On the 60th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on April 24, follow live the latest information on the conflict which has lasted for two months this Sunday.
► 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_Ruvia a VPN and in Russia in French via satellite on Hotbird.
► The site of the Russian editorial staff of RFI broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from the home page.
The main points:
► The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken is expected in kyiv this Sunday, two months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the hopes of a Truce for Orthodox Easter flew with deadly strikes in Odessa and the failure of an evacuation of civilians in Mariupol.
► The number of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion is approaching 5.2 million, according to the UN. More than 7.7 million people have left their homes but are still in Ukraine.
► The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will visit on Tuesday April 26 in Russia where he will be received by Vladimir Putin. This is the first time that the UN official has been received by the Russian authorities since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
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4:20 am: Antony Blinken and Loyd Austin in kyiv, information not yet confirmed on the American side
If the visit by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense takes place, it would be the very first official visit by members of the Biden administration since the start of the war, explains our correspondent in New York, Loubna Anaki. And that’s probably not going to please Russia.
You should know that over the past two months, the United States has sent nearly three and a half billion dollars in aid to Ukraine. And only a few days ago, the White House approved the sending of military aid including equipment heavier than that delivered so far – howitzers, drones, radar defense systems.
Aid that recently earned the Americans a warning from the Russians. Moscow had warned against unpredictable consequences if Washington maintained its arms deliveries “. If Antony Blinken and Loyd Austin go there in kyiv, it would send a clear message to Moscow: the Americans will continue to support the Ukrainians.
In announcing this visit, Volodymyr Zelensky also said he hoped Joe Biden would come as soon as the security situation allowed. The Ukrainian president also criticized the Secretary General of the United Nations, who is also expected in Ukraine and Russia. He said he regretted that Antonio Guterres went to Moscow first.
4:00 am: Volodymyr Zelensky on the verge of tears on Saturday evening
This Sunday, it has been two months since the war in Ukraine began, two months during which a man appeared on all screens, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president who speaks daily in nightly video addresses to his people, reports our correspondent in kyiv, Stephane Siohan. This Saturday evening, he spoke to the Ukrainian and international press in an original way since he held this press conference at the bottom of the Maidan metro station, in the center of the Ukrainian capital.
The Ukrainian head of state returned to the hot issues of the moment, Mariupol, international military aid, but he also let his heart and guts speak as rarely before.
On this Orthodox Easter weekend, there is no truce in Ukraine, where the bombardments continued on Saturday, notably in Kharkiv and Odessa. A context that weighed heavily on the tone of Volodymyr Zelensky’s press conference, which was not only combative but revealed anger and strong emotion.
First, the Ukrainian president indicated that this Sunday, in kyiv, he would discuss with the American secretaries of state and defense, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin. On the program, new deliveries of large-caliber artillery pieces, the only way according to Zelensky to take back from the Russian army the territories invaded for two months. Volodymyr Zelensky also admitted that an unblocking of the siege of Mariupol by military means was impossible at this stage, and he condemned the initiatives of Russia when the Kremlin wishes to set up in the Kherson region a referendum to establish a people’s republic similar to that of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Finally, the Ukrainian head of state, on the verge of tears, spoke of the bombing of Odessa this Saturday, which killed eight people, including a 28-year-old mother and her three-month-old daughter. He called the Russians ” bastards », condemning actions similar to that of eighty years ago in Europe.