War between Ukraine and Russia DossierOn the 115th day of the conflict, the President of Ukraine visited the port city of Mykolaiv, which is very close to the front line. The Russians continue their relentless offensive in the Donbass.
In summary :
– President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday welcomed Brussels’ support for Ukraine’s EU candidate status, “positive news” for his country. He went to Mykolaiv in the south of the country this Saturday.
– Moscow is gradually curbing its gas supplies to Europe. France has not received any since Friday and shipments to Germany and Italy have fallen.
– Two key cities for control of Donbass, Severodonetsk and Lysytchansk, are suffering the brunt of the fighting. In the latter, four people were killed on Friday in a rocket attack on the “Maison de la Culture” where residents of the city had taken refuge.
6:59 p.m
The head of EU diplomacy points to the “danger of starvation” emanating from Russia. The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell this Saturday accused Russia of bringing the world into starvation by blocking grain exports from Ukraine and restricting its own exports. Josep Borrell condemned “Russia’s deliberate political decision to militarize grain exports and use them as a tool of blackmail against anyone who resists its aggression” in Ukraine. Threats to food security will be the focus of EU foreign ministers’ discussions in Luxembourg on Monday.
4:48 p.m
Five civilians killed and 12 injured in bombings in Donetsk, pro-Russian forces say. Five civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in Ukrainian shelling in Donetsk in Ukraine’s separatist east on Saturday, pro-Russian local authorities said in a statement. “Five people were killed and 12 others were wounded in Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) as a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces,” announces the employee of the local authorities in the press release published on Telegram.
1:10 p.m
Volodymyr Zelensky in Mykolayiv for a rare visit from Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a visit to the town of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine on Saturday for the first time since the Russian invasion. A very rare trip outside of the capital Kyiv since the beginning of the conflict. A video released by the Ukrainian Presidency shows him inspecting a badly damaged apartment building and holding meetings with local officials. Mykolaiv, a port and industrial city, is still under Ukrainian control but is close to the Russian-held Kherson region. It remains a Moscow destination as it is on the route to Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port.
12:59 p.m
German authorities are investigating numerous possible war crimes. “So far we have received hundreds of tips in this direction,” said Holger Münch, President of the Federal Office of the German Criminal Police Office (BKA). Her investigations focus not only on the perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine, but also on the military and political leaders of those crimes. “This is the most difficult part of our investigation, a complex jigsaw puzzle,” says the officer. “Our clear goal is to identify those responsible for atrocities, prove their actions through our investigations, and bring them to justice,” including in Germany, which applies universal justice that allows certain crimes to be tried there, independently of where in the world they are. But “it can take time” because the investigation into the war in Ukraine is only “at the very beginning”, admits Holger Münch.
12:30 pm.
Sievierodonetsk under stifling pressure from Russian troops. “Now the fiercest fighting is taking place near Sievierodonetsk. The Russians do not fully control the city,” said the governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, Serguii Gaïdaï, on Telegram this Saturday. “Fighting is very difficult in neighboring villages – in Toshkivska, Zolote. They try to break through but fail,” he says. Serguii Gaïdaï also reports “further destruction” at the Azot chemical plant in Sieverodonetsk, where hundreds of civilians have taken refuge. The governor also points out that Lysytchansk – a city under Ukrainian control separated from Sievierodonetsk by a river – is “heavily bombed”. “They can’t get close and so they just shoot at the city with airstrikes,” he said. The situation is “very dangerous in the city”.
11:05 a.m
In Kyiv, a crowd at the funeral of a Maidan figure killed in battle. Hundreds of people flocked to the gold-domed monastery of St. Michael in central Kyiv on Saturday to attend the funeral of a young Ukrainian militant who was killed in action in the east. Roman Ratouchny, who would have turned 25 in July, was a figure in the pro-European Maidan movement. He died on June 9 near Izium in the Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian forces have been battling the Russian army since their February 24 invasion. In a column published by the Washington Post, Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk was touched by his disappearance: “His loss confirms what everyone suspected: this war is consuming the best of our people.”
10:20 a.m
A Ukrainian doctor detained by the Russian army was released after three months in captivity. A Ukrainian doctor has been freed by Russian troops after three months in captivity. Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, was arrested on March 16 after secretly taking and providing journalists with images of the hospital where war wounded, including Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, were being treated, according to the Associated Press. “It’s such a great feeling of relief. My words may sound ordinary, but I don’t even know what to say,” her husband said.
9:35 a.m
Russians consolidate their hold on Snake Island. By using several defense systems, the Russian army managed to strengthen its position on Snake Island in the Black Sea. This indicates that, despite the threat posed by the new artillery systems and the launching of Ukrainian missiles, it does not want to give up this strategic point so easily.
8:38
US soldiers missing in Ukraine on Russian television. A Russian public television channel aired videos on social media this Friday evening of two Americans who had gone into combat as volunteers with the Ukrainian armed forces and had been missing for several days. US President Joe Biden had previously told the press that he did not know where the two men were, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, two former American soldiers whose relatives had not heard from them since last week. “Americans shouldn’t go to Ukraine,” he added. The US State Department has also reported information about the disappearance of a third US citizen “in recent weeks”. The Russian army also claimed that nearly 7,000 “foreign mercenaries” from 64 countries had entered Ukraine since the conflict began, and that nearly 2,000 of them had been killed.
8:22
The Ukrainian President welcomes the support from Brussels. Following the European Commission’s recommendation on Friday to grant Ukraine candidate status for the EU, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this Friday evening “waiting for a positive result” at the European summit that will decide on the issue on Thursday and next Friday. “This is the first step towards EU membership,” he said. Ukraine “deserves this positive news”, the Ukrainian President appreciated in his video intervention of the evening and hailed a “historic success of everyone who works for our state”. “Our rapprochement with the European Union is not only positive for us. This is the biggest contribution to the future of Europe in many years,” he added.