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LAST UPDATE | 21 Mar 2022
AT LEAST SIX people were killed in the overnight bombing of a shopping centre in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, an AFP journalist said today as the EU condemned ‘war crimes’ carried out on civilians in Ukraine.
Six bodies were laid out in front of the Retroville shopping mall in the northwest of Kyiv, according to the journalist.
The 10-storey building was hit by a powerful blast that pulverised vehicles in its car park and left a crater several metres wide.
The burnt-out mall was still smoking this morning. All of its south side had been destroyed, as well as a fitness centre in its car park.
Twisted bits of metal and other debris were strewn across the area for hundreds of metres, as firefighters and soldiers searched the devastation for victims.
In the night, AFP journalists said a huge blast shook the city and fires could be seen blazing in the mall.
“Enemy shelling” had caused fires on several floors and set several cars ablaze, emergency services said on Facebook.
They released security camera footage showing a massive explosion and a mushroom cloud, followed by a series of smaller blasts.
Firefighters pulled at least one man covered in dust from the twisted debris, according to more video released by the emergency services.
Soldiers cordoned off the site and told journalists to move back, warning of danger from unexploded munitions without elaborating further.
Neighbours in a housing block whose windows were shattered by the blast said they had seen a mobile rocket launcher near the mall for several days previously.
Kyiv has been hit by a series of strikes over the past week, with one on an apartment block earlier Sunday wounding five people.
Russia’s advance on Kyiv has however largely stalled. Moscow’s forces engage in sporadic fighting to the northwest and east but have barely moved for two weeks.
Mariupol
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have rejected a Russian demand that their forces in the besieged strategic port city of Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags in exchange for safe passage out.
Russia has been barraging the encircled southern city on the Sea of Azov, hitting an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before offering to open two corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, according to Ukrainian officials.
Fighting for Mariupol has continued to be intense, even as the Russian offensive in other areas has floundered to the point where Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition.
Ukrainian officials rejected the Russian proposal for safe passage out of Mariupol even before Moscow’s 5am (3am Irish time) deadline for a response came and went.
“There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda. “We have already informed the Russian side about this.”
Multiple diplomats and politicians across the EU have labelled Russian actions as war crimes, however, further sanctions against Russia seem unlikely for now.
With civilian deaths mounting in the besieged port city of Mariupol, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock highlighted the increase in Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and theatres.
The “courts will have to decide, but for me these are clearly war crimes”, Ms Baerbock said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before he chaired a meeting of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels that “what’s happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything, bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner. This is something awful”.
Multiple attempts to evacuate residents from Mariupol have failed or only partly succeeded.
City officials said at least 2,300 people have died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves.
Mr Borrell underlined that “war also has law”.
The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands is gathering evidence about any possible war crimes in Ukraine, but Russia, like the United States, does not recognise the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said his country is “certainly open to other mechanisms for accountability in terms of the atrocities that are taking place in Ukraine right now”.
Mr Coveney said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is probably the first “war being played out on social media, where people see images happening live, and they’re outraged by it”.
“This is driving a fury across the European Union within the public as to why can’t we stop this,” he told reporters.
“They want people held to account for the decisions taken and the brutality that we have seen.”
New sanctions
The imposition of a new round of sanctions – asset freezes and travel bans – appears unlikely for now.
the issue of imposing restrictive measures on energy remains extremely sensitive, given the dependence of many EU countries on supplies of Russian natural gas.
A group of countries led by Germany wants a pause on new measures for now, amid concern about high energy prices and fears that Russia might halt gas exports to Europe.
Some also want to save sanction ammunition for any new and major war atrocity, such as the use of chemical weapons.
“We are doing everything to close loopholes in the sanctions” that have already been agreed, Ms Baerbock said.
With reporting by Press Association
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Say goodbye to the Golden Goose.
The problem here is that you can’t control what the other gov’t going to do. Our corporation tax thing is based on shakey ground as a result. And I’m not exactly sure of the figures but it’s a good few jobs relying on our tax advantage. The EU is constantly sniping on about it. What’s needed is good honest indigenous employment, we can’t afford to have it skewed the way it is, could end up in trouble again
It would help a lot – most of all the Irish people – if the government taxed companies at 12.5% and not 2.5%.
Apple paid about $715 million in corporation tax on foreign profits of $37 billion in fiscal 2012.
That is a meagre 1.9% in tax – more than 10% below the effective rate which Irish governments claim.
What multi-nationals do not pay in tax, we do. The joke is on us.
Can someone clarify for me? Closing the loophole here in Ireland does not mean us changing our corporate tax rate does it? Or does it? im still confused .
Our corporate tax rate stays the same.
Closing the loophole on our side means that they can’t move their money again to avoid taxes.
Hi Catherine, Ireland’s corporate tax rate isn’t affected – the US is trying to close loopholes which allow companies with most of their operations there to shift money overseas without paying tax. But if it works, it would mean US companies are less likely to try an “inversion” to a country with a low corporate tax rate like Ireland.
Thank you both for that. Much appreciated
Thank you Peter. The article was pretty clear and an easy to be honest . It was just me needing to double check . :)
The word inversion is makey uppy. These companies are exercising their right to move off shore. No administration is going to outlaw that no matter how much spin they put on it. The most the US can do is add yet another tax on top of their higher corporate tax rate and that is doubtful too. Nobody is breaking the law and no one is likely to change the law much either. Nothing to see here, move on!
@pat. So I don’t understand why they were fined for moving the tax base to Covidien if the US Govt can’t do anything about it? Can you explain plse?
While i disagree with companies abusing tax systems here in Ireland and abroad attention should also be drawn to the inefficiencies in the IRS tax system in the USA and the Americans should stop pointing jealous fingers at other countries and reform their own tax system for companies which is at present punitive
Problem here is US rate of Corporation Tax is way too high. Tell BO to cut his rates and the problem will sort itself out
The bottom line is the companies will push down wages and benefits for the workers. The profits will have to be attractive to the shareholders.
So buy some shares.
The only issue with the Irish Corporation Tax is that a company registered in Ireland for Corporation Taxation had no domical residence for tax purposes, thus leading the to Double Irish tax structure, where one Irish company is tax resident in Ireland and the other Irish company is tax resident in Bermuda and they can transfer money between each other as US Transfer Pricing Rule are not included in Irish Tax Law.
I am nearly sure that Michael Noonan in last years budget speech addressed this by stating that ALL Companies registered in Ireland would have an Irish Domicile for tax purposes.
In addition, if the US are so concerned about this they should use a carrot instead of a stick approach to corporation tax and reduce nominal rate from 35% to 25%.
have your say