Emmanuel Macron is expected in Romania on Tuesday to greet the 500 French soldiers who have been deployed on a NATO base since the invasion of Ukraine before a support visit to Moldova and a possible trip to kyiv.
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Highly anticipated for weeks, his visit to Ukraine could soon take place in the company of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, according to media in Berlin and Rome.
Information not confirmed by the Elysée, which specifies that “
nothing has been acted
” at this stage.
“
Terrifying human cost
”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily address Monday evening, called the "
human cost
" of the Battle of Sieverodonetsk "
terrifying
".
"
The Battle of Donbass will surely go down in military history as one of the most violent battles in Europe
", supported the Ukrainian president.
The capture of this city would give Moscow control of the Lugansk region and open the way to another large city, Kramatorsk, capital of the neighboring region of Donetsk.
An essential step to conquer the entire Donbass basin, an essentially Russian-speaking region partly held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. of 500 civilians, including 40 children, and affected sewage treatment plants in the city.
“
We are trying to negotiate a humanitarian corridor
” for civilians, “
so far without success
”, he said on his Telegram account.
In Lysytchansk, three civilians, including a six-year-old boy, died in shelling over the past 24 hours, he said.
And in Donetsk, pro-Russian separatist authorities said four people were killed and 22 injured in "
massive
" shelling by Kyiv forces.
Food export restrictions
Two UN leaders on Monday called on WTO member countries not to impose restrictions on food exports to avert the risk of a global food crisis posed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
This open letter is signed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of UNCTAD, the UN trade and development body.
"
The war in Ukraine is inflicting terrible suffering on the Ukrainian people and has increased the risk of hunger and starvation for tens of millions of people who are on the verge of becoming or are already food insecure,
" they said. written for the Ministers of the member countries of the World Trade Organization meeting this week in Geneva.
They ask them to "
refrain from imposing export restrictions on essential foodstuffs purchased by least developed countries and by net food-importing developing countries, as well as on those purchased by the World Food Program from humanitarian purposes
”.
The war in Ukraine has heightened concerns for global food security as the country's Black Sea ports are blocked, preventing Ukraine, one of the world's breadbaskets, from exporting its produce.
Ukrainians expelled from Sieverodonetsk
Ukrainian forces admitted on Monday that they had abandoned the center of Sieverodonetsk, following a new Russian offensive on this key city in eastern Ukraine, which the two belligerents have been fighting over for weeks.
“
With artillery support, the enemy stormed Sieverodonetsk, achieved partial success, and pushed our units back from the city center.
Hostilities are continuing
,” the Ukrainian general staff said Monday morning.
Sergei Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region - of which Sieverodonetsk is the administrative center for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities - confirmed that the Ukrainian forces had been pushed back from the center.
"
The street fighting continues...the Russians continue to destroy the city
," he wrote on Facebook, posting photos of devastated buildings in flames.
According to the pro-Russian separatists fighting with the Russians in this region, the last Ukrainian divisions in Sieverodonetsk are now "
blocked
", after the destruction of the last bridge which allowed to reach the neighboring city of Lyssytchansk.
“
They have two possibilities (..), surrender or die
,” said Édouard Bassourine, spokesperson for the separatists.
Sergiï Gaïdaï estimated that 70 to 80% of the city was controlled by Russian forces.
But "
it's a lie to say that they surround the whole city
", he told Radio Free Europe.
New mass grave near Boutcha
In northern Ukraine, three Russian missiles hit the town of Prylouky, and four villages were ordered to evacuate for fear of fires sparked by shelling, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday.
"
The information about the destruction is being clarified
," Cherniguiv region governor Vyacheslav Chaous added on Telegram.
No details were provided on the targeted infrastructure at Prylouky, which houses a military airfield.
kyiv police announced the discovery of seven bodies on Monday in a new mass grave, near Boutcha, a locality near the capital where the corpses of civilians had been found after the withdrawal of the Russian army at the end of March.
“
Seven civilians were tortured by the Russians and then cowardly executed with a bullet in the head
,” Kiev police chief Andriï Nebytov said on Facebook, adding that “
several victims had their hands tied and their knees tied
. ” .
Cluster bombs
In a report published on Monday, Amnesty International accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying hundreds of civilians had died in relentless attacks on Kharkiv (northeast), carried out in particular with cluster bombs.
After an in-depth investigation, the NGO says it has found evidence of the use by Russian forces, in seven attacks on neighborhoods of Ukraine's second city, of 9N210 and 9N235 cluster bombs and mines dispersion, two categories prohibited by international treaties.
25% less arable land
On the diplomatic level, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen admitted on Sunday that the Twenty-Seven remained divided on the question of granting Ukraine the status of candidate for EU membership.
“
The challenge (will be) to come out of the European Council (scheduled for June 23 and 24) with a united position that reflects the enormity of these historic decisions
,” she said, as the Commission must deliver a first opinion. on this issue by the end of the week.
For their part, the Member States of the World Trade Organization (WTO) met on Sunday in Geneva in the hope of helping to find a solution to the risk of a serious food crisis that the invasion of Ukraine, whose fertile lands traditionally feed hundreds of millions of people around the world.
To read alsoChantal Delsol: “
“Do not humiliate Poutine”, always think about it, never talk about it
”
Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land due to the Russian occupation of certain regions in the south and east, its agriculture ministry announced on Monday.
But "
the structure of the crops sown this year is more than sufficient to ensure consumption
" of the Ukrainian population, said the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Taras Vysotskiï, during a press conference.
