Ukraine: Paris has offered to help block the port of Odessa, which is battling east and south.

Mycolive | France said on Friday it was ready to help lift the blockade of the Ukrainian port of Odessa to prevent a grain crisis in the wake of deadly fighting in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Read more: [EN DIRECT] 107th day of war in Ukraine: Here are all the latest developments

Read more: Macron’s visit to Kiev next week in Romania and Moldova was not fixed

Read more: “Ukraine could be East Asia tomorrow,” said the Japanese prime minister

“We are at the disposal of the parties, so, basically, a move is being made to allow access to the port of Odessa under full security, that is, to allow boats to cross. The sea has been cut off,” said an adviser to President Emmanuel Macron.

The President of the African Union, Senegal President McGee, met with Mr Jordan on Friday. Mr. Saul called for the demining of the Odessa port on Thursday, and said he had received assurances from President Vladimir Putin that the Russians would not use it to attack as they fear.

The Ukrainian operational command in the southern region explained from Friday to Saturday night that “navigation in the Black Sea is prohibited and enemy ships are holding almost the entire Ukrainian territory under threat of missile attacks.” .

The Russian invasion, which began on February 24, paralyzed grain exports from Ukraine – a key player in the sector – and increased prices of grain and fertilizers, threatening a food crisis in many countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East.

The French president is due to travel to Romania and Moldova on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a visit to Ukraine pending a date, Elysee said.

For his part, US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Ukrainian Representative Volodymyr Zhelensky “did not want to listen” to US warnings before Russia invaded his country.

When I spoke before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden said, “A lot of people thought I was exaggerating.”

“But I know we have information in this direction. (Russian President Vladimir Putin) is going to cross the border. No doubt, Zhelensky does not want to hear it,” he told reporters.

Ukrainian bombing of Kerson

On the ground, Ukrainian forces said they had bombed Russian positions in the Kherson area (south) on Friday – almost all of which had been occupied since the first days of the invasion. Kyiv fears that it will soon be annexed by Moscow.

For several days, the Ukrainians are said to have been fighting in the area.

The Ukrainian operational command said that an intelligence team infiltrating the occupied territory defeated the Russian troops and “seized their weapons and communications equipment.”

Local authorities, set up by Moscow, are loudly calling for the merger. A Russian negotiator mentioned the upcoming organization on June 1 – perhaps in July – a referendum on the occupied territories on this question.

A project described by kyiv as “illegal” is reminiscent of the referendum organized by Russia in Crimea in 2014, before the busy annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.

Fighting is also raging in the Mykolayiv region near Odessa.

“The Russians are targeting us with heavy artillery in the city or in the countryside,” Vitaly Kim, the region’s governor, told AFP, while welcoming the Russians’ recent retreat. “They will not come back. We will not let them come back,” he said.

Continuous strikes in Severodonetsk

In Donbass, the war for the main city of Chevrodonetsk and its twin Lysitsansk continues, increasingly dangerous.

In his regular daily evening news, Mr. Zhelensky declared the Donbass “the fiercest fight.”

“Russia wants to destroy every city in Donbass without exaggeration. Like Volnovoka, like Mariupol,” he noted.

“The Ukrainian army is doing everything possible to prevent attacks by the occupiers, with as heavy weapons and modern artillery as possible.”

But fighting in Severodonetsk continues and shelling continues, Serguiï Gaïdaï, the governor of the region, said on Friday.

The takeover of Severodonetsk will pave the way for another major Moscow city, Kramatorsk, which will be an important step in the capture of the Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine throughout the Donbass Basin by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Resnikov said on Thursday that the war was particularly deadly, with “100 Ukrainian soldiers” being killed and 500 wounded every day. The Russians said nothing about their losses.

Heavy weapons

However, Ukraine could recapture the Chevroletonetsky “in two, three days,” once it had “long distances” Western artillery, Mr. Promised to Keitai.

The Ukrainians are constantly asking their Western allies for new, more powerful weapons.

The distribution of several rocket missile systems, including Himmers with a range of about 80 km, is slightly larger than Russian systems, as reported by Washington and London.

In this case, the British Defense Minister Ben Wallace made a two-day unannounced visit to Kiev. President Zhelensky thanked London for its key role in Western support for Ukraine.

“The British are showing real leadership in matters of security,” the Ukrainian president stressed in his evening message.

Sentenced to death

Mr. Wallace’s arrival comes the day after authorities announce the death penalty in Donetsk, a pro-Russian separatist “republic” for the mercenary crimes of Britain and Morocco, who fought on the Ukrainian side – along with Aidan Aslin, Shawn and Brahim Sadun.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in Downing Street on Friday that he was “shocked” by the sentence, adding that he would work for their release in Kiev.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said “clearly they served in the Ukrainian armed forces and were not prisoners of war” and not mercenaries.

On the 107th day of the war, the leaders of the nine countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia) met in Bucharest on Friday. The strengthening of NATO’s eastern part comes three weeks before a coalition summit in Madrid.

“As security risks increase in Romania and the Black Sea, the integration of NATO into its eastern (…) territory is urgent and important,” Romanian President Glas Ihanis began the meeting. His Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda.