On the seventeenth day of the invasion of Ukraine, Saturday March 12, Russian forces are still at the gates of Kiev and the offensive has spread to the large city of Dnipro. In Mariupol, where thousands of people have been under siege for twelve days, the situation is almost hopeless, warns Médecins sans frontières (MSF).
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The main points:
► On the ground, Russian forces are at the gates of the capital Kiev where they increase the pressure while the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv – the last lock before the port of Odessa – are still under fire from bombs. But now the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk are also targeted.
► Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized sending “volunteer” combatants, especially from Syria. Syrian mercenaries are already fighting alongside the Russians and the Syrian army against the jihadists in Syria. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thus accused Russia of hiring “ syrian assassins ” for “ destroy » Ukraine.
► Approximately 100,000 people were evacuated in two days from Ukrainian towns. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has confirmed the death of 564 civilians in Ukraine, including 41 children, since the launch of the Russian military offensive on February 24.
► The UN Security Council met this Friday. Westerners are openly worried about a possible use of chemical weapons in Ukraine by Moscow, whose military offensive did not achieve the expected rapid success, raising the specter of the atrocities committed by the Damascus regime in Syria.
► The United States and its allies have taken the escalation of sanctions one step further, deciding to exclude Russia from the normal regime of reciprocity governing world tradewhich paves the way for the imposition of punitive customs tariffs.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
5:55 a.m .: biological laboratories in Ukraine, a pretext for the use of chemical weapons?
” Russia’s lies do not deceive anyone (…) This disinformation campaign could be the prelude to the use of a chemical or biological weapon orchestrated by Russia in Ukraine “, denounced the French ambassador to the UN Friday evening, in unison with Westerners, after the statements of the Russian ambassador.
At a new meeting of the Security Council, at the initiative of Russia, he claimed to have discovered about thirty laboratories developing biochemical weapons on Ukrainian soil, reports our correspondent at the UN, Carrie Nooten. Laboratories conducting experiments with disease strains very dangerous such as plague, cholera and chemicals like anthrax, and which Moscow says would work with the US Department of Defense.
5:30 a.m.: warning sirens sound in Kiev, Odessa, Dnipro and Kharkiv
Local media reported on Saturday morning anti-bombing warning sirens throughout Ukraine, including major cities Kiev, Odessa, Dnipro and Kharkiv.
CNN correspondent in Kiev Clarissa Ward evoked this night uninterrupted explosions in the Ukrainian capital.
2:30 am: in two weeks, more than 300,000 refugees have arrived in Moldova, according to the UN
It is the fastest exodus since the Second World War. More than 2.5 million people have already fled the war in Ukraine, two weeks after the Russian invasion, according to the UN. Aid agencies expected 4 million people to flee the country in the first six months of the offensive, but the exodus is such that those forecasts are almost certain to be shattered. Ukraine’s neighboring countries, such as Moldova, are struggling to cope with this massive influx of refugees. RFI contacted Erno Simon, the Hungarian representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency currently in Moldova.
► Read the interview: War in Ukraine: “In two weeks, more than 300,000 refugees have arrived in Moldova”
2 a.m.: A Congolese woman injured in a bombardment in Kiev
On RFI we have followed in recent days the exfiltration of twelve Congolese, students in Sumy, in the north-east of Ukraine. Stuck for several days in a university, close to a combat zone, they took advantage of a humanitarian corridor to leave the country. Four have found a university in Romania. Seven left for Belgium. One is in Germany.
► To read also: DRC: twelve Congolese students were able to leave north-eastern Ukraine
The Congolese government and several nationals assisted in their evacuation. One of them, who hosted them, Serge Nyangi Mamputu, is now alerting to the fate of another Congolese woman. Employed in a local company in Kiev, she was seriously injured in a bombardment. Serge Nyangi Mamputu is trying to get her out of the country.
She is hospitalized not far from the station. The doctor reassured me, her condition is stable, she is breathing on her own. (…) In Kiev, there are bombardments, schools and hospitals are targeted now. That’s why the idea is to evacuate him as quickly as possible.
Serge Nyangi Mamputu
1h30: Which Syrian recruits and for which tasks in Ukraine?
The Kremlin says it is in favor of deploying Syrian fighters on Ukrainian soil. The Russian president has indeed ordered his army to facilitate the dispatch of fighters ” volunteers in Ukraine in response to the delivery, according to him, of “ mercenaries by the West. ” If you see that people want to go there voluntarily, moreover not for money, and help those who live in the Donbass, then you have to meet them and help them to join the combat zone said Vladimir Putin, in response to a proposal from his defense minister.
Sergei Shoigu, specified that 16,000 fighters from the Middle East were ready to help the Russian forces. Russia is engaged militarily in Syria, to support the Damascus regime there. But what forces could be recruited in Syria and for what role in the war in Ukraine? Listen to the analysis of researcher Thomas Pierret.
Where recruits can be useful for Russia, it is possibly for non-combat tasks and then to hold and occupy territories.
Thomas Pierret, specialist in Syria
1:15 am: more than 7,000 people evacuated on Friday, according to President Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that a total of 7,144 people had been evacuated from four cities across the country on Friday, significantly lower than those reported in the previous two days.
Speaking in a televised address, Volodymyr Zelensky again accused Russia of preventing civilians from leaving the city of Mariupol, besieged by the Russian army. He said Ukrainian authorities would try again to deliver food and medicine to Mariupol on Saturday.
12:50 a.m.: in Irpine, between fear and hope for those who remain
In Irpine, a lock town on the road to Kiev, northwest of the capital, intense fighting took place this Friday, March 11, the Russian army is advancing. Many residents have already fled the city, but a minority of them prefer to stay. Our special correspondent Pierre Olivier describes deserted streets and houses gutted by the bombardments.
► Read and listen to the report: War in Ukraine: in Irpine, between fear and hope for those who remain
12:35 am: the mayor of a southern city kidnapped by Russian soldiers
The mayor of Melitopol was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the southern Ukrainian city, Ukrainian officials said, information confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelensky. “ A group of ten occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov “, indicated on its Twitter account the Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament. ” He refused to cooperate with the enemy “, she added.
According to this source, he was arrested when he was in the crisis center of the city, located about 120 km south of Zaporozhye, to deal with supply issues. “ Today in Melitopol the invaders captured the city mayor Ivan Fedorov. A mayor who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed late in the evening in a video message.
0 a.m.: Zelensky appeals to the mothers of Russian soldiers
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on the mothers of Russian soldiers to prevent their sons from being sent to “war” in Ukraine. “ I want to say this once again to Russian mothers. Particularly, to the mothers of conscripts. Do not send your children to war in a foreign country “, said Volodymyr Zelensky, in a new video address broadcast on Telegram.
“ Check where your son is. And if you have the slightest suspicion that your son could be sent to war against Ukraine, act immediately to prevent him from being killed or captured, he said. “ Ukraine never wanted this terrible war. And Ukraine does not want it. But she will defend herself as much as it takes added the Ukrainian president.