On the eleventh day of the invasion of Ukraine, from ” fierce fighting with Russian forces were announced on Sunday March 6 by the Ukrainian army. The Russian President has threatened Ukraine to deprive it of its ” state status “, comparing the international sanctions that hit Russia to a “ declaration of war “.
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The main points:
► The Russian army announced on Saturday afternoon that it had resumed “the offensive” after the postponement of the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol. The town hall of this strategic port accused Moscow of not respecting the ceasefire announced a few hours earlier. The capture of this city of some 450,000 inhabitants, located on the Sea of Azov, would allow the junction between the Russian forces coming from annexed Crimea, which have already taken the key ports of Berdiansk and Kherson, and the separatist troops and Russians in the Donbass.
► The two global bank card giants Visa and Mastercard announced on Saturday March 5 that they were suspending their activities in Russia. Russian Visa and Mastercard bank cards will no longer be valid abroad, and cards issued abroad will no longer work in Russia.
► According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Western sanctions “ resemble a declaration of war, he said Saturday, according to Reuters, but thank God we haven’t come to that yet “. So far, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had only threatened to retaliate against the sanctions, without giving details.
► Many European media, including the BBC, the American press agency Bloomberg and the Spanish agency Efe have suspended the work of all their journalists in Russiain particular to ensure their security “, after the adoption of a law providing for prison sentences in the event of the dissemination of ” false information about the army “.
► A new round of negotiations Russian-Ukrainian meetings will take place on Monday March 7, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation.
► RFI’s Russian editorial site now broadcasts Ukrainian public radio live (in Ukrainian) from the home page.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
6:30 am: A first group of Peruvians repatriated to Lima
” Welcome to the house ! tweeted the Chancellery. A first group of 13 Peruvians, out of some 200 waiting to leave Ukraine, was welcomed by President Pedro Castillo at Lima airport on Saturday evening. After being evacuated to Warsaw, they were able to take a commercial flight.
6:15 a.m.: Heavy fighting in the south and north
In a statement posted on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff indicates that, in addition to Mariupol, where ” the main efforts “Ukrainian Armed Forces” lead fierce battles against Russian forces for control of the towns of Mykolayev in the south and Cherniguiv in the north. A Ukrainian military operation was also underway in the Donetsk region in the east of the country.
5:15 am: What is the situation in Mariupol?
The bombardments have resumed with renewed vigor in the strategic port of Mariupol, in the south-east of the country. On Saturday morning, the belligerents seemed to have agreed on a truce from noon to 5 p.m. to allow civilians to leave the besieged city and move towards Zaporozhzhya, a three-hour drive away. But it was a waste of time, the corridor never worked, reports our correspondent in Ukraine, Stephane Siohan. It was a waste of time, the corridor never worked, the Russian forces accusing the Ukrainians of blocking the evacuation, while in Kiev, it is believed that the Russian army bombarded the small town of Volnovakha, through which the convoys were to pass .
Conclusion: it is estimated that only 400 people were able to leave the port of the Sea of Azov, while 200,000 people would be ready to leave. Now, living conditions are very precarious: according to Doctors Without Borders, the stores are almost empty, the electricity is cut and the inhabitants are forced to melt the snow or use rainwater for their personal needs. .
The fear now is that the Russian military will further increase the frequency of its bombings and the level of destruction in order to break the Mariupol lock and open the land corridor between Russia and Crimea.
4:17 a.m.: Senior US Officials in Venezuela
Senior US officials traveled to Venezuela on Saturday to meet Nicolas Maduro’s government, with Washington seeking to isolate Russia, according to reports from the New York Times. The United States cut diplomatic ties with Venezuela after President Maduro was re-elected in 2018 in a vote widely seen as fraudulent. Washington then recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido, then speaker of parliament, when he declared himself interim president in January 2019. The United States imposed a battery of sanctions on Caracas in an attempt to force Maduro to leave power. Today, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the United States to pay attention to this ally state of President Putin.
2:05 am: Putin threatens Ukraine to deprive it of its ” state status »
Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine could lose its ” state status if she continued to refuse to give in to Russian demands. In particular, Moscow is calling for a status neutral and non-nuclear for Ukraine and its demilitarization, which Kiev, which is seeking to join the European Union and NATO, considers unacceptable.
The Russian president also warned that Moscow would regard as co-belligerent any country attempting to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a claim made by Kiev that NATO has rejected, and asserted that the sanctions imposed on his country were akin to a declaration of war “.
12:45 a.m .: Volodymyr Zelensky spoke again by phone with Joe Biden
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Twitter that he once again spoke on the phone with his American counterpart Joe Biden to discuss ” security issues “, from ” financial support for Ukraine ” and of “ continued sanctions against Russia “.
► Also to listen: Volodymyr Zelensky, the actor who became a warlord
12:15 a.m.: Visa and Mastercard suspend operations in Russia
Global bank card giants Visa and Mastercard announced on Saturday that they were suspending operations in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, which will prevent cards issued by Russian banks from working abroad and foreign cards to operate in Russia. “ Due to the unprecedented nature of the current conflict and the uncertain economic environment, we have decided to suspend our service network in Russia “Said Mastercard in a press release, specifying that it would continue to remunerate its approximately 200 employees in the country.
Its competitor Visa simultaneously indicated in a separate press release that it ” will work with its customers and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions in the coming days “.
0:05 a.m .: Blinken visits Moldova amid an influx of Ukrainian refugees
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Moldova on Saturday to show US support for this country overwhelmed by a wave of refugees from Ukraine, The small country also fears falling under threat from Moscow, because fractured by a pro-Russian dissident region, Transnistriaon the western border of Ukraine.
Some analysts believe that this territory could be used as a rear base in the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of refugees have poured into Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, straining its social services.
The war has given new impetus to Moldova’s hopes of joining the European Union. The government officially submitted a request to join the bloc of 27 on Thursday, along with Georgia, another former Soviet republic.