The US Congress has unblocked a gargantuan $40 billion package to arm and aid Ukraine as Moscow scores a symbolic victory with images of hundreds of Ukrainian fighters emerging weary from the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, where they were entrenched under the bombs for weeks. Franceinfo summarizes the 86th day of the war in Ukraine.
US Congress releases $40 billion in aid
The US Congress has approved a gigantic $40 billion envelope to arm and aid Ukraine. Part of this huge $6 billion aid package will allow Ukraine to equip itself with armored vehicles and strengthen its anti-aircraft defenses while fighting rages in the east and south of the country. The law now only needs to be ratified by President Joe Biden.
In mid-March, Congress had already released almost $14 billion for the Ukraine crisis, but Joe Biden had been calling for a significant budget expansion to support Ukraine in the new phase of the conflict for several weeks.
Almost 800 Ukrainian soldiers surrender in Mariupol
Moscow secured a symbolic victory with images of hundreds of Ukrainian fighters emerging weary from the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, where they had been holed up under bombs for weeks. According to Russia, nearly 800 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since Monday to 1,730.
Moscow released images showing cohorts of men in riot gear emerging, some with crutches or Bandages the country where at least 20 thousand people died, according to Kyiv.
These soldiers, including 80 wounded, “made themselves prisoners,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release.
First Russian soldier to face trial for war crimes asks for ‘forgiveness’
After this period of great symbolic value for Ukraine, the first trial against a Russian soldier for a war crime has resumed in Kyiv. “I know you cannot forgive me, but I beg your pardon,” youthful-faced Sergeant Vadim Chichimarine, 21, said of the widow of the 62-year-old man he is accused of murdering on February 28 in northeastern Ukraine , while trying to join his people after his column of armored vehicles was attacked.
A life sentence has been sought against the young soldier, who pleaded guilty. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday called the allegations against Russian troops “falsified or staged”.
Another war crimes trial has opened in north-eastern Ukraine: that of two Russian soldiers accused of firing rockets at civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region.
At least 12 dead and 40 injured
Russian bombing continues to claim casualties. They left 12 dead and 40 injured in Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region on Thursday, according to local governor Serguiï Gaïdaï. He said most of the shots hit apartment buildings and the death toll could be rising.
An AFP team on the ground found that this industrial city had been turned into a battlefield for several days and crushed under artillery fire.