Very high diplomatic tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine. As Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s pleas for military aid multiply, British sanctions against Russia have prompted the Kremlin to ban British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and many other senior officials from entering the country. A move that also comes “in response to the information and political campaign in London aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions to constrain our country and stalling the domestic economy.”
The UK has also sent special forces to Kyiv over the past two weeks to train the Ukrainian military on certain types of weapons supplied by London, notably the Nlaw antitank missiles, according to the Times. As of tomorrow, Italian ports will be closed to Russian ships and the ban will also apply to boats that changed flag after February 24. The measure is included in a circular from the General Command of Port Authorities implementing the European Union’s April 8 directive that introduced further sanctions against Russia. In his most recent video address to international media, Zelenskyy again called for more weapons for Kyiv and more sanctions against Moscow. “If someone says: ‘a year or years’, I answer: ‘You can make the war much shorter.’ The more and sooner we have all the requested weapons, the stronger our position will be and the sooner peace will come he said the sooner the democratic world realizes that the oil embargo on Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace are, the sooner the war will end.” For its part, Germany has confirmed its intention to increase the budget for international military aid to 2 billion, most of which will go to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also took stock of the conflict, speaking of 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed since the conflict began, while for the Kyiv armed forces the Russian soldiers who lost their lives are “at least 20,100”.
After 52 days of fighting, 163 combat aircraft were also shot down, as well as 145 helicopters and 138 drones, 762 tanks, 371 artillery pieces, 1,982 armored vehicles and 125 rocket launchers. The Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, Liudmyla Denisova, reported that since the start of the Russian invasion, the number of children killed has risen to 200 and another 360 have been injured. According to the police, 900 civilians found dead in the Kyiv region were shot and then dumped on the street or summarily buried. In addition, local authorities in the Zaporizhia region denounce that Russian forces have kidnapped more than 30 local mayors and deputies since the invasion. The Russian offensive has targeted the main Ukrainian cities, starting with the capital Kyiv, where sirens sounded at night and a tank factory in the suburbs was bombed in the morning. Ukrainian experts believe the main target is the “control center,” a bunker under Zelenskyy’s office in the city center. The city administration therefore asked residents not to return home and to get to safety. Also under attack are Lyshansk and Severodonetsk, where a gas pipeline was hit. Rockets hit and damaged Oleksandria Airport. The Ukrainian armed forces then reported that they had repelled 10 enemy attacks in the Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts in the past 24 hours. The Russian army, which according to the New York Times is stationing attack helicopters along the eastern border and is sending more troops and artillery pieces to prepare for the expected attack in the east, remains in the sights of the martyrdom city of Mariupol, where fierce fighting continued this morning. “We are doing everything to save our people in Mariupol,” Zelenskyy said in a video recorded by Ukrainska Pravda in the country. The civilian population, who will be banned from entering the various districts of the city by the Russian army from April 18, can leave the city today as part of an evacuation plan that also includes five other cities in the east of the country and a total of nine humanitarian corridors. But the rain blocked buses and residents were asked to use private vehicles.
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