2023-04-25 14:34:53
The war in Ukraine He turns 425 days old this Monday. Fierce fighting continues in Bakhmut as the main point of clashes in Donbas, between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, stresses the importance of not giving up Bakhmut, since he believes that if it were to lose it, it would serve Russia to take over two other cities that it has longed for “for a long time”: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
The Russian authorities announce on Monday a suspension of maritime transport in the waters of the city of Sevastopol, located on the Crimean peninsula –annexed in 2014–, hours after air defense systems shot down two drones launched by Ukrainian forces into the cityalthough they have not confirmed if there is a relationship.
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tries to distance himself with his controversial statements about Ukraine and has defended that his government is working to “find peace”for which he has proposed bringing together several countries capable of maintaining contacts with both kyiv and Moscow.
On February 24, 2022, the President of Russia Vladimir Putinordered the Russian offensive in the country in what he called a “special military operation”.
Since then, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 20.6 million people have fled Ukraine, since the beginning of the Russian military offensive, which he considers to be the fastest exodus in Europe since World War II. That is, up to 50.3% of the population –estimated at almost 41 million in 2021– would have left Ukrainian territory.
According to him last report of Institute Study of War (ISW) (1) stresses that the forces continue “with ground attacks in and around Bakhmut, along the axis of the Avdiivka-Donetsk front and in western Donetsk Oblast“.
On the other hand, the ISW also claims that “geolocated images released on April 23 indicate that Ukrainian forces are operating in areas northwest of Oleshky on the east (left) bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast“, while the pro-Russian authorities in the area deny.
Also, the think tank American asserts that “a Belarusian military media outlet claims that Belarusian forces plan to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons at bases where mobile launch complexes were previously located before the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Belarus between 1993 and 1996“.
The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, has stressed the importance of not giving up Bakhmut, since he believes that if it were to lose it, it would serve Russia to take over two other cities that it has longed for “for a long time”: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
It is impossible for us to renounce Bakhmut,” the Ukrainian president stressed during an interview for the Arabic television channel Al Arabiya. According to Zelensky, this would help the Russians “expand” their battlefront, in addition to giving them the opportunity to seize more land.
At the same time, he has acknowledged that although he cannot describe the current situation as good, he has stressed that they are stronger now than a year ago, when the invasion began, partly thanks to the help of their partners.
In this sense, he has once again insisted on one of the arguments that Ukraine has been repeating since the outbreak of the war, that “Russia will not stop in Ukraine” and that this is something that “is already clear to everyone”.
Supporting Ukraine, he has assured, is “a cheap price” compared to what it would mean if Russia manages to win this war and go further. “We are close to victory,” Zelensky has shown himself confident, for whom his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is not fighting for his country but for his own life.
The Russian authorities have announced on Monday a suspension of maritime transport in the waters of the city of Sevastopol, located on the Crimean peninsula –annexed in 2014–, hours after the air defense systems shot down two drones launched by the Russian forces. Ukrainians against the city, although they have not confirmed if there is a relationship.
The Directorate for the Development of Transport Infrastructure has indicated that “maritime passenger transport is suspended”, without specifying the reasons, before noting that a land route has been activated to cover the affected transport, as the agency has collected. Russian news Interfax.
Hours earlier, the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, had indicated through his Telegram account that two drones had been intercepted at around 3:30 a.m. (local time). “According to the available data, one of them was destroyed and the other exploded on his account. Everything happened on an outside road, there is no damage,” he said.
The British Intelligence services stated at the end of March that the drone attacks against the Russian base in the city of Sevastopol, located in the Crimean peninsula, are “limiting” the operations of the Black Sea Fleet.
Sevastopol, due to its strategic location as it is home to the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, has been the target of several Ukrainian drone strikes. There has been a “yellow” alert level in Crimea since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has tried to distance himself from his controversial statements about Ukraine and has defended that his government is working to “find peace”, for which he has proposed bringing together several countries capable of maintaining contacts both with Kiev as with Moscow.
The Brazilian president went so far as to indirectly blame the European Union for the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, but from Lisbon he has insisted that his position basically involves “condemning the violation of territorial integrity.” Not talking about peace, he added, means “contributing to war.”
“We defend a political and negotiated solution to the conflict. We need to create a group of countries that sit at the table with both Ukraine and Russia to find peace,” he declared in an appearance with his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Lula has warned that “it is better to find a way out at a table than to continue trying to find it on the battlefield,” according to statements collected by the G1 portal. “To stop the war there has to be someone who speaks and Brazil is willing,” she declared.
The latest statements by the president of Brazil have made him a leading figure in relation to Ukraine, despite the fact that Latin American countries have been rather distant from the conflict. Both kyiv and Moscow have proposed an official visit to Lula, something that the Brazilian president has ruled out this Saturday.
The number of refugees who have crossed the border from Ukraine into the rest of Europe it continues to grow since the start of the war in Ukraine, unleashed by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
He United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 20.6 million people have fled Ukraine, since the beginning of the Russian military offensive, which he considers to be the fastest exodus in Europe since World War II. Up to 50.3% of the population –estimated at almost 41 million in 2021– would have left Ukrainian territory.
According to the latest UNHCR data (2), 20,636,096 people have left the Ukrainian territory as of April 18, 2023. By countries, 10.885.691 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived Poland (April 16th), 2.852.395 a Russia (October 3, 2022), 2.524.705 a Hungary, 2.240.464 a Romania (April 16th), 1.313.413 a Slovakia (April 16th), 802.705 a Moldavia (April 16) and 16.705 a belarus (April 11).
The High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 8.1 million Ukrainian refugees have already been registered on European territory, and that up to 5 million they would be in a situation of Temporary Protection, due to the Russian invasion of his country.
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