The European Union will launch yet another tightening to hit Moscow in the economy, while the US blocks new investments in Russia and Great Britain chooses to give up gas. Taiwan has also decided with immediate effect new sanctions on Russia: the measures particularly affect exports for the high-tech sector, according to reports from the island’s Ministry of Economy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky applauds the measures but explains that “they are still not enough”. On the military level, the bombings do not stop and new reports arrive from the liberated cities on the atrocities committed by the army or by the militiamen enlisted by Putin. Kiev reports that, on the southern front, the Russian army would use portable crematoria to get rid of the corpses of civilians. In Hostomel, after the withdrawal of the Russians, 400 citizens are missing.
USA, 1,700 refugees on the border with Mexico
About 1,700 Ukrainian refugees arrived in Tijuana (Mexico) hoping to be able to enter the United States. In the border town, near San Diego, a welcome center has been set up in a gym for those fleeing the war in Ukraine. Heavy fighting continues in the east of the country and Kiev invites residents of the Lugansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions to evacuate. Zelensky underlines: “We must do everything possible to restore the work of local companies, commercial activities and re-establish small and medium-sized enterprises in our territory where it is safe and possible to work”. In Mariupol, Russian soldiers allegedly set up mobile crematoria to burn the bodies of the killed inhabitants. Kiev denounces the disappearance of over 400 people from Gostomel, where a one-week curfew starts from 6am.
Kuleba to NATO: “We have three requests: weapons, weapons, weapons”
NATO warns: “We must be ready for a long confrontation with Russia”. The Council of Foreign Ministers of NATO is underway in Brussels, in which the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also participates: «I have three requests: weapons, weapons, weapons. We sacrifice our lives, you make sure that the war is contained and does not extend to other parts of Europe. We insist on an embargo on Russian oil and gas, full disconnection from swift, closed ports. I hope that we do not arrive at a situation where other shocks like Bucha are needed to impose new sanctions, I cannot believe that the Ukrainian people have to suffer so much to convince European politicians to act ».
Bucha, Russia calls for an independent investigation
Tensions over the massacre of civilians in Bucha and the accusations against Russian troops do not subside. The Kremlin insists on denouncing a “monstrous staging” to be clarified through “an objective and independent investigation” and Beijing also hopes for an investigation that will discover the truth “on the basis of facts”. Berlin says the Russian position “is not sustainable” in light of satellite images. For British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Bucha’s actions “don’t seem very far from genocide.”
Dragons: do we want peace or the air conditioner on?
The war situation has a significant impact on the Italian economic situation. “The war has caused a worsening of growth prospects.” But “we will do everything necessary to help families and businesses,” said Prime Minister Mario Draghi, reiterating the need for a cohesive majority to carry out reforms and cope with the emergency. On the sanctions in Moscow, he assured that “the gas embargo is not yet and I do not know if it will ever be on the table”, arguing that in any case without Russian gas “we are covered until October” and asking: “We want peace or air conditioning switched on?”. And on the price of energy Draghi underlines: “We cannot wait for the EU, we will go ahead with national measures”.