On the twentieth day of the invasion of Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, the conflict spread to western Ukraine, which for two days has suffered its first bombardments. Shelling continues on the besieged cities of Mariupol and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
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The main points:
► A session of negotiations by videoconference between Russia and Ukraine was held on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the talks ” difficult in a video. The talks will resume on Tuesday March 15, after a “ technical break “.
►European Union member states have adopted a fourth round of sanctions against Russian oligarchs and companies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
► While around kyiv, the fighting is still raging, a residential building and the Antonov aeronautical factory in the center of the capital were hit by bombardments which left at least two dead on Monday. In Donetsk, in the east, pro-Russian separatists announced that a strike by the Ukrainian army had killed at least 23 people.
► Some 210 cars were able to leave Mariupol through a humanitarian corridor while on Sunday a humanitarian convoy had to turn back. The situation in this port city, besieged and bombarded for nearly two weeks, is critical.
► After a high-level meeting in Rome, the United States judges ” deeply concerning ” the position ” alignment of China with Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
02:09: Russian forces occupied Melitopol in the southeast of the country shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. This Friday, Russian troops kidnapped and detained Mayor Ivan Fedorov and replaced him with Galina Danilchenko, a pro-Russian mayor. Olga is an activist from Melitopol. She had to take refuge in a secret place, because she says that the Russian forces are beginning to strongly suppress any opposing voices.
Russian soldiers have already begun to arrest opponents, silence them, threaten them and try to do everything to scare us. Fortunately my family was able to leave, because I heard that some of my friends were threatened. The Russians told them they were going to hurt their relatives. I think they had a blacklist already made when they occupied our city because all these arrests and other targeted threats were orchestrated very quickly. It looks like everything was prepared in advance. I knew they were going to pick me up so I changed my address pretty quickly. And they came on Monday, it was my neighbors who called me to let me know.
Olga (activist): “Russian soldiers have already started arresting opponents” in Melitopol
01:12:Thousands of Russians have left their country, including journalists, who no longer see a future for their profession in the country of Vladimir Putin, where independent journalism is more criminalized than ever. A small part of them stop in Turkey, from where they hope to reach Europe to continue working.
►International report – In Turkey, Russian journalists in exile try to continue to inform from abroad
12:20 a.m.: The Ukrainian government on Monday launched a site in partnership with cryptocurrency platforms FTX and Everstake to channel bitcoins and other virtual currencies raised to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion to the Ukrainian central bank. 10 cryptocurrencies are available on “Aid for Ukraine”, including bitcoin ether, tether or dogecoin. The site indicated, around 11:30 p.m. UT Monday evening, that a little more than 49 million dollars had been raised since the start of the conflict and displays a target of 200 million dollars.
00:01 : Since the start of the war, exports of Ukrainian raw materials have come to a halt. Wheat is often mentioned when talking about the commodities affected by the war in Ukraine. But currently, 15 million tons of corn are stuck in Ukraine. What ultimately disrupts livestock feeding
►Chronicle of raw materials – The blocking of Ukrainian corn exports disrupts livestock feed
