Live – War in Ukraine: EU agrees on new package of sanctions against Russia

PCF national secretary Fabian Roussel on Wednesday pleaded for a state of neutrality for Ukraine, which Moscow has sought instead of its entry into the European Union and NATO, and called on Europeans to create “collective security”.

“Everything must be done to stop this militant escalation,” the communist leader insisted, as the war in Ukraine entered its third year at the end of the week. To do this, “we cannot allow Ukraine’s request to join the European Union and NATO. This is not possible,” he said.

France and the European Union “are right to help a country that has been invaded”, Fabian Roussel underlined when London, Berlin and Paris signed a bilateral security agreement with Kiev a few days ago.

Ambassadors from European Union countries agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, the Belgian president of the Council of the European Union announced, just days before the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The draft text, seen by AFP, specifically plans to limit trade with three mainland Chinese companies to European Union companies that supply the Russian military and to blacklist North Korea’s defense minister for sending missiles to Moscow.

The Ukrainian military on Wednesday denied losing control of its cranky bridgehead on the occupied banks of the Dnieper in southern Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin himself claimed a day earlier.

“The military and political leadership of the aggressor country announced the capture of the bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper River. We officially say that this information is false,” the Southern Command of Ukrainian forces said on social media.

The Italian presidency of the G7 on Tuesday announced a meeting via video conference of its leaders on Saturday dedicated to Ukraine, in which a decision should be made on tightening sanctions against Russia.

The meeting, in which President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate, is the first of the heads of state and government of the G7 member states (United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada) under the Italian presidency. According to Italian diplomatic sources, at the end of the afternoon meeting, which lasted for an hour and a half, a joint declaration on Ukraine should be adopted.

According to the same sources, the participants should decide on “hardening the sanctions regime”. “The EU will launch a new package of sanctions and allow the United States to tighten its sanctions as well.”

Here are the key events of the last 24 hours:

• Russia on Tuesday claimed to have recaptured the village of Krynyki on the occupied banks of the Dnieper in southern Ukraine. “Krinki has been cleared, we control the entire bank in fact,” Sergei Shoigu assured in response to a question from the Russian president during a meeting between the two men. Ukrainian forces had been trying for months to gain ground on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region.

• The Ukrainian army headquarters noted on Tuesday that no fewer than 84 Russian attacks had been launched in the past 24 hours, all of which had been “repulsed”, he assured. While Russian operations around Evdivka were significantly reduced, numerous attacks took place near Marinka (east), near Bakhmaut (east) and in the Zaporizhia region (south). “The situation at some points on the front line is extremely difficult,” Mr. Zelenskiy admitted on Monday evening. Russian troops are “taking advantage of the delay in aid to Ukraine,” he said, because the country is deprived of $60 billion in crucial U.S. military aid, which is currently blocked in Congress.

• The Russians are still bombing locations outside the front on an almost daily basis. A mother, her two children and their grandmother, as well as another woman, were killed when a Russian Lancet attack drone exploded at their home in the Sumy region (north-east), according to the Ukrainian military. Finally, anti-aircraft defenses destroyed 23 Shahed explosive drones of Iranian design, which were launched by Russia over various regions of Ukraine during the night from Monday to Tuesday.

• Two French humanitarian workers killed in southeastern Ukraine in early February were the victims of a “deliberate attack” by a drone, the Swiss NGO for which they worked said Tuesday. A team of six associates from the Swiss Protestant Entreide (Epper, Hex in German) was attacked on a mission to assess the humanitarian situation in the region around the city of Berislav, on the north bank of the Dnieper River. , near the front line. .

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to events in Ukraine.