His speech to French parliamentarians was expected. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke by videoconference to the National Assembly and the Senate on Wednesday March 23. During his speech, he compared the situation in his country, in particular to Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities, “ruins of Verdun, like in the photos of the First World War that everyone has seen”.
He also called for a boycott of the Russian market and demanded that “French companies are leaving the Russian market”, citing the Auchan, Leroy Merlin and Renault groups. These companies “must stop sponsoring the Russian war machine” and “to finance the murder of children and women, the rape”, he estimated. Franceinfo summarizes what to remember from the developments of the day.
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Renault reacts to criticism from Volodymyr Zelensky
The French group announced on Wednesday the suspension of activities at its factory in Moscow. Earlier in the day, before the deputies and senators, the Ukrainian president had urged French companies established in Russia to stop supporting “the war machine” Russian and to leave this country. He had notably cited Renault and Auchan, a brand owned, like Leroy Merlin, by the Mulliez family.
Leroy Merlin’s holding maintains its activities in Russia
Put under pressure by the Ukrainian president, Adeo, Leroy Merlin’s holding company, responded that a closure would be considered a “premeditated bankruptcy”, “opening the way to an expropriation which would strengthen the financial means of Russia”.
In a statement to AFP, Adeo, on the other hand, claims to have “decided at the beginning of the conflict to suspend new investments” in Russia, where the group claims to have 45,000 employees for around a hundred stores.
Journalist killed in Kyiv bombing
A Russian journalist, Oksana Baulina, was killed Wednesday in a bombardment on kyiv, announced in the evening the independent online media for which she worked, The Insider. She was killed by a rocket while she was filming the damage caused by a previous strike on a shopping center in the Podil district, in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital, according to a statement from her newspaper. Another civilian was killed and two people accompanying the journalist were injured.
Russia and Ukraine blame each other for diplomatic blockages
“The talks are going quite difficult because the Ukrainian side has clear and principled positions”said the chief negotiator on the Ukrainian side, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, in written comments sent to journalists.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also described the negotiations as “difficult“, while accusing the Ukrainians of constantly changing position and the United States to obstruct their progress.
Nearly 100,000 people besieged in Mariupol
Almost a month after the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, “nearly 100,000 people in inhumane conditions” are trapped in the ruins of Mariupol, “under total siege, without food, without water, without medicine, under constant bombardment”alerted Volodymyr Zelensky.
kyiv resists and the Russian offensive “bogs down”
The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, assured Wednesday that the Ukrainian resistance was undermining the Russian army. “Near Brovary [périphérie est de Kiev]from the north a great battle is taking place, and according to information from official sources, the small town of Makariv (west) and almost all of Irpin (northwest) are already under the control of Ukrainian soldiers”he declared to the press. The Russian offensive in Ukraine “is bogged down despite all the destruction it causes day after day”German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said on Wednesday.