Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? Do not panic, 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. Who did what ? Who said what? Where are we ? The answer below.
The fact of the day
Russian forces launched a major attack on the town of Avdiïvka, an industrial city in the Ukrainian Donbass that Moscow and its separatist allies have been trying to conquer since 2014. This new attempt seems to worry the Ukrainian authorities while 1,600 inhabitants still live in Avdiïvka , compared to 30,000 before the Russian invasion. “The Russians are striking massively with their artillery, since 8 a.m. continuously until now. (…) The enemy is trying to encircle the city, indicated the head of the local military administration, Vitaly Barabas. For more than a year, the risk of the city being occupied has existed, but today the situation has rapidly worsened. »
Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in June to try to liberate its occupied territories. But so far, progress has been limited, and Moscow regularly attempts its own attacks to force the Ukrainian army to reconsider its plans.
The number of the day
60. This is, as a percentage, the total Ukrainian grain exports passing through Romania since the launch of the Russian offensive which hinders access to the Black Sea. Romania has become an essential crossroads, which pushed Volodymyr Zelensky to go there this Tuesday. A first since the start of the war. The Ukrainian president spoke of “a grain corridor from Ukraine to Romania, via Moldova, which will soon be operational”. “Since the start of the war, more than 27 million tonnes of grain from Ukraine have passed through our country,” recalled Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, assuring his counterpart of his unwavering support.
Sentence of the day
This is a clear example of the failure of US policy in Middle East. »
These are the words of Vladimir Putin who also deemed the creation of a Palestinian state “necessary” this Tuesday. The Russian president also accused the United States of having “monopolized” the settlement of the conflict without worrying about “finding compromises acceptable to both parties”, but on the contrary of having “promoted their own ideas on how to proceed, putting pressure on both parties.”
Today’s trend
The UN General Assembly on Tuesday renewed, for the period 2024-2026, 15 of the 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council which sits in Geneva. And Russia, which hoped to regain a seat, ultimately failed.
A few days after the Russian strike on the Ukrainian village of Groza where 52 people were killed, all eyes were on the Russian candidacy. With some concern on the part of the West due to a secret ballot, in a fragmented world where many developing countries are tiring of the attention paid to Ukraine. “UN member states have sent a strong signal to the Russian authorities: a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity has no place at the Human Rights Council,” commented Louis Charbonneau, from the NGO Human Rights Watch. The General Assembly “has an important choice to make, to prove that it is not ready to confuse an arsonist with a firefighter,” Albanian Ambassador to the UN Ferit Hoxha said on Monday during a meeting of the Security Council. security over the Groza carnage.
Russia defended itself: “There is no model of democracy or rogue state, as some sometimes describe it,” declared its ambassador to the UN Vassili Nebenzia a few days ago. No member state can claim to be immune from human rights violations. »
In October 2020, Russia was elected to the Human Rights Council for three years with 158 votes – Ukraine won the other seat with 166 votes – but the General Assembly voted for its “suspension” in April 2022 (93 votes for its suspension, 24 against, and 58 abstentions).