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
Hundreds of people gathered in kyiv on Thursday to pay tribute to a young poet and soldier, Maksym Kryvtsov. Responding to the nom de guerre “Dali”, he was killed on Sunday at the age of 33. He joined the army as a volunteer in 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion, and notably served as a machine gunner.
His first book, Poems from a Gap, was named among the country’s best literary works in 2023 by the Ukrainian branch of the international PEN network. The day before his death, he posted a photo on Facebook in which he can be seen in uniform in front of a tree, a sweet smile on his lips, a bun on the top of his head and his book in his hand. “90% of the poetry here is about death,” he wrote.
On Thursday, his coffin, opened in accordance with tradition, was displayed in Saint Michael’s Cathedral, the center of the Independent Orthodox Church of Moscow, in the center of kyiv. Two soldiers in khaki uniforms held a yellow and blue national flag with a black ribbon as a sign of mourning and a large wooden cross which will then be planted on his grave. More than a hundred people, including many young people, crowded into the small cathedral to pay their last respects. Some sobbed. Many brought flowers, most often roses or carnations.
Sentence of the day
At the end of the meeting, the bill was returned to its initiator. »
David Arakhamia, head of the parliamentary group of Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, indicated Thursday that Ukrainian deputies had postponed consideration of the controversial bill on military mobilization. The Ukrainian army is indeed struggling today, unlike at the start of the conflict, to find volunteers for the front. The bill, prepared by the government, was to be examined on Thursday in first reading by Parliament, but after a closed meeting with the military command during the day, the deputies decided to send the text back for rewriting. “We understand the request of the military command and are ready to respond. But not all rules can be accepted. Some provisions directly violate human rights, others are not formulated in an optimal manner,” said David Arakhamia.
The number of the day
100. This is the fund imagined by European Commissioner Thierry Breton in billions of euros to increase arms production capacities in the European Union. “It’s an ambition, a vision,” he stressed during a meeting with journalists in Brussels, while acknowledging that the idea was still in its embryonic state. These 100 billion are “my personal assessment, what I consider to be necessary” to “very significantly increase our defense industrial base”, explained the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry. The idea of a European fund, however, raises reluctance in so-called “frugal” countries, notably Germany, which are reluctant to increase public spending.
Today’s trend
Volodymyr Zelensky continues his tour of the Baltic countries. After Lithuania yesterday, Estonia today where he generally conveyed the same message, namely demanding more aid from his Western allies. “Give the Russian Federation two or three years, and it will crush us. We wouldn’t take that risk. […] There will be no pause in favor of Russia,” said the Ukrainian president during a joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart Alar Karis.
Zelensky also stressed the importance of international aid to his country, regretting Hungary’s blocking of European aid of 50 billion euros. “We have a delay and a blockage of an important financial package without which it is impossible to survive. Let’s say it’s difficult,” he said at a joint press conference with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. This assured him of Estonia’s support for Ukraine “until victory” stressing that “freedom must be armed better than tyranny”.