New York. Today is the day of the United Nations and the European Parliament. While Russia was suspended by the UN Human Rights Council, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for a halt to imports of gas, oil, coal and nuclear fuel from Russia. The UN decision was voted by a majority by the General Assembly, which approved the American request with 93 votes in favor. China voted no. In the draft resolution, which has Italy among its ‘co-sponsors’, it was asked to “suspend Russia’s right to be part” of the Council. The ambassador of Ukraine, Sergiy Kyslytsya, had called for a “good vote with a good result”.
He was satisfied, but dramatic news arrives from the front. Russia’s advance from the Eastern Front has regained strength, probably, as the Kiev Ministry of Defense claims, because the Russians are “learning” to counter the Ukrainians. Among the possible scenarios, the chemical attack. The World Health Organization is evaluating “all scenarios and is developing any emergency plans”. Mariupol destroyed, Odessa under attack, Dnipro at risk.
Bucha continues to count its deaths and fuel controversy, but meanwhile the UN Undersecretary General, Martin Griffiths, has announced the “next step”: the opening of an investigation into the Bucha massacres. The appeal to “shed light on war crimes” also came from Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
UN: Russia out of the Human Rights Council, China voted against. India abstained
From Dnipro to Odessa, the most difficult hours
In Odessa the situation becomes more dramatic. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sounded the alarm: “Mariupol is almost destroyed, now Odessa risks”. Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov said women, children and the elderly must leave the city as the fighting intensifies in the coming days. “All those who have the possibility – he declared – must leave”. Dnipro, which has nearly one million inhabitants, has so far been spared from the horrors of war.
Kiev admits, “the Russians are beginning to understand better how to fight us”
Russia is ready to resume attacks on Kiev if it manages to gain total control of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. This was stated by the deputy head of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Gruzevich. “It is probable – he stated during an online briefing – that the enemy did not give up on a second attack in Kiev”. The hypothesis is confirmed by the Deputy Minister of Defense, Hanna Malyar, according to whom the Kremlin’s long-term goal is to take all of Ukraine. “They wanted to do it quickly – she added – but they failed. However, Russia has not abandoned its plans ”. The strategy now would be to aim for “small goals” in order to show “some success” and restore enthusiasm among the soldiers, exhausted, short of supplies, and decimated by the Ukrainian resistance. “The enemy – concluded the minister – is learning to fight us. In the first days they were disoriented, now they are adjusting tactics and strategy, and they are buying time in order to better understand how to face us ”.
The German intelligence services intercept Russian soldiers who recount the Bucha massacres: “So we shoot civilians on bicycles”
by our correspondent Tonia Mastrobuoni
The diplomatic front
There is conflicting news from the diplomatic front. One of the leading figures in the Ukrainian delegation, Councilor Mykhailo Podolyak, said that Moscow’s “hostility towards the media” must be reduced, otherwise the dialogue will not be able to start. Podolyak accused the Russian propagandists of being “responsible for the atrocities committed in Ukraine” like the soldiers. Nobody sits at the negotiating table now, but there is no shortage of candidates. One of these causes discussion. Controversial Russian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin’s staunch ally, said his country “must be involved” in negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine. “There can be no agreement without the support of Belarus – he added – from the moment you called us into question, our position must be heard”. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei proposed Lukashenko’s presence at the last stages of the negotiations.
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Moscow condemns sanctions on Putin’s daughters, “a difficult decision to understand”
The Kremlin has defined the new wave of sanctions decided by the United States “difficult to understand and understand”, and which also aim at targeting the daughters of Vladimir Putin, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova. “Obviously – the Kremlin attacks – we consider these sanctions to be a confirmation of an absolutely angry position. The current line of imposing restrictions on family members speaks for itself “. “This – added the Russian government – is something difficult to understand and explain. Unfortunately, we are dealing with similar opponents ”.