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đź”´ LIVE – War in Ukraine: Russian troops surround Kyiv and blockade Mariupol

On the 17th day of the invasion of Ukraine launched by Vladimir Putin, Moscow continues to put pressure on the Ukrainian army. This Saturday, Russian forces continue to occupy the capital Kyiv and the port of Mariupol, where thousands of Ukrainians are under siege today.

16:26

“About 1,300” Ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday at a press conference in Kyiv. For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian authorities have given an assessment. On March 2, the Russian army announced that it had lost about 500 soldiers, and this report has not been updated since.

16:17

Vladimir Putin’s accusations of “egregious violations” of humanitarian law by Ukrainian forces are “a lie,” the Elysee Palace reacted after a new exchange on Saturday between Russian President Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, Elysee reported.

During this hour and a half telephone conversation, the French President and the German Chancellor again called on Russia for an “immediate ceasefire” and “lifting of the siege” of Mariupol, where the situation is “unacceptable from a human point of view,” the French presidency said.

15:01

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday accused Ukrainian forces of “gross violations” of humanitarian law, urging his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to pressure Kyiv to end them. Mr. Putin mentioned in a telephone conversation with two of his colleagues “extrajudicial killings of opponents”, “civilian hostage-taking” and their “use as human shields”, as well as “deployment of heavy weapons in residential areas, near hospitals, schools and kindergartens,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

12:30 pm.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke again with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday about the war in Ukraine, a day after the Versailles summit, the Elysee Palace said.

On Thursday, the three leaders already had a telephone conversation, during which France and Germany “demanded an immediate ceasefire from Russia.” According to the Count of Champs Elysees, since their meeting on February 7 in the Kremlin, Emmanuel Macron had nine telephone conversations, including last Thursday, with Vladimir Putin.

11:32

The port city of Nikolaev, located in southern Ukraine, not far from Odessa, was subjected to merciless shelling during the night from Friday to Saturday, shots hitting the oncology center and the eye hospital.

The windows of a recently renovated cancer center where patients receive daytime chemotherapy have been smashed out. There were traces of shells in the doors.

10:03

In Mariupol, a mosque was blown up, in which 80 civilians lived, including Turks.

“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roksolana in Mariupol was bombed by Russian invaders,” the ministry said in a statement. “More than 80 adults and children are hiding there, including Turkish citizens,” he added, without specifying when the shelling took place.

This strategic city, bombarded for several days, withstood a devastating siege. Residents holed up in basements with no water, no gas, no electricity, no communications, and we’ve seen people there fighting for food in recent days, a “nearly hopeless” situation, MSF warned Friday. MSF).

07:56

Western sanctions imposed on Russia could lead to the fall of the International Space Station, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said on Saturday asking for them to be lifted.

According to him, due to the sanctions, the work of Russian ships supplying the ISS will be disrupted, and the Russian segment of the station, which also serves to adjust the orbit of the space facility, will be affected accordingly. As a result, this could cause “the 500-tonne ISS to fall or land.”

07:19

Russian forces deployed around Kyiv on Saturday morning and are “blockading” Mariupol, where thousands are under a devastating siege, in southern Ukraine, a country that has been bombed for more than two weeks.

Local media reported on Saturday morning that bombing warning sirens were all over Ukraine, including the major cities of Kyiv, Odessa, Dnipro and Kharkiv.

After twelve days of siege, Mariupol, a strategic port, was left without water, without gas, without electricity, without communication, and in these last days you could see people fighting for food. The situation is “almost hopeless,” MSF has warned. “The enemy is still blockading Mariupol,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday evening. “Russian troops did not let our aid into the city,” he added, promising to try once again to deliver “tomorrow”, on Saturday, food, water and medicines.