After almost eight months of “special military operation” in Ukraine led by Russia, the conflict is at a turning point. The Vladimir Putin’s official speech this Wednesday announcing the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservistss and accusing the West of wanting to “destroy” Russia marked the rise of tensions. The organization of annexation “referendums” of occupied Ukrainian regions by the Russian army, namely Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, announced on Tuesday, also constitutes an escalation of the conflict, especially since Vladimir Putin has also raised the threat of nuclear strikes to defend what he considers to be his territory. At the same time, Russia also found itself in the dock in the Security Council of the UN, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken led the charge on Thursday, during a meeting attended by his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Here is a point in four infographics on this week of tensions, ending this Friday, the 212th day of conflict, on the accusations of the UN. Far from the usual caution of speech, investigators from the organization accused Moscow of having committed a “considerable number” of war crimes in the first weeks after the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian counter-offensive continues
After the dazzling Ukrainian counter-offensive of early September, recapturing the Kharkiv region in the northeast, and which kyiv pursued towards Lugansk, Donetsk and Kherson, kyiv claimed to new advances of his army in the east of the country this Friday.
Ukraine announced the capture of Yatskivka on the eastern bank of the Oskil River in the Donetsk region (east). This victory seems to confirm the continuation of a counter-offensive which has already enabled kyiv to retake several thousand square kilometers in the neighboring region of Kharkiv, as this infographics. And “the Ukrainians have also restored their control over positions south of Bakhmout”, a key city in the Donetsk region targeted for weeks by Russian attacks, Oleksiï Gromov, a senior staff official, told television. Ukrainian military.
Finally, in the Lugansk region, Andrei Marochko, representative of the pro-Russian military, reported this week on Ukrainian bombardments, noting that the kyiv forces “want to do everything to derail the referendum”.
The Russian army relies on its reserves
“It’s not a bluff. » Vladimir Poutine wanted to strike the spirits during a televised intervention broadcast Wednesday morning. Forced to retreat in the face of Ukrainian counter-offensives, the Russian president chose to bet on an escalation of the conflict by waving nuclear force but also by announcing the signing of a decree authorizing a “partial mobilization” of the population.
This announcement comes on top of the decree signed on August 25 aimed at increasing the number of soldiers in the Russian army by 10% on January 1, 2023. Thus, 300,000 reservists are called up to serve, according to Sergei Shoigu, Russian Minister of Defense. Defense. Huge additional volume for Moscow troops who questions. In the wake of this announcement, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday urged the Russians to “protest” against this mobilization. “55,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in this war in six months (…) Do you want more? Nope ? So protest! Fight! Run away ! Or go to the Ukrainian army, he launched in Russian in his traditional video address. These are your options for surviving. »
Uncompromising annexation “referendums”
Of the annexation “referendums” by Russia began on Friday in regions of Ukraine controlled entirely or in part by Moscow, polls described as “simulacra” by kyiv and the West. The votes, which began at 7 a.m., will end on September 27 in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and in areas under Russian occupation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye (south).
The ballot, announced urgently this week against the backdrop of Ukrainian military successes, is notably carried out door-to-door, with pro-Russian officials going to buildings with mobile ballot boxes to get the population to vote, according to Russian media images. . Authorities said it was a security measure.
Organized in haste, these referendums were denounced by the Ukrainian government and its Western supporters, Moscow wanting to take control of whole sections of Ukraine, like the peninsula of Crimea (south) in 2014. Even the ChinaMoscow’s closest partner, called for respect for territorial integrity.
A “winter of global discontent” on the horizon
The prices of bread, energy or vegetables are rising…. explode. And on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonion Guterres warned world leaders of the risk of “a winter of global discontent” because of the multiple crises affecting humanity, in particular the war in Ukraine. Americans and Europeans organized a ministerial meeting on food security on Tuesday, a consequence of this war from which the whole planet is suffering. And after the Secretary General, for several days, dozens of Heads of State and Government from all over the world took the floor during this 77th UN General Assemblyannual diplomatic high mass.
Ukraine remained at the heart of the debates, with in particular an intervention on Wednesday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Before Antonio Guterres takes the floor again on Thursday to call for investigate the “catalogue of cruelties” taking place in Ukraine and the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council demanding that Russia be held accountable the next day for its invasion of Ukraine, before their counterpart Russian. A Sergei Lavrov who generally snubbed them.