A year ago, on March 31, 2022, the Russian army withdrew from the Kiev region, a month after launching the invasion of the country on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. Two days later, on April 2, journalists, notably from AFP, discovered in Boutcha charred carcasses of vehicles, destroyed houses and above all, scattered over several hundred meters, the corpses of twenty men in civilian clothes, including the one had his hands tied behind his back. In total, Ukraine estimates that “more than 1,400” the number of civilians who died in the Boutcha district during the Russian occupation, including 637 in the city itself.
A year after the Boutcha massacre, Volodymyr Zelensky promised a “new Nuremberg” to the Russians responsible for these atrocities. French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday accused Moscow of having “allowed, even encouraged” the war crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine.
In addition, Joe Biden asked the Kremlin to “let go” an American journalist arrested in Russia. His employer, the wall street journalcalls for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador and journalists stationed in the United States.
kyiv orders 100 armored vehicles financed by the EU and the United States in Poland
Ukraine has ordered 100 Rosomak multirole armored vehicles from Poland, manufactured under Finnish license, financed by the European Union and the United States, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Saturday April 1. The production site for these vehicles is in Siemianowice Slaskie, in the south of the country.
The order will be financed with European funds granted to Poland and with American funds obtained by Ukraine, indicated the head of the Polish government, without specifying the amount of the contract. Rosomak is an eight-wheel drive multirole armored vehicle, manufactured under license from the Finnish Patria AMV.
UN Security Council: Russian presidency is “a slap in the face of the international community”
The Russian presidency of the UN Security Council, from Saturday and for a period of one month, is “a slap in the face of the international community”, denounced the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kouleba. He called on “current members” of the UN’s executive body “to thwart any Russian attempt to abuse its presidency”.
Zelensky promises ‘a new Nuremberg’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged on Friday to defeat the “Russian evil” and promised a “new Nuremberg” on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Russian withdrawal from Boutcha, a martyred city that has become a crying symbol of “the atrocities” attributed to the troops from Moscow. “We will never forgive”, swore the Ukrainian president to Boutcha. “There will be a new Nuremberg,” he said again in a video published in the evening, in reference to the German city which hosted the trials of Nazi leaders in 1945-1946.
“We must do everything to make Boutcha a symbol of justice […]. We want every murderer, every executioner, every Russian terrorist to be held responsible for every crime against our people”, he added, in front of the Croatian Prime Ministers Andrej Plenkovic, Slovak Eduard Heger, Slovenian Robert Golob, and President Moldovan Maia Sandu.
Boutcha: Moscow “let it go” or even “encouraged” war crimes, according to Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday accused Moscow of having “allowed, even encouraged” the war crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine. “Russian aggression has led to a systematization of war crimes against Ukraine and against its people,” he said in a video message released at a summit in Kiev on the crimes of Boutcha. on the occasion of the first anniversary of the recapture of this locality by the forces of Kiev. “And far from sanctioning these crimes contrary to all the laws of war, the Russian leaders allowed them to happen, even encouraged them, in defiance of international law and with the clear objective of subjugating the Ukrainian nation through violence”, a- he added.
In order to judge these crimes, Emmanuel Macron pleaded for the creation of a “body which has sufficient international legitimacy, and which plays a complementary role in relation to the international tools already in place”. kyiv insists on the creation of a special tribunal to judge the most senior Russian officials.
The US military considers a Ukrainian victory unlikely in 2023
According to US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, Ukraine is unlikely to expel all Russian forces from its territory in the year 2023. “I don’t think that can be done in the short term during this year”, he said in an interview with the specialized site DefenseOne.
“Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stated publicly that the Ukrainian goal is to drive all Russians out of Russian-occupied Ukraine. And this is an important military task. A very, very difficult military task. A few hundred thousand Russians are still in Russian-occupied Ukraine. I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m just saying it’s a very difficult task, he explained. But that’s their goal. They certainly have the right, it is their country. And they have the moral responsibility.”
General Mark Milley also ruled out the possibility of sending long-range American ATACMS missiles to Ukrainian forces. “So far the political decision has been made not to. And I would never speculate on the future, but from a military point of view we have relatively few ATACMS and we have to ensure that we maintain our own stockpiles of ammunition,” he said.
‘Let him go’: Biden calls on Moscow to release arrested journalist
“Let him go”, launched the American president for the Russian government, in the face of journalists who sought, at the White House, his first public reaction on this affair. Evan Gershkovich, a 31-year-old Russian-speaking reporter from wall street journal, was arrested in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, on suspicion of “espionage”. Evan Gershkovich denied the charges against him during a hearing in a Moscow court, according to Russian state news agency Tass. The American journalist has nevertheless been placed in pre-trial detention until May 29, a measure which may be extended pending a possible trial.
“Expelling the Russian ambassador from the United States, as well as the Russian journalists working there, would be the least we could do,” said the American daily, in an editorial published overnight from Thursday to Friday. In a letter to staff on Friday evening, the editor of the “WSJ” assured that everything would be done to “ensure the release of Evan” and thanked those who have mobilized in this direction in recent days. “Evan is a member of the free press who, until his arrest, was doing his job as a journalist. Any suggestion to the contrary is false,” wrote Emma Tucker, calling Russia’s actions “totally unjustified”.
Tennis: Medvedev “happy” to be able to play Wimbledon again in 2023
“I am happy to hear (this news). I have always said that if I could play at Wimbledon, I would be very happy to be there,” said the tennis world number 5. Last year, pushed by the British government, the organizers of Wimbledon refused Russian and Belarusian players, angering the professional male ATP and female WTA circuits. Also, the two bodies welcomed the decision of the British Grand Slam, welcoming the work done by all parties concerned to arrive at a solution “which protects the fairness” of tennis.
The participation of the players concerned will be “provided that they compete as ‘neutral’ athletes and that they fulfill the necessary conditions”, specified the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), specifying that they “will be forbidden to express their support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine” and that players “receiving financial assistance” from Russia or Belarus to participate in the tournament will not be allowed on the London lawn.
IMF approves $15.6 billion bailout package for Ukraine
The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday validated the aid plan amounting to 15.6 billion dollars signed on March 21 with the Ukrainian government, paving the way for the disbursement of a first tranche. of $2.7 billion. The four-year plan should make it possible to “support gradual economic recovery while creating the conditions for long-term growth in a context of post-conflict reconstruction and on the way to joining the “European Union” (EU), recalled the IMF in a press release.
This support is part of an overall program of financial aid of 115 billion dollars, of which two billion consist of a partial cancellation of the existing debt. The remaining 80 billion will be provided by “bilateral and multilateral donors, for 20 billion dollars in the form of grants, the remaining 60 billion dollars taking the form of concessional loans”, specified an IMF official.
The new plan should initially help the Ukrainian government to guarantee a “solid budget for 2023” by strengthening the state’s fiscal resources, while helping to limit inflation. The second stage will aim to carry out the necessary structural reforms “in order to guarantee macro-economic stability and support post-war recovery and reconstruction”.