today
AN ILLEGAL RUSSIAN AGENT IN NORWAY
The Norwegian counterintelligence services have revealed the true identity, according to their information, of an illegal Russian agent suspected of spying for Russia by posing as a Brazilian researcher.
Admitted in the fall of 2021 as a lecturer at the Norwegian University of Tromsø in the strategic Arctic region, the individual was arrested on Monday and placed, initially, in internment for violation of the laws on the immigration, with a view to deportation.
The investigation has since been expanded to cover suspicions of “illegal espionage directed against state secrets likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”, facts punishable in Norway by three years in prison.
300,000 RESERVISTS MOBILIZED
Russia has completed the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced during a televised exchange with President Vladimir Putin.
And to add that 41,000 of them have already been deployed in military units in Ukraine. The Russian president hailed the “patriotism” of the mobilized soldiers.
“No additional tasks are planned,” he said, indicating that Russia does not plan to mobilize additional reservists, civilians, in the immediate future. He added, however, that Russia continued to recruit volunteers and contract soldiers.
V. ZELENSKY BACKED UP AFTER A JOURNALIST’S QUESTION
Interviewed by a journalist from Corriere della Sera On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky answered a question from the latter with passion. The author of this interview asked him what he could say to those in Italy who believe that with the explosion in the price of gas, the population is paying the price for the defense of Ukraine.
IRANIANS DEMONSTRATE IN kyiv IN SUPPORT OF UKRAINIANS
A few dozen Iranians gathered in kyiv on Friday to show solidarity with the Ukrainians and against the Russians’ use of Iranian-made drones to strike Ukraine. At the call of the Iranian community in kyiv, the demonstrators gathered in Maidan Square, in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, displaying Ukrainian and Iranian flags, and placards with the slogan “The Iranian people in solidarity with the Ukraine”.
A DIVIDED PEOPLE AFTER THE LIBERATION
Troops from kyiv continue their advance in southern Ukraine and liberate villages every day. After months of Russian occupation, the inhabitants are divided. Some are accused of collaboration. The atmosphere is heavy.
AUDITORS
Russia has filed a complaint with the United Nations against alleged biological laboratories in Ukraine. Accusations without evidence, which Moscow has brandished for years. And which find some popularity in the United States.
R. KADYROV’S ARMY SUFFERS LOSSES
Sign of the intensity of the fighting near Kherson, evacuated of these civilians, which kyiv describes as “deportation”, the leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, whose forces are fighting in Ukraine, announced the death of 23 of his soldiers in a Ukrainian bombardment which also left 58 injured.
The dictator, promoted to the rank of colonel-general by Vladimir Putin, is a supporter of the “hard” line against kyiv, having called for nuclear strikes and ensuring that his troops there were waging a holy war against “satanists”.
A WAR OF INFLUENCE IN AFRICA
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre was the guest of LCI on Friday. She spoke of Russia’s logic of blackmail vis-à-vis certain countries on the African continent, so as to make them even more vulnerable.
TOWARDS A STAR WAR?
Russia threatens to shoot down commercial satellites used by Western countries to support Ukraine. In the sights of Moscow, Maxar Technologies, Planet Labs, BlackSky, and especially Starlink, the network of SpaceX terminals. In the event of an attack, the United States warns of an “appropriate response”.
MISSILE CARCASSES AS FAR AS THE SIGHT
In the Kharkiv region, heavily bombarded by Russian forces, the Ukrainian army says it has recovered “more than 5,000 pieces” of missiles. An LCI team was authorized to film on this site kept secret by kyiv troops. On site, missiles and other explosive devices lie on the ground.
RUSSIA SAYS HAS COMPLETED CIVILIAN EVACUATION FROM KHERSON
The evacuation of civilians from the Kherson region, occupied by Russia and which faces a Ukrainian offensive, has been completed, announced a pro-Russian official. “The work organizing the departure of the inhabitants of the right bank of the (river) Dnipro towards safe regions in Russia is completed”, declared Thursday evening Sergei Aksionov, the leader of Crimea, neighboring peninsula of Kherson annexed in 2014 by Moscow, while Ukraine describes these population transfers as “deportations”.
THE REVIEW OF THE LAST 24 HOURS
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a speech Thursday at the Valdai discussion forum in Moscow. He attacked the West while addressing the “dirty bomb” and the atomic weapon. The highlights of the last 24 hours.
RUSSIA’S USE OF IRANIAN DRONES IS ‘APPREHENSIVE’
Moscow’s use of Iranian drones to “kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy the infrastructure they depend on” is “appalling”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday during a visit to Canada. The United States and its allies will work to “expose, deter, and prevent Iran from supplying these weapons.”
Ukraine has claimed that around 400 Iranian drones have already been used against the Ukrainian civilian population, and that Moscow has ordered around 2,000. Tehran has denied these accusations. “If it becomes clear to us that Russia has used Iranian drones against Ukraine, we will certainly not be indifferent to this issue,” he nevertheless said this week the head of Iranian diplomacy Hossein Amir- Abdollahian. The United States, Britain and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on Iran over the drone issue.
IAEA TO CONDUCT ‘INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION’ ON DIRTY BOMB
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit “this week” two Ukrainian sites at the request of kyiv, according to a press release, while Vladimir Putin accuses Ukraine of erasing evidence of preparation of ” dirty bomb”.
“The inspectors will carry out an independent verification (…) to detect any diversion of nuclear material”, explained Thursday the director general of the UN body Rafael Grossi. After speaking behind closed doors to the UN Security Council in New York, he told reporters that the conclusions of these inspections would be “very fast”, referring to a few “days”.
WELCOME
Hello and welcome to this direct dedicated to current events in Ukraine. Find all the information of the day related to this conflict initiated by Russia eight months ago.