Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 minutes takes stock for you every evening at 7:30 p.m. 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
Numerous exchanges of strikes between Ukraine and Russia. On the one hand, Russia launched a missile attack against energy infrastructure. In total, four thermal power plants were targeted, causing power outages.
“The enemy has once again attacked the country’s energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook, citing “damage” to installations in the Dnipropetrovsk regions (central-east), Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv (West), close to the borders of the European Union and located hundreds of kilometers from the front lines.
According to the Ukrainian army, which spoke of a “massive” attack, 34 missiles targeted the country, 21 of which were shot down. “We ask all consumers to use electricity sparingly,” according to a statement from Ukrenergo, the public energy operator. “The industry is being asked to maximize electricity imports and use alternative sources.”
Other Russian bombings killed two people and injured 15 others. One person died and five were injured in the Kharkiv region (north-east). Another was killed and eight injured in a bombing in the Kherson region (south), according to Ukrainian authorities.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk indicated on X that one of the missiles fired by Russia during the night had fallen in Ukraine “15 kilometers” from the Polish border.
The number of the day
68. For its part, Ukraine is not left out since the country of Volodymyr Zelensky for its part launched a massive drone attack overnight on the southern Russian region of Krasnodar.
This Saturday, Russia announced that it had intercepted 68 Ukrainian drones in the Krasnodar region (south) and annexed Crimea during the night from Friday to Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.
According to the ministry, 66 of these drones were shot down over the Krasnodar Territory, and the other two on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
“They tried to attack oil refineries and infrastructure. According to information on the spot, there are no injuries or serious damage,” Krasnodar region governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram.
According to a Ukrainian defense source to AFP, drones did hit two oil refineries and a military air base in this region located to the east of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
“Ukrainian drones struck the atmospheric distillation columns of the Ilsky and Slavyansk refineries,” according to this source, describing them as “key technological installations.”
Russian officials in the Krasnodar region reported a fire at the Slavyansk-on-Kuban refinery. The latter had to stop its activity, Russian state media reported, citing a representative of the operator.
Today’s statement
“ I am in favor of opening this debate which must therefore include anti-missile defense, long-range weapon firing, nuclear weapons for those who have them or who have American nuclear weapons on their soil. »
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, said he was ready to “open the debate” on a European defense which would also include nuclear weapons, in an interview with young Europeans published Saturday evening by the Ebra group’s newspapers.
“I am in favor of opening this debate which must therefore include anti-missile defense, long-range weapon firing, nuclear weapons for those who have them or who have American nuclear weapons on their soil. Let’s put everything on the table and look at what truly protects us in a credible way,” declared the Head of State, adding that France would keep “its specificity but is ready to contribute more to the defense of European soil”.
Since Brexit and Great Britain’s exit from the European Union, France is the only one of its member states to have nuclear deterrence.
The trend
Authorities in Latvia, a Baltic country neighboring Russia, called on citizens to turn their cellars into air-raid shelters on Saturday, to mark the country’s traditional national clean-up day. A former republic of the Soviet Union, Latvia, now a member of NATO and the EU, shares a 214 km border with Russia, raising fears in Riga that the country could be among the first targets of Moscow in the event of victory in Ukraine.
Italy summoned the Russian ambassador this Saturday after Moscow announced that it would bring the Ariston Thermo Group subsidiary under the control of the Russian public energy giant Gazprom, announced the head of Italian diplomacy Antonio Tajani . “The government demands clarification regarding the nationalization of Ariston Thermo Group”, a company specializing in heating and hot water production equipment, he said on the social network X, formerly Twitter. “(We) also work with Brussels, in liaison with Germany,” while Bosch was also targeted, he added. The takeover was formalized in a Russian decree published Friday, although dated Thursday, signed by President Vladimir Putin.
A Russian journalist collaborating with several media outlets was placed in pre-trial detention for “extremism” for having participated in the creation of videos for the YouTube channel of the team of the late opponent Alexeï Navalny, the Moscow courts announced on Saturday. Konstantin Gabov was detained until at least June 27 while awaiting trial, the courts’ press service said on Telegram. Russian justice accuses him of having “participated in the preparation of photos and videos intended to be published on the NavalnyLIVE YouTube channel”, indicated the courts, in reference to one of the platforms used by the team of opponent Alexeï Navalny.