Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Between the strong declarations, the advances on the front and the results of the battles, here are the main points of the day.
The fact of the day
Return home for a Ukrainian orphan. “Bogdan Yermokhine will soon be in Ukraine,” the Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, Dmytro Loubinets, announced on Telegram on Friday, reporting an “agreement” on his repatriation. Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said on Telegram that the two countries had agreed that the young man would be reunited with his cousin, his legal guardian in Ukraine, “in a third country” on the day of his 18th birthday, November 19.
Bogdan Yermokhin lived in Mariupol, a large industrial city in southeastern Ukraine and, according to media reports, was receiving training in the metallurgy sector there at the time of the Russian invasion in February 2022. With a group of miners Ukrainians from Mariupol, he was first transferred to Donetsk, the regional capital under Russian control, then to the Moscow region, according to the Ukrainian site Graty. In March, he tried to flee Russia to return to Ukraine before being arrested by Russian law enforcement near the Belarusian border.
The number of the day
6. This is the number of years in a penal colony to which Valéria Zotova was sentenced for “terrorism” by Russian justice. This was arrested in February 2023 in the Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow, when it planned to “set fire” to a collection center to receive clothes and food for Russians mobilized on the Ukrainian front, said Ria Novosti, the state news agency. The security services (FSB) accuse this young woman of having acted on the orders of a Ukrainian soldier “in order to destabilize the authorities and influence their decision to end the special military operation”.
But his supporters denounce a set-up by the FSB. Its agents “actively encouraged the young girl to commit arson against the aid collection point for the Russian army,” assures Zona Solidarnosti, which defends Russians imprisoned for their opinion on the conflict in Ukraine. It is precisely the “anti-war positions” of Valeria Zotova that were able to “attract the attention of the services”, asserts the group.
Sentence of the day
Those convicted, including those for serious crimes, atone for their crime with blood on the battlefield. »
Redemption through war, according to Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov. He was answering a question about Vladislav Kaniouss. The man sentenced to seventeen years in prison for the sordid murder of his ex-partner was, according to some Russian media, released after fighting on the Ukrainian front. But before being released, the condemned must still survive the fight. Indeed, specifies Dmitri Peskov, the latter “atone with blood [en étant] in assault units, under bullets, under shells.” In short, on the front line.
Today’s trend
The Russian army is not giving up on taking Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine. “Not only are they fighting for the factory, but they are not giving up on surrounding Avdiïvka”, a city on the front since 2014, Oleksandr Chtoupoune, spokesperson for the Ukrainian army, said on television. “The coking plant is important” for Russian soldiers, he added, specifying that it remained under Ukrainian control for the time being. But the attacks continue, and “two civilians, a man and a woman, died last night due to a strike on a residential building,” he added.
Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday they expected a third Russian assault on Avdiivka since October 10. According to kyiv, Russia is suffering very heavy losses but is not giving up. For nine years, Ukrainian forces have been entrenched there behind solid fortifications. They have had to give up a little ground over the past month, but the defenses seem to be holding up so far.