War in Ukraine | Kiev “under siege”

Nevertheless, Ukrainian soldiers believe that the Russian invaders are depressed

Isabel Ducas
Press

As Russian forces intensify their offensive in western Ukraine, the capital, Kiev, is increasingly under siege and the southeastern port city of Mariupol is under siege. More than 2,100 people have been injured in the fighting, according to Town Hall.

In Kiev, only the roads to the south are clear and the nearby Vasilkiv airport was destroyed.

“Give. The besieged city,” tweeted an adviser to the Ukrainian president, as residents stored food and medicine and authorities set up barricades.

Vladimir Putin is frustrated that his forces are not advancing as he thought in major cities, including Kiev. […] He wild and […] Trying to cause damage in every part of the country.

Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Adviser, on CNN

Agency France-Presse journalists said on the spot that the Ukrainian army was still fighting in the east and west of the capital.

The Ukrainian soldiers felt that the invaders were depressed. “They have to camp in the villages at -10 degrees Celsius at night. They do not have adequate facilities and have to loot houses,” said Ilya Perechenko, a 27-year-old soldier.

The journalist was killed

In the suburb of Kiev, in Irbine, an American journalist named Brent Renat was shot dead and another was injured Sunday. They drove with a Ukrainian citizen and were injured, said the doctor who treated the victims, Danilo Shapovalov.

Brent Renat, a 50-year-old freelance photographer and filmmaker, was the first foreign journalist to be killed since the war began. Ukrainian journalist killed in Russian bombing of Kiev TV tower.

Ukrainian officials have accused their Russian adversaries of firing on American journalists, but the origin of the shootings is unclear.

In Mariupol, the situation is worse.

The town hall of this strategic city, located between the Crimea and the Donbass, condemned the residents as “cynical and deliberately destroying residential buildings, overcrowded areas, children’s hospitals and urban infrastructure.” “In 24 hours, we have experienced 22 bombings in the peaceful city. 100 bombs have already been dropped on Mariupol, ”the mayor said.

The Red Cross fears “bad situation.”

In the absence of an emergency humanitarian agreement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a “bad situation” in Mariupol on Sunday. The ICRC has warned that hundreds of thousands of city dwellers are facing a shortage of basic necessities such as food, water and medicine.

According to the organization, the bodies of the slain civilians and soldiers were found at the scene.

“If no agreement is reached between the parties soon, history will judge with horror what is happening in this city,” the ICRC insists.

Several UN agencies on Sunday called for an end to attacks on health workers and infrastructure in Ukraine, as well as acts of “unacceptable cruelty”.

According to UNICEF, “31 attacks on health care have been documented”, “at least 12 people have been killed and 34 injured”.

Several attempts to provide humanitarian aid failed: a new convoy with 100 tons of water, food and medicine returned with Orthodox priests due to the relentless Russian fire on Sunday afternoon. A new venture was scheduled for Monday.

The pope called for an end to the fighting on Sunday, calling Ukraine a “martyr city like Mariup in a devastating war.”

In the words of General Mikhail Mijindsev, quoted by Russian news agencies on Saturday, Moscow acknowledges that the situation in “some cities” has taken a “catastrophic proportion”. But the military has accused Ukrainian “nationalists” of mining residential areas and destroying infrastructure.

Tougher than expected for Russia

On Sunday, Ukrainian officials announced that the Russians had agreed to open 10 humanitarian corridors, particularly from Mariupol. But such promises made in the past have already failed, and it was not until Sunday that it was confirmed that those escape corridors were actually in place.

Two weeks before the start of the invasion, in the face of unexpected opposition backed by weapons supplied by the West, the advance of Russian forces seems harder than expected. The Russian army besieged several cities and set them on fire.

According to Ukrainians, about 30 people were injured overnight from Saturday to Sunday in a large monastery in the Donetsk region.

In the south, at least 11 people were killed in Russian attacks on the port city of Mykolayiv, near Odessa, according to Ukrainians.

The Russians used phosphorus bombs in his area, according to the police chief of Bopasna, located about a hundred kilometers west of Luhansk. This information cannot be verified immediately.

Mr. According to Fortman, Russian forces are at high risk of bombing near Poland. “The Russians are well aware that there is a red line that cannot be crossed, and this line is an attack on NATO,” he said. This would mean that NATO would be forced to engage collectively. ⁇

“Progress” in discussions

In this context, a Russian negotiator has so far said that “significant progress” has been made in talks with Ukraine, which will resume on Monday.

Leonid Slotsky, quoted by Russian news agencies, said: “My personal expectation is that this development will soon lead to a common position between the two delegates and the documents to be signed.

On the Ukrainian side, Mikhail Potolyak, one of President Volodymyr Zhelensky’s advisers, tweeted that Moscow had stopped providing “ultimatums” to Kiev and had “begun to listen carefully”. [ses] Proposals “.

For their part, the White House announced that senior U.S. and Chinese officials are due to meet in Rome this Monday, which is concerned about possible aid aimed at Western sanctions from Beijing to Moscow.

With Agencies France-Press and the Associated Press