Russia shows its teeth
Russia promised Friday to increase its attacks on the Ukrainian capital, the day after the missile strike that sank the Russian flagship in the Black Sea on Thursday. An arms factory in the kyiv region was also hit by a Russian strike overnight from Thursday to Friday, and other bombardments sounded around the capital of Ukraine on Friday, according to local authorities. .
“The number and scale of missile strikes on Kyiv sites will increase in response to all terrorist-type attacks and sabotage carried out on Russian territory by the nationalist regime in Kyiv,” the Russian Ministry of Security said on Friday morning. defense.
Words that made Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky say that “the whole world” should be “worried” about the risk that Vladimir Putin’s regime might use a tactical nuclear weapon.
Strikes in the east and south of the country
If the surroundings of kyiv were again in the crosshairs of Moscow on Friday, it is nevertheless the cities of the east and the south of Ukraine which continue to be the subject of the most intense bombardments.
In Mykolaiv, a port city in the south of the country, Russian attacks reportedly killed 5 civilians and injured 15 on Friday. In the northeast, in Kharkiv, shelling in a residential area reportedly killed at least 10 people on Friday, including a seven-month-old baby, and injured around 35.
Deaths are accumulating in the Donbass, this disputed region in the east of the country, where intense bombardments left several dead on Friday in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Nearly five million refugees
According to the latest figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. Of the lot, more than 2.7 million turned to Poland, and more than 726,000 to Romania.
Meanwhile, several Russians opposed to the regime of Vladimir Putin left this autocratic country for Armenia, in the hope of a better life.
The toll of civilian victims of the war in Ukraine also continues to climb. As of Friday, the UN reports at least 1,982 civilians killed, including 162 children, and more than 2,650 civilians injured.
From 24 Feb—14 April, we recorded 4,633 civilian casualties in context of Russia’s armed attack against #Ukraine: 1,982 killed, including 162 children; 2,651 injured, including 256 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. Actual toll is much higher. Update https://t.co/n7A2wjzagu pic.twitter.com/r8lRN77gQb
— UNHumanRightsUkraine (@UNHumanRightsUA) April 15, 2022
Moscow tightens its control of information
The list of “foreign agents” compiled by the Russian state continues to grow. Nine people (including a cartoonist and a famous Russian journalist) were added on Friday, for a total of more than 140 media and personalities.
The people and companies on this list are subject to many constraints and tedious procedures, and liable to heavy penalties in the event of a breach. They must also designate themselves as “foreign agents” in all their publications.
Moscow has also blocked the website of French radio RFI, which broadcasts international news in fifteen languages, including Russian. The medium is thus added to many credible sources of information to which the Russians no longer have access, including the BBC.
With Agence France-Presse