What do we remember from the fighting in Ukraine on March 16?

Mariupol theater bombing

In Mariupol, in the southeast of the country, a theater shelters “hundreds of civilians” He sustained heavy damage by a Russian air strike. The plane dropped a bomb on the building where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. “It is impossible to determine the death toll immediately, because the bombing of residential areas continues,” the city council wrote on Telegram, and posted a photo of the theater, the central part of which was destroyed.

The Russian Defense Ministry, according to RIA Novosti news agency, denied carrying out the air strike and blamed the Ukrainian nationalist Azov battalion.

According to local authorities, more than 2,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol, which was besieged and bombed by Russian forces for several days.

The United States provides $1 billion in military aid

A few hours after the lively speech of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr ZelenskyOn Wednesday, before the US Congress, US President Joe Biden announced that An additional $800 million awarded in military aid, bringing the total to 1 billion USD.

Ukraine in particular will receive 800 Stinger air defense systems, 9,000 anti-tank systems, about 7,000 small arms, 20 million ammunition and drones.

Putin a war criminal

In response to a journalist, US President Joe Biden, without further details, called his Russian counterpart: “He is a war criminal.”

The Kremlin responded to the “unacceptable and unforgivable” statements. “We consider such unacceptable and inexcusable speech from the head of state, whose bombs have killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti as saying.

The International Court of Justice takes a stand

The International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations, Russia on Wednesday ordered a halt to its invasion of Ukraine. Two of the fifteen judges from Russia and China voted against it.

« La Fédération de Russie doit suspendre immédiatement les opérations militaires qu’elle a commencées le 24 février 2022 sur le territoire de l’Ukraine », a déclaré Joan E. Donoghue, juge présidente de se le CIJè, La CIJè , in the Netherlands.

Negotiations continue

Another round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow is scheduled for Wednesday. after Tuesday negotiationsRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s neutral military status was “seriously considered” by both sides.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Russia’s demands to end the war as becoming “more realistic”.

Hopes for diplomatic progress rose after Mr. Zelensky admitted on Tuesday that his country would not join NATO.

According to the British newspaper financial timesHowever, the Ukrainians are skeptical about the commitment Vladimir Putin in favor of peace. They fear that Moscow is trying to buy time to regroup its forces and resume its offensive.

with AFP

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