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
In the midst of war with Russia, kyiv turns to its “internal enemy”, corruption. Ukraine on Wednesday launched a wave of searches targeting administrations, officials and personalities, the authorities ensuring that the fight against corruption is a priority in the context of the war effort and Western aid. The boss of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Vassyl Maliouk, indicated that he was carrying out a campaign on the orders of President Volodymyr Zelensky to “deal a blow to the internal enemy”. “This is only the first step,” he said, “and we’re not going to stop there,” he insisted, vowing to “handcuff” those who have “the audacity to harm Ukraine”.
Ukrainian authorities said they raided the home of billionaire Igor Kolomoiski, former interior minister Arsen Avakov and the Ukrainian tax authorities, while the customs department was sacked. Senior officials from the Ministry of Defense also received visits from investigators. The raids come a week after a series of senior officials were sacked in the wake of a bribery scandal over army supplies, the first major scandal since the Russian invasion nearly a year ago. .
sentence of the day
Is the French president really certain that deliveries of heavy weapons and planes to the kyiv regime will not lead to an escalation of the situation? (…) I can’t believe this is adult logic. »
These are the words of the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, who crushed Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. The Head of State had stressed that each decision to deliver arms had to meet “criteria”, in particular that it “not be escalatory” and “not likely to touch Russian soil”. Maria Zakharova called her comments “absurd”.
The number of the day
7,000. This is the number of civilians who have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, according to a count carried out by the UN Human Rights Office. Among these victims, the Office of the High Commissioner counted 429 children. We also find in this report the number of injured: 10,947, including 547 children.
The trend of the day
Ukraine says it needs high-precision missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers to destroy Russian supply lines and ammunition depots. US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he would discuss his arms needs with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
But this Wednesday, the Kremlin was annoyed by this announcement. Moscow said that the potential delivery of longer-range missiles would “not change the course of events” and assured that Russia would continue its offensive at all costs.
Missile supplies with a range of 150 km would lead “to a heightening of tensions, to an increase in the level of escalation. We see it, it would mean additional efforts for us, but it will not change the course of events, the special military operation will continue,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.