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On the verge of completing three weeks of war, Russia and Ukraine appear to be moving forward in more concrete terms for a possible peace agreement, while criticism of Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian areas with civilians increases.
On Wednesday (16), US President Joe Biden raised his tone against Vladimir Putin and told reporters that the Russian president is “a war criminal”.
In response, the Kremlin called the speech “unacceptable and unforgivable”.
The statement came on the same day that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, visited Ukraine and held a videoconference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The court investigates the occurrence of war crimes in the conflict.
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726 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine, including 64 children, according to the UN;
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More than 3 million people are refugees, according to the organization
Progress in the agreement
For the first time, the Putin government indicates that it is willing to discuss terms of one of its central demands to leave the neighboring territory: the guarantee of neutrality ukrainian.
What is neutrality?
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Putin demands that Ukraine include in its constitution a clause stating that the country will not join political or military blocs such as NATO or the European Union.
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Moscow claims that this type of rapprochement with the West poses risks to its territory and sovereignty.
Whale? In an interview with special reporter Fernanda Mena, Ukrainian anthropologist Volodymir Artiukh refutes the thesis that NATO’s eastern advance is Putin’s motivation for the war.
For the Oxford University researcher, Putin wants to command the foreign and domestic policy of neighboring states. “As Ukraine is the biggest of these neighbors in Europe, Russia wants to control it,” he says.
What happened
Follow real-time updates and read what is known so far about the war.
Do not get lost
In this issue, we explain what is at stake in discussions of war crimes.
Who defines?
The Rome Statute of 1998, based on the rules of the Geneva Conventions (1949) and other international treaties
Who judges?
The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, prosecutes individuals, in particular for crimes committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of practice in Big scale of such crimes
Examples of conduct that may constitute a crime, according to the statute:
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Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population
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Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects
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Attacking or bombing, by any means, cities, villages, dwellings or buildings that are not defended and that are not military objectives;
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Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, charities, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are gathered, provided they are not military objectives
Columnist Thiago Amparo, professor of international law and human rights at FGV Direito SP, summarizes: “The principle of distinction is a golden rule in international law: in conflict, the belligerent parties must know how to differentiate between combatants and civilians,” he wrote.
In conflict: Last week, a bombing at a maternity hospital in Mariupol, in southern Ukraine, killed three people. On Wednesday, Ukraine accused Russia of dropping bombs on a theater where residents were sheltering in the same city. Moscow denies.
picture of the day
What to see and hear to stay informed
To understand the negotiations, we recommend an episode of Café da Manhã about the obstacles in the dialogue and a video from TV Folha that shows the trajectory of one of the protagonists of this process. And mothers who need to protect themselves in the basement and deal with the fear of childbirth attacks:
