At the dawn of this 57th day of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, several hundred people, including children, are still… entrenched in the Azovstal steel factorythe last island of resistance in the besieged city of Mariupol† In addition to civilians, the soldiers of the Azov battalion resisted the incessant bombardments of the Russian air force as best they could.
The Russian army continues its attack, Thursday 21 April 2022, in this port on the Sea of Azov, on the south side of Donbass, but also in the province of Luhansk. According to the governor of this oblast Serguii Gaïdaï, the area is now 80% in the hands of Russian troops.
The point on the day of Wednesday, April 20, 2022.
In the southwest of the country, the port city of Mykolaiv was heavily shelled from Wednesday to Thursday. Various images, including this video shared by the Australian media News tickerbear witness to the violence of this bombing of buildings in the city center.
Ukraine offers Russia talks for Mariupol. at
Ukrainian negotiators presented on Wednesday conducting special talks, without preconditions, with Russia in Mariupolwith the aim of enabling the evacuation of civilians and soldiers.
Through Twitter, Mykhailo Podolyak expressed his willingness to hold talks regardless of their format – one-on-one or with larger delegations.
For its part, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky separately requested to receive him to discuss measures intended to restore peace.
Heavy accusations against the Red Cross over the fate of Ukrainian refugees
A Ukrainian official on Wednesday criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for not cooperating with her country in the plight of Ukrainian refugees in Russia, suspecting that it “partner in crime” by “deportations”† These allegations were vigorously rejected by the ICRC.
“The ICRC is not fulfilling its mandate” about the people she believes were forcibly evacuated to Russia by the Russian army, Lioudmyla Denissova, responsible for human rights in the Ukrainian parliament, launched on Ukrainian television. “I suspect they are accomplices” from Russia, she continued, after speaking with an official from the ICRC’s Ukrainian branch on Wednesday.
Ukrainian authorities regularly accuse the Russian army of forcibly bringing Ukrainian citizens into Russia.
$24 billion in aid for Ukraine
The finance ministers of G7 member countries joined with the international community on Wednesday to announce an additional $24 billion in aid for Ukraine in 2022 and beyond, adding that they stand ready to do more if needed. .
Ministers deplored Russia’s participation in several international fora, including meetings of the G20, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “International organizations and multilateral forums should no longer do business with Russia in the usual way”‘ said a press release.
Some ministers left the plenary or turned off their screens to protest the presence of Russia.
Russian bank Transcapitalbank and a network of oligarchs sanctioned by Washington
The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced sanctions against Russian bank Transcapitalbank and a massive network surrounding oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, which was allegedly used to evade penalties against Moscow.
The measures taken against Transcapitalbank are intended to prevent this private institution from accessing global financial networks by prohibiting US institutions and individuals, as well as those with operations in the United States, from doing business with it.
The US Treasury Department has also blacklisted a large network of about 40 people (including Mr. Malofeev) and entities accused of facilitating sanctions evasion, as well as several Russian companies involved in cryptocurrency mining. mining.
In turn, the US State Department has banned visas for more than 650 people, mostly Russians, but also Belarusians and Ukrainian separatists.
