An elderly woman on a deserted street in the village of Velyka Dymerka, at the gates of Kyiv, on March 10, 2022. (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
On Thursday, Moscow promised to open humanitarian corridors daily so that Ukrainians fleeing the fighting can reach Russia, even as its army continues to maneuver around Kyiv.
Ukraine, where the population of cities besieged by Russian troops is forced into hiding due to shelling, calls for the creation of safe passages for the evacuation of civilians within its borders.
“We officially declare that humanitarian corridors for the Russian Federation will now be opened unilaterally, without agreement, every day from 10:00,” and those that go “in other directions will be agreed with the Ukrainian side,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in the evening.
The decision was made public shortly after the end of the first direct high-level talks between the warring parties since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine began.
But in the evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian army of a tank “attack” along a humanitarian corridor towards the besieged city of Mariupol (southeast), calling it an act of “brazen terror by experienced terrorists.”
He also added that about 100,000 people have fled other fighting-ridden cities in Ukraine over the past two days, including 40,000 on Thursday alone via humanitarian corridors.
On the ground, having previously reached the northern and western outskirts of Kyiv, Russian tanks approached its northeastern entrance on Thursday.
AFP reporters saw plumes of smoke rising from the village of Skibin, a few hundred meters from the last checkpoint of Ukrainian forces on the route leading to the capital in the area.
Late in the morning, the deserted city of Bolshaya Dymerka, about five kilometers from Kyiv, was hit by a shower of Russian Grad missiles, some of which landed about twenty meters from the AFP group.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian troops, continuing the “offensive operation” to encircle the capital, strike on other fronts, in the east of the city of Izyum, Petrivske, Hrushevakha, Sumy and Akhtyrka, or in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions.
– No ceasefire –
For their part, Foreign Ministers of Russia and Ukraine Sergey Lavrov and Dmitry Kuleba remained adamant during the talks under the auspices of their Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Antalya, a popular tourist resort in southern Turkey.
“We talked about a ceasefire, but there is no progress in this direction,” Kuleba said.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy said that Sergey Lavrov assured him that Russia “will continue (its) aggression until we accept its request for surrender.” But “Ukraine did not give up, does not give up and will not give up,” he said.
The Russian minister, according to whom Russia “does not plan to attack other countries” and “did not attack Ukraine”, spoke in favor of continuing the dialogue with Ukraine, but primarily through representatives of the two camps in Belarus, therefore, at a lower level.
A map of Ukraine showing locations where explosions, strikes, and fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces have been recorded, as well as Russian advances claimed by Russians, Russian attacks or operations without control of territory, and claimed Ukrainian counter-offensives prior to 10 March. at 17:00 GMT (AFP / )
Since the beginning of the invasion, this allied state with Moscow has already held three sessions of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, which led to several local truces and the partial opening of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from the besieged cities.
But the Russians have been repeatedly accused of violating these agreements.
Ukraine and Russia are also “ready” to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, which are increasingly endangered by war every day, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN nuclear policeman, said Thursday. The announcement comes as Kyiv has “lost all contact” with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, according to information obtained by the IAEA.
A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint near Velyka Dymerka, east of Kyiv, March 9, 2022. (AFP/Aris Messinis) #
French and German leaders Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, in a telephone interview with Putin, “insisted that any solution to the crisis should be negotiated between Ukraine and Russia” and demanded an “immediate ceasefire.”
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is criticized for having close ties to Russia, was in Moscow on Thursday for a “mediation effort” at the request of a Ukrainian official, the Politico news website reported, citing “well-known informed sources.”
– Bombing –
At present, the Russian army continues its siege of major cities and bombardment, similar to that carried out on Wednesday, on a facility housing a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital in Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov (southeast) has been besieged by Russian troops for ten days.
Map of Europe showing the flow of Ukrainian refugees to other European countries as of March 10 at 12:00 Moscow time, according to UNHCR (AFP/)
Three people died there, including a girl, according to a new report on Thursday by the mayor’s office, which reported 17 injured the day before.
Wednesday’s attack sparked a wave of international condemnation, with the United States and its European allies considering further sanctions against Russia in response to the “escalation” of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians.
“The alleged air strike is a total staging with the aim of provocation to support the anti-Russian agitation of the Western public,” the Russian Defense Ministry objected.
A Ukrainian soldier and resident of an underground shelter in Irpen, north of Kyiv, March 10, 2022. (AFP/Aris Messinis) #
A total of 71 children have died and more than 100 have been injured in Ukraine since the invasion began, Lyudmila Denisova, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said on Thursday.
Half of the population of the Kiev agglomeration fled in two weeks, its mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said, claiming that now there are “a little less than two million inhabitants.”
– Pessimistic IMF –
The damage caused by the war is currently estimated by Ukraine at $100 billion.
Faced with this situation, the Americans and their allies are trying to help this country by avoiding direct military intervention by NATO member countries.
A child waits to be evacuated from the city of Irpen, north of Kyiv, March 10, 2022. (AFP/Aris Messinis) #
The United States, assessing on Thursday that Ukraine did not really need combat aircraft to fend off Russian attacks, was considering giving it more surface-to-air air defense systems.
In Turkey, Mr. Lavrov called “dangerous” Western arms sales to Ukrainians, condemning in particular the sending of man-portable air defense systems.
Speaking at a two-day summit on the 27th in Versailles, near Paris, Emmanuel Macron reasoned that the European Union would “change faster and stronger under the impact of war”, while in Warsaw, US Vice President Kamala Harris believed that NATO had become “stronger” , and Russia is “weaker”.
Ukrainian soldiers guard a checkpoint near the village of Velyka Dymerka, at the gates of Kyiv, March 10, 2022. (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF) #
However, “there is no quick procedure for EU accession,” reminded Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, for whom Ukraine’s integration is a “long-term issue.”
Meanwhile, accepting millions of Ukrainian refugees is a “very, very big problem,” but EU member states are showing “unprecedented” solidarity, said Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
After a two-week conflict, Western sanctions continue to rain down on Russia, including a freeze in the United Kingdom of the assets of seven Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich, a decision to suspend the sale of Chelsea Football Club.
Facebook, for its part, announced on Thursday that it would make exceptions to its rules on violent and hateful content by not removing posts hostile to the army and Russian leaders.
Residents of Irpen, north of Kyiv, wait to be evacuated to escape Russian shelling March 10, 2022. (AFP/Aris Messinis)
To cope with the sanctions, Moscow banned the export of some previously imported goods and equipment.
“All of our commitments to supply energy carriers” will be fulfilled, nevertheless, Vladimir Putin promised.
For their part, the G7 countries called on gas and oil producing countries to “increase their supplies” to cope with rising energy prices and the risk of shortages.
As a result of the war in Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that it will lower its global growth forecasts, warning once again that a Russian default is no longer “incredible”.