The Atlantic Alliance is on the menu on both sides of the ocean as its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is due to debate lunchtime in Copenhagen with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, whose country has been a member of NATO since 1949. Sweden and Finland just started the process of NATO integration by submitting their formal candidacy on Wednesday.
While waiting for the completion of this accession process – which may take several months and requires unanimity among members – “the United States will work with Finland and Sweden to remain vigilant and discourage and act in the face of any threat to our common security.” Aggression or threat of aggression,” the White House pounded on Wednesday.
The “Supermen” of Azovstal
As Western countries work to close their ranks to try to quell any propensities of Russian President Vladimir Putin to attack other countries, fighting continues on Ukrainian soil. In particular, at the Azovstal Steel Plant in the strategic port of Mariupol.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that “959 (Ukrainian) militants, including 80 wounded, have surrendered since Monday.” “The commanders and senior fighters of the (regiment) Azov have not yet emerged from the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in this port city,” asserted Denis Pushilin, a pro-Russian separatist leader. According to him, a thousand members of this paramilitary unit integrated into the Ukrainian army are still hiding there.
The Russian army “concentrated on blocking our units near Azovstal” with artillery fire and airstrikes on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said. On the streets of the Ukrainian capital, the population paid homage to the “supermen” of this steel complex.
The city of Mariupol is 90% destroyed.
ANDREY BORODULIN/AFP
The full capture of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov would be a major step forward for Russia. It would allow it to connect by land the Crimean peninsula (south), which Moscow annexed in 2014, with parts of Donbass (east) already in the hands of pro-Russian separatists.
But the city was “90 percent” destroyed and “40 percent of its infrastructure” was “irretrievable,” said Mayor Vadim Boïtchenko at the beginning of April. “The Russians are flying to Mariupol. The occupiers are now trying to establish the commercial port to export millions of dollars worth of grain, especially metallurgical products,” argued the Mariupol City Hall on Telegram on Wednesday evening.
A war crimes trial
Investigations by Ukrainian authorities and foreign bodies into the numerous allegations against Russian troops of abuse and war crimes are ongoing. The International Criminal Court has deployed a team of 42 investigators and experts, its largest mission ever on the ground.
“More than 8,000 cases” of suspected war crimes had been identified in Ukraine, said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova at the end of April. A war crimes trial opened in Kyiv on Wednesday, the first since the invasion. Soldier Vadim Chichimarine, 21, is accused of shooting dead a 62-year-old civilian who was riding an unarmed bicycle in late February. He pleaded guilty and faces life imprisonment.
A war crimes trial opened in Kyiv on Wednesday.
GENIA SAVILOV/AFP
In eastern Ukraine, “the occupiers bombed 43 towns in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” and “killed at least 15 civilians,” the Ukrainian army said in the evening. The Russians are trying to break through near Popasna and towards Severodonetsk, one of the largest Ukrainian-held cities in the area, a senior local official has warned.
The Russian military is aiming to “encircle” and “defeat” Ukrainian units “in order to gain full control of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson Oblasts,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry noted. In this regard, the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) mentioned the preparation of a major battle for Severodonetsk. Eastern Ukraine has been the primary target of Russian troops since their withdrawal from the Ukrainian capital at the end of March.
Release gradually
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to reassure: “The Ukrainian armed forces […] will liberate our country step by step. How long it will take? The answer to this question will only give the actual situation on the battlefield. We are definitely trying to do this as soon as possible,” he emphasized in his daily video message in the evening.
The Russians are trying to break through to Severodonetsk.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
At dawn on Thursday, a shelling in a village in south-west Russia on the border with Ukraine in the Kursk region left one dead and wounded, the governor of that region said.
In this context, the talks between Moscow and Kyiv “didn’t make any progress,” the Kremlin said on Wednesday, accusing the Ukrainian negotiators of “a complete lack of will” to reach a political agreement. The day before, the Ukrainian Presidency had given Russia responsibility for the suspension of the negotiations.
At the diplomatic level, the United States has reopened its embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before the Russian offensive. At the same time, shortly after the invasion broke out, the Kremlin announced the expulsion of 34 French, 24 Italian and 27 Spanish diplomats in retaliation for those of the Russian diplomats. An act “firmly condemned” by Paris, called “hostile” by Rome and “rejected” by Madrid.