Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said Friday that “everyone” should be “worried” about the risk that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may use tactical nuclear weapons out of desperation in the face of military setbacks in Ukraineas the director of the CIA commented.
US foreign intelligence chief William Burns said Thursday that the threat posed by the potential use of tactical or “low-yield” nuclear weapons by Russia in the case is “not to be taken lightly.” that you are desperate.
Although there are still no direct signals from Russia, it did threaten to a nuclear deployment in the Baltic in case the Philippines or Sweden decide to join NATO.
In addition, he made a direct warning: “The number and magnitude of missile attacks on places in kyiv will increase in response to all terrorist-type attacks and sabotage perpetrated on Russian territory by the nationalist regime in Ukraine,” his Ministry said. defense.
The Kremlin also claims that Ukraine bombed Russian towns on the border, allegations denied by kyiv. According to the Ukrainians, it is the Russian secret services that carry out “attacks” in that region.
On the Ukrainian side, lThe authorities confirmed this Friday that they have identified 900 civilians killed during the Russian occupation in the kyiv region350 of them in the town of Bucha.
Likewise, the Prosecutor’s Office reported that seven civilians were killed and 27 wounded in Russian fire on evacuation cars in the Kharkov region, in the northeast, near the border.
In Bucha, a town near kyiv that became the symbol of atrocities attributed to Russian forces95% of the dead people were killed, said the head of the police of the kyiv region, Andrii Nebitov.
“During the (Russian) occupation, people were shot in the streets (…) It is impossible to hide these types of crimes. Not only are there witnesses, but it was also recorded,” said the mayor of Bucha.
In the Donbas region, Donetsk was the scene of fighting “on the front line”, in which three people died and seven others were injured, the Ukrainian presidency reported yesterday.
Russia, whose announced big offensive in Donbas has not started yet, has trouble gaining full control of Mariupol, a strategic port of the Sea of Azov. This city, besieged for more than 40 days by the Russian army, could have the worst balance of human losses in this war. The Ukrainian authorities fear that there are about 20,000 dead.
The conquest of Mariupol would be an important victory for the Russian forces, since it would allow them to consolidate their position in the Sea of Azov, uniting Donbas and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Now the fighting is limited to the extensive industrial area on the coast.
More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine
The The UN reported yesterday that more than five million people have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, being the largest exodus of civilians since the Second World War. In addition, the war has caused more than 7 million internally displaced persons in the country, according to the IOM.
Of the total number of people who fled Ukraine, 2.7 million took refuge in Poland and 725,000 in Romania. 90% of the refugees are women and children, since men between 18 and 60 cannot leave the country because they could be called to fight against the Russians. In total, two-thirds of Ukrainian children have been forced to leave their homes.
And meanwhile, tensions between Russia and Western countries show no signs of easing. Moscow announced the expulsion of 18 diplomats from the European Union (EU) representation in their country, in response to a similar measure taken by Brussels.
In a statement, the EU assured that the European diplomats in question “perform their functions in full respect of the Vienna Convention.” On the other hand, the German government announced that it wants to unblock more than a billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, whose government complains of not receiving weapons from Berlin.
Moscow responds to flagship shipwreck with attack on kyiv
Russia’s dominance of the Black Sea seemed incontestable until now, but the loss of the Moskva cruiser, which sank on Thursday, goes beyond the operational setback in the Ukraine war as it had enormous symbolic value.
The flagship of the Russian navy in the Black Sea, operational since the early 1980s, sank in a few hourscarrying in the background a part of the pride of the armed forces of President Vladimir Putin, heavily punished since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
According to Moscow, the cruiser suffered a fire on board that caused the ammunition to explode. kyiv, for its part, claimed responsibility for a missile attack, a version supported by the Pentagon.
The truth is that, in response, Moscow promised yesterday to intensify its bombardments against kyiv, and the first of them was against a Neptune missile factory, with which the Ukrainians say they have sunk the Moskva.
According to experts, the loss at the operational level is huge but manageable for Russia. “With its weapons it fully protected a diameter of 150 kilometers around,” explains Nick Brown, an expert at the British private Janes Information Institute.
“With Turkey blocking Russian ships, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits, it will be difficult for Russia to replace its air defense capacity,” he says. But “the rest of the Black Sea fleet is still a major force,” Brown sums up.
This Friday, Moscow warned Finland and Sweden that their possible accession to NATO would have “consequences” for these countries and for European security. Helsinki plans to confirm its intention to join in the coming weeks.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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