Eastern Ukraine, now a priority target for the Kremlin, has called on its civilian population to flee the looming fighting, despite new “devastating” US sanctions against Russia.
Russian forces on Wednesday bombed several localities in eastern Ukraine, including Severodonetsk or Rubizhne, killing at least one person, denounced on Wednesday evening the governor of the Lugansk region (east), still under Ukrainian control, Serguiï Gaïdaï .
“I’m asking people to evacuate, because we clearly see that before going on the all-out offensive, the enemy is just going to completely destroy all these places,” he said when interviewed by a television channel. Ukrainian. “Please go” while there is still time, he insisted.
“We have nowhere to go, it’s been like this for days,” a resident of Severodonetsk, Volodymyr, 38, told AFP on Wednesday as he watched a burning building. “I don’t know who this war is for, but we are under the bombs…”
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk also appealed from Kyiv on Wednesday for residents of the east of the country to evacuate the region “immediately”, due to fears of a major Russian army offensive on Donbass (east). ) which Russia has now made its number one target.
We must leave “now” on pain of “risking death” in the coming days, she also insisted. If the Russian army launched a major attack in the region, “we could no longer help” the population, she warned.
“We must evacuate as long as this possibility exists. For the moment, it still exists,” insisted Ms. Verechchuk, who has coordinated the organization of humanitarian corridors since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
– A hell –
At least two buses chartered by the authorities evacuated a few dozen people, mostly elderly, on Wednesday.
Pavlo Kirilenko, governor of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, assured Wednesday that the population was beginning to respond to evacuation calls. “They are listening. The road (for the evacuation) is more borrowed,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
The Ukrainian authorities fear in the east of the country a situation similar to that of Mariupol in the south, where thousands of people still stuck in this besieged and bombarded city for weeks, are living through hell.
A convoy of seven buses and about 40 private vehicles under the protection of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrived on Wednesday from southeastern Ukraine to Zaporozhye (south), noted an AFP journalist. .
“Those who were part of the convoy had managed to flee Mariupol”, explained the Red Cross, whose one of the teams responsible for helping to evacuate civilians had been “detained” by the police on Monday in a locality under Russian control. , then forced to turn back.
– “No water, no electricity” –
“These people have really lived through the worst,” ICRC spokeswoman Lucile Marbeau told AFP.
“We hear people saying that they had to leave Mariupol on foot. Over there, in Mariupol, there is still no food, no water, no electricity.”
“There was very heavy shelling. That’s why we were delayed,” said one of the evacuees, Iryna Nikolayenko, who was able to force her way out of this port city during a break in the fighting. .
“A week ago, conservative estimates put the death toll at 5,000,” Mariupol City Council wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
“But given the size of the city, the catastrophic destruction, the length of the blockade and the fierce resistance, there could be tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Mariupol,” he warned.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Russia of blocking humanitarian access to Mariupol to hide the “thousands” of victims in this city.
“I think one of the main reasons why we can’t get humanitarian aid into Mariupol is that until everything is ‘cleaned up’ by the Russian soldiers, they’re afraid the world will see what’s going on there,” Zelensky said in an interview with Turkish television channel Habertürk.
Russia has been accused of “war crimes” after the discovery of dozens of bodies in several localities near kyiv, including Boucha, after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“What is happening is nothing less than major war crimes. Responsible nations must come together to hold those responsible to account,” US President Joe Biden said in Washington on Wednesday, pledging ” to stifle for years” the economic development of Russia.
– “Devastating” –
The United States announced on Wednesday a new round of economic and financial sanctions against Russia, which it describes as “devastating” and which notably target the big banks and the daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Washington, Russia could see its economy collapse by some 15% this year.
In addition to banning all new investments in Russia, a measure known since Tuesday, the American executive will impose the most severe constraints on the essential public bank Sberbank and the largest private bank in the country, Alfa Bank .
And in Europe, European Council President Charles Michel said on Wednesday that the EU should “sooner or later” impose sanctions on Russian oil and gas.
Several European countries very dependent on Russian gas, Germany in the lead, are however very reluctant to such a measure which would heavily penalize their economies.
Risk of default, collapse of the automotive sector, inflation … After weeks of increasingly harsh sanctions, the Russian economy is starting to crack, according to data published on Wednesday.
For Timothy Ash, analyst of Blue Bay Asset, “Putin impoverishes Russia for years”.
The conflict shows no signs of weakening. NATO discussed the issue at a meeting of foreign ministers in Alliance member states in Brussels on Wednesday.
“War can last a long time, several months or even years. And that’s why we have to be prepared for a long journey in terms of supporting Ukraine, maintaining sanctions and strengthening our defences”, declared in opening its secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
burx-ob / elm