On the sixteenth day of the war, with thousands of dead and 2.5 million refugees, Russian forces continue to advance into Ukraine and in the west they hit Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk airport with missiles and cannon fire about 150 km away. north and south of Lviv, one of the cities so far considered safer so as to be a destination for fleeing refugees, journalists and diplomatic personnel ( HERE the news of the day hour by hour).
Also towards Kiev, which is now preparing for battle, an advance of the invaders' maxi-military convoy was reported, which would have been "dispersed" and redistributed to try to encircle the capital from several fronts, with a pincer maneuver. For the Ukrainians, the result of the five-hour meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko would be an imminent invasion of the Minsk forces as well. An alarm that at the moment, however, is not confirmed by the Pentagon.
IN THE DONBASS - All this while the eastern front at the gates of the Donbass is gripped in an ever more ferocious siege.
According to the Russian Defense, Mariupol - Moscow's great target to guarantee the separatists an outlet to the sea - is now completely surrounded, with "all bridges destroyed", while local authorities speak of nearly 1,600 civilians killed in 12 days "of blockade of the cities and merciless bombing ". In Melitopol, 200 km further west, the Russians have already entered and, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, kidnapped the mayor Ivan Fedorov, who had refused to lower the flag, "taking him away with a plastic bag on your head ".
The toll is also dramatic in Kharkiv, the second Ukrainian city in the east on the Russian border, where 201 victims are reported among the population, including 11 children. But even for Moscow the losses are heavy. Kiev reported the killing of a third enemy general, Andrey Kolesnikov. In all, there would be about twenty Russian generals on the ground: a figure considered particularly high near the front line and which, according to Western intelligence, would testify to the strategic difficulties of the besiegers.
CLASH AT THE UN - "Ukrainian extremists have been working for years to create the conditions for a chemical attack with American cover, with the aim of causing accidents and then accusing Moscow". This is the Russian thesis, unsubstantiated by the facts, to which the reply of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister quickly arrived: "The maniacal obsession with which various Russian officials fantasize about weapons or biological or chemical risks that do not exist in Ukraine - attacked Dmytro Kuleba - is deeply concerning and could actually indicate that Russia is preparing another horrific false flag operation. "
But Moscow also insists on the UN headquarters where, at the request of the Russian Federation, a dramatic Security Council was held on this very issue. Russia has "proof" that in Ukraine there are "at least 30" research laboratories where "very dangerous biological experiments" are held which can cause various "lethal diseases", the Russian ambassador to the UN Headquarters Vasily denounced. Nebenzya, who then showed the alleged photos of the children's hospital in Mariupol, the scenario, according to Zelensky, of a "war crime".
"Does it look destroyed? Does it look like a building hit by cluster bombs?" She then flaunted the iconic photo of the injured pregnant woman insisting that it is a "fake" artfully constructed by a fashion blogger. "This is dirty propaganda we're sick of," he thundered. While the representative of Kiev, Sergiy Kyslytsya, reminded everyone of the reality of the dead on the ground: "For the first time since the Second World War, people killed in Ukraine are buried in mass graves".
THE BIDEN BAN - American President Joe Biden increases pressure on Vladimir Putin and bans vodka and caviar. And together with the allies of the G7, it snatches its commercial privileges from Moscow, sliding it to the level of Cuba and North Korea and paving the way for heavy tariffs on “made in Russia” products. A new blow to the economy of the aggressor country that Biden wants to isolate and bring to its knees. According to analysts, it is now in free fall and could contract up to 15% over the course of this year.
The American strategy is to "starve" the oligarchs and their families: "We will continue to hunt them down" because they are "part of that kleptocracy that exists in Moscow", Biden assured. The American offensive against the oligarchs goes hand in hand with that of the G7, which has "made operational" the task force to target the assets of the Russian elites that "support Putin's war machine".
"ECONOMY OF WAR" - On the European front today a summit was held in Versailles in the Mirror Gallery of the Palace of Versailles the message of Prime Minister Mario Draghi leaves little doubt about Italy's position: imagining making it with national budgets is impossible , the Recovery Plan is not enough. It is not only Rome that thinks so. With Emmanuel Macron's support, the pressure on the hawks has increased. And the reports from Kiev provide tragic confirmation.
"The summit was a success, the EU has never been so compact", underlined Draghi before flying to Rome. The premier, in the press conference after the summit, is called above all to reassure Italian parties and citizens. "I have seen exaggerated alarms. We have to prepare ourselves, but we are absolutely not in a war economy. Preparing does not mean that this should happen, otherwise we would already be in a phase of rationing," he explained. In Rome, however, there is the alarm and it is the same minister Giancarlo Giorgetti who does not rule out a new budget variance. The problem for Italy is that the end of the war is not in sight. "Putin does not want peace, his plan is different," admitted Draghi, who saw the emergence of a new flurry of restrictive measures against Moscow in Versailles.
(Unioneonline / D)