Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening. 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
A wave of Russian missiles killed at least seven people on Thursday in Kharkiv, capital of the region of the same name in northeastern Ukraine. The strike, which hit a printing press, also injured around twenty people. Seven people were also injured in a strike on the center of Liubotyn, a town west of Kharkiv. In the middle of the afternoon, at least 13 people were also injured in an airstrike on the town of Dergatchi, northwest of Kharkiv.
Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the strike on Kharkiv by once again pointing out the insufficient number of anti-aircraft defense assets that the West had agreed to deliver to him. “This weakness is not ours, but that of the world, which does not dare to treat terrorists as they deserve,” the Ukrainian president said on the social network
The region, almost entirely liberated during a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the fall of 2022, has already been suffering for months from deadly Russian bombings on residential areas or civilian infrastructure.
Furthermore, in the Zaporizhia region (South), a 74-year-old civilian was killed by an artillery strike. Russian authorities, for their part, reported on Thursday two deaths in Ukrainian attacks in the border region of Belgorod and the Ukrainian region of Donetsk (East), partially occupied by the Russian army.
Today’s statement
“ “Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do this for me, but for no one else, and we will pay nothing!” » »
Former American President Donald Trump assured this Thursday on his social network that if he is elected, he will be able to free American journalist Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia. “Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the election, but certainly before I take office (…) He will be home, safe and with his family,” writes the Republican candidate on Truth Social.
Donald Trump, who will face Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election, has in the past expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin, and boasted that he could end the war in Ukraine in one day, which Russia invaded two years ago.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested by the Russian security services (FSB) during a report in Yekaterinburg in March 2023. He is accused of espionage, a crime punishable by 20 years in prison. He rejects these accusations, as do the United States, his newspaper, his loved ones and his family.
“There are no contacts with Donald Trump,” responded Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov when asked about the former president’s comments.
The number of the day
Two. This is the number of Russian army officials whose arrest was announced this Thursday by Russian justice. A senior official of the Russian general staff and a soldier in charge of public Defense orders were placed in pre-trial detention, respectively for corruption and “abuse of power”, investigators announced.
Since the end of April, including these two new arrests, at least five generals or officials have been arrested in Russia. The Minister of Defense was replaced on May 12 in a surprise reshuffle.
“The fight against corruption is continuous work, it is not a campaign” of purges, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov assured the press. “This is part of what our law enforcement agencies do. »
The trend
The Kremlin denounced this Thursday the calls from American elected officials to authorize Ukraine to use weapons provided by Washington to strike Russian territory, seeing it as an “escalation”. kyiv claims to be able to strike with Western weapons on the Kremlin’s rear bases and positions located on Russian territory, something that Europeans and Americans prohibit for fear of provoking a worsening of the conflict.
“In Washington and in several European capitals, some are zealously trying to provoke, to constantly raise the level of escalation. In this regard, we can describe their position as irresponsible,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, interviewed on the subject by Russian television. “Among American senators, among members of Congress, there are many hotheads who consider it their duty to add fuel to the fire,” he added. The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova reacted with sarcasm by calling on Ukraine to strike the United States embassy in Moscow with American weapons.
“I think we need to allow Ukraine to wage war as it deems necessary,” the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, actually declared on Wednesday. “They need to be able to fight back. And I think it’s not a good policy for us to try to micromanage their effort,” he added. His colleague, Republican Michael McCaul, denounced a restriction imposed by the Joe Biden administration which is “dangerous” for Ukraine and condemns it to fight “with its hands tied behind its back”.