War in Ukraine LIVE: Joe Biden receives the Swedish and Finnish leaders at the White House this Thursday…

Refresh

Show highlights only

THE ESSENTIAL

• Joe Biden meets this Thursday morning, at the White House, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

  The two Nordic countries have just begun the process of joining NATO by submitting their formal application.

• Fighting continues at the Azovstal factory in the port of Mariupol.

  The Russian Ministry of Defense says that “959 (Ukrainian) fighters, including 80 wounded, have taken themselves prisoner” since Monday.

  According to a pro-Russian separatist leader, a thousand members of the Azov regiment are still hiding there.

  Ukraine gave the same figure, but last week.

• Investigations by Ukrainian authorities and foreign bodies, including the International Criminal Court, are ongoing into the numerous accusations against Russian troops of abuses and war crimes.

  A trial opened on Wednesday in kyiv against a Russian soldier accused of a war crime.

TO HAVE

TO READ

World

War in Ukraine: Closed for three months, the United States embassy reopens in kyiv

World

War in Ukraine: Between hooligans or "neo-Nazis", who is swelling the ranks of the Azov battalion?

6:46 am: Joe Biden receives the Swedish and Finnish leaders this Thursday

NATO will be at the heart of discussions at the White House today.

Joe Biden will indeed receive, this Thursday morning, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

The objective is to show the support of the United States for these two Nordic countries which submitted their formal candidacy for the Atlantic Alliance on Wednesday.

6:40 a.m .: The UN tries to stem the world food crisis

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on Russia to free Ukrainian grain exports, and on the West to open access for Russian fertilizers to world markets, so that they can effectively tackle the global food crisis. .

"Alternative transport routes" to the maritime exit of these cereals, filling in particular silos in Odessa, "can be explored, even if we know that this will not be enough to solve the problem", he explained.

At the same time, "Russian food and fertilizers must have full and unrestricted access to world markets."

These fertilizers are also not subject to the Western sanctions decided against Moscow, but Russia has decided to stop their export.

Their purchase by foreign countries may also be blocked by the measures taken against the Russian financial system.

The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, for his part specified that “22 million tons” of grain were in silos in Ukraine, just waiting to be exported.

The United States has decided to release "an additional $215 million" for the fight against food insecurity, he further announced.

6:33 a.m .: Washington is working to expand NATO to Finland and Sweden

The United States on Wednesday showed determined support for Finland and Sweden's NATO membership application, working to overcome Turkish opposition.

“I warmly welcome and strongly support the historic candidacies of Finland and Sweden,” said Joe Biden.

He said he "looks forward to working with the US Congress and with our NATO allies to quickly bring Finland and Sweden into the strongest defense alliance in history."

The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken mainly met on Wednesday in New York with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to try to unblock the situation with Ankara.

"We want to overcome differences through dialogue and diplomacy," assured Mevlut Cavusoglu, seeming to leave the door open to a solution.

He also described this meeting as “extremely positive”.

Hello and welcome to this live.

Like every day, the editorial staff of

• World

• War in Ukraine

• Video

• Russia

• NATO

• Volodymyr Zelensky

• Vladimir Poutine