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
Ukraine said on Wednesday it had carried out a nighttime drone attack against a major Russian refinery in the Ryazan region, located about 190 km southeast of Moscow, and nearly 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This new attack took place against a backdrop of tensions with Washington which in recent months has criticized, according to media reports, kyiv’s strikes against energy installations located on Russian soil and asked it to put an end to them.
Local media reported explosions and a fire at this refinery, owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft. The regional governor, Pavel Malkov, confirmed on Telegram a “drone attack”, but without giving further details, specifying that there were no victims according to preliminary information.
Today’s statement
“ For the first time in history, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has created a digital personality using artificial intelligence technologies to officially comment on consular information intended for the media. » »
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this Wednesday that a spokesperson generated by artificial intelligence (AI) would now be responsible for commenting on consular affairs by reading texts which must nevertheless always be written by humans.
This avatar responds to the name of Victoria Shi, a first name which evokes the “victory” of her country in the war against the Russian invasion and a last name which simply means “AI” in Ukrainian.
The number of the day
Five. This is the number of Ukrainian civilians killed in Russian strikes this Wednesday in Ukraine. A 38-year-old woman and her father died in a car in Kharkiv (north-eastern Ukraine) hit by “guided aerial bombs”, said the governor, Oleg Synegoubov. Six other people were injured, including an 11-year-old child, he said on Telegram, indicating that two of them had been hospitalized.
Later in the day, a 67-year-old woman died of her injuries following Russian shelling on the village of Lelyukivka, in the same region, the governor said.
Another Russian strike left two dead and six injured in Guirnyk, a small town located about fifteen kilometers from the front line in the Donetsk region (east), its governor Vadim Filachkine said on Telegram.
The trend
The teaching of Russian is dying in Finland. Near the border, the towns of Lappeenranta and Joensuu announced at the start of the year the closure of Itä-Suomen koulu establishments which offer, in addition to the Finnish curriculum, Russian culture and language courses. The reason for these closures? According to Katri Anttila, the director of the school group, local politicians are no longer interested in maintaining Russian language programs in elementary and secondary education.
Asked about the reason for these closures, a city official in Lappeenranta responsible for school services, Juhani Junnilainen, mentioned “a lack of resources”. In addition, “interest in the Russian language has been declining for more than a decade,” while “Spanish has gained popularity” among students, he argues.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, relations between Finland and Russia have deteriorated significantly. abandoning decades of military non-alignment, this Nordic country joined NATO in April 2023, provoking the ire of Moscow.