Faced with the terrible images coming from Boutcha, of corpses of civilians strewing the streets of the city, after the withdrawal of Russian troops on April 1, Western countries have hardened their tone against Moscow. When Joe Biden denounces “major war crimes” committed in Ukraine since the launch of the Russian invasion on February 24, eight European countries have opened national investigations to shed light on these crimes perpetrated by the Russian army. In addition, new sanctions have been taken by Western countries, and the daughters of Vladimir Putin have been targeted by Washington.
“Major war crimes” according to Biden
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday denounced “major war crimes” by referring to “bodies left in the streets after the Russians withdrew” and “civilians executed in cold blood” in Boutcha, near kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously described the discovery of these corpses as a “gross and cynical provocation” by the Ukrainian authorities. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia is blocking humanitarian access to Mariupol (southeast) to conceal the “thousands” of victims of this besieged city. Vladimir Putin has not given up his will to seize all of Ukraine and the war risks lasting “months, even years”, warned for his part the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg.
New sanctions against Russia
The United States has announced a new series of “devastating” sanctions against Russia, targeting the big banks and the children of Vladimir Putin. The United Kingdom has announced a ban on all British investment in Russia and imposed sanctions in the banking and energy sectors.
Vladimir Putin’s two daughters, in their thirties, are on a new European Union sanctions blacklist being scrutinized by representatives of the Twenty-Seven which includes more than 200 names of men and women in ‘business. They were sanctioned on Wednesday by the United States. The U.S. Treasury identified the two women as Katerina Tikhonova, “a tech executive who supports … Russia’s defense industry,” and Maria Vorontsova, who heads a state-funded genetics research program Russian and “supervised personally by Putin”.
Macron denounces the “scandalous” criticism of the Polish Prime Minister
Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday described as “unfounded” and “scandalous” the criticisms of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on his telephone conversations with Vladimir Putin concerning the war in Ukraine.
“Mr President Macron, how many times have you negotiated with Vladimir Putin, what have you obtained? We don’t debate, we don’t negotiate with criminals, criminals must be fought,” the prime minister said on Monday. Pole, member of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) in power in Warsaw. “No one negotiated with Hitler. Would you negotiate with Hitler, with Stalin, with Pol Pot”, he added, accusing certain European leaders of “procrastination” and “wooden language”.
kyiv calls on residents of eastern Ukraine to evacuate ‘now’
kyiv on Wednesday called on residents of eastern Ukraine to evacuate the region “now” due to fears of a major and deadly offensive by the Russian army on the Donbass, now a priority target of the Kremlin.
The regional authorities “call on the population to leave these territories and do everything to ensure that the evacuations take place in an organized manner”, declared Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, quoted by the Ministry of Integration on Telegram. She added that it had to be done “now” or risk “death” in the coming days. If the Russian army launched a major attack in the region, “we could no longer help” the population, she warned, “because it would be practically impossible to stop the fighting”.
Ukrainian soldiers trained in the United States in the use of killer drones
A small group of Ukrainian soldiers who were in the United States before the Russian invasion of Ukraine are being trained in the use of the Switchblade killer drones that Washington provides to kyiv, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Orban addresses Putin
Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced that he has proposed to Vladimir Putin, to whom he is close, to “declare an immediate ceasefire” and to hold talks in Budapest with Ukrainian, French and German leaders. “He said yes, but with conditions,” he said without further details.
EU stockpiles medicines
The European Union has announced the creation, for 540 million euros, of a stock of medicines and equipment intended to deal with nuclear, bacteriological and chemical emergencies. Three million iodine tablets have already been delivered to Ukraine.