• 6 a.m.: Bombing of Kramatorsk station: HRW accuses the Russian army of "war crime"

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday accused the Russian army of a "war crime" in the missile attack on the train station in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, which in April 2022 killed a sixty civilians seeking to flee the region.

"The evidence clearly indicates that the missile that killed and injured civilians at Kramatorsk railway station was launched from Russian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. This attack violates the laws of war and an apparent war crime,” writes HRW in this investigation, carried out with the visual investigation agency SITU Research.

The NGO adds that it has identified as "possible place of launching the attack" the village of Kounié, in the Kharkiv region, then under Russian control.

  • 5:46 a.m .: Biden and Putin speeches promise two opposing views of the conflict

In Warsaw and Moscow, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are preparing to give speeches in the form of a duel on Tuesday, February 21, promising two radically opposed points of view on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the day after the surprise visit. of the American president in Kiev.

From the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Joe "will make it clear that the United States will continue to support Ukraine...for as long as it takes," according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby , who spoke to reporters last week.

Joe Biden is due to meet President Andrzej Duda and other Polish leaders, who are among Ukraine's main European supporters, in Warsaw.

He will meet on Wednesday the leaders of the group of "Nine from Bucharest", from the former communist bloc that joined NATO, which are Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.

He must also speak by telephone with the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the White House said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in Washington on March 3.

In Moscow, Vladimir Putin is also due to deliver a major annual speech to the Russian political elite on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin.

This will be his first speech since the start of his military operation, according to the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

  • 2:57 a.m .: China “very concerned” about the conflict in Ukraine, calls for “promoting dialogue”

China is "very worried" about the conflict in Ukraine, which is "escalating and even getting out of control", calling for "promoting dialogue", Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday.

"We will continue to promote peace dialogue... and work with the international community to promote dialogue and consultation, address the concerns of all parties and seek common security," he added during the meeting. a conference in Beijing.

  • 1:19 am: Belarus wants to train more than 100,000 volunteer soldiers

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Monday that he had ordered the formation of a new national defense troop made up of volunteers so that everyone knew how to "handle weapons" and be ready to respond to a possible act of aggression and maintain public order in times of peace.

"The situation is not simple. I have said it more than once: every man - and not only men - must be able to at least handle weapons," the leader told a meeting of its Security Council.

"This is to protect at least his family, if necessary, his house, his piece of land, and, if necessary, his country," he continued.

While he authorized Moscow, an ally of Minsk, to use Belarus as a rear base to send Russian soldiers to Ukraine last year, Alexander Lukashenko has regularly assured that his army would fight only if the country was attacked.

However, he also said that Ukraine's "experience" made it necessary to have additional defense personnel.

Defense Minister Viktor Khrenine said the territorial defense force would be made up of 100,000 to 150,000 volunteers, or even more if needed.

The goal is, ideally, for each village or town to have paramilitary troops.

According to official data, the Belarusian army last year had some 48,000 soldiers and about 12,000 border officers.

With AFP and Reuters

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