The last:
- The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia meet with Zelenski in Kyiv.
- The OSCE report claims “clear models” of violations of international humanitarian law by Russian forces.
- Russia claims that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in Mariupol.
- The Kremlin says Biden’s description of Russia’s actions as “genocide” is “unacceptable.”
- What questions do you have about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Send ask@cbc.ca an email.
The presidents of four countries on Russia’s doorstep visited Ukraine on Wednesday and stressed their support for the affected country, where they saw badly damaged buildings and demanded responsibility for what they called war crimes committed by Russian forces.
The visits of the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were a strong show of solidarity on the part of the leaders of NATO’s eastern flank countries, three of which, like Ukraine, were once part of the Soviet Union. They traveled by train to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and visited Borodyanka, one of the cities near Kyiv, where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the east. On the side.
“The fight for Europe’s future is happening here,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, calling for tougher sanctions, including against Russia’s oil and gas supplies and all banks in the country.
Elsewhere, in one of the most important battles of the war, Russia said more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered to the besieged port of Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces are being held in the city’s pockets. The information cannot be verified.
Russia invaded on February 24 in order, according to Western officials, to seize Kyiv, overthrow the government and establish a Moscow-friendly regime. In the seven weeks since, the offensive has stopped and Russian forces have potentially lost thousands of fighters – and the war has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee, shaking the world economy, threatening global food supplies and upsetting the balance of post-Cold War Europe.
On the left, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Estonian President Alar Karis, Latvian President Egils Levits and Polish President Andrzej Duda stand with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal in Kyiv on Wednesday. (Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania / Reuters)
More weapons for Ukraine
A day after calling Russia’s actions in Ukraine “genocide,” US President Joe Biden approved $ 800 million in new military aid to Ukraine, saying Western weapons have sustained Ukraine’s battle so far and “we can’t rest now.” . Weapons include artillery systems, armored personnel carriers and helicopters.
Appearing with Zelenski in a richly decorated room at Kyiv’s historic Mariinsky Palace on Tuesday, European leaders – Nauseda, Estonian President Alar Karis, Poland’s Andrzej Duda and Latvia’s Egils Levits – reaffirmed their commitment to Ukraine’s political support and the transfer of military help.
“We know this story. We know what Russian occupation means. We know what Russian terrorism means,” Duda said, adding that those who committed war crimes, as well as those who gave the orders, must be held accountable.
“If someone sends planes, if someone sends troops to shell residential neighborhoods, to kill civilians, to kill them, this is not a war,” he said. “This is cruelty, this is banditry, this is terrorism.”
WATCH The challenges of proving genocide:
Is Russia committing genocide?
Rebecca Hamilton, an associate professor at American University, explains why the legal definition of genocide can be a challenge, even if images and stories from Ukraine are consistent with war crimes. 2:42
Putin is defending the attack on Ukraine
An expert report commissioned by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe identified “clear models of [international humanitarian law] violations by Russian forces in the conduct of hostilities. “The report was written by experts selected by Ukraine and published on Wednesday by the Vienna-based organization that promotes security and human rights.
The report says there have been violations by Ukraine, but concludes that those committed by Russia “are much larger in scale and nature.”
Ukraine has previously acknowledged that there may be “isolated incidents” of violations and said it would investigate.
A woman cries after boarding a bus to leave Severodonetsk on Wednesday. The war forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP / Getty Images) A firefighter is working to put out a fire after a shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday. (Andrew Marienko / Associated Press)
However, Putin denied that his troops had committed atrocities, saying on Tuesday that Moscow had “no choice but to invade” and that the offensive was aimed at protecting people in parts of eastern Ukraine and “ensuring Russia’s security”. He promised that “it will continue until the completion and fulfillment of the set tasks”.
He insisted that Russia’s campaign was on track despite a major withdrawal after its forces failed to capture the capital and suffered significant losses.
Following these setbacks, Russian troops are now preparing for a major offensive in the eastern Donbass region, where Russia’s allies and Ukrainian forces have been fighting since 2014 and where Russia has recognized separatists’ claims to independence. Military strategists say Moscow believes local support, logistics and terrain in the region favor its larger, better-armed army, potentially allowing Russia to finally turn the situation around.
The battle for Mariupol continues
A key element of this campaign is Mariupol, which is in Donbass and which the Russians have been hitting almost since the beginning of the war. Adviser to Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter that the city’s defenders have no provisions, but “are fighting under the bombs every meter of the city.”
PHOTOS Inside the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol:
The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General. Igor Konashenkov said 1,026 servicemen from Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade had surrendered in the city. It was not clear when this happened or how many forces were still defending Mariupol.
According to the BBC, Aiden Aslin, a British soldier in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, called his mother and a friend to say that he and his comrades had no food, ammunition or other supplies and would surrender.
Russia’s state television aired on Wednesday what it said was from the port city, showing dozens of men in camouflage outfits walking with their arms raised and carrying others on stretchers or chairs. A man held a white flag on a stick in one hand and the handle of a stretcher in the other. In the background was a tall industrial building with broken windows and a missing roof, identified by the television operator as Ilyich’s metalwork.
Another Zelensky adviser, Alexei Arestovich, did not comment on the request for capitulation, but said in a Twitter post that elements of the same brigade had managed to contact other Ukrainian forces in the city as a result of a “risky maneuver”.
WATCH Hospital in Lviv for the treatment of wounded civilians:
A hospital in Lviv treating civilians wounded in Russian attacks
The United Nations says 2,558 civilians have been injured since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. A hospital in Lviv helps treat civilians arriving from all over the country. 3:25
He claims that Russia used a poisonous substance
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar said the country was investigating an allegation that a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on the city. She said phosphorus munitions may have been used in Mariupol.
Phosphorus munitions are not officially classified as chemical weapons, but they cause horrific burns and deliberately firing phosphorus munitions indoors to expose people to fumes could violate the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Mark-Michael Bloom, a former laborer. in Holland. based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
WATCH Chemical Weapons Fear Expert:
It is difficult to determine whether Russia has used chemical weapons, says an expert
Although it will be difficult to determine whether Russia has released a poisonous substance over Mariupol if chemical weapons are used, they are likely to continue to be used in larger quantities, said former Assistant Secretary of Defense Andrew Weber. 5:27
Biden said lawyers needed to decide whether Russia’s behavior met international standards for genocide, but said “it must seem so to me.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted that “there are official trials over the definition of genocide”, but added that Biden used the term: “I think it is absolutely right that more people” [are] we are also talking about the word genocide in relation to what Russia and Vladimir Putin are doing. “
“The way they target Ukrainian identity and culture are all war crimes that Putin is responsible for,” Trudeau said.
French President Emmanuel Macron declined to use the word, but said “it has been established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army”.
“We need to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” he told France-2 television.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it strongly disagreed with Biden’s description of Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide.
“We consider this kind of effort to distort the situation unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The bodies were exhumed and removed from a mass grave on the territory of the church of St. St. Andrew and St. Peter’s Day in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday. (Sergey Supinski / AFP / Getty Images)
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