Find here the entirety of our live #UKRAINE
10:16 am: “It is possible that the worst is ahead of us,” warned this morning the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian. On the set of France 2, he said he feared “a logic of siege” in the major cities of the country. Here is his full speech.
10:09 a.m.: 🗣️ The Ukrainian city of Kherson taken by the Russian army: “The soldiers stole everything they could from the shops,” says a resident https://t.co/pb14Oqjfv3
10:09 a.m.: “We can’t leave because the city is surrounded by the Russian army. We don’t leave our house, we stay with our products. What will we have in two days, in five days? We don’t know.”
On franceinfo, Yulia, a French-speaking Ukrainian woman, saw Russian troops arrive in her city, Kherson. Find his testimony.
10:03 am: “Institutionally, diplomatically, we are not at all at war with Russia. Firstly, because Russia has not attacked the French Republic, nor has it been a NATO member state. We cannot say that we are not totally involved, but at the same time there is no war with Russia, and even less with the Russian population (…).”
Frédéric Encel, doctor in geopolitics and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, analyzed this morning on franceinfo the speech made last night by the French president, who spoke from the Elysée palace on the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
09:47: An example of an online hoax? This photo, shared on Twitter, claims to show a young Ukrainian woman facing a Russian soldier. It is actually a photo taken in 2012, showing Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian resistance fighter, then 12 years old, facing an Israeli soldier. To stop being fooled, find our article.
09:34: As you have noticed, videos and photos of the Russian invasion are multiplying on social networks. But beware: some convey false information. How to navigate between info and hoax? Our True or Fake cell lists some reflexes to adopt to check the veracity of these images.
09:19: The Quai d’Orsay “strongly” recommends French nationals “whose presence and that of their family is not essential in Russia, to make their arrangements to leave the country by the still existing links”, can be read on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
09:53 : Here is a new point on the news of this day:
On the eighth day of war in Ukraine, new explosions were heard again tonight in Kiev. In addition, the city of Kherson is now under Russian control, after fierce fighting. With nearly 300,000 inhabitants, it is the first Ukrainian city of this importance to fall into the hands of the Kremlin army.
#UKRAINE #PARALYMPIQUES Russian and Belarusian athletes are excluded from the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced this, as the competition is due to open tomorrow.
It is “possible that the worst is ahead of us,” said the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, fearing a massacre in major Ukrainian cities. “We can fear a logic of siege [of the Russian army]. The disaster continues and Russia’s despicable aggression continues,” he added. Follow our live.
Eight out of ten French people say they are “worried” about the environment and climate change. According to an Ipsos-Sopra Steria survey for France Télévisions, it is among the youngest that this concern is strongest: it affects 92% of those under 35. Find more details in our article.
09:55: Earlier in the morning, we learned that Russian athletes were finally excluded from the Beijing Paralympic Games. The latest in a long series of decisions aimed at isolating Russia, including in the field of sports. How did Vladimir Putin’s country go from a stronghold to a pariah of world sport? Our journalist Apolline Merle answers this question in this article.
(PETER PARKS/ AFP)
09:54: The British government further strengthens its sanctions package against Russia. “Russian companies in the aviation or aerospace sectors will be prevented from making direct or indirect use of UK-based insurance or reinsurance services,” the UK Treasury said in a statement.
08:54: 🗣 Economic sanctions against Russia ➡️ “What we are doing is increasing the cost of the war for Russia as much as possible, so that Vladimir Putin is forced to review his plans and calculations,” says Gabriel Attal. https://t.co/CjimGuLvfh
8:54 a.m.: The government spokesman was also asked about the objectives of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
08:53: 🗣 Sending weapons ➡️ “For security reasons”, France does not give public the list of weapons it sends, justifies Gabriel Attal. “We have communicated to the parliamentarians who are members of the Defence Committee,” the government spokesman added. https://t.co/BuYu0JZ9wN
08:52: France has not made public the list of weapons it sends to Ukraine. To explain this choice, Gabriel Attal, the government spokesman, invokes “security reasons”. He speaks on franceinfo.
08:48: After Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, it’s Twitter’s turn. In turn, the social network blocked the accounts of the Russian media RT and Sputnik in the European Union, as a result of a ban decided by the member states and entered into force yesterday.
08:44: By joining the war effort, the Ukrainian community of the Alpes-Maritimes finds a cure for the helplessness and guilt that gnaw at them, so far from the country. Oleg Mazur, 35, has become a war carrier, in a revisited version of the “Taxis de la Marne”, which had led French soldiers to the front during the First World War. Taxis from the Azur now form the central link in the mobilization of the diaspora in Nice. 
(YANN THOMPSON / FRANCEINFO)
08:41: Since the Russian invasion, the Ukrainians of the Côte d’Azur are trying to set up a rear base of the resistance and are preparing deliveries for civilians and soldiers in their country. I went to meet them. Here is our report in Nice, where the diaspora is mobilizing and from where some are taking the road to fight alongside the Ukrainian army against Russian troops. 
(YANN THOMPSON / FRANCEINFO)
08h35 : L’Allemagne va livrer 2 700 missiles antiaériens supplémentaires à l’Ukraine. Le gouvernement “a approuvé un soutien supplémentaire à l’Ukraine”, rapporte l’AFP, qui cite une source gouvernementale. Cette dernière évoque des missiles de type STRELA, de fabrication soviétique et provenant des stocks de l’armée de l’ancienne Allemagne de l’Est.
09h09 : Les athlètes russes et biélorusses sont exclus des Jeux paralympiques d’hiver de Pékin. Le Comité international paralympique (CIP) vient tout juste de l’annoncer, alors que la compétition doit s’ouvrir demain. Hier, l’instance avait annoncé que ces sportifs pourraient participer aux Jeux sous bannière neutre, avant de revenir sur cette décision face aux protestations de plusieurs pays.
08h24 : Les agences de notation financière Fitch et Moody’s ont rétrogradé la Russie dans la catégorie des pays risquant de ne pas pouvoir rembourser leur dette. Frappée par de lourdes sanctions imposées par les pays occidentaux à la suite de l’invasion de l’Ukraine, la Russie a vu sa note passer de Baa3 à B3 (Moody’s) et de BBB à B, assortie d’une perspective négative (Fitch).
08h09 : “Il est possible que le pire soit devant nous.”
Sur le plateau de France 2, le chef de la diplomatie française a fait part de son inquiétude alors que l’armée russe poursuit son offensive en Ukraine, obtenant dans la nuit le contrôle de la ville de Kherson, déjà revendiqué hier. “Le désastre continue et l’agression ignoble de la Russie se poursuit”, a-t-il noté.
08h04 : Jean-Yves Le Drian va se rendre en Moldavie, déclare-t-il sur le plateau des ‘Vérités” de France. Aux pays voisins de l’Ukraine, qui craignent de faire également l’objet d’une offensive russe, le ministre des Affaires étrangères dit que la question de leur adhésion future à l’Union européenne pourra être mis sur la table : “Vous êtes des Européens, vous êtes dans la famille (…). Devant cette bascule de l’histoire, la relation entre les uns et les autres sera complètement différente (…) l’Europe d’hier n’est déjà plus la même qu’aujourd’hui “, a-t-il déclaré.
07h47 : D’autres titres consacrent leur unes aux Ukrainiens qui, restés sous les bombes, ont pris les armes pour se défendre face à l’offensive russe.
07h43 : Dans les kiosques ce matin, de nombreux titres de presse reviennent sur l’allocution donnée hier soir par Emmanuel Macron. 
07h36 : Moldavie, Géorgie, pays Baltes, Finlande… Frontaliers de la Russie ou de l’Ukraine, plusieurs pays craignent que Moscou ne les attaque, dans la continuité de l’invasion de l’Ukraine. Dans ce contexte de guerre, tous se positionnent comme alliés de l’Union européenne ou de l’Otan. Pourquoi ces pays s’inquiètent-ils des ambitions russes en Europe ? La réponse dans notre article.
07h03 : Interrogée sur ses difficultés concernant la mise à l’abri des ressortissants français, Anne Getenet, la députée LREM de la 11e circonscription des Français établis hors de France, a reconnu “des loupés et des ratés”, mais a martelé que “l’énergie déployée pour aller au soutien de chacun est maximale.” Les Français “sont tous en des endroits extrêmement différents et (…) le couloir pour sortir de Kiev, c’est une autoroute seulement. Nos Français sont souvent établis depuis fort longtemps sur place et sont dispersés. Il est évidemment extrêmement difficile de rejoindre ce point de sortie”, a-t-elle expliqué.
06h59 : Pour autant, les ressortissants français en Ukraine interrogés par franceinfo continuent de faire part de leur amertume vis-à-vis des autorités. Dans cet article, notre journalistes a recueilli plusieurs témoignages.
06:57: Hello @Valérie. Indeed, last week, the French representation in Ukraine advised French nationals not to take the road, for security reasons. Yesterday, France Inter published a very enlightening article on the functioning of the crisis unit set up at the Quai d’Orsay to help the French who are in Ukraine.
Stéphane Romatet, its director, explained that the mission of this structure was to “do everything to get the French out”, while conceding difficulties, related to the nature of the conflict and logistics: “Ukraine is a war zone, impossible to send planes, impossible to consider setting up buses from a border country to pick them up, group them together and then go in the opposite direction,” he said.
06:48 : Hello, could you explain to us why the ‘extraction’ of French expatriates already organized by the French army in other theaters of war, especially in Africa during a coup d’état, is not envisaged in Ukraine. I find it shocking that our compatriots are not secure when the Quai d’Orsay advised them to stay in Kiev last weekend. Thank you.
06:44: Russia supplies 80% of France’s alumina needs. With the war in Ukraine, industrialists fear the cessation of deliveries in the event of European economic sanctions or Russian retaliatory measures. We tell you more in this article.
06:40: Talks are due to resume this morning between Russia and Ukraine, in an attempt to end the conflict. Negotiations will begin in the morning in Belarus, “not far from the border with Poland,” according to Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky. Initial discussions were held on Monday, without giving any tangible results.
06:35: In France, a surge of solidarity is taking hold of many cities, which are organizing with the prospect of hosting families fleeing the war in Ukraine. Here is the report of France 2.
06:32 : In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries. For many millions more, inside Ukraine, it’s time for guns to fall silent, so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can be provided.
6:31 a.m.: One million refugees have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since the start of the Russian invasion, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said this morning. “For millions of others, inside Ukraine, it is time for the guns to be silent so that humanitarian assistance can arrive and save lives,” he said on Twitter.
10:08 a.m.: “I don’t rely on the embassy. They can’t even give me the contacts of the compatriots who are here in the city! (…) I have now found another Frenchman, who has an all-terrain vehicle that is full, so we can leave.”
After the capture of the city of Kherson, Europe 1 interviewed a Frenchman living in this Ukrainian city, who is now looking for a way to escape.
10:04 a.m.: Kherson fell into the hands of Russian army forces in the night. “We had no weapons and were not aggressive. We have shown that we are working to secure the city and are trying to deal with the consequences of the invasion,” the mayor of the southern city of 290,000 said in a Facebook post.
10:03 a.m.: Here’s what to remember from the news this morning:
One million refugees have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries since the Russian invasion began a week ago, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said this morning.
Russian forces took the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson a week after the Russian offensive began. This comes just hours before potential ceasefire talks agreed to by Russian and Ukrainian negotiators. These negotiations will begin in the morning in a place in Belarus located “not far from the border with Poland”, said the Russian negotiator, Vladimir Medinski.
In a speech, Emmanuel Macron drew up last night with gravity a picture of the Ukrainian situation and the consequences of this crisis for France and Europe. He also denounced Vladimir Putin’s “lies” and presented this crisis as a signal of a “change of era” in Europe.
#CLIMAT Australia’s rescue services have ordered some 200,000 people to evacuate their homes due to heavy rains, which are heading to Sydney this morning after killing 13 people in the rest of the country.
. Source