The UN on Saturday denounced the loss of civilian life caused by the Russian offensive in Ukraine, when the fighting crossed the 500-day mark.
While kyiv is engaged in a counter-offensive against Moscow, the symbolic milestone of 500 days since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022 was crossed on Saturday July 8. Franceinfo takes stock of what to remember on the war front on this particular day.
UN denounces civilian casualties and “a grim new stage” in the war
The UN has denounced the loss of civilian life caused by the Russian offensive in Ukraine, as the fighting crosses the 500-day mark. More than 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, have been killed since the Russian invasion, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a statement on Friday, although UN officials have previously said that the actual number was probably much higher.
“Today we mark another grim milestone in the war that continues to take a horrific toll on Ukrainian civilians”said Noel Calhoun, deputy head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky celebrates the “courage” of Ukraine
On the occasion of the 500 days, the Ukrainian President visited Serpents’ Island, where kyiv had achieved a prestigious victory at the start of the Moscow-led invasion and celebrated the “courage” from Ukraine. “Today we are on Serpents’ Island, which will never be conquered by the occupier, just like the rest of Ukraine, because we are the country of courage”, Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video.
Eight dead in a Russian bombardment in the east of the country
At least eight people were killed and 13 others were injured in a Russian shelling of the eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman on Saturday, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said. According to him, fires broke out in a residential building and the annex of a printing house, but were able to be extinguished.
US delivery of cluster bombs to kyiv ‘admission of weakness’, Moscow says
Russia considered the delivery of cluster bombs by the United States to Ukraine to be a “admission of weakness” which would make the country “partner in crime” civilian deaths caused by these controversial weapons. Russian diplomacy has also denounced a “cynical attempt to prolong the agony of the current Ukrainian authorities without concern for civilian casualties” of these bombs, which disperse small explosive charges before or after impact. Joe Biden announced on Friday that he had taken this “very difficult decision”, causing embarrassment in Europe and strong criticism from NGOs.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterates his support for Ukraine
The Turkish head of state, who received Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time in Turkey since the start of the war in February 2022, considered that Ukraine “deserves[ait]” to join the Atlantic Alliance and called on the two countries, Russia and Ukraine, to “return to peace talks”. Present in Istanbul, where he was completing a regional tour, the Ukrainian president for his part saluted the memory of the victims of the conflict during a prayer alongside the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew.