Calls to protect women and children
UN officials on Monday called for better protection of children and investigations into violence against women in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It is time to end this war, the children of Ukraine cannot afford to wait,” UNICEF director of emergency programs Manuel Fontaine told the Security Council . The director of the UN Women agency, Sima Bahous, believes that the numerous testimonies of “rape and sexual violence” require “an independent investigation”. For his part, the Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy once again rejected the accusations, pleading for respect for “the presumption of innocence”.
Another Kremlin opponent arrested
One of the main opponents of the Kremlin who still lives in Russia, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was arrested on Monday near his home, we learned through his lawyer. The reasons for his arrest remained unknown at the time of this writing, and Russian authorities had not issued a statement on the matter. Mr. Kara-Murza has repeatedly criticized Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. A former journalist, he claims to have been poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, because of his political activities.
Europe accuses Russia of starving the world
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Monday accused Russia of “causing hunger in the world” by destroying wheat stocks and preventing their export. Since the Russian invasion on February 24, tons of grain have lain docked in besieged Ukrainian ports. Grain shortages likely to cause food riots are feared in the Middle East and North Africa. Respectively the world’s leading and fifth wheat exporters, Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of global supply. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported last Friday that world food prices reached their “highest levels on record” in March.
French gendarmes investigate in Lviv
French gendarmes have arrived in Lviv, in western Ukraine, to assist their Ukrainian counterparts “in the investigations of war crimes committed around kyiv”, the French ambassador to Ukraine announced on Monday. These gendarmes are “crime scene experts and [en] identification of victims,” said the French Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Foreign Affairs in a joint statement. The Russian Ministry of Defense replied that it should “not count on an impartial investigation” because of the “prejudices of these ‘specialists’”, suspecting the gendarmes of “fabricating accusations against the Russian forces”.