A hectic day. President Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky has traveled to the front as fighting continues to rage near Sievierodonetsk. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of the day on the war front in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky goes to the front line
Volodymyr Zelensky, who had remained barricaded in kyiv for weeks at the start of the conflict when the capital was threatened by the Russian army, visited the troops in the regions of Mykolaiv and Odessa, in the coastal strip of the country coveted by Moscow on the Black Sea, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
He thanked the soldiers, who are containing the thrust of Russian troops, supported in the east from annexed Crimea, for their “heroic service”. “It is important that you are alive. As long as you are alive, there is a strong Ukrainian wall protecting our country”he told them.
A video, released by the presidency, showed him in Mykolaiv with the local governor, Vitaliy Kim, in front of the gaping facade of the headquarters of the regional administration, hit by a Russian strike in March which left 37 dead.
Westerners accuse Russia of threatening the world with famine
Westerners have accused Russia of exploiting cereals as they do with hydrocarbons. “Russia has turned the Black Sea into a war zone, blocking grain and fertilizer shipments from Ukraine” while applying “quota” to its own exports denounced the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, accusing Moscow of “blackmail”.
“It is imperative to allow the resumption of Ukrainian exports by boat”to avoid a “world food disaster”he added.
Fighting continues near Severodonetsk
Further north, fierce fighting is raging near Severodonetsk, in the Donbass region, partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014 and including Russia, after failing to take kyiv in the first weeks of its offensive launched on February 24, has set itself the goal of taking full control.
“The fiercest battles are fought near Severodonetsk”where the Russians “try to break through”, said the governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, Sergey Gaidai. The governor also said that Lyssychansk, the neighboring city, was “heavily bombed”. Russians “can’t get near it and that’s why they just shoot the city with airstrikes.”
Serguiï Gaïdaï also mentioned “more destruction” again at the besieged Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where more than 500 civilians, including 38 children, are hiding.
Five killed in Ukrainian shelling in Donetsk
Pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk, capital of the self-proclaimed “republic” of the same name in the part of Donbass that has escaped kyiv’s control since 2014, for their part claimed that Ukrainian bombardments on the city had left five dead and 12 injured among the civilian population. “Early in the morning, massive enemy shelling [ont visé] the capital of the Donestk People’s Republic”they wrote.
Pro-Russian forces also claim that more than 200 155 mm caliber artillery shells fell on several districts of the city on Saturday. According to Russian news agencies, the bombings hit a cinema and a cafe in the city center in particular.
Donetsk is the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed “republic” of Donetsk, in the Donbass coalfield. Partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, this region has been the subject of fierce fighting between the Ukrainian army and Russian and pro-Russian forces.