© KEYSTONE/AP/Evgeniy Maloletka
Ukraine, which fears an encirclement of Kiev, has promised a “relentless defense” of its capital against Russian forces, which are pounding the south of the country. The besieged city of Mariupol hopes for the arrival of a humanitarian aid convoy on Sunday.
This convoy was blocked for more than five hours at a Russian checkpoint on Saturday. The hope is that he can reach Mariupol on Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said on Saturday. The stake is crucial for Mariupol.
This strategic port city, located in the south-east of the country between Crimea and Donbass, is plunged into a critical situation, “almost hopeless” according to Médecins sans frontières (MSF), lacking food and deprived of water, gas , electricity and communications.
Attempts to evacuate hundreds of thousands of civilians have repeatedly failed. The city of “Marioupol is still surrounded. What they cannot have by war, [les Russes] want to have it through hunger and despair. As they cannot bring down the Ukrainian army, they are targeting the population,” analyzes a French military source.
“Catastrophic proportions”
Moscow recognizes that the situation “in some cities” has taken on “catastrophic proportions”, in the words of General Mikhail Mizintsev, quoted on Saturday by Russian news agencies. But the military accused Ukrainian “nationalists” of mining residential areas and destroying infrastructure, depriving civilians of escape routes and basic resources.
Still to the south, the metropolis of Odessa continues to prepare for an offensive by Russian troops, who are currently concentrating about a hundred kilometers to the east in the city of Mykolaiv.
Victims litter the streets of some cities and the tolls are impossible to verify. “About 1,300” Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since February 24, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday, in a first official count provided by the Ukrainian authorities since the start of the invasion.
The Russian army lost “about 12,000 men”, says the head of state. Russia, for its part, announced on March 2 its one and only death toll of 498 soldiers. At least 579 civilians were killed, according to the UN count on Saturday, which stresses that its balance sheets are probably much lower than the reality.
In the suburbs of Kiev
Nearly 2.6 million people have fled Ukraine since February 24, in addition to around two million internally displaced people, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Kiev, whose only roads to the south remain clear, is increasingly surrounded by Russian soldiers, who destroyed the nearby airport of Vassylkiv on Saturday, according to the Ukrainians. Present in the suburbs, the Russian troops are trying to neutralize the surrounding localities to “block” Kiev, according to the Ukrainian general staff.
The British Ministry of Defense estimates that Russian forces were 25 kilometers from the capital on Saturday and that a column north of the city had dispersed, reinforcing the idea of a siege. However, they face resistance from the Ukrainian army, both west and east of the capital, AFP reporters said on the spot.
The Ukrainian presidency promises a “relentless defense” of Kiev. Ukrainian soldiers met by AFP ensure that their morale remains intact. The Russians “are forced to camp in villages with temperatures approaching -10 degrees at night. They lack supplies, and have to loot the houses,” says Ukrainian soldier Illia Berezenko.