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
Russian swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov will not participate in the Games in Paris. “To date, under current conditions, for me, it is unacceptable” to participate in the 2024 Olympics, declared the rising swimming star, in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the recent swimming competitions in Saint -Petersburg, the former imperial capital.
“I decided that for me personally, it would not be possible to participate in the Olympic Games under these conditions,” he said, explaining that he did not want to be a “black sheep” among the other athletes who would come in the summer. next in the French capital. At the beginning of December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) authorized Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Paris Games (July 26-August 11) on the condition that they compete under a neutral banner, excluding team events, and that they do not have not actively supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine and that they have cleared the qualification hurdle. To date, there are only 11 in this case, eight Russians and three Belarusians, against around sixty Ukrainians, according to the IOC.
At the same time, Russia placed on the wanted list a couple of fencers, Violetta Khrapina and Sergey Bida, whom it accuses of having participated in the American championship without explicit agreement. According to state news agency TASS, Sergey Bida is an officer in the Russian National Guard and active military, and the couple had to seek permission from Russian sports authorities before participating in the competition.
Sentence of the day
It will be the party of all those who are in favor of peace, freedom and democracy”
The Russian Ekaterina Dountsova, whose candidacy for the presidential election in March was rejected, announced on Wednesday that she wanted to create her own party. This former local elected official from a small provincial town, unknown to most people and who presents herself on her website as “journalist and lawyer”, had appealed the refusal of the Electoral Commission to validate her candidacy for the election, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is assured of winning as the opposition is muzzled. The Supreme Court upheld this decision and by creating her party today, Dountsova has set herself a new, more measured objective: to hold the “founding congress” of her organization in March, before nominating candidates for local elections in September.
The number of the day
88 billion. This is Russia’s oil and gas revenue in euros in 2023, according to Deputy Prime Minister of Energy Alexander Novak. This is approximately the same level as in 2021, before the sanctions. According to Novak, Russia today sells 45-50% of its oil to China and 40% to India.
“If previously we supplied Europe with 40-45% of the total volume of exports of oil and oil products, we expect that this figure will not exceed 4-5% by the end of the year,” he explained in an interview with the Rossia 24 television channel.
Today’s trend
Kherson is still paying a heavy price. At least one person was killed and four others injured Tuesday during a Russian bombing that hit a train station in this southern Ukrainian city.
“About 140 civilians are waiting at the station for the evacuation train to leave. “That’s when the enemy began a massive bombardment of the city,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram. A police officer was killed and two civilians and two police officers were injured by shrapnel. Ukrainian Railways Ukrzaliznytsia reported on Telegram that the station and train were damaged. “The situation is under control and the railway is ready to continue operating,” she nevertheless assured.