieged city of Mariupol carry humanitarian aid delivered by Russian soldiers.
At the first-largest hospital in Mariupol, patients are treated in the basements, the city council said on its Telegram page.
“Candles remain the main source of light. They try to save fuel as much as possible, so diesel generators are only used for complex operations,” the council said, adding that 600 to 700 local residents have also taken refuge in the hospital.
With Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press