The essential
- Russian authorities accuse Ukraine of carrying out an airstrike against an oil depot in western Russia. The Ukrainian government has not confirmed being behind the attack.
- Red Cross teams had to turn back on Friday as they headed for Mariupol to begin evacuating civilians. Another attempt is scheduled for today.
- More than 3,000 people were exfiltrated from besieged Mariupol. “ The humanitarian corridors functioned in three regions: Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporozhye. We managed to save 6266 people, including 3071 from Mariupol,” according to the Ukrainian President.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke again with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on Friday, asking him to continue his efforts for a humanitarian operation in Mariupol.
- The Russians have left the Chernobyl plant. They were likely exposed to radiation, according to Ukrainian authorities.
11:15
Moscow customers attached to Auchan
Auchan is one of the Western brands that have chosen not to withdraw from the Russian market. In a shopping center on the outskirts of Mocsou, where many shops have lowered the curtain, customers claim their attachment to Auchan, which plays a discount store role on site. “The prices here haven’t gone up too much,” said a customer. More details in our report.
11:05
Marriage agencies face an influx of requests
Several marriage agencies have to deal with a recent influx of applications for Ukrainian women. While some men are well-meaning, many requests are not at all serious or even dangerous. More details in our article dedicated to this subject.
10:55
More and more bad numbers
The Ukrainian Minister of Economy anticipates a decline of 16% in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2022 and 40% over the whole year, in forecasts echoed by the Guardian. Recent data instead predicted a 20% decline in GDP for the whole of 2022.
10:40
Iraq exports oil like never for 50 years
The amount of Iraqi oil exports was at its highest in March since 1972, that is to say for 50 years. Second exporting country of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), Iraq exported “100,563,999 barrels for sales amounting to 11.07 billion dollars (10.02 billion euros), or the highest income ever since 1972”, explains the Ministry of Petroleum.
10:20
New European sanctions in sight
The European Union is preparing to take new sanctions against Russia. But they will not concern the energy sector, explains the European Commissioner for Energy, Paolo Gentiloni. He adds that, if the prospect of a recession is excluded for the moment, the war in Ukraine will cause a drop in economic growth on European territory.
10:05
Shell can’t buy Russian gas
The Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell finds itself unable to buy Russian gas, even in roubles. This is the result of sanctions taken by the United Kingdom against Gazprombank, the bank of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, which the European Union has not done. In remarks taken up by the Russian agency Tass, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, explains that the United Kingdom “wants to be at the forefront of everything that is anti-Russian, even more than the United States. United. Here are the side effects. »
09:45
Seven humanitarian corridors planned today
A total of seven humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians must be set up during the day, said Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk, in remarks relayed by the Reuters agency. Among these is the one that must allow civilian vehicles to leave Mariupol.
09:30
Two airfields destroyed
The Russian news agency Ria assures that the strikes which took place overnight in Dnipro and Poltava targeted two military airfields. They would have been destroyed or at least rendered inoperative, according to the Russian side.
09:10
Gathering in Paris
A rally in support of Ukraine is organized, Place de la République, in Paris, at 3 p.m. Ukrainian MPs will be present.
08:50
Depardieu tries to satisfy everyone
Actor Gérard Depardieu, who has also had Russian nationality since 2013, took the stage on Friday evening for the first of three concerts where he covers songs by Barbara and donates the profits to help Ukrainian victims. The one who denounced Thursday the “crazy excesses” of the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, spared the goat and the cabbage. “We had to apologize for the theater because they couldn’t stand it, so I wrote a letter”, he said before changing the lyrics of a song: “But the children are the same/In Paris or in Mariupol”. More details in our article.
08:30
Shelling in the east and in the center
The Russians shelled towns in the east and center of the country during the night. Dnipro, Poltava and Kremenchuk were targeted. In Dnipro alone, at least ten explosions were heard. In the other two cities, infrastructure and residential buildings were targeted. The English-language media The Independent Kyiv explains that no information on injuries is available.
08:10
Rapeseed instead of Ukrainian sunflower
A few kilometers from Dole (Jura), in an industrial area of Rochefort-sur-Nenon, 700,000 pizza bases or pies, puff pastry, broken or shortbread, leave the factory of the bakery dough manufacturer Cérélia, a large of the sector which has factories in Europe, the United States and Canada. The eight production lines deliver 80 doughs per minute, for which the manufacturer largely uses sunflower oil, “80% imported from Ukraine”. For the moment, “there is no plan to reduce activity”, affirms the president of Cérélia, Guillaume Réveilhac, questioned by AFP
In the storage room at 14°C, bricks of solid fats are packaged in colored bags to differentiate between rapeseed and palm oil. The green pile, that of the sunflower, pales in comparison. “In two weeks, there won’t be any left at all”, estimates Chen-Liang Qian, the plant manager, “and we will have switched completely to rapeseed”.
08:00
China claims not to circumvent Western sanctions
China is not “deliberately” circumventing Western sanctions against Russia, she said, following a warning from the European Union that any support will harm its economic relations with Europe. Beijing, the Chinese capital, opposes sanctions against Russia and considers them counterproductive. Chinese companies are, however, cautious in their dealings with Russia, for fear of being hit by these sanctions.
A close partner of Moscow, the Russian capital, China has so far refrained from condemning the Russian invasion, contenting itself with calling on all parties to exercise restraint.
07:40
Update on the latest military developments
– The Russians are “continuing their partial withdrawal” from the northern region of kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, towards the Belarusian border, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
– In this same area, the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka, south of Chernihiv, were taken over by Ukrainian troops. In the east, “Russian forces have failed to take any territory for 24 hours,” according to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
– The Ukrainians claim to have liberated 11 localities in the Kherson region (south).
– 86 Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged for Russian soldiers.
07:20
Volodymyr Zelensky rejoices
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is delighted that 3,000 people have been able to reach Zaporozhye from Mariupol. “Humanitarian corridors have worked in three regions: Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporozhye. We managed to rescue 6266 people, including 3071 from Mariupol,” he says in a video.
07:08
Bus column with residents of Mariupol arrives in Zaporozhe
A column of buses carrying displaced people, including residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, arrived in Zaporozhye, a city controlled by the kyiv army, on Friday evening, AFP noted. . The buses were carrying residents of Mariupol who had managed to reach the city of Berdyansk, occupied by Russian forces, where they had been picked up by the convoy, according to testimonies from arrivals and official officials. Arriving in the suburb of Zaporozhye, some evacuees wept with relief to be back in Ukrainian territory.
Several evacuees from Mariupol said they had to walk 15 kilometers or more to leave the city, before finding private vehicles to continue their journey.
07:00
Ceasefire mission in Moscow for a UN leader
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Britain’s Martin Griffiths, will be in the Russian capital Moscow on Sunday to try to secure a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Ukraine, the government announced on Friday. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.
“He will be in Moscow on Sunday and after he will go to kyiv”, the Ukrainian capital, the UN Secretary General told some journalists, recalling that he had recently given him the mission of “seeking a cease-fire”. humanitarian fire in Ukraine”.
06:55
More than 3,000 people fled Mariupol region
More than 3,000 people fled the bombed region of Mariupol, by bus and private cars, in the direction of Zaporozhye, announced the Ukrainian authorities. Most left from Berdyansk. On the other hand, the Red Cross announced that the team sent to Mariupol had to turn back, its plan to evacuate thousands of civilians from this city besieged by Russian forces being “impossible”. A new attempt will take place today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Emmanuel Macron to try “to obtain from Russia the necessary conditions for a humanitarian operation” in this city, during a new interview, said the French presidency.
06:52
The Pentagon announces an additional $300 million in military aid
The Pentagon will provide up to $300 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, or about 270 million euros, the spokesman for the US Department of Defense announced in a statement on Friday.
“The United States has now committed more than $2.3 billion (about 2.1 billion euros) in military assistance to Ukraine since the Biden administration took office, including more than 1, 6 billion (about 1.45 billion euros) in military aid since the unprovoked and premeditated invasion by Russia”, specifies John Kirby.
06:50