The region of Sumy, in the northeast of Ukraine, “liberated”
April 8 at 10:39 a.m. This is the good news of the morning. On the 44th day of the war in Ukraine, local authorities indicated on Friday April 8 that the region of Sumy, located in the northeast of the country, on the border with Russia, had been completely liberated. “If you hear explosions (and there have been many in recent days), these are rescuers who neutralize the ammunition left by the Russian army on our territory”, warned on Telegram the governor of the region of Sumy. Explaining that “there are many mined and unexplored areas”, he invited the population not to “roll[r] on the side of the roads” and not to “borrow[r] forest paths”.
The Russian ambassador to France summoned by Jean-Yves Le Drian after a controversial tweet
April 7 at 11:20 a.m. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the Russian Embassy in France split a new controversial and provocative tweet, since deleted, comparing the massacre of civilians perpetrated in the city of Boutcha, to a film set. We can see several journalists, some of whom take a picture of a cat lost in the middle of the rubble, with the carcass of an armored vehicle in the background.
“Faced with the indecency and the provocation of the communication of the Russian embassy in France on the abuses of Bucha”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian indicated, this Thursday, that he was going to convene the Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov. He also specified that France will continue “to fight against all Russian manipulation of information on the war in Ukraine”.
Faced with the indecency and provocation of the communication from the Russian Embassy in France on Bucha’s abuses, I decided to summon the Russian Ambassador to the Quai d’Orsay this morning.
— Jean-Yves Le Drian (@JY_LeDrian) April 7, 2022
At the UN, the Russian ambassador had already evoked a “staging” of the Ukrainians to evoke the corpses discovered in the streets of Boutcha, in the suburbs of kyiv. On Monday, France dismissed 35 Russian diplomats based in Paris, “whose activities are contrary to our security interests”, as the Quai d’Orsay had indicated.
kyiv calls on residents of eastern Ukraine to evacuate ‘now’
April 6 at 5:02 p.m. kyiv on Wednesday called on residents of eastern Ukraine to evacuate the region “now”, amid fears of a major and deadly offensive by the Russian army on Dombass, now the Kremlin’s priority target. , is becoming stronger. 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 Ukrainian 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.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the Russian army was strengthening itself to “take control of the whole of Dombass” and achieve “a land bridge with Crimea”, a region annexed by Russia in 2014.
The international community will initiate new sanctions against Russia
April 6 at 11:31 a.m. Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday castigated the “indecision” of European countries over the adoption of new sanctions against Russia, in a speech before the Irish Parliament, Westerners plan to harden their positions against Russia, this Wednesday, after the discovery of numerous corpses in Boutcha, near kyiv. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has declared that the European Union will have to take sanctions on Russian oil and gas “sooner or later”, denouncing the “crimes against humanity” perpetrated in Boutcha “and many other cities” in Ukraine. The European Commission proposed on Tuesday to tighten sanctions against Moscow, in particular by stopping their purchases of Russian coal, which represents 45% of EU imports, and oil, which represents 25%. She also wants to close European ports to Russian ships.
The Dutch customs authorities have already immobilized fourteen yachts in shipyards, including twelve under construction and two in maintenance. After France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Spain, Greece decided to expel twelve of the Russian diplomats. The United States also plans to adopt new sanctions on Wednesday, in coordination with the European Union and the G7, aimed in particular at prohibiting “all new investment” in Russia. In addition, through its Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States has declared that it will provide additional security assistance of 100 million dollars (91.8 million euros) to Ukraine. , which will notably include anti-tank systems.
Volodymyr Zelensky before the UN
April 5 at 5:36 p.m. As the bombardments continue in southern and eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Tuesday 5 April before the UN Security Council, meeting in New York, after the global shock wave caused by the discovery of numerous corpses of civilians in the city of Boutcha, where Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre. The Ukrainian president returned to the various abuses committed in Boutcha: “The Russians committed summary executions there, shot women, tortured, all for pleasure”. He described “civilians being tortured and killed at point-blank range in the streets”, others “had their tongues torn out”, “parents saw their children die, parents were killed in front of their children”, he said. – he added, still before the UN Security Council. “Mass massacres have become the signature of the Russians”, lamented Volodymyr Zelensky, considering that “the worst crimes since the end of the Second World War”.
The Ukrainian president directly attacked the UN Security Council: “Where is the Security Council, where is the peace in the name of which the UN was created? This organization is supposed to fulfill its function, stop the aggressors” he launched, “The UN today authorizes this aggressor to propagate death” he added. Volodymyr Zelensky has called on UN members to hold Russia “responsible” for “war crimes” in Ukraine.