Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the international community on Tuesday for a financial effort to cover a budget deficit of 38 billion dollars expected next year due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where fighting is still raging in Bakhmout. (is).
For his part, US President Joe Biden has warned that Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon would be an “enormously serious mistake”, as Moscow claims that Ukraine is preparing a “dirty bomb”, a claim denied by kyiv and Western countries.
“Russia would be making an immensely serious mistake if it used a tactical nuclear weapon,” the US president warned.
The Pentagon also warned Moscow that the use of such a bomb would have repercussions. “If Russia used nuclear weapons or a dirty bomb, there would be consequences,” Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder told reporters.
Speaking from kyiv, via video, to politicians and experts gathered in Berlin for an international conference devoted to the reconstruction of Ukraine, President Zelensky urged participants to “take a decision to plug the hole of the deficit of the Ukrainian budget” of 2023.
“It is a very large sum of 38 billion dollars […] it is the salaries of teachers, doctors, it is social benefits, pensions, ”he insisted.
At the opening of the meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for “starting now” this reconstruction, believing that it was “nothing less than creating a new Marshall Plan for the 21st century”.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also present at this conference, for her part considered “staggering” the extent of the destruction in Ukraine.
“The World Bank estimates the cost of the damage at 350 billion euros ($345 billion) – certainly more than any one country or union can provide. We need everyone on deck,” she said.
In London, during his first speech in Downing Street, the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced “the terrible war” waged by Russia in Ukraine, giving his support to kyiv to win it.
Volodymyr Zelensky spoke quickly with him on the phone and said he hoped for a “strengthening” of his country’s relations with London.
“I am confident that the partnership between our countries and the British leadership that has become traditional in the defense of democracy and freedom will continue to grow stronger,” Mr. Zelensky said in a video, saying he invited Mr. Sunak to Ukraine.
Mr Sunak for his part assured President Zelensky that he could count on the UK’s “unwavering support” and hoped “that they will meet in person soon”. »
Steinmeier in Kyiv
The conference in Berlin began just as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Kyiv for his first visit to Ukraine.
Mr. Steinmeier said he was “rejoicing at his meeting” with Mr. Zelensky “and with the population in the north of the country” where he wants to “get an idea of their life in the midst of the war”, according to a text sent by his door -speech, Cerstin Gammelin.
Steinmeier’s visit, originally scheduled for kyiv a week ago, was canceled for security reasons.
Indeed, since October 10, the Ukrainian capital has been, for the first time in months, bombarded by Russian missiles and kamikaze drones of Iranian manufacture which have mainly targeted energy infrastructure and left a dozen dead.
This series of massive strikes by Moscow forces on kyiv and many cities against critical Ukrainian infrastructure led the national operator Ukrenergo to impose “restrictions on energy consumption in all regions” of the country, it said. he indicates.
On the ground after eight months of conflict, the fighting was raging, particularly in Bakhmout, a city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which the Russian army has been trying to conquer for months.
Civilians killed in Bakhmout
At least seven civilians were killed and three others injured on Monday in this city, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram on Tuesday.
In a residential area of Bakhmout, AFP journalists saw bloodstains on the ground following what residents said was a deadly attack the day before.
“I found a body here without a head. I’m in shock,” said Sergii, 58, who declined to be named, adding: “He was a man. He was just walking down the street”.
AFP journalists also saw thick smoke rising above the city in the morning.
“There were advances overnight but we cannot give details at the moment, the situation is complicated,” a Ukrainian soldier engaged in the defense of the city told AFP, on condition of anonymity. .
In southern Ukraine, pro-Russian authorities in the Moscow-held city of Melitopol said a car bomb exploded near local media offices, injuring five people.