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.
news of the day
Two civilians were killed and two wounded Friday in a bombardment on the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine. The regional governor said that shells fired by Ukrainian forces had crashed on a road near the town of Chebekino, located about ten kilometers from Ukraine and frequently bombarded.
“Shrapnel hit passing cars. In one of them, two women […] died on the spot of their injuries,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding that two men were also seriously injured. The strikes on Belgorod have intensified in recent days, as kyiv says it is preparing to launch a major offensive against areas captured by Russian forces in Ukraine.
sentence of the day
The War of Aggression [de Poutine] was a strategic failure, drastically diminishing Russia’s military, economic and diplomatic might and influence for years to come.”
During a visit to Helsinki, the head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, did not fail to pinpoint the consequences of the war in Ukraine on Russian diplomacy. While the risk of seeing Ukraine enter NATO was part of Vladimir Putin’s motivation to launch the offensive, Finland put an end to an old strategy of non-alignment in order to join the Alliance.
The number of the day
15. This is the number of Russian cruise missiles that the Ukrainian defense indicates to have destroyed during the night, during a new attack targeting kyiv. “All” of the missiles and 21 drones of this offensive were intercepted, according to Ukraine. Conversely, Moscow claims to have “hit” anti-aircraft defense systems and hit the desired targets.
The trend of the day
“Many difficulties” prevent Russia and Ukraine from starting peace talks, the Chinese envoy to Ukraine said on Friday, returning to Beijing after a tour of Europe. “All parties support a political settlement” of the conflict, assured Li Hui, whose tour notably took him to kyiv and Moscow. “The two parties have not completely closed the door to peace talks,” he said.
The special representative for Eurasian affairs responsible for discussing the settlement of the armed conflict in Ukraine, also pointed to the harmful role, according to him, of Western military aid to Ukraine. “If we really want to stop war, save lives and achieve peace, we shouldn’t send weapons to the battlefield,” he said.