LIVE – Ukraine: visiting kyiv, Sébastien Lecornu will meet Volodymyr Zelensky

LECORNU GOES TO MEET ZELENSKY

According to our information, the French Defense Minister, visiting kyiv on Wednesday, will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

BOMBED MATERNITY IN KHERSON

kyiv denounces a new targeted bombardment in Kherson. This time, it is the maternity ward of the hospital which would have been targeted by a Russian strike. A few days earlier, on December 24, a bombing had already killed at least 16 people in this city taken back from the Russians at the end of November.

FORECASTS FOR 2023

The BBC asked military analysts about their vision for the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine. Five scenarios emerged. Review with our journalist Narjisse Hadji.

AIR ALERT

According to the kyiv Independent, the whole of Ukrainian territory is on air alert on Wednesday. Residents are urged to stay sheltered.

SÉBASTIEN LECORNU IN kyiv

The French Defense Minister has arrived in kyiv, according to several media. He immediately went to the “wall of heroes”, to lay a wreath on behalf of France, to pay tribute to the Ukrainian soldiers who died in combat and to show France’s support for Ukraine.

The minister will then have a working meeting with teams from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and with the Ukrainian army on France’s military support to Ukraine – the support already provided and the support to come. Then, he will have a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart followed by a press briefing.

RUSSIAN LOSSES

According to indicative data from kyiv, 550 Russian soldiers have died in combat in the past 24 hours. 13 tanks were neutralized, as well as an artillery system.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have died at the front, according to Ukrainian figures.

KREMINA

In recent days, Russia has reinforced its positions around the occupied city of Kremina, in Luhansk (in the east), British intelligence reports in their daily update. This town has been a vulnerable point since the Ukrainians recaptured the more southern town of Lyman last October.

Russia has set up new defenses in this area, and should a priori concentrate its forces in maintaining this line. This is logistically important for Donbass, occupied by Russia. Especially since Kremina is an important city in the region, whose “liberation” by the Kremlin is at the heart of its speech to justify the armed offensive in its Ukrainian neighbor.

ADVANCE OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS

Since December 23, Ukrainian forces have been advancing in the northeast of the country, according to the Institute for Study of War. A little further south, in Bakhmout, the fighting is very violent. Further south, the Russians continue to bomb civilian infrastructure. The explanations of our journalist Matthieu Karman on LCI.

NUCLEAR THREAT, STILL RELEVANT?

“It’s very fortunate that we talk less about the nuclear threat”, according to Patrick Dutartre. “For the moment, there is no interest that humanity knows a nuclear war”, he reassures.

As for cyberattacks, which target civilian, but also military equipment, “there are developers in each Ukrainian unit, who are very attentive to this type of attack. Obviously, these cyberattacks have not been that effective. But it’s a real strategic and economic subject,” said the general.

The latter believes that “everything is possible” for the future. “I see three scenarios for the future: the first would be a status quo, like in Donbass, with a paralysis of the conflict. The second scenario is that one of the two actors tries a breakthrough in the center. And the third , it’s a peace conference at the UN in February. And I think that the West and the UN secretary general must push in this direction”.

UKRAINIAN DRONE ATTACK

A few days ago, three people died in the attack of a drone launched by the Ukrainians on a Russian military base, several hundred kilometers from the front. “It’s a Russian drone that has a range of almost 1,000 km. It’s a return to sender: they used this observation drone to transform it into a killer drone,” explains General Dutartre.

“These drones are very limited in number. So kyiv is trying to use them wisely. With this type of operation, kyiv wants to show that no Russian area is out of reach. The Ukrainian army here also wants to repel the Russian Air Force, which bombs Ukraine almost every day,” he added.

A WAR THAT CAN LAST “FOR YEARS”

In the current conditions of the conflict, we are witnessing trench warfare, with very slow progress, in frozen or very muddy landscapes, where progress is made very difficult. “This situation can last for years. It’s terrible and expensive in men”, analyzes the general. “As much as the Russians take little notice of their troops, the Ukrainian command is very attentive to its soldiers,” he adds.

“MOSCOW’S LACK OF SAFETY TOWARDS ITS ARMY”

For Patrick Dutartre, the fourth change of general at the head of the Russian army in Ukraine is a “sign of disavowal, because the results on the ground do not meet the expectations of the high command. This especially shows the Russian difficulties on the Western Front”. The newly appointed general is from the paramilitary group Wagner. “This shows that the lack of security of the military high command towards its own troops”, adds the general.

BOMBED MATERNITY IN KHERSON

While kyiv accuses Moscow of having bombed a maternity hospital in Kherson, “it’s terror, but it’s not a strategy of terror”, according to Patrick Dutartre former general of the Air Force, guest from LCI. For him, ‘it’s a shooting error, unless there are troops or equipment hidden in this type of place. There, I don’t think that’s the case at all, it’s more of a shooting error,” insists the general.

RECAP’

The Ukrainian army continues to push Russian soldiers to the east of the country at the cost of intense fighting. On Tuesday, the Kremlin announced the cessation of deliveries to EU and G7 countries that have adopted the cap on the price of its oil. Back to the highlights of the last 24 hours.

RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS

In the Donbass, Russians have taken up arms to fight for and not against Ukraine. They are part of the Freedom Legion of Russia. Report.

NEARLY 7,000 CIVILIANS KILLED

Between February 24, the date of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and December 26, 2022, 6,844 civilians died, victims of the war, including 429 children, reports the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR).

The agency says the actual figure is likely to be “significantly higher, as receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities took place has been delayed and many reports are still awaiting confirmation”. as in Mariupol or Izioum, “where many civilian victims are reported”.

SÉBASTIEN LECORNU EXPECTED IN kyiv

The French Defense Minister is expected for a visit to the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday. A first since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. “He will notably pay homage to the dead at the Heroes’ monument in kyiv and will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov”, explained his cabinet before the visit.

ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURES

Russia has damaged at least 702 critical infrastructure in Ukraine since February 24, according to First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin, reports the Kyiv Independent. “These facilities include gas pipelines, electrical substations and bridges,” the daily said.

KHERSON’S MATERNITY BOMBARDED

Deputy Chief of Cabinet of the Ukrainian Presidency, Kirill Timoshenko, says on Telegram that “the Russians bombed the maternity hospital” in Kherson “. “Five women who had just given birth were still present, he adds in his message. Miraculously, no one was hurt.”

AT LEAST 6,000 UKRAINIAN CIVILIAN DEAD

A new census by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published on December 26 counts at least 17,831 civilian casualties since February 24. Including 6,884 people killed and 10,947 injured. 38 would be children.

OHCHR reports that most of the civilian deaths recorded were caused by “the use of explosive weapons with a wide range of action, including heavy artillery fire, multiple rocket launchers, missiles and air strikes “. According to her, the real figures are undoubtedly much higher because reports in many parts of Ukraine have still not arrived or could not yet be verified.

DEATH OF TWO NEW DISSIDENT OLIGARCHS

A Russian sausage tycoon who allegedly criticized the war in Ukraine has died after falling from the third-floor window of a luxury hotel in India. The body of Pavel Antov, 65, was discovered just two days after his friend and fellow local Russian politician Vladimir Bidenov was found dead in the same hotel after an apparent heart attack.

RUSSIAN OIL

Russia will ban from February 1, 2023 the sale of its oil to foreign countries that use the cap on the price of Russian black gold, set in early December at 60 dollars per barrel by the EU, the G7 and Australia.

“The delivery of Russian petroleum and petroleum products to foreign legal entities and other individuals is prohibited” if they use the ceiling price, is it written in a decree signed on Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

WELCOME TO THE LIVE

Hello everyone, welcome to this live dedicated to the 299th day of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. You can follow the latest information here.