The United States government promised this Sunday to apply the “appropriate consequences” for the death of the journalist from that country Brent Renaud, who, according to the Kiev police, was shot down by Russian forces in the Ukrainian town of Irpin.
In a televised interview with the CBS channel, the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that what happened is “shocking and horrific” and assured that he was in contact with the Ukrainian authorities to obtain more information about it that would allow the US government take “appropriate consequences.”
“The Russians have shot at civilians, at hospitals, at places of worship and at journalists,” Sullivan said.
The death of Renaud, 51, was initially confirmed by the Kiev Police, who blamed the Russian forces for the event.
At first, it was disclosed that he was a journalist for The New York Times, which was later denied by said newspaper, with which Renaud had collaborated, but a few years ago.
“Journalists have an essential role in reporting on conflicts and should never be targeted. I call for respect for international humanitarian rules so that media workers are respected,” the director general of the media said in a statement. Unesco, the French Audrey Azoulay.
Without mentioning his name, the international organization also commented on the injuries suffered in the same attack by Colombian-born photographer Juan Arredondo, born in Pereira and winner of the World Press Photo.
“Renaud’s colleague was also shot in the same incident but survived.”
Among the different reactions in France, that of its president, Emmanuel Macron, stood out, who, like UNESCO, also refrained from pointing out who could be the authors of the attack.
“Before him (Renaud), others have been harassed, killed, vilified or kidnapped. Our thoughts go to those journalists who are guided by courage and by an ideal: the freedom to inform. Freedom is essential for our democracies,” Macron said on social media.
Also from Paris, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for an investigation to clarify Renaud’s death.
“We ask that the circumstances of the death of documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud and the injuries suffered by the journalist who accompanied him on the outskirts of Kiev be clarified. Journalists cannot be a target in a war!” he denounced on social networks. RSF.
“We are shocked and saddened by the death of American journalist Brent Renaud in Ukraine. These types of attacks are completely unacceptable, and are a violation of international law,” the program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement. CPJ), Carlos Martinez de la Serna.
“Russian forces in Ukraine must end all violence against journalists and other civilians immediately, and whoever killed Renaud must be held accountable,” the organization’s representative added.
At least 2,187 inhabitants of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol (southeast) have died since the start of the Russian offensive, the town’s mayor said on Sunday. “The occupiers cynically and deliberately attack residential buildings, densely populated areas, destroy children’s hospitals and urban infrastructure,” the official said on Telegram.
“In 24 hours, we have seen 22 bombings in a peaceful city. Some 100 bombs have already been dropped on Mariupol,” he added. “Every day, Mariupol suffers from shelling. A humanitarian catastrophe is taking place in besieged Mariupol,” he also wrote on Twitter.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed to reporters that delegations from both countries will meet virtually on Monday.
Both the Russians and the Ukrainians have dropped in recent days that the climate of the negotiations has somewhat improved.
“Comparing the positions of the Russian and Ukrainian sides at the beginning of the negotiations and today, we can talk about significant progress,” said the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Duma (Lower House) and a member of the Russian delegation. to the peace negotiations, Leonid Slutski, according to Russian agencies.
Ukraine’s own president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Saturday that “there are some positive signs” currently from Russia in the negotiations that are taking place.
“Now the Russian side, in the negotiations, has begun to talk about things and not just issue ultimatums. I think this is a fundamentally different approach. And it should be like that,” the Ukrainian president said.
For Zelensky, any solution must begin with a ceasefire. “This will allow unblocking humanitarian processes, evacuating people, as well as the delivery of food, water,” he said.
Today Mikhailo Podolyak, Zelensky’s adviser, affirmed that the next bilateral round will take place when the “legal formats” that are accepted by the two parties are defined.
Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of face-to-face negotiations with delegations from both countries on the Polish-Belarusian border since the war began on February 24.
After these contacts, in which there were hardly any agreements, the foreign ministers of both countries met for the first time in Turkey last week.
On Saturday it became known, through a Kremlin statement, that there have been “a series of talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives that have taken place in recent days in video format.”
The countries of the European Union (EU) plan to approve tomorrow, Monday, the new economic sanctions against Russia agreed with their G7 partners (the group of most industrialized countries in the world) to further isolate the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine.
These measures, which include denying Russia the status of most favored nation in its markets, revoking important benefits within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), were presented by the European Commission and the European External Action Service ( SEAE) in a meeting held today with the permanent representative ambassadors of the Twenty-seven.
“Presentation by the Commission and the EEAS of their proposals for new sanctions, drawn up after the Versailles meeting and in consultation with our international partners,” the six-monthly presidency of the EU, held by France, reported this afternoon on its official Twitter account .
These measures were analyzed by the EU leaders at their informal meeting last Friday in Versailles (France) and agreed on the same day with the G7 (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom).
The French presidency added in its tweet that the ambassadors of the 27 member states will proceed to “finalize and approve” it at their new meeting “scheduled for tomorrow at COREPER”, the name by which these work meetings are called.
The president of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, already anticipated last Friday that these sanctions would receive the approval of the Twenty-seven “to further isolate Russia and drain the resources it uses to finance this barbaric war” against Ukraine.
Von der Leyen stressed that the previous waves of sanctions that have been adopted and are in force “have hit Russia’s economy hard” and that “the ruble has collapsed”, while “many of the main Russian banks are isolated from the banking system”. international”.
Denying Russia the status of “most favored nation” in its markets from now on stands out in a special way in the new package of sanctions, since that decision will lead to an increase in tariffs for Russian products.
Von der Leyen noted that they will also work to suspend Russia’s membership rights in multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, so that it would not be able to obtain any more loans or benefits from these institutions.
He then said that they will continue to “pressure” Russian elites close to Putin, for which the G7 finance, justice and interior ministers will meet next week to coordinate.
Likewise, they will seek to ensure that the Russian state and its elites cannot use crypto assets to circumvent the sanctions imposed, and will prohibit the export of any luxury goods from the EU to Russia.
Another measure will be to veto the import of key goods in the iron and steel sector from Russia and, finally, Von der Leyen stated that they will propose to ban new European investments in the entire Russian energy sector, from exploration to production. EFE