“The fact that Russia has ended its participation in the Black Sea Initiative, coupled with its bombardment of capital ports, will further aggravate the crisis,” warned UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo.
Since the end of the agreement on Ukrainian cereals, the situation in the Black Sea has continued to become tense. “Threats to target civilian ships in the Black Sea are unacceptable”said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, Friday July 21. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of the day.
UN fears escalation in Black Sea
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian ships fired anti-ship cruise missiles “on a target boat in the combat training area of the northwestern part of the Black Sea”. In the previous days, Russia and then Ukraine declared that they consider any ship circulating in the Black Sea to be military.
These threats are “unacceptable”said a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, before the Security Council. “We are also concerned about reports of mines laid in the Black Sea, threatening civilian shipping,” she added.
“The risk of conflict spreading in response to a military incident in the Black Sea – intentional or accidental – must be avoided at all costs, as it could lead to catastrophic consequences for all of us.”
Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-Generalbefore the UN Security Council
“The fact that Russia has ended its participation in the Black Sea Initiative, coupled with its bombing of capital ports, will further aggravate the crisis”added Rosemary DiCarlo.
Russian president warns of Belarus ‘aggression’
The situation is also tense on the side of Belarus, bordering Ukraine and Russia. “Unleashing aggression against Belarus will amount to aggression against the Russian Federation. We will respond to it with all means at our disposal”warned President Vladimir Putin.
The fighters of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, forced to leave for Belarus after their failed rebellion in Russia at the end of June, are training with the special forces of this allied country of Moscow, announced Minsk.
The Russian president has also embarked on a violent rant against the Polish authorities, as Warsaw recently increased military presence on its borders with Belarus following the arrival of the Wagner Group.
UNESCO sees Russian strikes as ‘a growing threat to Ukrainian culture’
Unesco has “firmly condemned” Russian strikes carried out “early thursday morning” against the city center of Odessa (South-West Ukraine), which has been part of the world heritage of humanity since January. “According to a preliminary assessment, several museums located within the World Heritage site suffered damage, including the Archaeological Museum, the Fleet Museum and the Literature Museum of Odessa”underlined the UN organization. “All had been marked by Unesco and local authorities with the Blue Shield, the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention” for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict, which was therefore “raped” in Odessa, denounced Unesco.
The Russian attack “Perpetrated just two weeks after the one that destroyed a building” of the historic center of Lviv (North-West), another World Heritage site, has also “coincided with the destruction of the Cultural Center of Folk Art and Art Education in the city of Mykolaiv”regretted Unesco.
Calling out “cease all attacks against cultural property protected under widely ratified international normative instruments”the authority considers that “this war poses a growing threat to Ukrainian culture”.
Vladimir Putin believes that the counter-offensive led by kyiv has so far produced “no results”
The Russian president spoke on television as he convened his Security Council. “The colossal resources that have been injected into the Kiev regime are not helping, and neither are the deliveries of Western weapons, tanks, artillery and missiles”said the Russian president, looking directly at the camera.
This is not the first time that the Russian president has commented on the Ukrainian counter-offensive in this way. “All the attempts of the enemy to break through our defense (…), in particular by using strategic reserves, did not succeed during the entire period of the offensive. The enemy did not achieve success”he estimated on July 16.