Rome – On the day of the awaited phone call between American President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (the first since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began), Vladimir Putin he takes the stage and harangues the crowd at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow where he organized the celebrations for the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. “We will implement all our plans – warns the Russian president – It is the inhabitants of Crimea who have made the right choice, they have put an obstacle to nationalism and Nazism, which continues to exist in the Donbass, with punitive operations of that population. They have been victims of air strikes and this is what we call genocide. Avoiding it is the goal of our military operation in Ukraine. “A crowded stadium greeted the president with an ovation, waving thousands of Russian flags and singing chants of support for the motherland. According to some tweets, however, without confirmation, most of those who attended were paid. Before Putin finished speaking, the broadcast of the speech was interrupted on Russian public TV due to “technical problems on the server”, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov .
“A conflict is not in anyone’s interest,” Xi Jinping told Joe Biden during their video call telephone conversation. The crisis in Ukraine “is something we do not want to see: the events show once again that relations between states cannot reach the stage of confrontation, because conflict and confrontation are not only in the interest of anyone”, explained Xi. He added that not only “we must guide the development of China-US relations on the right path, but we must also assume our due international responsibilities to make efforts for peace and tranquility in the world”.
Putin heard German Chancellor Scholz in a phone call that according to the Kremlin “can hardly be called friendly”, and told him that “Moscow is ready to continue to seek solutions in talks with Ukraine, but that Kiev is always stalling and making proposals. more unrealistic to negotiations “.
Meanwhile, Kiev is heading for another night of curfew. The Kyiv Independent reports this, citing the regional administration of the capital. The new curfew will start at 8pm this evening and will remain in effect until 7am tomorrow morning. “The defense of the Kiev region continues. We ask you to accept the curfew with understanding. These measures are mandatory and are aimed at the safety of the residents”, underline the local authorities in a statement. “The enemy is trying to raise troops in the direction of Kiev, displacing units from the central and eastern military districts,” reports the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The Polish government is also preparing “a mission for the maintenance of peace in Ukraine” and would like to present it shortly “to the NATO summit and to the European Council”, declares government spokesman Piotr Mueller.
The European Parliament closes the doors to diplomats and officials from Russia and Belarus. For them, EP President Roberta Metsola tweets, “there is no more room in the house of democracy”. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister speaks with the EU High Representative Josep Borrel to discuss the new package of sanctions (the fifth) from the EU, as Kuleba himself always reports on Twitter. S&P cuts Moscow rating. Russia remains excluded from the qualifying play-offs for the 2022 football World Cup.
“In the coming years, Europe is facing very significant investments in the defense sector, energy policy, environmental protection. These expenses are too large for any national budget. The war in Ukraine requires us to proceed with the utmost urgency towards truly European responses. Today’s summit shows that our countries want to be protagonists of this ambition “, said the Italian premier. Mario Draghi at the end of the summit with Spain, Portugal and Greece at Villa Madama.
In an interview with CNN from Lviv, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan explains that he went to Ukraine because he has reasonable grounds to think that war crimes were committed in the Russian attack. “The law is clear. It is a crime to intentionally target civilians. It is a crime to intentionally target civilian targets. Now, of course, there must be further investigation,” he said. The first dancer of the National Opera of Ukraine, Artem Datsishin, died in Kiev. He was hospitalized after being injured in recent days by Russian bombing. There are still 1,300 people in the basement of the Mariupol theater. The commissioner for human rights Lyudmyla Denisova made it known by speaking on television, according to reports from the BBC, assuring that relief efforts are underway and recalling that yesterday 130 people were saved from the rubble.
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