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
Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing to give Ukraine every chance of defeating Russia. The Ukrainian president on Thursday urged NATO to integrate his country into its ranks and deliver more weapons. “The NATO summit in Vilnius can become historic,” insisted Volodymyr Zelensky, judging “it is important that Ukraine [y] receives the appropriate invitation” to join this organization. “It is time,” he insisted. The Kremlin repeated, for its part, on Thursday through the voice of Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, that one of the objectives of its offensive was precisely to prevent any entry of Ukraine into the Atlantic Alliance because “this would pose a serious threat to our country and its security.” Having failed to achieve a quick military victory, Russia now presents the conflict in Ukraine as a NATO proxy war and the invasion of this country as a necessity.
sentence of the day
The future of Ukraine is in the Euro-Atlantic family, the future of Ukraine is in NATO. »
On a surprise visit to Kiev, the NATO Secretary General reiterated the Alliance’s support for Ukrainian ambitions but said nothing about the timetable, believing that the priority should be to win the war. “The future of Ukraine is in the Euro-Atlantic family, the future of Ukraine is in NATO. At the same time, the main objective of the Alliance, of its members, is to ensure that Ukraine wins,” noted Jens Stoltenberg.
He also said that discussions scheduled for Friday with NATO member states would focus on additional arms deliveries, without specifying which ones. The Alliance is focused on ammunition supplies for systems already deployed in Ukraine, he said. “I expect NATO allies and partners to make further concrete announcements of military support for Ukraine.”
The number of the day
14. This is the number of Leopard tanks that Denmark and the Netherlands will buy to donate to Ukraine. “The Netherlands and Denmark today announce their intention to acquire, refurbish and donate to Ukraine 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks following our successful collaboration with Germany for the delivery of at least 100 Leopard tanks 1A5,” according to a statement from the Danish Defense Ministry.
The tanks will be supplied from “early 2024”, specifies the ministry, indicating that the estimated cost of 165 million euros will be “shared equally” between the two countries. “In this way, we will jointly participate in the ‘Leopard 2 coalition’, supported by many partners and allies,” the statement added. In a separate press release, the Dutch Minister of Defense considers that “the security of Ukraine and that of Europe are inextricably linked”.
The trend of the day
The Wagner group “serves as an instrument in Russia’s hybrid war”. This is why Switzerland on Thursday added the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner and the media RIA FAN to its list of individuals and entities sanctioned for their link with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The group with an obscure legal nature is part of a complex network of companies active all over the world (in the fields of aviation, security, technology, commodity trading, financial services and influence activities, for example), which are interconnected via property relations and logistical networks,” explained the Federal Department of Economics.
At the same time, Switzerland has also included – like the European Union – in its list of sanctions the Russian news agency RIA FAN, a Russian media which is part of the Patriot Media Group, whose board of directors is headed by Evgueni Prigojine, Wagner’s boss, according to a press release from the Federal Department of the Economy.