For the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, it is a “true war crime”. Ukraine and its allies have accused Russia of aiding the global food crisis by withholding Ukrainian wheat. Russian bombardments are also intensifying in the east, while Moscow accuses kyiv of having bombed one of its hydrocarbon drilling platforms. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of the day on the war front in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Europe denounce Moscow’s role in the global food crisis
“The food crisis in the world will last as long as this colonial war continues”, Volodymyr Zelensky said during a videoconference speech to representatives of African Union countries. The President of Ukraine said that “Africa is hostage to those who started the war”and denounced the role of Russia in the level “unfair” food prices that “is painfully felt on all continents”. Millions of tonnes of cereals cannot currently be exported to Africa, due to the blockade operated by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. A food crisis that the Russian authorities “deliberately worsen”according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
The European Union has also accused Russia of committing a “true war crime” by blocking Ukrainian grain exports. “This is a deliberate attempt to use food as a weapon of war”denounced the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell during a meeting. “I can’t imagine it will last much longer: otherwise it would really be something for which Russia would be held responsible.”he had warned on his arrival. “Russia must stop playing with world hunger”, warned French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. The Twenty-Seven also launched an action plan to help Africa during a meeting of their heads of diplomacy in Luxembourg.
Russian pressure increases around Kharkiv and Severodonetsk
The intensity of the shelling is increasing in the Kharkiv region and “grows all along the front line” in the eastern region of Donetsk, said the Ukrainian presidency. She adds that the bombardments in the east left one dead and seven injured, including a child.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Sergiï Gaïdaï, described as “lies” the idea that the Russians controlled the strategic locality of Severodonetsk. “The Russians control most of the residential areas”but “more than a third of the city remains controlled by our armed forces”, according to the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Striouk. For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense affirmed that “the offensive against Sievierodonetsk proceeds successfully”.
The Ukrainian military also claimed on Facebook to have “repelled the assault in the Tochkivka region” (Luhansk)but Serguiï Gaïdaï confirmed the fall of the village of Metolkine, on the south-eastern outskirts of Severodonetsk.
Moscow accuses kyiv of bombing drilling platforms
Russia has accused Ukraine of hitting three oil rigs off Crimea on Monday morning. “There are three injured and seven missing”, said on Telegram the governor installed by Moscow after the annexation in 2014 of the peninsula, Sergei Aksionov. According to him, 94 people were evacuated. This is the first reported strike against offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure in Crimea since the start of the Russian invasion.
Lithuania restricts delivery of goods to Kaliningrad
Tension has risen sharply between Russia and Lithuania, which has limited the goods that can be transported by rail to Kaliningrad. The Russian enclave, wedged between Lithuania and Poland, is delivered by Moscow by train via Lithuania for many products. Russia has denounced an act “hostile” and asserted that if the transit “is not restored in full, then Russia reserves the right to act to defend its national interests”threatened the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Lithuania countered that the country is only applying “the European sanctions which began to operate from June 17″according to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, sanctions which notably limit the entry of Russian steel products into the EU. European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell responded by stating that “Lithuania has not adopted any unilateral or national restrictions. This is false. It applies EU sanctions”.
Kaliningrad is a strategic bridgehead for the Russians, who have installed their military fleet there and ballistic missiles capable of carrying out nuclear strikes in Western Europe.
Ukraine bans pro-Russian political party
The pro-Russian and eurosceptic political party “Opposition Platform – For Life”, openly supported by Moscow, has been officially banned from operating in Ukraine for “undermining sovereignty”, according to the Ukrainian justice minister. Volodymyr Zelensky had already passed a decree to ban this party on March 14
“Opposition Platform – For Life” had about 30 deputies in the Ukrainian Parliament before the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. It was founded in 2018 by Viktor Medvedchuk, one of the main fortunes of Ukraine and close to Vladimir Putin, who was arrested in April for trying to flee the country according to the Ukrainian intelligence services.