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

Europe 1 with AFP 07:06, March 11, 2022

THE ESSENTIAL

Airstrikes fell on civilian areas on Friday, killing one person in Dnipro, central Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian emergency services, a city spared so far from Russian forces.

Early in the morning, "there were three airstrikes in the city, hitting a kindergarten, an apartment building and a two-storey shoe factory where a fire then broke out. One person died" , Ukrainian relief said in a statement.

Russian tanks at the gates of Kiev 

The Russian army is trying to eliminate Ukrainian defenses in several localities west and north of Kiev to "block" the capital, the Ukrainian general staff said Thursday night.

In the south-east of the country, troops from Moscow are concentrating their efforts on the ten-day besieged port city of Mariupol and on Severodonetsk.

Failure of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations

The heads of Russian and Ukrainian diplomacy failed Thursday to agree on a ceasefire in Ukraine during their first meeting since the start of the Russian army offensive.

Sergei Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba stuck to their guns during their talks in Antalya (Turkey).

The Ukrainian minister said his Russian counterpart had assured him that Russia "will continue (its) aggression until we accept its demand to capitulate".

But Ukraine "will not surrender", he claimed.

US aid of 14 billion 

The US Congress adopted a new federal budget on Thursday which includes a staggering envelope of nearly $14 billion for the Ukrainian crisis.

The text includes an economic and humanitarian component, but also arms and ammunition for Kiev.

These funds are, among other things, supposed to allow Ukraine to protect its electricity network, fight cyberattacks and equip itself with defensive weapons.

Moscow announces humanitarian corridors to Russia

The Russian Ministry of Defense promised Thursday the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians fleeing the fighting to reach its territory, "every day from 10:00 a.m.", while Kiev calls for corridors allowing the evacuation of civilians inside Ukraine.

Zelensky accuses Moscow of an "attack" on a humanitarian corridor

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday accused the Russian army of preventing the evacuation of civilians from the encircled cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha (southeast) and of carrying out an attack on the planned route of a humanitarian corridor.

Bombed hospital: "staged" for Moscow

The Russian army on Thursday described as "staged" by Ukrainian "nationalists" the strike having targeted the day before a maternity hospital and a pediatric hospital in the surrounded city of Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine.

This attack, which left three people dead, including a young girl, sparked a wave of international condemnation.

G7 call to increase gas and oil deliveries

The G7 countries on Thursday called on gas and oil producing countries to "increase their deliveries" to cope with rising energy prices and the risk of shortages linked to the invasion of Ukraine.

Towards new sanctions

The United States and its European allies are considering imposing additional sanctions on Russia, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday, referring to "atrocities" against civilians that "appear to be intensifying".

Nuclear: Moscow and Kiev ready to discuss (IAEA)

Ukraine and Russia are "ready" to discuss to guarantee the security of Ukrainian nuclear sites, each day more compromised by the war, declared Thursday the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

An announcement that comes as Kiev "lost all communication" with the Chernobyl power plant.

Washington plans to send more surface-to-air weapons

The United States said on Thursday that Ukraine did not really need fighter jets to counter Russian attacks, but considered providing it with more surface-to-air defense systems.

"When we analyze the destruction sown by the Kremlin on regions of Ukraine, it is essentially due to missiles", "to rockets", "to artillery fire", declared the spokesman of the American diplomacy Ned Price.

"Planes are not best placed to eliminate these weapons."

IMF to lower global growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund will lower its forecast for global growth because of the war in Ukraine, its managing director Kristalina Georgieva announced on Thursday, warning that a default by Russia was no longer "improbable".

Facebook: no deletion of content hostile to the Russian army

Facebook announced Thursday to make exceptions to its policy on violent and hateful content, by not deleting messages hostile to the army and Russian leaders.

"We continue to not allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," he added.