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War in Ukraine: Russian boycott of the Security Council, Odessa in the sights... the point on the 70th day of the conflict

2022-05-04T06:55:49.687Z


The Ukrainians fear that the great port of Odessa, already the scene of a deadly attack on Monday, is among Moscow's objectives.


Russian troops begin their 70th day of combat on Ukrainian soil.

And do not seem to deviate from their objective, that of continuing their offensive in the East, but also on the largest port in the country, Odessa, the scene of a deadly attack on Monday.

After the almost complete destruction of Mariupol, the prospect of an intensification of Russian attacks on this other port city worries the Ukrainians.

We take stock of the situation.

The offensive continues in the East, concern for Odessa

Russian troops continue their offensive in the East.

They would have launched missiles in several regions of the country, including those of kyiv, Odessa, Donetsk or Lviv, with the aim of “destroying the transport infrastructure of Ukraine”, according to the staff of the Ukrainian forces.

Some 21 civilians died and 27 were injured in the Donetsk region on Tuesday, the heaviest daily toll since the strike on Kramatorsk station that left 57 dead, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

But all eyes turn even further south, to the great city of Odessa.

Ukrainians fear that this major port is among Moscow's objectives, especially since a Russian general claimed that the offensive in Ukraine was aimed at establishing a corridor from Russia to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, which would pass through Odessa.

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: 5 minutes to understand the situation in Transnistria

More than a hundred civilians evacuated

After the assault by Russian forces on the Azovstal factory, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, the evacuation of civilians continued.

On Tuesday, the UN announced that it had succeeded in evacuating more than a hundred survivors from this steelworks, where dozens of others, entrenched in the immense underground galleries of this enormous metallurgical complex, have been living in hell for weeks.

A total of 156 civilians were reportedly evacuated and arrived in Zaporizhia, a city under Ukrainian control 230 km northwest of Mariupol, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday evening.

A family evacuated from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol arrives at a registration area in Zaporizhia on May 3, 2022. Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP AFP or licensors

A new evacuation operation is scheduled for Wednesday, “if the security situation allows it,” insisted Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

However, nothing says that the conditions will be met after the announcement Tuesday by the Russian forces of their attack, launched after weeks of intense bombardments.

The EU is preparing an oil embargo

The conflict is bogged down while sanctions are increasing on the Russian giant.

This Wednesday again, the European Union intends to launch the examination of a new component penalizing Moscow, including an embargo on oil and petroleum products purchased from Russia.

This measure, however, raises reservations among some EU countries, which are highly dependent on Russian deliveries, noted several European officials and diplomats.

The European Commission is proposing a gradual shutdown of European purchases over a period of six to eight months, until the end of 2022, with an exemption for Hungary and Slovakia.

These two countries, landlocked and totally dependent on deliveries by the Druzhba pipeline, will be able to continue their purchases from Russia in 2023, said a European official.

But this derogation is problematic, because Bulgaria and the Czech Republic also want to benefit from it.

Russia to boycott Security Council meeting

It's an unusual gesture.

Proof of a further deterioration in relations between Moscow and part of the international community, Russia decided to boycott, this Wednesday, a meeting of the UN Security Council with the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the 'European Union.

A Western diplomat said he had no recollection of a Russian boycott of a Security Council meeting since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Will this empty chair policy penalize the Security Council?

The American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose country holds the presidency, assured the media that the Security Council continued to function normally.

She had even estimated that this United Nations body had even "Experienced extraordinary success" in having "succeeded in isolating Russia" since the end of February.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2022-05-04

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