On the 113th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Thursday June 16, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in the Ukrainian capital to lend European support against to Russian aggression.
► Moscow has blocked the RFI website, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian. An alternative URL address allows access to the site in French and in Russian. RFI in Russian is also available on Telegram: https://t.me/RFI_Ru via a VPN and in Russia in French via satellite on Hotbird.
► RFI’s Russian editorial site broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from home page.
The main points:
► French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi took a special train to Ukraine. They are due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky, who is seeking EU candidate status.
► Russia on Wednesday accused Kyiv forces of having prevented the evacuation by a “ humanitarian corridor civilians at a factory in Sievierodonetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine where the Russians are continuing their assault. The Ukrainian authorities have admitted in recent days that their troops have been driven out of the city center of Sievierodonetsk and that they only have “ complicated communication channels with them after the destruction of all the bridges to Lysytchansk.
► Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin on Wednesday called on his allies to “ intensify » Arms deliveries to Ukrainians. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had previously assured that NATO members would provide more modern heavy weapons to Ukraine, but warned that this “takes time”.
► The Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday assured his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of Beijing’s support in matters of “sovereignty” and “security” during a telephone exchange, state media reported.
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7:23 am: Scholz pledges to help Ukraine “as long as it takes”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who arrived in kyiv on Thursday with his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron, pledged to help Ukraine “ as long as it takes “, in a daily interview Picture. During this visit, we do not only want to show our solidarity, we also want to ensure that the aid we are organizing: financial, humanitarian, but also when it comes to arms, will continue “, he underlined. “ We will continue it as long as it takes for the struggle for Ukrainian independencee,” he added in the interview published as the three leaders arrived in Kyiv after an overnight train journey.
7:09 am: Mario Draghi, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron are in kyiv
06:56: About 10,000 civilians still present in Sievierodonetsk
About 10,000 civilians are still present in the city of Sievierodonetsk, a key city in Donbass which the Russians have been trying to seize for weeks, Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Lugansk region, said on Thursday on Telegram messaging. The city, under constant bombardment and whose three bridges which connected it to the neighboring city of Lysytchansk are now destroyed, had 100,000 inhabitants before the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
The Ukrainian authorities have admitted in recent days that their troops had been driven out of the city center of Sievierodonetsk, and only had “ complicated communication channels with them after the destruction of all the bridges to Lysytchansk.
Ukrainian forces are notably entrenched in the Azot chemical plant with more than 500 civilians inside, according to Mayor Oleksandre Striouk. Moscow proposed on Tuesday a “humanitarian corridor” that would allow the evacuation of these civilians to territories controlled by the Russians, but kyiv did not confirm it. And Russia on Wednesday accused the kyiv forces of having prevented this operation.
6:40 am: Macron, Scholz and Draghi took a train together for kyiv
After traveling on a special train, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi arrived in kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday morning, according to ZDF in Germany and the Italian daily. La Repubblica. They found each other During the night in Rzeszow, a city in southeastern Poland which has an international airport, before continuing their journey in Ukraine towards kyiv, said German television ZDF.
The three men are due to meet Mr. Zelensky to discuss, in addition to military support, Ukraine’s request to join the European Union. France, Germany and Italy are in favor of it, but in a more or less distant perspective. Why does Emmanuel Macron come all this way with Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi?
► Read here: Ukraine: Europeans Macron, Scholz and Draghi took a train together to kyiv
06:30: Hello and welcome to this live
You can find our live from yesterday by following this link.