The Russian army is concentrating on Friday, March 11, on Kiev and eastern Ukraine, where it has expanded its offensive to the major city of Dnipro. Emmanuel Macron assures that the EU is ready to “adopted other sanctions” at the end of the Versailles (Yvelines) summit where European leaders tried to adopt a common strategy. Joe Biden has announced new economic sanctions against Russia, ending imports of vodka, diamonds and seafood.

Russian troops try to encircle Kiev and open fire on the Dnipro

The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is still battling Russia’s continued siege maneuvers. After reaching the outskirts, they attempted to remove the defenses in several areas west and north of the capital to “to block”said the General Staff of Ukraine.

Russian troops are also concentrated in eastern Ukraine. Mariupol, on the Sea of ​​Azov, Kryvy Rig, Kremenchug, Nikopol and Zaporizhia are the main areas where they operate, the Ukrainian army said in a statement.

In Kharkiv, in the northeast, a facility for the disabled was hit, which however resulted in no casualties. According to the head of the regional administration, 330 people – including 10 in wheelchairs and 50 with reduced mobility – were at the scene at the time of the attack.

So far spared from attacks by Russian troops, Dnipro, an industrial city of a million people in the center of the country, has been the target of attacks that have killed at least one person, local authorities said. But this city is supposed to be the arrival point of the humanitarian corridor set up by Moscow. Adding a procession of images of destruction to Kharkiv and Mariupol (southeast), where 1,582 inhabitants died during its siege, Dnipro wakes up confused, against the backdrop of charred, destroyed or blown up buildings.

EU ready to adopt ‘massive sanctions’ against Russia if war continues

An aid envelope of 500 million euros has been given to Ukraine, which was added to the first envelope of the same amount, at the end of the EU summit in Versailles. Emmanuel Macron also warned that Europe was ready to take “severe punishment” against Russia if the war in Ukraine continues.

“If things continue at the military level (…), if [le président russe Vladimir] Putin stepped up the bombing, besieged Kyiv, if he escalates the war scene again, we know we have to take massive sanctions again.”he reassured the press, saying that the EU would support Ukraine “until the end”.

The fourth package is coming. As President [Emmanuel Macron] said, we are determined to respond appropriately to the heinous aggression carried out by Vladimir Putin and we will be firm in our response.” for her part convinced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Joe Biden wants to ban Russia from international trade

Still on the economic front, the American president announced that the United States and its allies had decided to exclude Russia from the normal reciprocal regime that regulates world trade, paving the way for severe customs tariffs. Joe Biden also announces import ban “the leading sectors of the Russian economy, including seafood, vodka and diamonds”.

The US president, who has imposed sanctions, is under intense domestic political pressure to do more. It is in this context that he has decided to ban imports of Russian oil into the United States, an action demanded of him by Congress and which, for the first time, was taken without coordination with Europe.

During this speech, Joe Biden promised on Friday to “avoid” a “direct confrontation between NATO and Russia”because it will cause “Third World War”. He also issued a warning to Russia: it “will pay dearly for using chemical weapons” and Ukraine.

Three questions about Russia’s allegations of biological weapons

Russia accuses Washington and Kiev of running laboratories meant to produce biological weapons in Ukraine. Westerners denounced misinformation that could hide Moscow’s desire to use chemical weapons.