The Russian gas group Gazprom warned the Polish and Bulgarian authorities on Tuesday April 26 of its intention to interrupt its gas deliveries to these two countries on Wednesday April 27. The two members of NATO and the European Union, however, say they are prepared to obtain the missing gas from other sources. But this breach of contract comes as many chancelleries are worried about the risk of the current conflict spreading outside Ukraine after a series of explosions attributed by kyiv to Moscow in the separatist Moldovan region of Transnistria.
“This is an attempt to increase tensions. We strongly condemn such actions. The Moldovan authorities will ensure that the republic is not drawn into a conflict,” responded Moldovan President Maïa Sandu. The latter announced measures to strengthen the security of this small country in Eastern Europe neighboring Ukraine. “Russia wants to destabilize the Transnistria region, which suggests that Moldova should expect to receive guests,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak tweeted. “If Ukraine falls, tomorrow Russian troops will be at the gates of (the Moldavian capital) Chisinau”.
- In Moscow, Guterres calls for a ceasefire “as soon as possible”
During his first trip to Moscow since the start of the offensive, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres pleaded on Tuesday for a ceasefire “as soon as possible”. He said he was “concerned by the repeated reports of possible war crimes”, judging that they “require an independent investigation”. “Despite everything, the negotiations are continuing (…) I hope that we will reach a positive result,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin during the meeting.
- Berlin to deliver tanks to Ukraine, France guns
Until now cautious in its policy of military support for Ukraine, Germany made an about-turn on Tuesday by authorizing the delivery to Ukraine of around fifty “anti-aircraft tanks”. For its part, France should send guns with a range of 40 kilometers, while the Netherlands will provide kyiv with “a limited number” of armored howitzers of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 type capable of firing at targets 50 km away, the government confirmed on Tuesday. The United Kingdom delivered anti-aircraft missiles and Poland tanks.
- Moscow targets bridges and railways to slow arms deliveries
As the conflict is now bogged down in eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian forces are bombing bridges and railways to slow down Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, an adviser to the Minister of Defense said on Tuesday. ‘Ukrainian interior, after the destruction of a strategic road linking the country to Romania.
- US Attorney General backs transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine
US Justice Secretary Merrick Garland said on Tuesday he would support a possible parliamentary initiative to allow assets seized from Russian oligarchs to go “directly” to Ukraine. “The first thing we need to do is freeze the assets. But we would support a bill that would allow some of that money to go straight to Ukraine,” he told a hearing. before a Senate committee that questioned him on how the authorities were handling the seized Russian assets.
In early April, lawmakers failed to back a bill that would have authorized the White House to liquidate assets seized from Russian billionaires to return the funds to kyiv. The idea was rejected after the powerful freedom organization ACLU indicated that such a project would violate the Constitution, the oligarchs having no means of legal recourse to challenge the administrative decision, reported the Washington Post.
- 5.3 million Ukrainian refugees
Since the start of the invasion by Russian troops, nearly 5.3 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country. Although the flow has slowed markedly since March, the UN nevertheless estimates in its new projections that 3 million additional refugees could be added to the cohort of those who have already fled the incessant fighting and bombardments of here at the end of this year.
- In Chernobyl, a level of radioactivity “in the normal”
Thirty-six years after the explosion at the nuclear power plant, Chernobyl’s level of radioactivity is “in the normal range”, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on Tuesday. who went there. “The levels (of radioactivity) increased at times when the Russians were bringing heavy equipment into the area and when they left,” he told reporters without giving specific figures, assuring that experts from the UN agency were monitoring the situation “on a daily basis”.
Located 150 kilometers from kyiv, the plant had fallen into the hands of the Russians on the first day of their invasion, before being the victim of a cut in electricity and communications networks.