War in Ukraine | Russian “offensive” resumes in Mariupol

(Kyiv) The Russian army again attacked the strategic port of Mariupol on Saturday and advanced elsewhere in Ukraine, with still fierce fighting around the capital Kyiv and thousands of civilians fleeing the shelling, while Vladimir Putin issued new warnings to NATO.

“Due to the reluctance of the Ukrainian side to influence the nationalists or extend the ‘ceasefire’, offensive operations have resumed since 6 p.m. Moscow time,” or 3 p.m. GMT, the ministry said. Russian Defense.

The Ukrainians had postponed the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol, on the Black Sea, and another besieged city a few hours earlier, citing ceasefire violations by Russian forces, which the latter denied.

As a result, the humanitarian crisis worsened: 1.37 million people have already taken refuge abroad since the invasion on February 24, according to the UN, and there are more than a million displaced people in the country.

The crowd took over the stations to shelter women and children to the west after heartbreaking farewells.

American activism

This exodus is arousing strong mobilization, especially in neighboring states such as Moldova, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived on Saturday evening. Earlier, he had traveled to the Polish-Ukrainian border for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba.

“The message of the heroic Ukrainian people is simple: Russians, go home […] Putin, leave Ukraine alone. You will not win the war”, launched Mr. Kouleba.

He asked for aircraft and air defense systems, calling NATO’s refusal to implement a no-fly zone over his country a “sign of weakness”.

After a trip to Latvia, a Baltic state bordering Russia, the American Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, underlined that if such a zone were created, “we would then have to go there and actively fighting” the Russians, which the Atlantic Alliance does not want to do.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened “colossal and catastrophic consequences not only for Europe, but for the whole world”, if such a zone were created. Russia would consider as co-belligerent any country attempting to impose it.

Mr Putin also spoke of Ukraine’s possible loss of statehood. The Ukrainian authorities “must understand that if they continue to do what they are doing, they are putting in question the future of Ukrainian statehood. And if that happens, they will be entirely responsible for it, ”warned the master of the Kremlin.

Increasingly isolated on the international scene, Mr. Putin received the same day in Moscow the head of the Israeli government Naftali Bennett.

Beginning a real mediation, Mr. Bennett then spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, before talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Twitter on Sunday that he had once again spoken on the phone with his American counterpart Joe Biden to discuss “security issues”, “financial support for Ukraine” and “the continuation of sanctions”. against Russia.

Tough battle in Mariupol

The fall of Mariupol, a city of around 450,000 inhabitants bombarded for several days by the Russians and their allies from the two separatist territories of Donbass, would constitute a turning point.

It would allow the junction between the troops coming from annexed Crimea, which have already taken the other key ports of Berdiansk and Kherson, and those of Donbass, then to these consolidated forces to go up towards the north.

The Russian army, which has made significant progress in Ukrainian territory in 10 days of fighting, could therefore increase military pressure on the center and the northern part, where the fighting is raging, particularly in Kyiv and Kharkiv.

“In Mariupol, the situation is catastrophic and getting worse day by day,” Laurent Ligozat, emergency coordinator for the NGO Médecins sans frontières (MSF), told AFP, adding that the inhabitants lacked everything: water – to the point of having to collect and melt snow to get it –, electricity, heating and food, many shops having been destroyed.

Shelling near Kyiv

The siege of Mariupol, which in 2014 withstood the onslaught of pro-Russian units, comes as Russian soldiers approach Kyiv, encountering tenacious resistance and sometimes bombarding apartment buildings, notably in Cherniguiv, 150 km to the north of the capital, where dozens of civilians have been killed in recent days.

An AFP team which visited the scene on Saturday saw scenes of devastation in this city of 300,000 inhabitants which was emptying of its population, raising fears of a similar fate for Kyiv once the missile batteries and the Russian artillery at the gates of the capital.

“There were bodies all over the floor. They were queuing for the pharmacy there, here, and they all died,” testified Sergei, a survivor.

For his part, President Zelensky assured that the Ukrainian forces had launched a counter-attack around Kharkiv (north-east), the second largest city in the country, the scene of some of the most intense bombardments since the start of the invasion.

The Russian army was still shelling the surroundings of Kyiv, in the northwest and east in particular. Where, the day before, a supermarket and a gas station stood at the major crossroads between the working-class towns of Bucha and Irpin, near the capital, there remained only ruins and fleeing inhabitants on Saturday.

In a hospital in northern Kyiv, wounded Ukrainian soldiers told AFP of their unequal struggle under a deluge of fire. “We were on reconnaissance” and “we came across an enemy column”, explained Motyka, a 29-year-old soldier hit by shrapnel on the right flank, who had to retreat with his comrades: “We fought them and we killed their soldiers on foot, but they showered us with mortar fire”.

Third round of talks

According to the Ukrainian authorities, a third round of negotiations with the Russians will take place on Monday.

But the chances of achieving progress seem slim, Vladimir Putin having warned that dialogue with Kyiv would only be possible if “all Russian demands” were accepted, in particular a “neutral and non-nuclear” status for Ukraine and its ” mandatory demilitarization”.

In Russia, the Kremlin has tightened its repression of all dissenting voices in the face of the conflict.

A law providing for up to 15 years in prison for anyone publishing “false information” was enacted on Friday.

As a result, many leading foreign media announced on Saturday the temporary cessation of their coverage from Moscow.

At the same time, demonstrations against the war multiplied in Europe: there were more than 40,000 people on Saturday in Zurich, the most populous city in Switzerland, more than 40,000 in France, including 16,000 in Paris, thousands also in Rome, a few hundred in central London.

More and more foreign companies are stopping working in Russia. On Saturday, global bank card giants Visa and Mastercard announced in turn that they were suspending operations in the country, which will prevent cards issued by Russian banks from working abroad and foreign cards from working in Russia.