“We will return to Crimea,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on Friday, April 7 about Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. “There is no other solution for Ukraine, or for the world.”
On the ground, the Russian forces continued, Friday, to bombard the Ukrainian provinces which they illegally annexed but which they do not entirely control. Victims, material damage and power outages are to be deplored.
Zelensky: “We will return to Crimea”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of carrying out “repression” against the Crimean Tatar community. He also pledged to take back the annexed peninsula, on the occasion of a breaking of the Ramadan fast in kyiv. “Russia’s attempt to subjugate Ukraine […] began with the occupation of Crimea, with the repressions against the freedom of Crimea, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars”, he indicated in front of the Ukrainian Muslim leaders and the ambassadors of the Muslim countries. The Tatar community , which represents 12 to 15% of the two million inhabitants of Crimea, largely boycotted the referendum of attachment organized by Moscow in 2014 for its annexation.
In the years that followed, the Russian authorities banned and labeled the Mejlis, the traditional assembly of the Muslim minority in Crimea, “extremist”, and imprisoned members of the Tatar community. “There is no other solution for Ukraine, or for the world, than the disoccupation of Crimea. We will return to Crimea”, hammered Volodymyr Zelensky, before presenting decorations to several Ukrainian soldiers of confession Muslim.
Russia continues to bombard the annexed provinces
On Friday, Russian forces used land and air missiles, rocket launchers and armed drones to bombard Ukrainian provinces they illegally annexed but do not fully control, causing casualties, damage to buildings and power outages.
The Associated Press reported that the Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes and 53 attacks from multiple rocket launchers between Thursday and Friday morning. Russia was concentrating the bulk of its offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, focusing on the towns and villages of Lyman, Bakhmout, Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk province, according to the state statement. Ukrainian major.
US reporter charged with ‘espionage’, newspaper denies charges
US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia last week, was formally charged with “espionage” on Friday, a charge he and his employer, the wall street journal, forcefully reject. The Russian authorities have “indicted” this correspondent, having also worked for AFP in the past, “spying on behalf of his country”, reported the state agency TASS, citing an anonymous source within the security forces.
“He categorically denied all charges and said his activities in Russia were journalistic,” TASS continued. THE wall street journal quickly denounced “totally false” charges. “As we have said from the start, these charges are totally false and unjustified, and we continue to demand Evan’s immediate release,” the US business daily said in a statement.
United Nations: triple defeat for Russia
Russia lost elections to three United Nations bodies this week, a sign that opposition to its invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago remains strong. Associated Press reports that the votes at the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) follow the approval of six non-binding resolutions against Russia by the UN General Assembly, made up of 193 members. The latest – February 23, the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion – called on Moscow to end hostilities and withdraw its forces. It was adopted by 141 votes for, 7 against and 32 abstentions.
In the Ecosoc votes, Russia was overwhelmingly beaten by Romania for a seat on the Women’s Status Committee; she also lost a vote to Estonia to be a board member of the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef. And Moscow was beaten by Armenia and the Czech Republic in secret ballot votes for membership in the commission on crime prevention and criminal justice.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after Wednesday’s votes: “This is a clear signal from Ecosoc members that no country should hold positions in critical government bodies. ‘UN when it is in flagrant violation of the UN charter.”
In Russia, the ruble plunges to its lowest in a year
The Russian currency plunged on Friday to its lowest for a year, falling at the end of the day to 81 rubles for a dollar and 88.9 for a euro, due in particular to the fall in Moscow’s foreign currency income against a background of penalties. Russia has hammered away for a year on having resisted the punitive measures adopted in the West in response to the assault on Ukraine, citing in particular as proof the resistance of the ruble which, after a collapse in the wake of the offensive, had considerably appreciated during the summer and autumn, reinforced in particular by the surge in the price of hydrocarbons.
But after a year of sanctions, and with Europe largely weaned off Russian gas and the imposition of a Russian oil price cap, the outlook for the Russian economy is bleaker, Vladimir Putin saying even last week expect “negative” consequences.
Xi Jinping wants to work with Macron to “return to peace” in Ukraine
Xi Jinping pledged Friday to Emmanuel Macron to “support any effort to restore peace in Ukraine” attacked by Russia, a conflict that the Chinese president still refuses to condemn. At the end of a three-day state visit to China, the French president and Xi Jinping made a minimal joint statement on the war in Ukraine. The text does not mention Russia and does not call for the departure of troops from Moscow from Ukraine.
The joint statement does not condemn Vladimir Putin’s military intervention either. On the other hand, the two countries “oppose armed attacks against nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear installations” and support the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “to ensure the security of the Zaporizhia power plant”.