Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? Do not panic, 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.
The fact of the day
Ukraine is not alone and to support its counter-offensive against Russia launched in June, there is nothing like the visit of the head of NATO. Volodymyr Zelensky received Jens Stoltenberg while the French and British defense ministers were also in Ukraine. Alongside the Ukrainian president, the NATO secretary general denounced Moscow’s “imperialist delusions”. Volodymyr Zelensky, who is facing a decline in the will to support Ukraine in certain capitals, for his part insisted on the fact that his country still needed help, in particular anti-aircraft systems.
On the issue of Ukrainian membership in NATO, the Ukrainian president considered that it was only a “matter of time”. Jens Stoltenberg affirmed that kyiv is “closer to NATO than ever”, although no timetable has been announced. For Moscow, such membership is a red flag.
The number of the day
70%. This is the increase in the Russian Defense budget. The Kremlin justified this planned increase in the military spending budget by 68% in 2024 compared to the previous year to reach 10.8 trillion rubles (106 billion euros at today’s rate). For Moscow, the West, by supporting kyiv, is in effect waging “a hybrid war” against Russia in order to submit it to its hegemonic desires. Defense will therefore represent around 30% of total federal spending in 2024 and 6% of GDP, a first in the history of post-Soviet Russia.
Sentence of the day
The EU will support the Ukrainian people for as long as it takes”
The member states of the European Union have decided to extend for another year, until March 2025, the protection granted to Ukrainian refugees in the EU. Since March 2022, Ukrainians fleeing war have benefited from a status allowing them to reside, work and access health care in the European Union. “The extension of protection status provides security for the more than four million refugees who have found refuge in the EU,” said Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, whose country holds the six-monthly presidency of the Council of the EU.
This directive relating to temporary protection allows nationals of this country to stay in the EU and benefit from access to the labor market, housing, social and medical assistance.
Today’s trend
New “massive drone attack” launched by Russia. During the night, the Ukrainian army claimed to have destroyed 31 of the 39 Russian drones used. Natalya Gumenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Military Command, said the Russian drones were intercepted over coastal regions of the Black Sea and were targeting areas further inland. Russia “continues to apply pressure and seek new tactics, including resorting to massive attacks,” she said on Telegram.
“This night, several groups of attack drones were launched… air defense operated in almost the entire southern direction – in the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions,” she added, specifying that “much more in the north, the enemy directed its attacks towards central Ukraine.” In its daily update, the Ukrainian General Staff then declared that Russia had launched 39 Shahed-type attack drones, of which 31 had been “destroyed by the forces and means of air defense”.