Peter Beaumont in Lviv, Kim Willshire, Jon Henley and Martin Farrer – The Guardian March 3, 2022
Vladimir Putin has told Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means he will continue to pursue his war in Ukraine, the Élysée palace has said, adding: “We expect the worst is yet to come.”
As the number of refugees fleeing the conflict passed a million and Russian forces, backed by heavy shelling, advanced on cities and key ports in the south and east, Russia’s president said in a 90-minute call to his French counterpart he was “prepared to go all the way”, the French official said.
Putin said Moscow aimed to take “full control” of the country by diplomatic or military means and repeated his objective was the “neutralisation, demilitarisation and de-nazification” of Ukraine, the official said
Macron had responded that Putin was making a “major mistake” that would cost Russia dearly over the long term. “There was nothing in what President Putin said to reassure us,” the official said, adding that Macron had him he was “lying to himself”.
As talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators got underway, the Russian leader said separately that the invasion – which Russia calls a “special military operation” – was going according to plan and praised Russia’s soldiers as heroes. “All the tasks that have been set are being successfully resolved,” he said.
Putin claimed, without evidence, in a live TV address that Ukrainian forces had tortured and killed Russian prisoners of war and were using human shields. He said Russia’s troops were fighting “so we can’t be threatened by an anti-Russia right on our borders that the West has been creating for years.”
In Moscow, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed rumours that the government, faced with international condemnation and deepening economic isolation, was about to introduce martial law, which would include border controls and military censorship. The reports, which have sparked a small-scale exodus, were “hoaxes”, Peskov said.
Putin’s forces, meanwhile, were battling to control several southern cities including Enerhodara, the site of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, as part of what appears to be a plan to cut Ukraine off from the sea, stifling its economy but also creating a land corridor stretching from Russia westwards to Romania.
The regional governor in Kherson, on the Black Sea, said on Thursday that Russian soldiers had occupied the regional administration building, after the city’s mayor said Russian soldiers were in de facto control of the local council building.
“I didn’t make any promises to them … I just asked them not to shoot people,” said Ihor Kolykhaiev. The apparent capture of Kherson, strategically located at the mouth of the Dnipro River, marks the first significant urban centre to fall since Moscow launched its invasion on 24 February.
Mariupol, another large port city on the Azov Sea, was also reportedly encircled and without light, water or heat. The city council said the shelling had been relentless and Russian troops were creating a “humanitarian catastrophe” by trying to prevent civilians leaving.
“They are breaking food supplies, setting us up in a blockade,” the council said. “Deliberately, for seven days, they have been destroying critical life-support infrastructure. This is genocide of Ukrainian people.”
Residents of Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest port city and a vital link in Ukraine’s economy, were also preparing to defend it amid warnings of an imminent Russian seaborne landing. Airstrikes on the city have multiplied and a Russian naval convoy of at least eight ships was seen off the coast.
Ukrainian negotiators who met a Russian delegation for talks on Thursday with the objective of securing an immediate ceasefire said the two sides had agreed to hold a third round of talks soon and “reached an understanding” on the joint provision of humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, warned that if the west did not increase military aid, Russia would advance on the rest of Europe. “If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!” he said. “If we are no more, then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next.”
Zelenskiy called for direct talks with Putin, saying it was “the only way to stop this war”. Ukraine was “not attacking Russia … What do you want from us? Leave our land.” The Ukrainian president said in an earlier video his country’s defensive lines were holding and praised the nation’s resistance.
Heavy shelling was again reported in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people where emergency services said 34 civilians had been killed in the past 24 hours. A university and a hospital were hit, and TV footage showed a city-centre wasteland of ruined buildings and debris.
Russia’s advance on the capital, however, had made little progress, the UK’s defence ministry said. “The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km (19 miles) from the centre, having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion,” it said.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the situation in the capital was “difficult but under control”, adding that there had been no casualties overnight and that explosions heard overnight were Ukrainian air defences striking down incoming Russian missiles.
The UN human rights office has confirmed the deaths of 227 civilians and 525 injuries during the fighting, but said the actual toll would already be much higher. Ukraine has said at least 350 civilians have died and more than 2,000 have been injured.
The UN refugee agency said the number of people fleeing the country had surpassed 1 million by early Thursday morning – about 2% of Ukraine’s population of 44 million – adding that “at this rate” the exodus could make the country the source of “the biggest refugee crisis this century”.
The Russian attack has led to a barrage of international sanctions that have plunged Russia’s economy into chaos and ever deepening isolation. The rouble again hit record lows on Thursday after the ratings agencies Fitch and Moody’s downgraded Russia’s sovereign debt to “junk” status, while an estimated 80% of Russian banks’ assets – and half its central bank’s reserves – had been immobilised.
French authorities on Thursday seized the Amore Vero, a superyacht owned by a company linked to Igor Sechin, chief executive of the Russian energy giant Rosneft, at La Ciotat, near Marseille, after reports that German authorities had seized the superyacht Dilbar belonging to the billionaire Alisher Usmanov on Wednesday.
The international criminal court has opened an investigation into possible war crimes after an unprecedented number of countries backed the move. Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, said he would begin work “as rapidly as possible” to look for possible crimes against humanity or genocide committed in Ukraine.
more propaganda
there are no nazis in the ukraine
its owned by the jew
In W W 2 stalin was such a murdering bastard killing some say 100 million christians that
many Russians and ukrainians were over joyed when Hitlers army came in
and many of them helped the German fight against the jew
The word Nazi originally was short for nazarene or follower of jesus but later became associated with national socialiam
It is the duty now of every man women and child to be anti-semitic
and fight the jews of the NWO
excatly as our german cousins did in w w 2
“I didn’t make any promises to them … I just asked them not to shoot people,”
Yeah. he likes to do that himself.
“This is genocide of Ukrainian people.”
Luckily they’ve all still got the internet so they can blog about it.
“French authorities on Thursday seized the Amore Vero, a superyacht owned by a company linked to”
That’ll fix it. It’s important to get your priorities right.
“ Russian troops assemble prior to entering the Ukrainian city of Kherson”….
Seriously??? Has anyone been in the Ukraine at this time of year? It’s freezing.
Many troops are hard as nails, but no commander would freeze his men on the edge of battle. These men are in combat fatigues with the sun beating down on them, in the dessert. Probably Syria.
Stop the lies.
Pathetic.
You actually believe a single word the Guardian prints?
France has an election coming up and Macron is desperate for votes so he’s doing like Thatcher did.
Very happy to see the white pigs being killed. Way tpomang atrocities they did in syria iraq afghanistan. Now its time for white men
Wow ! Good picture of the Russian troops about to enter Kherson. Only problem is why are they in summer gear somewhere hot??
Typical guardian crap.
“France” could not care less about White people anywhere and will be helping “Ukrainian” Nigerians who are fleeing a Slavic conflict by some miracle of Kalergi immigration.
The only thing that matters is Macron is defeated in the next election.
His opponents should be very vocal about how he ruined France.
His opponents should be demanding criminal charges for the Covid lockdown.
Macron has been outed as a WEF whore. He is an arrogant little shit and needs to be defeated and the French say hell no to Klaus Schwab and company.
The above picture is suspect. The sun angle shows that it was taken not in early March, but at a time of year when the sun was higher in the sky.
@ellis c taylor…good post, except for the ‘Rabbi Jesus’ stuff..The Nazis weren’t ‘Christians’. Also Semitic Stalin didn’t kill 100 million Russians/Ukrainians primarily because they were ‘Christian’, but because they were of Germanic/Aryan stock. It was a racial liquidation.
On June 7 1941 the Nazi Party Chancellery issued an order which stated: ‘National Socialism & Christianity are irreconcilable.”
all the german Putin haters will in
future enjoy flying nuke missiles
over their head as NATO+EU drags
europa into this conflict !
ENJOY IT !
Thus; National Socialism = Judaism!
We all knew it.
Now even nicox proves it!
Thank you nicox.
I don’t understand that they post such an bullshit article on this site.
so no more covid or turdy screwing truckers – or massive protest in nz and aussie ? tick tock
> The only thing that matters is Macron is defeated in the next election.
Choosing another just the same won’t change a thing, and that’s the only two choices you’ll be offered. Remove them all before they remove you.
Utter mendacious nonsense…. and those Russian troops, come now.. the last time I checked, Kiev wasn’t in a desert in the middle east (perhaps they are on the beach gorgo soros built for them, just outside the capital.. it has its own mediteranean micro-climate the gaurdian told me so), and further more…… .. seriously!
MI6 neck beards and the assorted screeching harpies in the ‘war room’ that moonlight on daytime TV.. should take off their government issue black face masks and breathe some fresh air…
donuts….
lets hope you end up suicided in a travel case…
@yukon jack..
hehe… next ‘election’ yes..yes that should sort things… hehehe… next ‘election’..
Yes that’s a good one… very funny…very funny……heheheh… good one.. etc etc..etc..
Who would believe a Rothschild creation like Macron?
> so no more covid or
I don’t see why everyone thinks ‘covid’ ia over. The jabbing is continuing. The only thing not happening, and that only in some places, is mandates — and I bet that’ll return soon enough.
Putin: “neutralisation, demilitarisation and de-nazification” of Ukraine. The first two make perfect sense in view of how the corrupt West has “inched” closer. But, “de-nazification” is absurd. Last time I looked, National Socialism was wiped out by the All-Lies in 1945. I support Putin in this war, but characterization of Ukraine thugs as Nazis is the ongoing demonization of National Socialism which is SOP in Russia and beyond.
France and Germany would not like the Nazis if they were real ones. They like Black trannies.