On the 23rd day of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Friday March 18, follow the latest information available live.
► The site of the Russian editorial staff of RFI broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from the home page.
Article updated regularly, click on this link to refresh.
The main points:
► Three weeks after the start of the war, the front lines have stabilized and Russian troops are still trying to encircle kyiv.
► More than 100,000 refugees were added in 24 hours to the three million people who have already fled Ukraine since the invasion of the Russian army on February 24, according to the UN, which also lists around two million internally displaced people.
► Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin “a war criminal “. The US Secretary of State and the head of EU diplomacy subsequently denounced on Thursday the “ war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. G7 foreign ministers have also warned that perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine will have to ” accountable “ before international justice.
► The Ukrainian authorities accuse the Russian army of having bombed Mariupol Drama Theater, besieged city, while “more than a thousand people” had found refuge there. The human toll is still undetermined. Near Kharkiv, 21 people were killed in a strike on Thursday.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
1 a.m.: can the barrels of Russian oil be replaced?
The International Energy Agency is concerned about global oil supply. Russian barrels will miss and can hardly be compensated in the short term, according to the IEA. The International Energy Agency warns of dark times for oil supply: disruptions in Russian supply could create “ a global shock “, even predicts the IEA. In other words, a greater imbalance between supply and demand than it is today.
The deficit in Russian supply is far from trivial: the country is the world’s second largest exporter with 8 million barrels per day. But since the war, Moscow can no longer sell all its crude, certain countries or trading partners refusing to buy Russian oil.
►Listen and read the Chronicle of raw materials: Oil: can Russian barrels be replaced?
12:30 a.m.: increasingly critical situation in Mariupol
According to Mariupol City Hall, the situation is “ critical “with Russian bombardments” uninterrupted “and destruction” colossal “. According to initial estimates, approximately 80% of the city’s housing stock was destroyed “. People who managed to flee said they melted snow to drink and cook what little food was available on braziers.
“ They’re firing so many rockets, there’s a lot of dead civilian bodies in the streets “Told AFP Tamara Kavounenko, 58, who lived in the city center. According to Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, 8 out of 9 humanitarian corridors were in operation on Thursday and 3,810 civilians were evacuated from combat zones.
00h: Testimony – in kyiv, life under the bombs
Before the war, Liudmyla Yankin worked in a human rights NGO and when the Russian invasion began, she volunteered with the most vulnerable. She recounts her daily life in the Ukrainian capital.
“Life in kyiv today means being torn between two very strong feelings. The fear of civilians because you never know where or when the Russian rockets are going to land. Every 15 minutes, we hear a siren, it means that the air force warns us of the presence of a rocket in the sky of kyiv but we don’t know if it can be intercepted or not, so we is scared.
On the other hand, we see great resistance from civilians. Almost everyone able to walk, in good physical shape, all mobilize as volunteers, build barricades, enlist in home defense units or do something like me for example… Everyone is ready to resist, but the tension is high because we are in constant danger.
Today, there is nothing left in Kyiv or Ukraine that can be considered a safe place. Five minutes ago for example, I spoke with a person whose apartment was destroyed by a missile and she said to me: the Russians repeat that it is about a release, therefore they release me from my home, they free me from my apartment, they free me from my building, they free me from my past life. I don’t even know how to describe the ugliness of this war.»
I don’t even know how to describe the ugliness of this war.
Liudmyla Yankin