Fleeing death in Mariupol
Rescuers continued their efforts to try to save civilians trapped in the Dramatic Theater, which was the prey of bombs on Wednesday from the Russian army. At the end of the day, the former governor of the Donetsk region, Sergiy Taruta, claimed on social networks that at least 130 people came out alive from the building on Thursday. “How many people continue to be under the ruins? […] Nobody knows,” he added. More than a thousand people were in an air shelter under the theater at the time of the Russian attacks, according to local authorities.
In the past week, around 30,000 people have also fled the besieged city, which had around 450,000 residents before the start of this deadly conflict.
Russia accused of ‘war crimes’
Both the European Union and the United States on Thursday accused Russia of committing “war crimes” in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch has also documented repeated cases of the use of cluster munitions in recent days against civilians in the densely populated port city of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine. “Obviously blind” attacks denounced in a report issued on Thursday.
“Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. After so much destruction in the past three weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing anything other than that,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press briefing Thursday in Washington.
To see in video
More penalties
Canada announced on Thursday that it had imposed new sanctions against 22 senior Belarusian defense ministry officials for allowing the country “to serve as a launching pad for the Russian invasion.” The announcement comes days after Russia banned 313 Canadians from entering its territory in response to Canadian opposition to its invasion of Ukraine.
Canada is imposing sanctions on 22 senior defense officials from Belarus who supported President Putin’s attack and Russia’s violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They will be held responsible. https://t.co/zxRemfjWKQ
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 17, 2022
The head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken for his part assured that the American president Joe Biden would threaten his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, with whom he must meet on Friday, of reprisals if China were to “support Russian aggression”, notably by sending military aid to Moscow.
Montreal hospitals are mobilizing
The Montreal Children’s Hospital and the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center announced Thursday that they are preparing to welcome young Ukrainian patients who have fled the war and who need to continue treatment. This announcement came on the same day that the World Health Organization reported in a press conference on 43 attacks against Ukrainian health facilities since the beginning of the Russian invasion in this country, where the health network is hard hit. shaken by this conflict.
The federal government has announced that the new immigration program aimed at quickly welcoming Ukrainians will allow those whose applications are accepted to stay in the country for up to three years. Nearly 3.2 million Ukrainians have fled the war-torn country since February 24, according to the UN.
With Agence France-Presse and La Presse canadienne