Berliner Boersenzeitung - Russia squeezes Kyiv as 'unimaginable' tragedy looms in Ukraine

EUR -
AED 4.177061
AFN 81.880746
ALL 99.252011
AMD 444.590879
ANG 2.049629
AOA 1037.158904
ARS 1294.140504
AUD 1.780172
AWG 2.047025
AZN 1.934273
BAM 1.956825
BBD 2.294803
BDT 138.092365
BGN 1.957857
BHD 0.428625
BIF 3332.101328
BMD 1.137236
BND 1.492134
BOB 7.854392
BRL 6.605289
BSD 1.136596
BTN 97.022843
BWP 15.66621
BYN 3.71968
BYR 22289.824581
BZD 2.282996
CAD 1.574122
CDF 3271.827709
CHF 0.930816
CLF 0.028662
CLP 1099.8895
CNY 8.30054
CNH 8.306047
COP 4901.486936
CRC 571.199327
CUC 1.137236
CUP 30.136753
CVE 110.766012
CZK 25.063085
DJF 202.109303
DKK 7.466602
DOP 68.805429
DZD 150.758836
EGP 58.14335
ERN 17.058539
ETB 151.279275
FJD 2.597108
FKP 0.857926
GBP 0.857288
GEL 3.11624
GGP 0.857926
GHS 17.695226
GIP 0.857926
GMD 81.308645
GNF 9843.34469
GTQ 8.754588
GYD 238.429138
HKD 8.827976
HNL 29.46444
HRK 7.529411
HTG 148.317723
HUF 408.387093
IDR 19177.096068
ILS 4.180337
IMP 0.857926
INR 97.094362
IQD 1489.779092
IRR 47906.064943
ISK 145.100319
JEP 0.857926
JMD 179.644139
JOD 0.806641
JPY 161.853129
KES 147.269042
KGS 99.205075
KHR 4566.00226
KMF 493.004864
KPW 1023.518647
KRW 1613.043966
KWD 0.34871
KYD 0.947196
KZT 594.971784
LAK 24598.413673
LBP 101896.340892
LKR 339.937138
LRD 227.418736
LSL 21.444738
LTL 3.357962
LVL 0.687903
LYD 6.220968
MAD 10.547909
MDL 19.662304
MGA 5177.713287
MKD 61.514233
MMK 2387.530139
MNT 4022.532693
MOP 9.086962
MRU 44.847502
MUR 51.277935
MVR 17.51173
MWK 1974.241931
MXN 22.425326
MYR 5.012366
MZN 72.675065
NAD 21.444738
NGN 1824.91419
NIO 41.821916
NOK 11.92757
NPR 155.236349
NZD 1.917428
OMR 0.437833
PAB 1.136596
PEN 4.279431
PGK 4.700463
PHP 64.495497
PKR 319.106406
PLN 4.278742
PYG 9097.767521
QAR 4.140223
RON 4.978935
RSD 117.291464
RUB 93.451578
RWF 1609.188866
SAR 4.267179
SBD 9.516785
SCR 16.196165
SDG 682.914226
SEK 10.940409
SGD 1.490626
SHP 0.893689
SLE 25.900597
SLL 23847.250746
SOS 649.925676
SRD 42.24872
STD 23538.488054
SVC 9.945212
SYP 14786.663141
SZL 21.402912
THB 37.923377
TJS 12.206811
TMT 3.980326
TND 3.398079
TOP 2.663519
TRY 43.420522
TTD 7.712041
TWD 36.987508
TZS 3056.319626
UAH 47.101683
UGX 4166.329832
USD 1.137236
UYU 47.664978
UZS 14768.739292
VES 91.955341
VND 29420.293975
VUV 138.799625
WST 3.16989
XAF 656.312471
XAG 0.034867
XAU 0.000342
XCD 3.073437
XDR 0.816192
XOF 653.91086
XPF 119.331742
YER 278.907389
ZAR 21.42589
ZMK 10236.488002
ZMW 32.36396
ZWL 366.189511
  • JRI

    0.1600

    12.4

    +1.29%

  • SCS

    0.0500

    9.76

    +0.51%

  • GSK

    0.5600

    35.93

    +1.56%

  • NGG

    0.6300

    72.11

    +0.87%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.47

    +0.83%

  • BCE

    0.4200

    22.04

    +1.91%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    21.82

    +0.18%

  • BTI

    0.5400

    42.37

    +1.27%

  • RIO

    1.0100

    58.17

    +1.74%

  • RBGPF

    63.5900

    63.59

    +100%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    21.96

    +0.18%

  • AZN

    0.5400

    67.59

    +0.8%

  • BP

    0.6600

    28.32

    +2.33%

  • VOD

    0.1400

    9.31

    +1.5%

  • RELX

    1.0000

    52.2

    +1.92%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1400

    9.36

    -1.5%

Russia squeezes Kyiv as 'unimaginable' tragedy looms in Ukraine
Russia squeezes Kyiv as 'unimaginable' tragedy looms in Ukraine

Russia squeezes Kyiv as 'unimaginable' tragedy looms in Ukraine

Russian forces inched towards Kyiv and pounded civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities Friday, drawing warnings of "unimaginable tragedy" as the US and the EU moved to tighten the economic noose around the Kremlin.

Text size:

Sixteen days after Moscow shocked the world by invading Ukraine, the United Nations and others said it may be committing war crimes in cities such as Mariupol, which for days now has been besieged by Vladimir Putin's forces.

On Friday officials in the southern port said more than 1,500 people have been killed during 12 days of Russian siege.

Survivors have been trying to flee Russian bombardment in a freezing city left without water or heating, and running out of food. The situation is "desperate," a Doctors Without Borders official said.

"Hundreds of thousands of people... are for all intents and purposes besieged," Stephen Cornish, one of those heading the medical charity's Ukraine operation, told AFP in an interview.

"Sieges are a medieval practice that have been outlawed by the modern rules of war for good reason."

As Russia widens its bombardment and talks between Moscow and Kyiv seemingly go nowhere, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky's pleas for NATO to intervene have grown increasingly desperate.

But on Friday US President Joe Biden again ruled out direct action against nuclear-armed Russia, warning that it would lead to "World War III."

Instead Washington added more layers of sanctions to those already crippling Russia's economy, this time ending normal trade relations and announcing a ban on signature Russian goods vodka, seafood and diamonds.

The US and the European Union also suspended the export of their luxury goods to Russia.

"Putin must pay the price. He cannot pursue a war that threatens the very foundation of international peace and stability and then ask for help from the international community," Biden said from the White House.

He spoke as the United Nations said some 2.5 million people have now fled Ukraine and around two million more have been internally displaced by the war.

- 'Nobody buries them' -

Yulia, a 29-year-old teacher who fled Mariupol, said her mother-in-law was still there, and told them "the attacks don't stop".

"There are many corpses on the street and nobody buries them," she told AFP.

In Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, doctors at a hospital described spending two days pumping ash from the stomach of an eight-year-old child whose home was blasted by a Russian missile.

"He still has cinders in his lungs," Dima Kasyanov's doctor told AFP.

Dnipro, an industrial hub of one million inhabitants, saw its image as a relatively safe haven shattered when three missiles hit civilian buildings Friday.

Images of its charred or destroyed buildings -- including a kindergarten with windows blown out -- now join those from Kharkiv and Mariupol as testimony to the brutal conflict.

"Today, we were supposed to host people who need a lot of support," said Svetlana Kalenecheko, who lives and works in a clinic that was damaged.

"Now we can't help anyone."

The attacks on civilians prompted a new flurry of warnings from the Hague and the United Nations Friday that Russia is committing war crimes.

"We are really heading towards an unimaginable tragedy," Cornish, of Doctors Without Borders, warned, insisting that "there is still time to avoid it, and we must see it avoided".

- 'Catastrophe' -

Meanwhile the Kremlin is slowly surrounding Kyiv, with Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak calling it a "city under siege".

He tweeted that it was "ready to fight", with checkpoints prepared and supply lines in place, adding: "Kyiv will stand until the end".

The Ukrainian military has said Russia is trying to take out Kyiv's defences to the north and west, where suburbs including Irpin and Bucha have already endured days of heavy bombardment.

Russian armoured vehicles are also advancing on the capital's northeast.

As the slow but steady advance continues, so has the tide of refugees.

Around 100,000 people have been able to leave the northeastern city of Sumy, the eastern city of Izyum, and areas northwest of Kyiv in the last two days, Ukrainian officials said.

Zelensky warned living conditions were deteriorating fast.

"In the Sumy, Kyiv and Donetsk regions, there is no more electricity. Yes, there are problems with heating. There is no gas, no water," he said.

"It's a humanitarian catastrophe."

- 'Murderers from Syria' -

Foreign combatants have already entered the Ukrainian conflict on both sides, and on Friday the Kremlin ramped up efforts to bring in reinforcements, particularly from Syria.

A furious Zelensky accused Russia of hiring "murderers from Syria, a country where everything has been destroyed... like they are doing here to us".

The global ripple effects of the conflict continued elsewhere.

Last-minute Russian demands related to the conflict threatened to derail the near-complete process of reviving the Iranian nuclear deal Friday.

And the fighting spurred vows to bolster the European Union's defences, with EU leaders describing the invasion as a wake-up call.

"There's no denying the fact that two weeks ago we woke up in a different Europe, in a different world," European Council chief Charles Michel said.

Russia also moved Friday to block Instagram and launch a criminal case against its owner Meta, as Moscow fired back at the tech giant for allowing posts calling for violence against Russian forces.

- 'We will not fight' -

Talks have so far made no progress towards ending the fighting.

Putin has said that negotiations are being held "almost daily", and US and European stock markets rose Friday on his comments that there had been "certain positive shifts".

At the United Nations, Western countries accused Russia of spreading "wild" conspiracy theories after Moscow's envoy told diplomats that America and Ukraine had researched using bats to conduct biological warfare.

The US envoy said Russia had made the claims as part of a "false flag effort" for using chemical weapons of its own in Ukraine.

Biden warned Russia would pay a "severe price" if it used chemical weapons.

But he again carefully steered clear of any indication that such an attack would be a red line that could draw direct US military action.

"We will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine," he said.

burs-st/bgs

(O.Joost--BBZ)