War in Ukraine: what to remember from the fourteenth day of the Russian invasion

Europe 1 with AFP 07:12, March 09, 2022

THE ESSENTIAL

On the fourteenth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians were able to flee the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, where Russian forces promised a new truce on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after their invasion in that country, which has already caused hundreds of deaths and millions of refugees.

The United States rejects the offer of Polish Mig-29

The United States, while continuing its discussions with Poland, considered that Warsaw's proposal to deliver its MIG-29 planes to the American army and then hand them over to Ukraine is not "viable", said said the Pentagon spokesman on Tuesday.

Poland said on Tuesday that it was ready to "move all its MIG-29 planes without delay and free of charge to the Ramstein base (in Germany, editor's note) and make them available to the United States government".

Security risks in Chernobyl 

Systems for remotely monitoring nuclear materials at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine have stopped transmitting data to the International Atomic Energy Agency (AEIA), it said on Tuesday.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA - the United Nations nuclear watchdog - "indicated that the remote transmission of data from the safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had been cut off", the IAEA said in a statement.

Washington fears

The United States said on Tuesday it feared that Russian forces could "take control" of "biological research" structures in Ukraine and seize sensitive materials.

"Ukraine has biological research facilities, and we are actually now quite worried about the possibility of Russian forces trying to take control of them," said the number three of the American diplomacy, Victoria Nuland, during a parliamentary hearing.

5,000 civilians evacuated from Sumy

More than 5,000 people have been evacuated so far from the city of Sumy, located 350 km northeast of Kiev, said Wednesday the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quoted by Ukrainian media. .

In Mariupol, a major strategic port on the Sea of ​​Azov (southeast), some 300,000 civilians remained stuck, however, according to Kiev, which accuses the Russians of not respecting the humanitarian corridor.

The Russian army announced a new humanitarian truce for Wednesday morning.

Russian oil and gas: Biden orders an embargo

President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he had ordered an embargo on US imports of Russian oil and gas.

This decision was taken “in close coordination” with the allies of the United States, he specified.

The United Kingdom will, meanwhile, stop imports of Russian crude oil and petroleum products by the end of 2022, the government has announced.

Zelensky promises to fight "to the end"

"We will fight to the end," Volodymyr Zelensky told Britain's parliament.

The Ukrainian president was speaking by video link, during an intervention aimed at obtaining more support for his country after the Russian invasion.

In an interview broadcast by the American channel ABC, Volodymyr Zelensky also affirmed that he no longer wanted to insist on obtaining Ukraine's membership of NATO, one of the questions which officially motivated the Russian invasion.

He says he is ready for a "compromise" on the status of the separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, whose independence Russian President Vladimir Putin has unilaterally recognized.

Sale of foreign currencies suspended in Russia

The sale of foreign currencies will be suspended in Russia until September 9, the country's Central Bank announced in a statement on Wednesday, hit by unprecedented Western sanctions due to Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Nord Stream 2 "dead", according to Washington 

The controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, targeted by retaliatory measures taken by Berlin and Washington after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is “dead” and cannot be “resurrected”, says a US official on Tuesday.

Investigations into possible Russian crimes

German justice has launched an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Shortly after, the Spanish courts announced the opening of an investigation into "serious violations of international humanitarian law" resulting from Russia's "unjustified act of war" in Ukraine.

Support on Airbnb

Tens of thousands of users of the Airbnb tourist rental site have booked accommodation in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, not to get there but to help the local population.

On March 2 and 3, 61,000 nights were booked in the country, representing a total of nearly $2 million, a spokesperson for the company told AFP on Tuesday.