Zelensky denounces rapes, Putin denies the massacres: the story of this 48th day of war in Ukraine

The great battle of Mariupol is not yet topical as the declarations of the leaders have multiplied this Tuesday. The battle for Mariupol has not yet started. 48 days after the start of the war in Ukraine, the two sides are preparing for a confrontation in this port city located in the east of the country. On Ukrainian soil, the reconquest of territories by the forces of kyiv brings with it the discovery of civilians killed by the Russian army. The soldiers of the master of the Kremlin are notably accused of the worst abuses by President Volodymyr Zelensky. A look back at this new day of war in Europe. • Ever-increasing civilian casualtiesIn the eastern suburbs of kyiv, the bodies of six people shot dead were found in the basement of a house. In the east of the country, in Severodonetsk, around 400 civilians have been buried since the start of the war in Ukraine. With the withdrawal of Russian troops who are now concentrating on the east of the country, the Ukrainians are gradually resuming their foyer. According to Ukrainian border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko, more than 870,000 Ukrainians have returned home since the start of the war. If it was mainly men at the beginning, there are now also women, children and the elderly. • Zelensky denounces “hundreds of rapes” committed by the Russian armyVolodymyr Zelensky denounced “hundreds of cases of rape” recorded in areas previously occupied by the Russian army, “including underage girls and very small children”. committed by Russia are continuing. Almost daily new mass graves are found,” the Ukrainian president said, addressing the Lithuanian parliament via video link. “Thousands and thousands of victims. Hundreds of cases of torture. We continue to find bodies in the pipes and cellars,” he continued. Testimonies reported by the media corroborate the fears of NGOs, which point to signs of the use of rape as a “weapon of war”.• Putin calls the Boutcha massacre “fake”The Russian president has declared that the massacre of suspected civilians in the town of Boutcha near kyiv was “a fake “. Moscow denies any abuse of this nature in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin assured that the offensive of his army in Ukraine continued “calmly” and minimizing the losses, refusing to set a timetable when May 9 is Victory Day in Russia, decreed after the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945.• For Macron, Putin “decided that he would not stop”Emmanuel Macron said that his Russian counterpart had “decided that he would not stop” in Ukraine because “he needs a military victory for himself”, even if he “realized that Ukraine was not going to submit”. In this context, the city of Mariupol (east), on which the Russian army is focusing, “is perhaps a point of fixation because it is a symbol of Ukraine which refuses to him”, estimated the French president in an interview published by the weekly Le Point. Negotiations with Moscow for a Russian-Ukrainian peace agreement have been deemed “extremely difficult” by a council lr of the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhailo Podoliak. • The United States accuses Russia of considering the use of “chemical agents” in MariupolThe United States on Tuesday reported “credible information” on the possibility that Russia use “chemical agents” in its offensive to take the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. According to US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, “Russian forces could use different riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents ” in the face of “Ukrainian fighters and civilians in their aggressive campaign to take Mariupol”. “We are sharing this information with Ukraine” and “are in direct contact with our partners to determine what is happening now, it is a real concern,” he finally said.