KYIV —
Ukraine on Wednesday accused
Russia of shelling a city where it had promised de-escalation, dampening hopes of any
resolution to a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions.
اضافة اعلان
Ukraine and Western powers had already cast doubt on
Russia’s pledge to reduce military activity around Chernigiv and the capital
Kyiv, made during face-to-face talks in Istanbul on Tuesday.
“Chernigiv was shelled all night,” regional governor
Vyacheslav Chaus wrote on social media.
AFP reporters on Wednesday could also hear frequent
explosions coming from the direction of the suburban town of Irpin to the
northwest of Kyiv.
Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian
defense ministry, said in a video statement that there had been “a certain
partial movement of individual units from the
Kyiv direction, as well as from
the Chernigiv direction”.
But he added: “We do not observe the mass removal of
Russian troops from these areas”.
Russian officials had pledged to “radically” reduce
their attacks because of progress in negotiations on “the neutrality and
non-nuclear status” of Ukraine — two central concerns for
Moscow.
Both sides called the Istanbul meeting “meaningful”
and “positive”, but the Kremlin on Wednesday played down hopes of a
breakthrough.
“We cannot state that there was anything too
promising or any breakthroughs,” Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov told
reporters.
“There is a lot of work to be done,” Peskov said.
Stock markets, which had been buoyed by the more
hopeful comments on Tuesday, slid again and oil prices rose back up on supply
concerns.
The Pentagon said
Russia had merely repositioned a “small number” of forces near Kyiv, and could
be preparing a “major offensive” elsewhere.
The “vast majority” of Russian forces around Kyiv
remained in place, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
Still, the talks in Istanbul marked the first sign
of progress in discussions to end the conflict, with a Kyiv negotiator saying
there were “sufficient” conditions for Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
US President Joe Biden was due to speak to Zelensky
later on Wednesday.
‘Still in shock’
Ukraine’s Western allies
said they had no plans to ease measures taken to punish Russia for the
invasion.
Western sanctions should stay until “every single”
Russian soldier is out of Ukraine, said British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson,
who called for sanctions to be intensified.
Poland also urged the EU to impose a tax on Russian
hydrocarbon imports while Germany and Austria raised their alarm levels over
fears Russia could cut gas supplies to countries that refuse its demand to be
paid in rubles.
Russia, meanwhile, worked on shoring up support from
allies.
On a visit to China on Wednesday, Russian Foreign
Minister
Sergei Lavrov said: “We, together with you, and with our sympathizers
will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order.”
Lavrov will go this week to India, which has
abstained from UN resolutions censuring Russia and continues to buy Russian oil
and other goods, despite pressure from Washington.
On the ground in Ukraine, the country’s army has
been recapturing territory.
In the town of Trostyanets, just 30km from the
Russian border, AFP reporters saw dazed residents emerge from their homes to
search for food as Ukrainian soldiers salvaged what they could from abandoned
Russian vehicles.
“There was nothing left to eat in the town, no water
and no electricity,” said Pavlo, who has spent the past month hunkered down in
the basement of his home.
In Irpin, a gateway to Kyiv, officials said they
were still recovering bodies in the streets and the area was still being
shelled by Russia.
Irpin’s mayor
Oleksandr Markushyn said at least 200
people had been killed there since the war began.
“Fifty percent of the city is destroyed, including
critical infrastructure,” he said.
‘Death everywhere’
Some 20,000 people are
believed to have been killed since the conflict began on February 24, according
to Zelensky, though the number of casualties could not be independently
verified.
On Tuesday a Russian missile strike on the southern
town of Mykolaiv left at least 14 dead, Ukrainian officials said.
There was also no progress for the estimated 160,000
people still trapped with little food, water or medicine in the devastated
southern port city of Mariupol.
Russian forces have encircled the city and their
steady and indiscriminate bombardment has killed at least 5,000 people, but
possibly as many as 10,000, according to one senior Ukrainian official.
France, Greece, and Turkey have been trying to
organize a mass evacuation of civilians from the city, but talks between French
President Emmanuel Macron and Putin ended Tuesday without a deal.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian ombudswoman
Lyudmyla Denisova said a Red Cross facility was targeted by Russian aircraft and
artillery.
UN rights chief
Michelle Bachelet said Russia’s widespread and indiscriminate attacks were of
“immense concern”.
“Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under
international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes,” Bachelet told the
UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Aid groups have called regularly for access to
Mariupol, describing the conditions as hellish, and Ukrainian officials have
accused Russian troops of forcibly deporting residents to Russia.
Civilians who have managed to escape Mariupol
describe a place with “death everywhere”.
“We buried our neighbors, we saw death everywhere
and even my children saw it,” said Mariia Tsymmerman, who fled to Zaporizhzhia
two weeks ago, but is now making the perilous journey back to deliver supplies
and help others leave.
“I know a woman who killed her own dog to feed her
children,” she said.
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