Ukrainian authorities counted at least 5,000 dead in Mariupol on Monday since the start of the conflict. Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, was denied his request for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Update on this new day of conflict, AFP reports.
According to the report, while Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet again on Tuesday for a new session of talks in Istanbul, the question of Ukraine’s “neutrality” arises. President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, conditions it on a favourable vote by the Ukrainian people.
But in a context where thousands of inhabitants have left their homes or even their country, where thousands of civilian casualties are to be counted and where the Russian army is continuing its operations, it is difficult to imagine the holding of an election. And the reports communicated in recent days, particularly in Mariupol, hardly suggest any truce in this conflict which has lasted for more than a month, AFP report added.
AFP reported that Tatiana Lomakina, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency in charge of humanitarian corridors, speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian authorities, stated that at least 5,000 people had been killed in the city of Mariupol, besieged by the Russian army, since the start of the conflict.
“People have not been buried for ten days because of the continuous bombardments”, also declared the adviser, estimating that “given the number of people still under the rubble (…), there could be around 10,000 dead”.
Asked earlier on Monday on BFMTV, Tatiana Lomakina gave the same estimate and warned of the humanitarian situation of the inhabitants who are unable to leave Mariupol.
At the same time, new fighting took place on Monday in several localities around kyiv, in particular in Stoyanka, on the western edge of the capital. Near Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces managed to regain control of a village. Finally, new fires broke out in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant , prompting Kiev to demand the “demilitarization” of the sector under the aegis of the UN.
The town of Irpin taken over by the Ukrainian army
Ukrainian authorities announced on Monday evening that the town of Irpin, the scene of fierce fighting on the outskirts of kyiv, had been recaptured from Russian forces.
“The city is now liberated, but it is still dangerous to be there,” Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said on television, confirming what Oleksandre Markouchine, the mayor of this locality, had said earlier. devastated located at the northwestern entrance to the capital. “In fact, this is what is happening now in a parallel way: the armed forces are advancing, the police are advancing and immediately a complete cleaning is done in the streets,” the minister said again.
The main checkpoint on the road to Irpin out of Kyiv was open again on Monday, two weeks after it was closed to the media following the death of an American journalist.
A Putin-Zelensky meeting ruled out by Moscow
The head of Russian diplomacy judged that a meeting between Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky would be “counterproductive” for the time being and conditioned it on the adoption of Moscow’s demands in the negotiations.
Vladimir Putin “said that he would never refuse a meeting with President Zelensky, but this meeting must be well prepared (…) The conflict within Ukraine has worsened for all these years, many problems have accumulated,” said Sergei Lavrov.
“So to meet and say, ‘What do you think? Russian and Ukrainian are expected Monday in Istanbul for a new session of discussions.
The Russian diplomat reaffirmed the demands made by the Kremlin from the start of the offensive against kyiv on February 24: the protection of the populations of Donbass, as well as the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine.
Russia wants to restrict its access to nationals of several countries
At the same time, Sergei Lavrov announced that a decree was in preparation to limit access to Russian territory to nationals of countries responsible for “unfriendly” acts, in the midst of a wave of sanctions against Moscow.
“A draft presidential decree is being prepared to introduce retaliatory measures, regarding visas, in connection with the unfriendly actions of several foreign governments,” Sergei Lavrov told a meeting of the ruling United Russia party, without specify the countries and types of people sanctioned in particular.
In the face of Western economic sanctions, however, Moscow published a list of “unfriendly” countries in early March, which includes the United States, members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan. , South Korea, Norway and Australia.