Russia is accused of “freezing” and “forced displacement” of the Ukrainian population.
Lhe United States accused Russia of wanting to “freeze” the population of Ukraine due to its lack of forces on the battlefield this winter, as Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he was continuing to relocate residents of the southern region of Kherson in the face of pressure from Kyiv’s military. .
Ukraine condemned the policy of “deportation” to the east of the territory under Russian control, even to Russia itself, and called the international community to bear witness to it.
Second, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who asked Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G7 meeting in Münster to use his “influence” in the Kremlin on the same day, stepped up his efforts to force Moscow to stop its offensive. Germany) reiterated its permanent support to Kyiv.
Foreign ministers from seven industrialized countries have agreed to create a “coordination mechanism” to help Ukraine “repair and protect” power and water facilities that have been hit by Russians in recent weeks.
It will also be a question of delivering water pumps, heaters, housing containers, toilets, beds, blankets or tents.
Because Russia is trying to anticipate its military defeats in Ukraine by “freezing” its inhabitants in the coldest months, targeting the vital infrastructure to subdue this country, according to the G7, American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will strengthen its activities in Ukraine to enable farmers to continue producing crops despite the conflict.
“Forced Mass Displacements”
The Russian president, who was in Red Square for the Day of National Unity, did not deviate from his usual rhetoric.
“By continuously supplying Ukraine with weapons and sending mercenaries there,” the West “gives priority to its geopolitical goals, which have nothing to do with the interests of the Ukrainian people.”
And it is “also to weaken, divide, destroy Russia,” Mr. Putin insisted.
Regarding the continuation of the evacuation of the population from the south of Ukraine, he stressed that “those currently living in Kherson should be removed from the most dangerous war zones.”
“The Russian occupation administration has started the forced mass resettlement of the residents of this region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said and confirmed that “similar resettlement is being carried out in Zaporizhzhia (southern), Luhansk and Donetsk (eastern) provinces. As in Crimea.”
Last week, the Russians announced the relocation of 70,000 residents of Kherson and its region to the left bank of the Dnieper River, where Moscow has better control of the situation.
But the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that these population movements were continuing at a rate of “more than 5,000” people a day.
“Flan”
However, a villager in Arkhangelsk, where the region was recently captured by Ukrainian troops and still bears traces of fierce fighting – bloody Russian uniforms on the streets, debris and the smell of corpses wafting from some buildings – said a villager. welcomed the Ukrainian soldiers as heroes.
“The soldiers hugged me so tightly that I felt like they were my own children,” Tamara Propokiv, 59, said through tears.
Anatoly Maïstrenko and Antonina Voitsechko, a nurse turned smuggler during the Russian occupation, said they helped smuggle more than 2,000 civilians into Ukrainian-held territory, ferrying them across the river under bombs. ingoulets, in rubber boats.
Vladimir Putin even boasted of exceeding the goal of mobilizing reserve troops in Red Square to stop Ukraine’s military dynamics.
“We already have 318,000 people” and “volunteers continue to come. The number of volunteers is not decreasing,” the Russian head of state cheered.
Relatives of Russian soldiers told AFP about the “chaos” of this mobilization on September 21.
A woman named Tatiana, whose nephew was recruited in Krasnogorsk at the beginning of October, said, “We are only shown flan on television. It feels like the decision to mobilize was made suddenly and no one was ready for it.”
Thousands of Russian men have also left their country for fear of being mobilized, and the Wagner paramilitary group, which has a strong presence in Ukraine, opened its first official headquarters in St. Petersburg in northwestern Russia on Friday.
“Urgent need” for air defense
On the diplomatic level, during Olaf Scholz’s visit to Beijing, Germany and China jointly expressed their opposition to any idea of a nuclear strike, while Moscow has repeatedly voiced this threat.
The G7 countries joined this warning, condemning “Russia’s unacceptable nuclear rhetoric” in their final communique.
The West also continues to provide comprehensive military assistance to Ukraine: the United States will finance the modernization of T-72 tanks and HAWK surface-to-air missiles in a program worth about $400 million.
“At this critical time when Russia and Russian forces are raining down Iranian missiles and drones on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, we recognize the dire need for anti-aircraft defense,” Ukraine’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in Kiev on Friday. US President Joe Biden.
04/11/2022 21:09:32 – Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2022 AFP
