UKRAINE WAR. While this Thursday, March 10, 2022 marks the end of the first two weeks of war in Ukraine, the toll of the number of civilian dead stands at 516 according to the UN. New negotiations with Russia have been started.
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08:50 – The attack on the Mariupol children’s hospital killed at least three people, including a girl
The day after the bombing of a pediatric hospital in Mariupol, a new toll was announced by the local authorities. It reports three dead, including a young girl.
08:24 – Four dead, including two children, after the bombardment of a village
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, four people, including two children, were killed in the village of Slobozhanske, in the oblast of Kharkiv, in the east. A shell hit a house, reports the Ministry of Emergency Situations, also announcing the human toll. A five-year-old child managed to survive. Injured, she was taken to hospital.
08:01 – Sumy and its region bombarded in the night, six dead
In eastern Ukraine, the city of Sumy and its region were bombarded overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. According to the head of the military administration of Sumy, Dmitry Zhivitsky, strikes took place around 00:40. While the capital of the oblast (region) recorded only material damage, the bombardment of two municipalities (Trostyanets and Bolshaya Pisarevka) resulted in the death of six people, including two minors.
07:52 – The situation in Ukraine at 7:50
Situation update in Ukraine :
- Two weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, this Thursday, March 10, 2022 will be devoted to talks between the Ukrainian Foreign Minister and his Russian counterpart to try to find a solution to the conflict.
- The night from Wednesday to Thursday was generally calm in Ukraine, even if airstrikes targeted the city of Sumy, in the east of the country, as well as surrounding municipalities.
- On Thursday, new humanitarian corridors are to be set up in several cities in Ukraine to evacuate civilians.
Balance sheet of the war in Ukraine :
- In its latest count published Wednesday evening, the UN announced that at least 516 civilians have died, including 37 children, since the start of the war in Ukraine and that at least 908 people have been injured. But according to the organisation, the figures are “considerably higher”.
- According to Ukraine, more than 12,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the war. A balance sheet which could however prove to be extremely inflated.
- Russia, for its part, did not give a new assessment. The latest, dated Wednesday March 2, announced the death of 498 soldiers and 1,597 wounded.
- More than two million people have left Ukraine since the start of the war according to a UN report.
Latest major news :
- From this Thursday, and until Friday, the Heads of State and Government of the European Union are meeting in Versailles, on the initiative of Emmanuel Macron. “This summit is that of the European leap, of European sovereignty”, indicates the Elysée.
- Volodymyr Zelensky called the bombing of a children’s hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday a “war crime”.
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Striking images of the war in Ukraine
On the night of Thursday March 3, 2022, the Russians launched an airstrike on the nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhia region, the largest in Europe. This offensive sparked a fire and made the Ukrainian government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fear the worst. According to information relayed by the Ukrainian nuclear regulator, the shooting only affected the administrative part of the nuclear complex and the six reactors are unscathed. With the risk of a nuclear explosion averted, the IAEA spoke out quickly on the morning of Friday March 4 to ensure that no radioactive leak had been reported since the bombardment. Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control. By attacking the plant, the Russian army has achieved the objective of taking possession of the strategic point in the Zaporizhia region, the troops fully control the administrative buildings and the entrance to the complex and they also seem to be in a position of strength at the level of the nuclear core of the plant. However, Ukraine reassures and explains that “the operational staff controls the energy blocks and ensures their operation in accordance with the requirements of the technical regulations for operating safety”. The most serious risks have been avoided but precautions are still being taken on site in case an increase in the level of radioactivity is detected soon. “Doctors are already advising us to take doses of iodine for prevention,” said Nadiya Goltvyanytsa, director of the Alliance française in Zaporijjia, in particular, to BFMTV on March 4, 2022.
After the night offensive, the IAEA immediately called “to cease the use of force and warns of a serious danger if the reactors are affected”. The world body warns of the risks of the explosion of the Zaporijia power plant. The Ukrainian government has also reacted and if the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, advances on Twitter that if the nuclear power plant is affected “it will be 10 times worse than Chernobyl”, President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses his Russian counterpart of resorting to “nuclear terror”.
Vladimir Putin seeks to conquer the Ukrainian capital, but his massive military operation has been delayed by Ukrainian resistance. Kiev has been surrounded by Russian troops since March 1 and a 60 kilometer long convoy posted to the northeast of the city set off again on Friday March 4 after being stopped for three days. The resumption of the Russian advance suggests an imminent attack, but Ukraine has had time to prepare its defence, especially as many civilians take up arms to oppose and hold the invader outside its lines. If it still resists ground attacks, Kiev has been hit for several days by repeated bombardments. The night from Thursday to Friday was spared from the attacks despite the songs of the sirens being activated several times, a situation which raises fears of the calm before the storm. Residents have taken refuge in metro stations left open 24 hours a day and Kyiv’s central train station has turned into a humanitarian hub. A battle in Kiev could be the culmination of this war between Russia and Ukraine.
After weeks of lying poker and an escalation not officially declared in recent days, Russia has therefore announced that it will go to war with Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022. In a televised speech published early Thursday, Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” to “protect people who have been intimidated for eight years by the Kiev regime”. The Russian president’s decision comes after the latter recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, territories established in Ukraine but ruled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. “Treaties of friendship and mutual aid” had been signed on February 22 between Russia and these territories in the east of the country, paving the way for a military intervention by Russia, to which Vladimir Putin has therefore committed.
If for several years, tensions have been high in the separatist regions of Ukraine, where the conflict escalated in the days preceding the Russian invasion of February 24, war was finally declared throughout the country. Although Russia borders only to the east of Ukraine, it is all the main cities of the country, everywhere on the territory, which are under the bombings and armed raids. Starting with the capital Kiev, and its surroundings, attacked by Russian forces. Yet located several hundred kilometers from the Russian border, the country’s first city is only 150 km by road from Belarus, a country friendly to Russia through which Vladimir Putin’s forces entered Ukraine. .
Southern Ukraine and the shores of the Black Sea are the scene of fierce fighting between Russians and Ukrainians. The Soviet army got the better of the cities of Kherson and Berdiansk, it is in a position of strength along the entire coast as far as Odessa, in the west, where an assault by the Russian navy is preparing. In the south-east, Mariupol is the last city to resist and to obstruct the junction between the conquered territories of Donbass and the Russian advance in the south of the country. To the north and east the Kremlin soldiers are advancing and striking at Chernihiv and Kharkiv in addition to Donetsk and Lugansk, which have been concentrating tensions for eight years and the beginning of the war in Donbass. Western Ukraine was spared despite isolated attacks and bombardments near Poland, in Lutsk, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk.