Did you miss the latest events on the tensions in Ukraine? 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
This Wednesday, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, traveled to Russia for talks aimed at securing the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine, several times targeted by shootings. Last week, the head of the IAEA visited this plant, controlled by Russian forces in southern Ukraine, calling for urgent measures to be taken to avoid a nuclear disaster.
“I met with senior officials from several Russian agencies (…) I am continuing my efforts to protect the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant,” said Rafael Grossi during a trip to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave located on the Baltic Sea, between Poland and Lithuania. “My recent visit confirmed the urgent need to achieve this essential objective, which is in everyone’s interest,” he added on Twitter. Russia is “ready to continue working on the implementation” of Rafael Grossi’s proposals, assured Rosatom. The Russian nuclear giant Rosatom stressed that its director general, Alexei Likhachev, had given details to the head of the IAEA on “the measures taken by the Russian authorities to ensure the safety of operations” of the plant.
sentence of the day
There is every reason to believe that the potential of third countries and Western special services is involved in the preparation of acts of sabotage and terrorism. »
This is a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Wednesday accused Western secret services of being involved in “terrorist” attacks in Russia. This accusation comes three days after the death of a famous military blogger in a bomb attack in Saint Petersburg. Vladimir Putin spoke the words alongside the Moscow-installed leaders of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia has claimed for annexation in 2022, during a televised meeting of its Security Council.
The number of the day
7 billions. VTB, the second Russian bank, announced this Wednesday a loss of 7 billion euros in 2022, due to the “unprecedented” sanctions which affected it in retaliation for the Russian offensive in Ukraine, in particular its exclusion from the system of Swift international payments. “In 2022, the VTB Group faced unprecedented difficulties and challenges. (…) We have become the first target of the maximum possible sanctions, which has led to significant losses, ”lamented Dmitri Pianov, financial director of VTB, quoted in a press release from the group.
The trend of the day
This Wednesday was marked by diplomatic visits. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began his first official visit to Poland, a major ally, to thank it for its help in the face of the Russian invasion and to discuss future security and economic relations. Poland, which has already supplied Ukraine with eight MiG-29s and will send six more soon, will “in the future be able to transfer its entire fleet of MiGs to Ukraine”, i.e. a total of around thirty aircraft, “subject to the agreement of its allies” in NATO, declared Andrzej Duda on the occasion of this visit.
Warsaw will ask for additional security guarantees for Ukraine at the next NATO summit this summer in Vilnius, the Polish president also announced. For his part, the French president went to China for a “dialogue” on Ukraine which he considers “indispensable”. Emmanuel Macron told Beijing that China could “play a major role” in “finding a path of peace” in Ukraine, at the start of a visit aimed at renewing face-to-face dialogue with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping .
“China has precisely proposed a peace plan (…) It is indeed a question of a desire to have a responsibility and to try to build a path towards peace”, declared the French president. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, never formally condemned by Beijing, is at the top of the issues he intends to address Thursday during an intense series of discussions with Xi Jinping.