Did you miss 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.
News of the day
The Russians will not fail to comment on the information on the theme of the West igniting the powder. The first French military instructors are due to arrive “soon” in Ukraine, the Ukrainian army general announced on Monday. “I welcome France’s initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers. I have already signed the documents that will allow the first French instructors to soon visit our training centers and familiarize themselves with the infrastructure and their personnel,” General Oleksandr Syrsky wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian artillerymen are already training in France, in a secret training center.
The number of the day
1 billion. This is the amount of military aid to Ukraine announced for 2024 by the Spanish Prime Minister who received a visit from Volodymyr Zelensky this Monday. “We will be alongside Ukraine as long as it takes,” stressed Pedro Sanchez, specifying that Spain would notably deliver new Leopard tanks to kyiv. This security agreement is the tenth signed since the start of the war by Ukraine, which has already signed one with France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The military aid provided so far by Madrid to kyiv has been limited. According to data from the Kiel Institute, which lists the weapons promised and delivered to Ukraine since the Russian invasion which began on February 24, 2022, Spain had so far committed to providing 330 million euros of military aid to kyiv, which until now made it a small contributor on a European scale.
Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Portugal on Tuesday.
Today’s statement
“ Russia wants to destroy Ukraine, wipe us out” »
From Madrid, President Zelensky rejected the proposal from China and Brazil who insist on Russia’s participation in a summit for peace in Ukraine scheduled for Switzerland in mid-June. “Currently, we don’t see Russia participating in it, because Russia is going to block everything, that’s clear,” explained the Ukrainian head of state.
Once summit participants agree on a document detailing steps to establish a “just peace” in Ukraine based on a Kiev peace plan, intermediaries will be able to transmit these proposals to Russia, said Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to him, 90 countries have already confirmed their participation in this conference which will be held on June 15 and 16.
Today’s trend
On the front, the fighting is still raging. Russia claimed Monday the capture of two new localities in eastern Ukraine, where a strike on a DIY hypermarket in Kharkiv, the country’s second city, left sixteen people dead on Saturday. A new strike on an industrial zone in this city killed a woman on Monday, according to the region’s governor.
In the south, at least three people were killed and six others injured, including two teenagers, in a Russian strike on Snigourivka, a village in the southern region of Mykolaiv, announced its governor, Vitaly Kim.
The Russian army launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region on May 10, pushing kyiv to send valuable reinforcements there. However, the Ukrainian authorities affirmed on Friday that the advance of the Russian army had been “stopped” in this area.