A week after their entry into Ukraine, the Russian troops have not progressed very noticeably, but the bombardments caused new deaths on Wednesday 2 March. On the eve of a second round of talks between Kiev and Moscow in Belarus, the UN General Assembly put pressure on Russia by massively voting a resolution demanding an end to its offensive. Franceinfo summarizes the main information of the day.
Bombings cause more deaths
The major offensive against Kiev that some observers feared overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday did not take place, but the mayor of the Ukrainian capital reported fighting in outlying areas of the city.
The strikes were more violent in Kharkiv, the second city of the country, where the university, the town hall or buildings of the security forces and the police were affected. “There is no longer an area in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not yet hit”, said an adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior. Emergency services said they identified at least four dead and nine injured.
Shelling also hit the city of Zhytomyr, 150 km west of Kiev. Residents told AFP on the spot that at least three people had been killed in a residential area.
The Russian army claimed to have taken control of the city of Kherson, near Crimea, in southern Ukraine. The mayor alerted on Facebook, evoking a “humanitarian disaster” and asking for the establishment of a corridor to evacuate the victims.
For the first time, Russia has put forward a human toll of its offensive, saying 498 Russian soldiers have died since February 24 and claiming to have killed 2,870 “Ukrainian military and nationalists”. Two numbers that are not independently verifiable.
The UN demands that Russia stop its offensive
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution that “demands that Russia immediately stop using force against Ukraine”. The text was approved by 141 countries, five opposing it and 35 abstaining, including China. The resolution also calls for unimpeded access for humanitarian aid.
This vote closes two days of interventions at the United Nations headquarters in New York. On Wednesday, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Russia of perpetrating a “genocide” and compared his actions to those of Hitler.
A ceasefire on the program of talks on Thursday
The delegations of Russia and Ukraine are due to meet again in Belarus on Thursday, after a first session on Monday which did not lead to any significant progress. Russia announced that a ceasefire would be on the table.
Russian media RT and Sputnik banned in Europe
Decided on Tuesday, the ban on Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik media in the European Union came into force on Wednesday. RT France, the only subsidiary based in Europe of this television channel, ceased to be accessible in the afternoon from the operators who offered it, but remains broadcast online on its site. According to the Brussels decision, published in the Official Journal on Wednesday morning, these two media are accused of being “canals” from “propaganda actions” of Russia, who “directly and seriously threaten the public order and security of the Union”.
Nearly 836,000 refugees left Ukraine
The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine for neighboring countries jumped again to nearly 836,000 on Wednesday, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. That’s a jump of almost 160,000 people from Tuesday’s figure of 677,000.
The UNHCR counts precisely 835,928 people, of whom 453,982 have found refuge in Poland, the main host country. Hungary took in 116,348 refugees and Slovakia 67,000 refugees. Some 42,900 people left for Russia.
Emmanuel Macron wants to respond to the “brutal return of tragedy in history”
“Our country will increase investment in its defence”announced Emmanuel Macron, during a televised address, Wednesday evening. “To this brutal return of the tragic in history, we must respond with historic decisions”said the head of state. “We cannot depend on others to defend us… our European defense must take another step.”
Emmanuel Macron also denounced a war “nourished by a revisionist reading of the History of Europe”. “Russia is not attacked, it is the aggressor”, “This war is not a conflict between NATO and Russia” and “Even less a fight against Nazism, it’s a lie”he added in a television address.