Did you miss the latest events on the war 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
Parcel well received. The first American Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine while French AMX-10 light combat tanks are already on the battlefield, according to the Ukrainian authorities who are preparing a major counter-offensive. “Today our beautiful Ukrainian skies are becoming safer because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted, thanking the United States, Germany and the Netherlands for “keeping their word”.
Washington had pledged in mid-December, during Volodymyr Zelensky’s historic visit to the United States, to provide its sophisticated Patriot air defense system. It will “significantly” strengthen the Ukrainian defense against Russian attacks, the Ukrainian president rejoiced at the time, assuring that this equipment would only be used “defensively” and not to strike Russian territory. In the process, Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that his army would find an “antidote” to circumvent this advanced system.
sentence of the day
We look forward to welcoming Sweden soon as the 32nd [membre de l’Otan]. »
Visiting Sweden at the Swedish naval base in Muskö, near Stockholm, US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin called on Wednesday “Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden’s entry [dans l’Otan] as soon as possible” and before the next alliance summit in early July.
Washington has supported from the start the entry of Finland – effective since April 4 – and that of Sweden, which has been struggling for months to obtain the essential green light from Turkey and Hungary.
The number of the day
8. This is the number of years in prison that the opponent Ilia Yachine received on appeal for his criticism of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. The conviction pronounced at first instance in December “remains unchanged”, indicated the judge. Ilia Yashin, 39, was found guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military.
A charismatic opponent, he was convicted for having denounced, in a live intervention on YouTube, “the murder of civilians” in the town of Boutcha, near Kiev, where the Russian army was accused of abuses, which denies Moscow. “The feeling of having moral superiority over the thieves and killers who have taken over gives me strength. They know I don’t fear them,” the opponent said during the hearing, according to a transcript released by his team. “What is my fault? It is to have fulfilled my duty as a Russian politician and patriot and to have spoken the truth about this war”, he also affirmed.
The trend of the day
After Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, Bulgaria has in turn banned the purchase of wheat and other products from Ukraine. “The government has decided to temporarily ban a wide range of products from Ukraine, in the wake of the other three countries,” Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Yavor Guetchev said after a meeting of the firm.
Sofia said she had to adopt “this extreme measure”, effective from April 24, for fear of a “diversion of imports of goods via the Romania-Bulgaria corridor”, and hopes for a joint decision at EU level in the next weeks. These neighboring European states have seen maize, wheat or sunflower from Ukraine piling up on their soil due to logistical problems, which has caused local prices to fall.
In the process, Brussels announced new financial aid to these Eastern European countries. The European Commission, seeking at all costs to avoid unilateral measures of this type, reacted by proposing to release an additional amount of 100 million euros, “as part of a common European approach”, declared its president Ursula von der Leyen in a letter to the leaders concerned. These funds supplement an initial envelope of 56.3 million euros granted last month to support the operators most affected.