LIVE – War in Ukraine: what to remember from Sunday 17 April

Will Mariupol fall? This strategic port in southeastern Ukraine has been the target of continuous bombing raids since the beginning of the invasion by Russian forces, who ordered the last defenders of the city to lay down their weapons, on the 53rd day of the conflict.

The capture of the city, which could be imminent, would allow the Russians to consolidate their coastal gains along the Sea of ​​Azov by linking the Donbass region, partly controlled by their supporters, with the Crimea that Moscow annexed in 2014 .

>>> Follow the news live from Sunday 17 April:

3:50 PM – Zelensky says he invited Macron to go to Ukraine to see the existence of a “genocide”

The Ukrainian president claimed to have invited Emmanuel Macron to go to Ukraine to see for himself that Russian troops are committing “genocide”, a term his French counterpart has so far refused to use. “As for Emmanuel, I spoke to him,” President Zelensky said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN held Friday and aired today. “I think he wants to make sure that Russia enters into a dialogue,” he added, explaining the French leader’s refusal to denounce a “genocide” in Ukraine, unlike the president. of the United States Joe Biden. “He’ll come, and he’ll see, and I’m sure he’ll understand. †

TAPPER: “Do you want President Biden to come here?”

ZELENSKY: “Yes.”

TAPPER: Are there any plans for him to come?

ZELENSKI: “I think so.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/oTMk7e4Xd8

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 17, 2022

The Ukrainian president also says he wishes Joe Biden to come to Ukraine. “I think he will come”, “but the decision is his, of course it depends on the security situation,” he said. “But I think he’s the leader of the United States and that’s what he needs to come and see. The US government is considering sending an envoy to Kiev, but the White House has so far ruled out a risky trip from the president himself.

15:48 – Defenders of Mariupol “will fight to the end” says Ukrainian prime minister

The last Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol still control parts of the city and they “will fight to the end,” Denys Chmygal said in an interview broadcast on US channel ABC on Sunday.

“No, the city did not fall. Our forces, our soldiers are still here. They will fight to the end. As I speak to you, they are still in Mariupol,” the Ukrainian Prime Minister assured.

14:55 – 5 dead in series of attacks on Kharkiv

At least five people have been killed and 13 injured in a series of attacks on Kharkov, a major city in northeastern Ukraine, emergency services said. AFP journalists heard two bursts of gunfire and saw five fires spread through residential areas in central Kharkov. Fire trucks crisscrossed the city in all directions to reach the burning apartments.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with nearly 1.5 million pre-war inhabitants, was the target of fierce fighting for several days at the start of the offensive, but always remained under the control of Ukrainian troops.

14:11 – France wants “as close as possible to Ukrainian needs” according to the ambassador in Kiev

The reopening of the French embassy in Kiev on Friday is “a very strong political symbol” for Paris, which wants to be as close as possible to Ukraine’s military, defensive and logistical needs, the French ambassador to Ukraine said in an interview with AFP.

For Etienne de Poncins, this decision is “a response to a request from the President” [Volodymyr] Zelensky”. “With our return to Kiev, we are closer to this chain of solidarity with the Ukrainians, which is more effective in responding to their demands,” he said. The diplomat is due to meet with the Ukrainian defense minister this Sunday, Oleksii Reznikov, on Kiev’s “most concrete needs” in terms of military aid.

12:21 PM – Lthe Pope calls for “hearing the cry of peace” on this “Easter of war”

Pope Francis called on “those in charge of the nations” to “hear the cry for peace from the people” in this “Easter of war”, referring to the “tortured” Ukraine. “We have seen too much blood, too much violence” […] Let’s stop showing muscles while people suffer,” the sovereign Pope said during his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing before some 50,000 faithful in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

10:32 – Draghi deplores the ineffectiveness of dialogue with Putin

The head of the Italian government deplored the apparent ineffectiveness of the “dialogue” with Vladimir Putin, noting that these contacts did not prevent the “terror” from continuing in Ukraine. “I’m starting to think that those who say, ‘There’s no point in talking to him, you’re wasting time’ are right,” Mario Draghi said in an interview with the daily Il Corriere della Sera, published on Sunday.

“I have always defended (Emmanuel) Macron and I continue to say that as the current president of the EU he is right to try all possible avenues of dialogue. But I have the impression that the horror of the war with its massacre, with what they did to children and women, is completely independent of statements and phone calls” between the Kremlin and foreign powers, he said.

10:20 am – LRussia claims to have “destroyed” a military factory near Kiev

The Russian defense ministry has announced it has bombed a military factory on the outskirts of Kiev as Moscow intensifies its attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

“Overnight, aircraft-launched high-precision missiles destroyed a munitions factory near Brovary in the Kiev region,” the ministry said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

9:55 a.m. – Lack of agreement with Russians, no humanitarian corridor this Sunday, according to Kyiv

Ukrainian authorities have announced the suspension of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from eastern Ukraine, amid lack of agreement with the Russian military on the ceasefire.

“This morning we failed to negotiate a ceasefire on evacuation routes with the occupiers. That is why, unfortunately, we are not going to open humanitarian corridors today,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

9.15am – Gazprom says it will continue to export gas to Europe via Ukraine

The Russian gas producer announced in a press release that it will continue to supply Europe with natural gas via Ukraine in line with the demand from its European customers. These needs for April 17 were 57 million cubic meters, Gazprom added.

7.30am – New sanctions against Russia will target Sberbank, says von der Leyen

The next sanctions the European Union will impose on Russia will target banks, in particular Sberbank, as well as oil, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told a German newspaper. The EU has spared Russia’s largest bank for the time being because it, along with Gazprombank, represents one of the main payment channels for Russian oil and gas, which the bloc countries buy despite the conflict in Ukraine.

“We are looking more at the banking sector, especially Sberbank, which represents 37% of the Russian banking sector. There are also energy issues,” Ursula von der Leyen told Sunday’s Bild am Sonntag, asking her to explain the main points of the new sanctions.

06:32 – “Inhumane” situation in Mariupol, which the Russians claim to have largely under control

The situation in this strategic port is “inhumane,” the Ukrainian president declared on Saturday evening, calling on the West to “immediately” deliver the heavy weapons he has been demanding for several weeks, while Russia claims to have almost the entire city under control. and makes another call to his last defenders to lay down their arms.

“The situation in Mariupol remains as serious as it gets. Just inhumane,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message. “That’s what the Russian Federation did. Did it consciously. […] Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone in Mariupol’, in southeastern Ukraine.

According to him, there are only “two options”: “Either the partners provide Ukraine with all the necessary heavy weapons, the planes and, without exaggeration, immediately” to “reduce the pressure on Mariupol and lift the siege”. city ​​inhabited by 441,000 people before the invasion on February 24.

“Either the way of negotiation, in which the role of partners must also be decisive,” continued the Ukrainian president, who said that the search for a “military or diplomatic” solution has been a “daily” activity since the start of the blockade. but proved “extremely difficult”.

06:08 – Explosions heard in Kiev

Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday, local media reported. Warning sirens sounded all over Ukraine at night.

>>> The highlights of the evening and the day before:

> Oil refinery bombed in eastern Ukraine

Russian troops on Saturday attacked an oil refinery in Lyssychansk, a town near the frontline in eastern Ukraine. “In the morning they bombed the oil refinery, a fire broke out […] and the extinction continues at the moment,” the Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region said on Telegram.

“The Russians are systematically targeting her to exhaust the rescuers. There’s no fuel there. Only hydrocarbon residues burn,” he added. The refinery is located about four kilometers west of the city of Lysychansk.

† One dead in bombing of a military factory in Kiev

Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that one person had been killed and “several” hospitalized after the bombing of a military factory in Darnytsky district. “Our air defense forces are doing their best to protect us, but the enemy is cunning and ruthless,” he wrote.

He again called on residents who left the city not to return, but to stay in a “safe place”. For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it had attacked a military equipment factory in Kiev, claiming to have attacked it using “high-precision and long-range air-to-ground weapons”.

> Boris Johnson banned from Russia

Russia has announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and British Foreign, Defence, Economy and Justice ministers have been banned from entering the country. A decision taken after London imposed new sanctions on Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine.

“This step was taken in response to the rampant media and political campaign to isolate Russia internationally and create the conditions for […] strangle the national economy,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.