LIVE – War in Ukraine: 3 dead and 12 injured in “massive” attack in Kherson

The Ukrainian army will be able to train its pilots to operate the highly anticipated American F-16 fighters at the earliest in early 2024 in Romania, where a training center was inaugurated on Monday.

The program will begin “most likely” at the beginning of next year, a spokesperson for the Dutch army, which supplies the devices, told AFP. For his part, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar did not give a timetable, saying “to analyze the most effective ways to integrate the training of the Ukrainians as soon as possible.”

Ukraine, which is impatiently waiting to be able to use these planes on the front against Russia, welcomed the opening of the center on the territory of its neighbor. “This is a concrete and significant contribution to the air coalition,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on X (ex-Twitter). The training hub is located at an air base in Fetesti, in southeastern Romania, about 150 km from the capital Bucharest.

In an undisclosed location, the French army trains new Ukrainian recruits. This is a very grueling four-week training course, carried out before leaving for the hell of the front. A TF1 team was exceptionally able to follow this training in a war environment recreated from scratch.

A new “package” of sanctions against Russia is being prepared by the European Commission, announced Josep Borell, the head of European diplomacy, on Monday. “We are finalizing the last details“, specified the official. This 12th round of sanctions should put an end to Russian diamond exports to the European Union.

Once decided, these sanctions will still have to be unanimously approved by the 27 EU countries. Moscow is accused of financing part of its war against Ukraine through the lucrative trade in diamonds, which represent a turnover of around four to five billion dollars per year.

The toll from the strikes which hit the center of Kherson this Monday was revised upwards by the Ukrainian authorities. Three deaths and twelve injured have now been reported in this town in the south of the country. According to the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, this attack “destroyed or damaged“a hospital, an administrative building, around fifteen houses and eight vehicles including an ambulance.

Russian justice on Monday detained Ksenia Fadeeva, an opponent of Vladimir Putin close to Alexeï Navalny, who has long campaigned against the Russian president. This woman is one of the rare personalities linked to the historic opponent who was able to get elected. But she now faces twelve years in prison for “extremism”, a charge often used against opposition activists in Russia.

“Ksenia is a political prisoner, a deputy of the City Duma (from Tomsk) who won her mandate after an honest fight“, wrote on Telegram, Andreï Fateev, another ally of Navalny and elected alongside Ksenia Fadeeva in 2020.

Ukrainian authorities deplore two deaths and ten injured after a Russian strike on the center of Kherson, southern Ukraine, according to comments reported by The Kyiv Independent. The victims are a 62-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, specifies the Ukrainian media.

In Ukraine, LCI was able to meet Misha, a former Russian soldier who went to the other side of the fighting to help the Kiev troops. Discover his video portrait below.

Many Ukrainian cultural buildings have been hit by Russian bombings since the start of the war. More than 10,000 works of art have been stolen in the city of Kherson alone.

The Kremlin on Monday refused to comment on reports that Ukraine is consolidating positions on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnieper River in hopes of breaking through Russian lines. According to Russian and Ukrainian bloggers and experts who analyzed open source intelligence, the Ukrainian army has managed to anchor forces on the occupied bank of the Dnieper since the end of October, in particular in the village of Krynky in the southern region of Kherson.

Asked about the subject, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov did not wish to comment, but felt that the Russian army should comment on the situation. “In this specific case we consider that our army specialists can and must comment,” he said. Especially since a little earlier, the two state press agencies, Ria Novosti and Tass, had announced in almost identical terms a Russian withdrawal in the Dnieper region, before canceling this information by invoking a “error”.

As winter approaches, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns against intensifying Russian bombing of energy network infrastructure. A possible increase in attacks that Russia could sponsor, with military support from Pyongyang.

The chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, announced on Sunday that he had arrived in the United States with a delegation led by the Minister of the Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, to discuss cooperation and support for his country. “I will have meetings at the White House, in Congress, with think tanks and representatives of civil society organizations,” he said on Telegram.

The delegation will discuss “the president’s proposals for peace, strengthening Ukraine’s defense, overall deepening of cooperation and many other important issues,” he added. Ukrainian officials, including Mr. Zelensky, meet regularly with Western leaders to maintain their mobilization alongside Kiev as the war has been underway for 21 months and Ukraine struggles to gain ground in its counter-offensive against Russia .

Ukraine must “prepare” for Russian strikes on infrastructure this winter, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, warned on Sunday, referring to a possible increase in attacks. “We must prepare for the possibility that the enemy will increase the number of drone or missile strikes on our infrastructure,” the head of state said during his daily address.

“All our attention must be focused on defense (…) on everything Ukraine can do to help our people get through the winter,” he added. Last year, the Russian army’s systematic bombing of Ukraine’s energy network left thousands of people without heat or electricity for long periods in often freezing temperatures.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced on Sunday evening a doubling, to 8 billion euros, of the military aid initially planned by his country for Ukraine in 2024. “This constitutes a strong signal to the Ukraine showing that we are not letting it down,” he said on public television channel ARD, questioned about information on the doubling of the budget envelope.

“It is an important signal at the precise moment when Ukraine must continue its fight, while part of the attention is focused on Israel” and Gaza, he added. The increase also responds “to the experience we had this year and which showed that the planned amounts were quickly exhausted.”

Hello everyone. Welcome to TF1info to follow live the latest news around the war in Ukraine, launched by Russia on February 24, 2022, i.e. 627 days ago.