Evacuation of civilians on bomb target?
After the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration announced new humanitarian corridors in Enerhodar, Sumy, Mariupol, Volnovaha, Izium, Vorzel, Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpen, Gostomel, the civilian population could be evacuated with the partial observance of the ceasefire agreement.
Acting head of Poltava Regional State Administration Dmytro Lunin said that two evacuation stages were successfully completed in Sumy as 5,000 persons and 1,000 private cars left safely. Another 12 buses and 100 cars from Enerhodar, Dnyprorudnyi and Vasylevka arrived in Zaporozhe. More than 1,000 people came from Enerhodar.
David Arahamia, of the ruling party, stated that 40,000 women and children were evacuated during one day from all the corners of Ukraine. Slovakia on March 9 introduced daily train routes for Ukrainian refugees.
“Russia’s war against Ukrainian children”
Amid today’s evacuations, the Russian troops attacked a maternity hospital in Mariupol, fully destroying the building. Children and pregnant women remained stuck under the debris. Seventeen persons were reportedly hurt.
Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said this is Russia’s war against the Ukrainian children. According to her, more than 60 children died in the war so far.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the atrocity and asked again for a no-fly zone. Boris Johnson promised Putin will be held accountable for his terrible crimes.
Young people trapped by unjust war
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukrainian, Russia continues the draft on the pretext of drilling in Crimea and Donbas and stepped up the conscription of volunteers for the war in Ukraine.
Under the pressure of evidence provided by Russian prisoners in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Russia admitted that conscript soldiers talked part in the “military operation” in Ukraine. These are now being withdrawn from the combat zone.
The Ukrainian press reported that Russia can engage up to 800 service members of the unrecognized Transnistria in the war in Ukraine.
What Americans believe about Russians
CIA chief William Burns said Putin is not crazy, but his increasing isolation and insulation from conflicting views make him “extremely difficult to deal with”.
“He was confident that he had modernized his military and they were capable of quick, decisive victory at minimal cost. He’s been proven wrong on every count,” said Burns. “Those assumptions have proven to be profoundly flawed over the last 12 days of conflict.”
For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky said the war should stop and they should sit at the negotiating table to have honest, substantive talks, in the interests of the people, not obsolete murderous ambitions.
Destruction of word circuits continues
The spike in energy prices caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine will produce effects comparable to the 1973 oil shock, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire warned on Wednesday.
The current energy crisis was “comparable in intensity, in brutality, to the oil shock of 1973,” Le Maire told a conference in Paris.
Chinese companies that defy U.S. restrictions against exporting to Russia may be cut off from American equipment and software they need to make their products, said the U.S. Department of Commerce.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russia should be fully disconnected from SWIFT, while the G7 members should ban Russian oil imports. She promised to intensify cooperation with India and the Persian Gulf countries so as to further isolate the aggressor.
Nordic countries and the EU suspended cooperation with Russia within the framework of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council.
Inflation and price soar in Russia
Inflation in Russia rocketed to 10.42% in annual terms. According to Rosstat, weekly inflation accelerated to 2.2%, which is the highest rate ever since 1998.
“The inflation was influenced mostly by the increase in nonfood prices (4.52%) together with the rise in prices of cars and domestic appliances. Among food products, prices grew for tomatoes (+7.7%), bananas (+7.2%), sugar (+3.3%), cabbage (+3%), canned vegetables for children (+2.4%) and salt (+1.5%).
Kuleba and Lavrov to meet in Antalya
Russia’s and Ukraine’s foreign ministers are to meet in Turkey on Thursday in the first high-level talks between the two countries since Moscow invaded its neighbor, with Ankara hoping they could mark a turning point in the conflict.
