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 essentials of the day.
News of the day
Should the Ukrainians be allowed to strike Russian soil with Western weapons? This is THE question of the week, the one around which all diplomatic interventions revolve. And for Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, the answer does not make a difference. In light of the recent fighting, “I think it is time to call into question some of these restrictions in order to allow the Ukrainians to defend themselves,” he insisted again during a conference in Prague, where The foreign ministers of the Atlantic Alliance meet on Thursday evening and Friday.
Faced with this Western ardor, the Kremlin accused NATO on Thursday of “provoking” Ukraine to prolong the conflict against the Russian army. “NATO member countries, especially the United States and other European capitals, have started a new cycle of escalation in recent days and weeks,” denounced the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, the faithful Dmitri Peskov. “They are provoking Ukraine by all means possible in order to continue this senseless war,” he added.
The number of the day
Between 50,000 and 100,000 shells. This is the delivery that Ukraine should receive in June, from the Czech Republic. The latter is at the origin of an initiative aimed at purchasing ammunition outside Europe. This announcement was made this Thursday by a Czech official, on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague. Tomas Kopecny, the Czech government’s envoy for Ukraine’s reconstruction, added that kyiv could receive millions of shells if the allies managed to raise the money.
Today’s statement
“ We also believe that Ukraine has an indisputable right […] to attack Russia within its borders as part of the defense of its territory. » »
The head of Norwegian diplomacy gets wet, declaring himself in favor of Ukraine being able to strike Russian territory with Western weapons. Espen Barth Eide made the statement on Thursday on Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
Today’s trend
On the battlefield, everyone has their own feats of arms. Ukraine, continuing its efforts to push the Russian navy from its coasts, claimed to have hit two Russian patrol boats in the Black Sea, off the coast of Crimea, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. According to a Ukrainian source, “Ukrainian Magura V5 naval drones attacked enemy boats in the area of the village of Chornomorské”, near the town of Yevpatoria, in western Crimea, occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014. This “special operation” would have been carried out by the military intelligence department – the GUR – a structure within the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense renowned for its daring operations deep into Russia.
Without commenting on this incident, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones “heading towards Crimea” during the night. He also claimed to have neutralized thirteen Ukrainian aerial drones near Crimea and above the Krasnodar region, in southern Russia.