Ukraine: Russian attacks turn Mariupol to ashes - New sanctions planned by the West
Hundreds of thousands are trapped in Mariupol, which has been turned into "scorched earth". The West is considering new sanctions in Moscow. "Conversations are difficult," says Zelensky.
Russian airstrikes are turning the besieged Mariupol into a "scorched earth", the municipal authority stressed on Tuesday (March 23rd), as the US and Europe plan to impose new sanctions in order to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.
Street battles and bombings are raging in Mariupol , according to Ukrainian officials, a day after it rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender.
Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to be trapped inside buildings without food, water, electricity or heating.
Russian forces and pro-Russian separatists have occupied about half of the port, which is usually home to nearly 400,000 people, according to Reuters, citing Ria Novosti.
Street battles are taking place in the city, while civilians and Ukrainian soldiers are receiving a storm of Russian fire, said the regional governor Pavlo Kirilenko.
"There is nothing left there," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a videotaped message to the Italian parliament.
Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orloff told CNN that the city was under complete blockade and that no humanitarian aid had arrived. "The city is under constant bombardment. "50-100 bombs fall from Russian planes every day. So many deaths, so many tears, so many horrible war crimes," Orloff said.
Mariupol is at the center of the war that erupted on February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to the border for a "special military operation" aimed at "demilitarizing" Ukraine and overthrowing the pro-Western government.
It is located in the Sea of Azov and its occupation would allow Russia to link the pro-Russian separatist regions to the east with the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Putin's attack on Ukraine has forced more than 3.5 million people to flee their homes, brought about an unprecedented isolation of the Russian economy and sparked fears of a generalized conflict with the West that had been unthinkable for decades.
New Western sanctions are coming to Moscow
Western countries plan to put more economic pressure on the Kremlin. President Joe Biden and US allies will impose new sanctions and tighten existing ones against Moscow, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said ahead of the US president's trip to Europe. At the same time, announcements are expected for actions aimed at strengthening energy security in Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas. Finally, Biden will express his solidarity with Poland, a country bordering Ukraine, during his visit to Warsaw.
Having failed to occupy the capital Kyiv or any other Ukrainian metropolis, Russia has resorted to a war of attrition that has turned residential areas into ruins and has raised concerns in the West that the conflict could escalate into even a nuclear war.
Russia's security dogma dictates that the country could use nuclear weapons if its very existence is threatened, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told CNN. Earlier, he claimed that "no one" had thought that the operation in Ukraine would last only a few days and that the campaign was proceeding according to Moscow's plan.
Zelensky: "Talks are difficult, we are moving forward step by step"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday (March 23rd) that peace talks with Russia to end the war were difficult and sometimes marked by intense confrontation, but added that "we are moving forward step by step".
In a new videotaped message, Zelensky also said that about 100,000 people were in besieged Mariupol, in inhumane conditions, without food, water or medicine.
Meanwhile, referring to yesterday's telephone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Pope Francis, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera writes that the Ukrainian government has requested the pontiff's mediation to end the war.
More specifically, according to the Italian press, President Zelenski, during the phone call, stressed how important a mediating role of the Holy See would be to put an end to this terrible human ordeal.
From the beginning of the Russian invasion until today, Pope Francis and the Ukrainian president have talked three times. "The pope stressed that the Holy See is praying and doing everything possible to stop the war," said Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican.
Italian media reported that Francis had chosen to "dedicate Russia and Ukraine to the purest heart of the Virgin", with a special prayer to be held on Friday.
UN: Mutual accusations about "chemical weapons" in Ukraine
Earlier on Tuesday (March 23), tensions in the United Nations rose once again as Russia, the United States and Britain exchanged accusations of a chemical weapons attack on Ukraine, with no side providing evidence to support it. her concern.
The remarks came as diplomats told reporters after Russia raised the issue of ammonia leaks in the besieged city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine - accusing "Ukrainian supranationalist groups" - of a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council. The claim was rejected by Britain and the United States.
Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Poliansky, has said that the Russian armed forces "never planned or carried out attacks on Ukrainian facilities where toxic substances were stored or produced." "It is clear that the Ukrainian nationalist authorities, encouraged by Western countries, will not hesitate to intimidate their fellow citizens and direct fake attacks to accuse Russia," Poliansky said.
This is the third time Russia has raised the issue of biological or chemical weapons since launching an invasion of Ukraine - which it calls a "special military operation" - on February 24.
"It is difficult not to conclude - given their history in Britain, in Russia against Alexei Navalny, what we have seen in Syria - that it could be a prelude to the Russians themselves directing some sort of fake chemical weapons attack," she said. British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward to journalists.
For her part, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, dismissed Russia's allegations as "ridiculous." "Our concern is that they may be a harbinger of Russia's plans to use chemical weapons," he added.
A senior Pentagon official said today that the United States has no specific indications of an impending Russian chemical or biological weapons attack on Ukraine, but that it is still closely monitoring the situation.
US President Joe Biden said Monday that Russia's false allegations that Kyiv has biological and chemical weapons show that Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering using them in an attack on Ukraine.
Poliansky likened the situation in Ukraine to that in Syria, where he said chemical attacks by "terrorist groups" were attributed to the Syrian authorities.
According to a study by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Syrian government used the neurotoxic sarin gas and in several cases used chlorine as a weapon. The same investigation also found evidence of the use of mustard gas by the Islamic State jihadist organization.
