Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: update on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Zelensky calls for a meeting with Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again called on Saturday for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “to end the war”, repeating that “he was not afraid to meet” the Russian president if it would allow reach a peace agreement.
He also warned that kyiv will abandon negotiations with Moscow if its soldiers, entrenched in the vast metallurgical complex of Azovstal in Mariupol (southeast), a strategic Ukrainian port on the Sea of Azov, are killed by the Russian army.
“If our men are killed in Mariupol and if pseudo-referendums are organized in the Kherson region (south, editor’s note), then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process”, added Mr. Zelensky during a conference press organized in a metro station in the central square of kyiv.
Blinken in Kyiv on Sunday
The head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, and the American Minister of Defense, Llyod Austin, will visit kyiv on Sunday, two months to the day after the start of the Russian invasion, also announced the Ukrainian president.
Mr. Zelensky said he was “grateful” to the American administration, even if he would like “even heavier and more powerful weapons” to face the Russian army.
Another failed evacuation attempt from Mariupol
A new attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol to the city of Zaporizhia has failed, a deputy mayor of Mariupol said on Saturday.
According to Petro Andryushchenko, some 200 residents of the town had started to gather to be evacuated when they were “dispersed” by the Russian army. Some were then allegedly forced to board buses bound for a locality occupied by the Russians, 80 km to the north.
“Once again the Russians have disrupted an evacuation,” lamented the deputy mayor. The Ukrainian president had again called on Friday evening for a “humanitarian break” to evacuate civilians from cities besieged by the Russians, starting with Mariupol, pounded since the beginning of March.
No truce for Orthodox Easter
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called on Saturday to pray for a “lasting peace” without mentioning the idea of a truce for the Easter weekend of Orthodox Christians.
The Ukrainian authorities have called on the Orthodox faithful to follow the ceremonies of the Orthodox Easter Vigil online, and not to derogate from the curfew, fearing “provocations” during ceremonies which usually attract crowds.
Moscow aims for “total control” of Donbass and the South
At least six people, including a baby, were killed in Russian strikes on Saturday on the port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, according to kyiv, which fears that the toll will increase. The Russian army also claimed to have hit with high-precision missiles a large weapons depot delivered to Ukrainian forces by the United States and European countries near Odessa.
Moscow announced on Friday that it was aiming for total control of southern Ukraine and the Donbass region in order to “ensure a land corridor to Crimea”. “This will weigh on vital infrastructure of the Ukrainian economy, the Black Sea ports through which deliveries of agricultural and metallurgical products are made,” said a senior Russian military official.
Fierce fighting in the Kharkiv region
On Saturday morning, the Russian army said it had carried out 1,098 strikes with artillery and rockets in the past 24 hours. “They literally bomb everything […] H24”, wrote on his Telegram channel the governor of the Lugansk region (east), Serguiï Gaidai, calling on the population to evacuate. He announced two dead and two wounded in Zolote.
Also in the east, the governor of Kharkiv announced the recapture by Ukrainian forces “after long fierce fighting” of three villages north of the city. In the past 24 hours, three people have been killed and seven others injured by Russian shelling in this city, according to Oleg Synegoubov.