Vladimir Putin assured Wednesday March 16 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “a success”, his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky launching a new vibrant appeal for help, in full negotiations on a possible Ukrainian neutrality. Update on the latest information around the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
- Zelensky appeals to Biden
“To be the leader of the world is to be the leader of peace”: speaking in English by videoconference before the American Congress which gave him a standing ovation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly challenged Joe Biden on Wednesday. He urged his American counterpart to urgently impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
NATO announced shortly after that it would not deploy troops or air assets to Ukraine. It is preparing a substantial reinforcement of its military presence in the allied countries on its eastern flank, according to its secretary general.
Joe Biden has confirmed, for his part, the sending of 800 million dollars of additional military aid to Ukraine, an “unprecedented” envelope of one billion dollars in one week to support the Ukrainian army against to the Russian invasion.
- Putin claims ‘success’
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Wednesday that his military operation in Ukraine was a “success”, saying that Moscow would not let this country become a “bridgehead” for “aggressive actions” against Russia.
During a government meeting broadcast on television, he also compared the avalanche of Western sanctions and condemnations hitting Russia to “anti-Semitic pogroms”. Promising aid to individuals and businesses, he assured that Russia was overcoming the Western economic “blitzkrieg”.
- Moscow wants Ukraine neutral
Russian-Ukrainian talks continued on Wednesday with the proposal, rejected by kyiv, of a neutral status for Ukraine on the Swedish or Austrian model.
The Ukrainian chief negotiator refused “a Swedish or Austrian model” and called for “absolute security guarantees” against Russia, whose signatories would undertake to intervene on their side in the event of aggression.
- The ICJ agrees with Ukraine
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest UN court, on Wednesday ordered Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine.
The judgments of the ICJ are binding and cannot be appealed, but the court has no means of enforcing them.
- Explosions in kyiv, strikes on Zaporozhye
Several strong explosions sounded at dawn on Wednesday in the west of kyiv, followed by thick columns of black smoke in the sky of the capital, placed since Tuesday evening under curfew until Thursday morning.
Russian strikes also hit a train station in Zaporozhye, a city in the south of the country hitherto spared and serving as a refuge for the inhabitants of Mariupol who are fleeing this besieged city via a humanitarian corridor.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces fired multiple rocket launchers at civilians fleeing Mariupol, killing an unspecified number of people.
Ten people queuing to buy bread were killed by Russian fire in Cherniguiv, northern Ukraine, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said.
- Contact between Washington and Moscow
Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday, in the first high-level formal exchange between the United States and Russia since Russia’s invasion of Russia. ‘Ukraine.
- Chernobyl: employees held hostage by the Russians
A hundred technicians are stuck at the Chernobyl power plant, seized on February 24 by Russian troops. They were then finishing their night shift and have not been allowed to return home since.
In degraded sanitary conditions, they try to ensure the maintenance of the site.
- 30 Russian-speaking media blocked
The Russian telecoms policeman Roskomnadzor has blocked the sites of at least 30 additional media, AFP noted on Wednesday.
The sites of investigative media Bellingcat, Russian local media, as well as Russian-language media based in Israel and Ukraine were inaccessible in Russia without a virtual private network (VPN).
- Russia expelled from the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe, guarantor of respect for the rule of law on the continent, officially excluded Russia on Wednesday because of its war launched against Ukraine, a decision taken the day after Moscow announced that the country was slamming the door of this organization.