The United States will announce on Wednesday a new envelope of 800 million dollars to help Ukraine deal with Russian forces, which are tightening their grip despite new talks between kyiv and Moscow, described by the Ukrainian president as “more realistic “.
US President Joe Biden is to make this announcement after a video speech by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky before the United States Congress. “In total, the president has authorized two billion dollars in security since the start of the Biden administration,” a White House official said.
Mr. Zelensky is due to speak at 1:00 p.m. GMT before American parliamentarians, who regularly urge President Biden to toughen his tone against Russia.
The Ukrainian president should once again call for the establishment of a no-fly zone over his country, a measure supported by several elected members of Congress, but which the American president has so far rejected.
“Imagine your cities bombarded, surrounded,” Mr. Zelensky launched on Tuesday before Canadian parliamentarians, again calling for this no-fly zone.
American elected officials from both camps are also urging Joe Biden to facilitate the delivery of Polish Mig-29 planes to Ukraine, which Washington has opposed a definitive refusal.
“The Russians have already killed 97 children” by bombing “schools, hospitals, homes”, Mr. Zlensky had again affirmed in front of the Canadian deputies who cheered him on their feet for several minutes.
– “Dangerous moment” –
Despite these calls for help, Russian fire against several Ukrainian cities intensified on Tuesday, especially in kyiv, which is experiencing a “dangerous moment”, according to its mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Long queues formed during the day in front of supermarkets, with locals stocking up.
“We are holding on,” assured one of them, Vlad Volodko, 26. kyiv, which Russian forces are trying to surround, has been emptied of at least half of its 3.5 million inhabitants since the start of the conflict on February 24.
At least four people were pulled dead and around 40 others rescued alive from an apartment building in a western kyiv neighborhood of Svyatoshin after a Russian strike sparked a fire, local authorities say .
In Mariupol, another martyr city in southeastern Ukraine, the situation remains dramatic, but some 20,000 civilians were able to leave this port city on Tuesday in 4,000 cars, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
All described a grueling journey during which they were forced to drive off the road to avoid Russian troops and checkpoints, in constant fear of enemy fire.
– “Charred car” –
“As we were moving we saw a charred car. The soldiers told us it had exploded with a woman inside after hitting a mine an hour before we got there,” Mykola said. , who fled Mariupol with his wife and two children.
Russia is expanding its offensive to the whole of Ukraine, now also targeting the West.
After strikes on a military base near Poland on Sunday, a strike on Monday against a television tower near Rivne (northwest) left 19 dead, according to local authorities on Tuesday.
In this context of intense strikes, negotiations between Moscow and kyiv, which began on Tuesday, should resume on Wednesday, in the hope of stopping the carnage.
The Ukrainian president brought some hope on Tuesday, judging that the positions were now “more realistic”.
However, he acknowledged, “still more time is needed for decisions to be in Ukraine’s interest.” He also made a gesture towards Moscow, saying he was ready to renounce any membership of his country in NATO, a casus belli for Russia.
Not enough to bend Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, according to a press release published after his meeting on Tuesday with the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
During this conversation, Mr. Putin “stressed that kyiv does not show serious commitment to finding mutually acceptable solutions”, according to this press release.
– Turkish mediation –
Mediation efforts by Turkey, a member of NATO but which refused to join in the sanctions against Moscow, are also continuing. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu is in Moscow, where he will hold talks on Wednesday, then will travel to Ukraine on Thursday to seek a ceasefire, according to Ankara.
Westerners also want to reaffirm their unity and their commitment alongside Ukraine. An extraordinary NATO summit devoted to the conflict is scheduled for March 24 in Brussels, as well as a summit of EU leaders.
Joe Biden will go there to reaffirm the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to its allies, according to the White House.
And, unable to intervene militarily, they continue to toughen their sanctions.
The European Union will deprive Russian oligarchs of luxury sedans, champagne and other high-end items, via a fourth package of sanctions that came into force on Tuesday. The UK followed suit, adding punitive vodka tariffs and additional asset freezes.
– Counter-sanctions –
Moscow responded with counter-sanctions targeting Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several members of their governments.
Russia is also seeking to advance a “humanitarian” draft resolution before the UN Security Council, which could be put to a vote on Thursday.
The Russian text, obtained by AFP, expresses the “deep concern” of the Security Council “at reports of civilian casualties, including children, in and around Ukraine”.
As it stands, it is unlikely to garner the necessary votes. This text which “does not call for an immediate end to hostilities” is “a joke”, reacted a Western diplomat on condition of anonymity.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver its verdict on Wednesday in a procedure launched by kyiv, which asks the highest court of the UN to order Moscow to immediately stop its invasion of Ukraine.
In almost three weeks of war, more than three million people have fled Ukraine, mostly to Poland, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Including 1.4 million children, or “practically one child per second”, according to Unicef.
burx / ob / elm