“Preliminary” agreement has been reached on an evacuation corridor for civilians from Mariupol with Russia, Kiev announces

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09:12 † It’s time to create a new reminder of the most important titles:

• This is the highlight of this interim round: Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron debate tonight. Themes, running order, duration… We describe everything you need to know about this meeting†

† A few hours after the debate, some are still undecided. Others have already made their choice. We give the floor to those who know who to vote for on Sunday. The Emmanuel Macron voters explain themselves here† that of Marine Le Pen over there†

• Kiev claims an agreement has been reached to set up an evacuation corridor for civilians from Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that has been devastated and under siege. Follow the situation in our live†

• The application is now “very likely”† The Finnish parliament begins to debate NATO accession to better protect itself against possible Russian aggression.

09:02 : As Russia launched a massive offensive in eastern Ukraine, locals describe uncertain everyday life. In Severodonetsk, in the Donbass, “you’re going to get bread and you don’t know if you’re coming back”† they tell france info† “Coincidentally, I saw bodies that had been lying there for two or three days. No one had picked them up”says Yura, a 43-year-old Ukrainian.

(GILLES GALLINARO / RADIO FRANCE)

08:39 † “We managed to reach a preliminary agreement [avec les Russes] on a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly”Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says on Telegram.

08:22 † Kiev says agreement has been reached to set up an evacuation corridor for civilians from Mariupol, a destroyed and besieged port city in southern Ukraine.

06:21 : One thing is certain: the city of Mariupol has been destroyed. “What I can say is that my neighborhood is like the whole city: in ruins”† found with franceinfo Sergei, 32 years old.

(ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP)

06:15 : To try and see it more clearly, we explained in this article last week, Why Taking Mariupol Is A Strategic Issue For Russia†

(ILYA PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)

06:13 : Yesterday, Russia called on the remaining defenders of the city of Mariupol, a port city in the south of Ukraine, to “pointless resistance”† Moscow promised “save life” to Ukrainian fighters entrenched in the Azovstal compound if they surrender. Serguiy Volyna, commander of the 36th brigade of the national navy, says he is right to defend “a point – the Azovstal factory – where, in addition to the army, there are also civilians who have been victims of this war”†

06:08 † “Maybe we are living our last days, even our last hours.” In a post on Facebook, Serguiy Volyna, a commander of the National Navy’s 36th Brigade, under siege in Mariupol, is calling on the international community for help. “The enemy is ten times more numerous than we are (…) We are calling and begging all the leaders of the world to help us. We are asking them to use the extraction procedure and take us to the territory of a third country,” he continues.

06:06 † Let’s start with a first reminder of the titles:

• It’s the big day of face-to-face. Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron debate tonight. We have summarized: the rules, the topics covered and the way in which the two candidates prepare. To put all this into perspective, let’s look back at the history of these debates, and their importance in the end result†

• Jean-Luc Mélenchon, third in the first round, called on the French to “choose him prime minister” by appointing a majority of the deputies of the People’s Union in the parliamentary elections. He claims to be open to all rallies but wants to keep his program.