War of attrition
Russia is now waging a war of “attrition” in Ukraine, a senior British defense official observed on Wednesday.
“Russian operations have changed,” Jim Hockenhull, head of defense intelligence, told a press briefing, explaining that the Kremlin was “now pursuing an attrition strategy” after failing to achieve its “objectives.” initials”.
“This will involve the irresponsible and indiscriminate use of firepower” and “will result in more civilian casualties, the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, and intensify the humanitarian crisis”, he warned.
Moscow has also started to mobilize reservists, he noted, mentioning that they would probably be ill-equipped and less seasoned than the professional soldiers already deployed.
War crimes
The US government “has established that members of the Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine” whose perpetrators will be prosecuted, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
In accusing Russia in this way, the United States is basing itself on “a careful examination of the information available from public and intelligence sources”, according to Mr. Blinken. “We have seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities” which left “thousands dead and injured”.
The conflict is also deadly for Russian forces, which have already lost between 7,000 and 15,000 soldiers in Ukraine, according to a senior NATO official.
In rubles only
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia will no longer accept payments in dollars or euros for gas deliveries to the European Union (EU), giving Russian authorities a week to work out the new system in rubles .
“It is clear that delivering our goods to the EU, the United States, and receiving dollars, euros, other currencies, no longer makes sense to us,” Putin said.
This demand is inadmissible, because it “constitutes a breach of contract”, quickly reacted the German Vice-Chancellor and Minister of the Economy, Robert Habeck, during a press conference. The Austrian oil and gas group OMV announced on Wednesday that it would continue to pay for its gas purchases from Russia in euros, despite the decision of the Russian president.
Renault and Nestlé give in under pressure
French automaker Renault bows to criticism from the Ukrainian president and suspends all operations in Russia.
Russia is the Renault group’s second largest market in the world behind Europe, with nearly 500,000 vehicles sold in 2021. In its statement released earlier on Wednesday after a meeting of its board of directors, the group did not have yet announced exit from Russia, while beginning to open the door to such a scenario.
The Swiss food giant Nestlé also decided on Wednesday to reduce the range of its products sold in Russia.
The company announced Wednesday that it will suspend the sale of brands such as KitKat chocolate bars, Nesquik chocolate powders, pet products and coffee.
With Agence France-Presse