© KEYSTONE / EPA / Maria Senovilla
A new attempt to evacuate civilians from the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol, besieged by Russian troops, is scheduled for Sunday, while Ukraine has said it fears an offensive on the port city of Odessa, on the Black Sea.
On the 11th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 1.5 million people have already fled the country, according to the UN. Hundreds of civilians were also killed and there was no sign of any relief.
On the contrary, Russia “is preparing to bombard Odessa”, a port of nearly a million inhabitants, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, denouncing a potential “historic crime” against this lively city, very close to the border. Moldova where the refugees are flocking.
In the south-east of the country, in Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, a humanitarian corridor was to be effective at 12:00 p.m. local time (11:00 a.m. Swiss time) to allow the evacuation of civilians to the city of Zaporozhye, about three hours drive, depending on the municipality.
Nearly three hours later, the city had not made an update on the situation, while a pro-Russian separatist commander, Edouard Bassourine, accused, quoted by the Russian agency TASS, the Ukrainian troops of not respecting the temporary ceasefire.
The municipality of Mariupol, it broadcast on Telegram the video of a “humanitarian convoy” of several buses going to the city.
Mariupol is under “humanitarian blockade” and is experiencing a “very difficult” situation with “thousands of wounded” following Russian bombardments, its mayor Vadim Boïtchenko said on Youtube on Saturday evening.
Its 450,000 inhabitants have neither water nor food, neither heating nor electricity, according to Laurent Ligozat, of the NGO Médecins sans frontières (MSF). The situation there is “catastrophic”.
Kyiv in sight
Russian soldiers are also closing in on Kiev, where they encounter stubborn resistance.
If the capital was spared in the night from Saturday to Sunday by the bombardments, intense fighting took place in its periphery, according to the Ukrainian regional administration. “They bomb residential areas – schools, churches, tall buildings, everything,” said Natalia Dydenko, a 58-year-old accountant, who fled Irpin, not far from Kiev.
In Bilogorodka, 25 km west of the capital, Ukrainian soldiers watch over a completely mined bridge, the last one still standing leading to Kiev. “If we see Russians advancing, we will blow it up (…) with as many enemy tanks as possible,” one of them told AFP.
According to the Ukrainian administration, the fighting also continues in Cherniguiv, a city 150 km to the north and pounded for several days by the Russian air force, which has become a landscape of devastation.
Moscow had mentioned Wednesday the death of 498 Russian soldiers and 2870 dead on the Ukrainian side. Kiev reported on Sunday more than 11,000 Russian soldiers killed, without mentioning its own military losses. Figures impossible to verify independently.
For its part, the UN has confirmed the death of 351 civilians and more than 700 wounded, a toll which is “probably much higher because the verifications are in progress”.
The Ukrainian army has announced a “counter-offensive” by its troops in the Kharkiv region (east), in the sights of Russian troops for several days.
“Any attempt by the enemy to enter” Kharkiv failed and its military convoys were “entirely destroyed”, said the mayor of the city, Oleg Synegoubov.
The exodus continues
The crush gripped train stations in towns threatened by the Russian army, women and children seeking to leave after heartbreaking goodbyes with their husbands and fathers left to fight.
“We send our wives and children to Lviv, maybe further, and we stay here (…) it’s a horrible situation”, confides in Dnipro (center) Andrey Kyrytchenko, a 40-year-old builder.
According to the UN, more than 1.5 million people have already taken refuge abroad since the invasion of Ukraine, and more than one million are internally displaced.
This exodus has sparked strong mobilization, especially in neighboring states such as Moldova, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on Sunday, after visiting Poland on Saturday. Washington intends to mobilize 2.75 billion dollars (2.51 billion euros) for this humanitarian crisis.
In addition, the United States is working “very, very actively” on an agreement with Poland to send warplanes to Ukraine, according to Mr. Blinken, while Mr. Zelensky has been calling for them for several years. days.
Diplomatic efforts
On the diplomatic front, on Saturday, Vladimir Putin received Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for nearly three hours, who offered to mediate.
“Even if there is little chance of success, (…) I see it as a moral duty to try everything,” said Naftali Bennett on Sunday, who spoke on the phone the day before with Mr. Zelensky before travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
And French President Emmanuel Macron was due to speak to Mr. Putin, who for his part spoke with his Turkish counterpart.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, a third round of negotiations with the Russians will take place on Monday, although the chances of an agreement seem slim.
For his part, Vladimir Putin warned on Saturday that he considered “as participation in the armed conflict” the establishment by any country of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
NATO refuses to do so for the moment, for fear of finding itself drawn into a direct confrontation with Russia.
The Western sanctions, which heavily affect the Russian economic and financial sector, “are akin to a declaration of war”, also affirmed the Russian president.
If it does not comply with its demands, Ukraine could lose its “statehood”, he also threatened. Moscow is calling in particular for a “neutral and non-nuclear” status for the country and its demilitarization, which Kiev, which is seeking to join the European Union and NATO, considers unacceptable.
Arrests in Russia
Foreign companies continue to leave Russia in droves. Latest: the American bank card giants Visa and Mastercard, which announced on Saturday the suspension of their operations in Russia. Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks will no longer work abroad, and vice versa.
The PayPal payment system has also suspended its services in Russia.
In Russia, the Central Bank on Sunday asked banks not to publish their financial statements. The ruble collapsed after international sanctions were imposed on Moscow and some of Russia’s biggest banks were cut off from the Swift international interbank system.
The Russian authorities are stepping up all-out measures to curb capital flight and fear the emergence of a black food market.
The airline Aeroflot has announced the suspension of its international flights from March 8. The Russian aviation regulator, Rossaviatsia, has recommended that all companies in the country stop flights abroad in order to avoid the seizure of their aircraft.
Despite an omerta in the Russian media on the war in Ukraine imposed by the authorities, demonstrations were held in Russia, leading to the arrest of more than a thousand people on Sunday, according to the Russian NGO OVD Info.
As a sign of support for Ukraine, demonstrations are also increasing in Europe, with tens of thousands of people gathered in European capitals and also in Switzerland.