UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – Le Figaro summarizes the latest information from journalists, Ukrainian and Russian statements, Western sources and international organizations.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 3/21/2023 at 5:10 PM, updated 3/21/2023 at 6:54 PM
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on March 21. SPUTNIK / Portal
Sino-Russian strategic summit in Moscow, historic visit by the Japanese Prime Minister to Ukraine, attack on a Russian oil station… This Tuesday, March 21, 2023, Le Figaro takes stock of the war in Ukraine.
Russia and China claim that a war nuclear must “never” take place
In full tension with the West, Russia and China on Tuesday spoke out against a nuclear war, stressing that such a confrontation would only result in losers. “The parties reiterate that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that it must never be started,” Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping said in a joint statement signed Tuesday after talks at the Kremlin.
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On Tuesday evening, during two toasts broadcast on Russian television, the two leaders also toasted “the prosperity and well-being of the peoples of Russia and China”, “the development of Russian-Chinese relations”, “cooperation in this new era” and on their respective health.
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Paris said Beijing could play a “useful role” in peace talks
France on Tuesday estimated that China “could play a useful role in persuading Russia to accept good faith peace negotiations with Ukraine,” while estimating that Moscow appeared reluctant “at this stage” to endure the war end. “Unfortunately, at this stage, we see no willingness on the part of Russia to end its aggression against Ukraine by withdrawing its troops from Ukrainian territory,” the Quai d’Orsay said.
“The Russian President, on the other hand, continues to assert that Russia will achieve all of its war goals,” the same source continues. However, China has a role to play “in convincing Russia to accept peace negotiations in good faith in order to bring it back to full respect for the United Nations Charter,” the French Foreign Ministry said.
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Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s historic visit to Ukraine
Coincidence of the calendar? While the Russian President welcomes his Chinese counterpart in Russia, the Ukrainian head of state receives the Japanese Prime Minister. The Japanese leader was the only leader of a G7 member state who has not traveled to Kiev since the conflict began in February 2022.
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the ‘Wall of Remembrance’ to pay tribute to killed Ukrainian soldiers in Kiev, Ukraine, March 21, 2023. GLEB GARANICH / Portal
Fumio Kishida on Tuesday traveled to Boutcha near Kiev, which has become a symbol of the atrocities committed by the Russian occupation, as part of his first “historic” visit to Ukraine. The Japanese Prime Minister traveled to this martyr city by train early in the afternoon shortly after his arrival in Kiev and before his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “As I set foot in Boutcha today and witness all the brutality that took place there, I feel a strong sense of outrage,” said Fumio Kishida, adding that “the whole world is shocked” by these atrocities.
“I am pleased to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a truly powerful defender of the international order and a long-time friend of Ukraine, to Kiev,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram after the meeting.
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Russian Kiev oil pump station attacked
Ukraine carried out a drone strike on an oil pumping station in a Russian border region on Tuesday without claiming any casualties, the regional governor said. “Ukrainian forces used a drone to attack the area of Transneft’s Novozybkov oil pumping station. There are no casualties,” Alexandre Bogomaz, head of Russia’s Briansk region, said by telegram.
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Russia will ‘retaliate’ if London delivers depleted uranium ammunition to Kiev, Putin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday threatened “retaliation” if London shipped depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, in response to comments made by a British official.
“Today it became known that Britain … announced not only the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, but also depleted uranium shells … If this happens, Russia will be forced to take revenge,” Vladimir Putin said. “It seems that the West has really decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, not with words but with deeds,” Vladimir Putin continued. “The collective West is beginning to use weapons with nuclear components,” he added. For Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, “Russia has something to answer for”. “We’ll see what they want to use,” he warned. “Another step in escalation has been taken,” he added.
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On Monday evening, British Deputy Defense Secretary Annabel Goldie, responding to a written question from a British MP, said the UK intended to supply Ukraine with shells “containing depleted uranium”.
Destruction of Russian Kalibr missiles in Crimea according to Kiev, Moscow denied
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Russian Kalibr cruise missiles had been destroyed in annexed Crimea, a statement denied by Moscow, which said it repelled a drone strike. “An explosion in the town of Yankoy in the temporarily occupied northern Crimea destroyed Russian cruise missiles Kalibr NK during rail transport,” the intelligence department of Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a telegram.
Russia brushed aside those claims and vowed to have shot down Ukrainian drones in Crimea on Monday, March 20, days after a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to that peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. “Air defense repelled a drone attack near the town of Djankoi,” the Russian Investigative Committee, the body responsible for the main investigation, said in a statement. “The targets of all the drones shot down were civilian infrastructure,” he said.
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A drone flies over positions of Ukrainian Armed Forces in Boutcha, Ukraine, March 20, 2023. ARIS MESSINIS / AFP