The Ukrainians, crushed by the bombs, re-established themselves

Ukraine has been carrying out attacks in the face of obstacles on many fronts, including diplomacy. According to US intelligence, Ukrainian forces were able to recapture some of the territory lost to the Russians.

The Pentagon on Tuesday promised that the Ukrainian military would launch a counter-attack. “We are sure that the Ukrainians will not just defend themselves,” he said. […]But in recent days they have been making efforts to reclaim territory occupied by the Russians, ”a senior US official confirmed at a news conference.

He noted that for the “first time” since the start of the war, the existing military presence in Ukraine has been reduced to less than 90%. “Some of their players are suffering from frost because they do not have adequate equipment against the cold,” the official said, anonymously for security reasons. They also have problems with food, fuel and personal equipment.

The Ukrainian military is “now under attack, in some circumstances,” US defense spokesman John Kirby testified on CNN. “We know they carried out counter-attacks […], Especially in recent days in Mykolayiv, a major city in southern Ukraine. “We watched [ces gains territoriaux] Increase in recent days “for the benefit of Ukraine, he added.

The Ukrainian army counterattacked in the small town of Izium, southeast of Kharkiv, with Russian forces trying to annex the pro-Russian areas of Lugansk and Donetsk.

U.S. intelligence sources, Quoted by American newspaper The New York TimesIt is estimated that more than 7,000 Russians have been killed since the start of the war last week.

In addition, Ukrainian civil servants said on Tuesday that about 300 Russian soldiers had left the Sumi region in the northeast of the country.

“Icy Hell”

These military gains were made as artillery attacks continued in several Ukrainian cities: kyiv, Karkiv, Mariupol, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Cherniguiv …

In the south, the besieged municipality of Mariupol said Tuesday it had been bombed by two “powerful bombs” without being able to give an estimate. “The occupiers were not interested in the city, […] They want to shave it, ”Town Hall said.

The people who fled the disaster described the human rights watchdog to “a frozen hell full of corpses and rubble on the streets” and “thousands of people cut off from the world” buried under the ground, without water. , Without food, without electricity, without communication. According to Deputy Mayor Petro Andryushchenko, quoted by Human Rights Watch, more than 200,000 people are still in Mariupol. According to him, more than 3,000 civilians died there, but the exact number is unknown.

In the east, in Donbass, the regional administration said on Facebook that at least 124 civilians had been killed in the Lukansk region since the invasion began. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that pro-Russian separatists had seized dozens of villages in the region.

In the queue, subject to the new curfew until Wednesday, bomb sirens and distant explosions sounded at regular intervals throughout the day. At least one person was killed Tuesday in an attack on the building of the National Academy of Sciences in the city’s northwest, AFP reported. At the scene, a Ukrainian military intelligence official announced that three people had been killed by Russian “comics” drones.

To the west, north and east of the capital, a wall of sandbags at a crossroads or tank is not without barriers. From the slightest possible axis of fire, trenches and battlefields are set randomly at the base of tall buildings or in vacant lots.

Shell attacks were particularly intense on Tuesday in the suburbs of Q. The governor of the region, Oleksandre Pavliu, said fighting was raging in Irfin and Costom. Russian forces have been trying to encircle the capital since the beginning of their offensive, but have not succeeded. “In the worst case scenario, we will die, but we will never surrender,” Queen Vitaly Klitschko shouted in a video conference before the Council of Europe on Tuesday.

Diplomatic stalemate

President of Ukraine for the first time since the start of the war, Volodymyr ZhelenskyOn Tuesday he said he was ready to discuss a “compromise” on Crimea and the Donbass – two areas claimed by Moscow.

In an interview with several media outlets, Mr. Zhelensky, however, warned that such an agreement would have to be approved by referendum by the Ukrainians. “The Crimea and Donbass issue is a very difficult story for everyone,” he said. Zhelensky said he would like to speak directly with his Russian counterpart. We need “guarantees of security” and an end to hostilities, and he stressed that “once this ban is lifted, we will talk.”

But the Kremlin on Tuesday morning ruled that the ongoing talks were not “substantial” enough. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, declined to say what the Russian and Ukrainian representatives were doing. [ces sujets] The public can prevent the process of negotiations from taking place more slowly and less than we already want.

Mr. According to Zhelensky, “Now the question is whether to stop the war.

Also, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron again on Tuesday Vladimir Putin, Without agreement on the ceasefire demanded by the West. After this eighth phone call with the Russian leader since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he said, “Currently there is no agreement, but the president [Macron] It is determined by the need to continue its efforts, ”Elysee explained. The French president also recalled his Ukrainian president on Tuesday and reaffirmed his support. President Zhelensky will deliver a video address to French elected officials on Wednesday asking for their support. He has done the same in recent days in the presence of elected officials from Italian, American, Canadian, British, German and Israeli.

Next weekend will be marked by intense diplomatic action. US President Joe Biden will attend the extraordinary NATO summit, G7 summit and EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, before staying in Poland, the main country for Ukrainian refugees, on Friday and Saturday.

As many as 3.5 million people, mostly women and children, have been displaced from Ukraine since February 24.

With Agencies France-Press

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